 |
|
 |
| |
| Departments |
Home
Columns, Special
Topics & Features:
The Columns:
Angels, Guides, &
Loving Spirits:
Angel Blessings:
with Dr. Doreen Virtue
Ask Valerie Morrison,
Internationally
Acclaimed Psychic
Astrologer's Notes:
Ask Carrin Martin,
Astrologer
Basil Fearrington,
Astrologer
Diana Stone,
Astrologer &
Huna Shaman
Jeff Jawer
Astrologer
Martin Lass,
Astrologer
Glenn Perry,
Astrologer
Ray Merriman,
Financial Astrology:
MMA Market Week
Erin Sullivan,
Astrologer
Noel Tyl,
Astrologer
Daily Aspect Calendar
by Care
Monthly Horoscope:
Stellar Scopes
by Daija De Mornay
Creating Bridges:
The Spiritual &
Philosophical
Act of Power
Discovering the Key to Living Your Sacred Dream
by Lynn Andrews
The BUT Doctor
Healing America's Real Crack Problem One Person at a Time
by Eddie Conner
Awakening to the
Miracle of Ordinary Life by Dennis Lewis
Avant-Gardening:
Insights by Frank &
Vicky Giannangelo
Bodymind Integration: A Psychology of Potential
by Kevin Roberts
Breaking Free:
Anne Brewer
Choices: The Art of Conscious Creation:
by Teri Harris Saa
From The Heart:
Alan Cohen
Teachings from the Western Mystery Traditions: The Esoteric "Paths of Return"
by Jacquelyn Small, Eupsychia
"Letters from Heaven:" Spiritual Guidance from
the Hebrew Alphabet
by Avigayil Landsman
Memos From The
First Tabugian
Art Rosengarten, Ph.D.
The Path of Wisdom and Love
Dr. John Demartini,
Spirituality in Daily Life: by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron
The Conscious Column
by David Ault
Spiritual Mastery
for the 21st Century
Dr. Gwen MacGregor
Pearls of Wisdom:
with Care
Feng Shui:
Wind & Water:
Carole J. Hyder
In Practice:
How to Create a Successful Holistic Practice- from Start to Success
by Shaun Brown,
CMT, BA BeWell Publications
The Business of Tarot
by Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master
Pet Care:
Dr. Carson's Holistic Animal Care
by Dr. Kathleen Carson, D.V.M.
Tarot:
Soulforest:
Tarot and Spirituality
Rachel Pollack,
Tarot Grand Master
Gateway to Tarot:
by Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master
Reviews:
Tarot, Cartomancy,
Oracle Decks,
Books, & Software.
by Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master
Bonnie Cehovet's
Tarot Interviews
Humor:
Wake Up Laughing.Com:
Swami Beyondananda
Features:
Blessings & Messages
Crystals, Gemstones & Minerals by Kristi of MoonCave
Event Calendar
Historical Notes & Data
The MetaPersonals
Symbols, Seals,
Amulets & Talismans
The What in the
World Department
Trivia & Other
Novel Moments
Your Views
Interviews:
Erin Sullivan,
Astrologer
Healing & Alternative
Health:
"The Ancient Way of Chinese Medicine"
by Kevin O'Neil
Flower Essences
by Donna Cunningham
Herbology:
Ron Norwood
Living in Harmony-Astrology, Yoga & Ayurveda:
Venkat & Christine Machiraju
"Spirit and Practice
of the Wise Woman
Tradition"
By Susun Weed
Tai Chi & Qigong
by Bill Douglas
The Holistic Mystic,
by Lonny Brown
Medical Intuition: Tune
in to Your Body and Improve Your Health
by Caroline Sutherland, Sutherland Communications
Tools for Heartful Living
by Jackie Woods,
Healer & Spiritual Teacher,
Adawehi Institute
The Directory
The Book Nook
Archives:
Past Issues
General Information:
Synopsis of Contents
Editorial Submission
Information:
Articles
Columns
Editorial Opinions
"Your Views"
General Content
Event Calendars
Graphics & Photos
Editorial Deadlines
Advertising
Information &
Opportunities
About
The Meta Arts
Magazine
Department
Contacts:
Publishers
Editorial
Advertising Sales
Graphic Design
Promotion Dept.
Employment
Contact Us
Legal Notices
|
|
|
|
|
|
Creating Bridges: The Spiritual & Philosophical |
|
|
Teachings from the Western Mystery Traditions:
The Esoteric "Paths of Return"
The Nature of Spirituality
|
|
|
by Jacquelyn Small
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spirituality is not about being religious, though most people think of these two terms as synonymous. Our spiritual lives unfold because deep within every human being resides an internal moving force that shapes our yearnings to feel close to God, or the Absolute. We just naturally long to be infused with the characteristics of our inner God-image. Our spirituality is an immaterial "sprightliness," according to Jungian John Hitchcock. And this sprightliness lives and moves in all things created; it is the force of life itself. When we are filled with spirit, we feel that God is living us and we are living God. To use our consciousness to become Self-aware, or soul-dominated, is a way of being spiritual, because this brings us closer to our Source. Following your thread of livingness all the way to your depths, you will meet there the whole Universe, the Absolute, all there is. And you will see that you are it and it is you. Jesus said it beautifully: "I and the Father are one." So this is even in the Bible.
This drive we feel to continually be seeking the light, to always be a bit unsettled until we feel we have arrived "home" again ­ this is our spiritual drive. This yearning is our pathway home, like Ariadne's thread, it leaves a trail into the future that we follow until no part of us is left unknown. Knowing the Self, yourself, completely is enlightenment, for when we achieve this full Self-knowledge, we1ll see that all is contained within the inner life ­ even our way of knowing God. For it is our perception of God, in our own way, that makes Him (or Her) real ­ a fact in our lives and in our world. So it is indeed a truth to say that "the kingdom of God is within."
Spirituality is not religion. Let's don't confuse the two. A religion is an outer form that our spiritual lives can take, where we become fascinated or feel called by a certain tradition or theological set of beliefs that belong to a particular sect of believers. This is religion. The original meaning of the world Œreligion1 is Œto link back.1 Unfortunately, many today have lost this universal sense of the word and only apply it to their particular brand of dogma concerning who and what God is.
Believers differ from knowers. We will believe something we1ve been taught by others until we have an experience of it; ;then, we know it. People who seek spirituality through going inward become knowers, because they will have a direct experience of God, or the sacred. This is what the word Œgnostic1 means: the desire to know. The early Gnostic Christians believed spirituality was an inner experience of The Christ, and that The Christ modeled "the way, the truth, and the life" and asked us to do the same as He...to come fully into our awareness that we are all sons and daughters of God.
Carl Just said about religious dogma:
"It is dangerous if these matters are only objects of belief,
for when there is belief there is doubt, and the fiercer and
more naive the belief, the more devastating the doubt once
it begins to dawnxThat which is believed always and every-
where by everybody is indeed a psychological fact." (CW 11,
para. 294)
Spirituality can be irrational. Not all that passes for spirituality is true. Reason has a role to play in our spiritual life. Insights gleaned from practices that fly in the face of common sense and reason are more often than not false information.
The guru can be another danger. When the guru can do no wrong, when every act of madness or exploitation is excused as a method of teaching, one1s followers can be in grave trouble. Religious leaders of any tradition who seek and secure power over their disciples are dangerous. If they are violent or exploitive, they excuse themselves with claims to higher powers or sanctity. And the disciples accept this.
People can make a mockery of spirituality. Besides excusing exploitive or harmful behavior as being "of God," people can use spiritual practice as a way to escape from life. We call this being in "spiritual bypass," a concept coined by transpersonal psychologist John Welwood in the late Œ60's. These people are trying to rise above things they1ve never cleared in their personal lives.
There is a cosmic law that says we cannot transcend something we1ve never integrated and completed. It will come back and haunt us "until we get it right." Without care for other people and for the world, spirituality can be a self-serving waster of time. People toss around spiritual buzzwords like confetti, and don1t even think through the implications of what they are saying and doing. Carrying dogma around in unexamined, fear-based mental attitudes is unhealthy for its host as well as for those sharing in that person1s life. Memorizing one1s spiritual beliefs, based in someone else1s interpretation of scripture or traditional dogma, is also a time waster. It doesn1t give a person a direct experience of what spiritual really means.
When people begin making the shift from "believer" based on others1 doctrines, to "knower," based on an inner, numinous spiritual experience, they often do not know if it is safe to speak of these matters with anyone. Some of our great religious scholars, such as Tielhard de Chardin, Meister Eckhart, and lately, Dominican Priest Matthew Fox, have been ex-communicated and silenced by the church for bringing knowledge of the inner direct spiritual path to their listeners. Yet, Biblical scripture leads to this assumption when interpreted beyond the programming of the fear-based religions. Jesus said to his disciples "Ye shall do greater things than I." And St. Paul said that it is through the transformed mind that we will find God. In Revelations, it says "We shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye." Many references to transformation and the "kingdom of God that is within" are in the Bible.
It's sad that many who call themselves Christians believe that Jesus is fixed in stone ­ a static figure ­ and will never evolve. Many believe, too, that evolution is un-Christian. Yet Jesus himself had an evolutionary viewpoint, and one of being our Elder Brother who "went first" to claim that he was the divine Son of God. He reminded us over and over to unfold our own divinity as He modeled for us. It is Biblical to say that we are all sons and daughters of God, and that we each have our part to do by becoming aware of our sacred purpose here while in human form.xto do the work of our Father in Heaven.
We've got a lot of work to do to catch hold of what the Self knows about its own nature. Our intellects are like children in kindergarten in such matters. Our bodies know truth; our hearts know truth; it1s only the intellect that can lie. In his book, The Web of the Universe, Jungian physicist John Hitchcock said it this way:
"The intellect can by-pass wisdom and consciousness
like a motorcyclist can a walker; it does so daily in
every university."
Our intellects have their job to do, but are limited to the data gathered from the past, and therefore are incapable of being "wise" or "creative," qualities that can only come from within the subjective life of the experiencer. No outside authority can bring us Self-knowledge, which is soul-knowledge; the only teacher is the Self. People who do inner work in depth discovery psyche1s most precious treasure, buried at her core: You are a spiritual being living in a human body, and you already have within you everything you need to be whole.
Thanks to the work of consciousness explorers such as Carl Jung, we know now that spirituality is not a goal. It is not the result of prayer or meditation. Spirituality is not a treatment outcome. It is not something we earn by good works. As spiritual beings here on earth learning to be human, it is not relevant for us to sit around awaiting the time we will become spiritual. This is not reality. Spirituality is our essence.
And this is not a religious proposition, but a universal understanding today, even scientifically. Quantum physics now says that we are light. Spiritual guides and teachers tell us we are one. Brain researchers have fond that our brain functions like a hologram, containing all there are to know. Jungians say the Self is imbedded within a collective unconscious mind that contains all knowing. Mainstream religion says "I and the Father are one." And Twelve Step AA programs call for an alignment with a Higher Power.
But even with all this validation for our true nature that even science avows, we1ve not yet even begun to realize the implications of what we already presume. This recognition of our nature as spiritual has not had the cultural or psychological impact it must eventually have. We've not awakened fully to the knowledge of this identity as fact. We still behave, think, and plan our programs as though we are mere egos needing to be fixed ­ or worse, medicated and calmed down. We are trapped by our own intellects that are rapidly becoming too small to contain us anymore!
Spiritual beings are fiery beings, and we won't be contained much longer. Our soul powers are crying out to be expressed. And many today are realizing this and beginning to stand tall in their true identity as spiritual beings learning to be human, not human beings trying to be spiritual. That stage in our evolutionary process is quickly passing now.
So let's commit to the inner work we require to bring forth these soul powers, and release any misunderstandings or emotional blocks still in the way of our truth.
"I say these powers will be given to you, but more correctly, you give them to yourself, for you even now possess them though you know it not. Nothing can be added from without, all comes from within." -- an Initiate of the Third Degree
|
|
|
|
Jacquelin Small,
Spiritualist, Clairvoyant Psychologist
|
 |
JACQUELYN SMALL, LMSW, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in human psychology and clinical social work. She is a licensed non-denominational minister and a licensed psychotherapist who works with both spiritual and psychological concerns.
Jacquelyn is a popular presenter and consultant in academic settings, new-thought churches and new paradigm conferences and mental health settings, known for her easy-going, self-disclosing, humorous style of intimate relating with her audiences.
She has a long history in addiction counselor training, consulting and counseling, and trains all kinds of health professionals in the emerging field of spiritual psychology. She is one of the teachers who has been selected by Unity Church for their national TV ministry. She served as the Director of Training for the Texas Commission on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse for nine years, and served on the adjunct faculty of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Stanford, California for four years.
Jacquelyn has authored eight books about soul-based psychology and the process of personal transformation, some of which have become classics in the counseling and consciousness fields. She is represented by the Tom Grady Agency. She has many audio tapes as well through Eupsychia's publishing company, Eupsychian Press.
Her published books are:
* Becoming Naturally
Therapeutic (Bantam)
* Transformers, the
Artists of Self-Creation
(DeVorss & Co.)
* Awakening in Time
(Eupsychian Press)
* Embodying Spirit (HarperSanFrancisco
/Eupsychian)
* Rising to the Call with
co-author Mary Yovino (DeVorss & Co.)
* Becoming a Practical Mystic (Quest Books)
* Psyche's Seeds-The 12 Sacred Principles of Soul-Based Psychology (Tarcher/Putnam
/Penguin)
Jacquelyn is a regular columnist for Science of Mind Magazine and is featured often in other magazines. Among the many conferences and programs for which Jacquelyn has keynoted or presented programs, include:
* The Association for Humanistic Psychology
* Association for Transpersonal Psychology
* Omega Institute
including their Body &
Soul Conferences
* Tracor and Texaco, Inc.
* Church of Religious Science Annual
Conference
* Great Lakes Addiction Conference
* Whole Life Expo
* The College of William & Mary's Annual Addictions Conference
* Most major universities
in the United States
* U.S. Department of Heath, Education and Welfare
* Omega Institute's
Body & Soul Conferences
* New Age Magazine's Bahama Teaching Cruise
The ConferenceWorks!
She has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, America's Talking, Wisdom Television and Radio, New Dimensions Radio, NPR's People's Pharmacy and a CNN's series on Alternative Healing and continues to make regular guest appearances for radio and television.
Jacquelyn Small serves on the Advisory Board of the International Psychosynthesis Association, the National Council on Codependence, and The Holistic Alliance of Professional Practitioners, Entrepreneurs and Networkers, Inc.
She is the Founding Director of Eupsychia (pronounced u-si'-ki-a) Institute which means "good psyche" or "well being" in Greek, a not-for-profit professional training and healing program in Soul-Based Psychology and Integrative Breathwork. With her staff of dedicated, experienced spiritual therapists, she conducts workshop intensives throughout North America on a regular basis.
Eupsychia Institute
PO Box 151960
Austin, TX 78715-1960
(800) 546-2795
Local (512) 327-2795
Fax (512) 327-6043
eupsychia1@aol.com
Contact Webmistress
www.eupsychia.com
|
|
 |
You'll find it in
The
Directory!
|
|
|
|
|
