My Own Journey: Talking Points
Episode 1 lays the foundation for the ideas we’ll examine throughout this series. It challenges the assumptions that the soul is evolving, that the earth is a school filled with lessons the soul needs to learn for continued spiritual advancement. Science claims that water is at least as old as the earth–4.6 billion years. Using water as an illustration, we see how the soul, like water, also maintains its ageless status regardless of when or how many times it takes up a physical body. The body, not the soul, is subject to the laws of time and space. The soul is like a treasure buried in a field, its value fully established now. We discover it and then we “sell” or gradually release all that we own (our preconceptions) to buy that field. We’re letting go of former beliefs concerning our spiritual incompleteness and taking possession of the truth of our complete soul.
The Body-Soul Connection, Part 1: Talking Points
The soul is timeless. The body is subject to the laws that govern time and space. While some spiritual teachings assert that the condition of the body is a reflection of the condition of the soul, this episode asserts that the body reflects, not the soul, but the ever-changing self-image. Equating the condition of the soul with the condition of the body has prompted the belief that our soul, our spiritual essence, is presently incomplete. The concept of the evolving soul is derived from this belief. The quest for perpetual youth of the body has driven the multi-billion-dollar anti-aging industry, yet people continue to age and die. This episode explores the idea that the body was never intended to become immortal, that doing so would create a myriad of problems. Did we have specific reasons for entering this momentary experience on earth? Rather than cling to the body, we consider the possibility that our natural interests and talents may provide important clues as to why we may have made the choice to incarnate at this time and in this place.
The Body-Soul Connection, Part 2: Talking Points
In Part 2 of The Body-Soul Connection, we continue our exploration of the soul’s relationship to the body. Near-death research reveals that most who have an NDE lose all fear of death, that they are left with no doubt that the soul continues on. Their insight sets them apart, as they see their essence is so complete, so beautiful they can find no words to describe it. Their experience serves as a powerful insight into our own deeper essence. Though some find the continued maintenance of the body and its endless needs challenging, there is widespread agreement among NDE’rs that we are here to live full, meaningful lives focused not so much on what we can get as on what we have come to give. We start with an understanding of our soul, our true self, as our foundation, the rock upon which we build our house of consciousness. We learn to trust our own intuitive promptings over those of the so-called professionals in the religious, spiritual and academic fields.
Consciousness, Soul and Self-Image: Talking Points
Words and the meanings we give them become important tools to understanding our spiritual journey. Consciousness, soul and self-image are all terms that invoke preconceived ideas that we revisit in this series. While it is commonly taught that the spiritual path involves changing our consciousness–our belief system–this series turns our attention to first experiencing the soul. The self-image (personality, the ego, the surface self, etc.), is the body-centered identity we hold out to the world. It is often assumed that changing the self-image and its false belief system is the focus of our spiritual quest. In this series we turn our attention to the soul, our spiritual bedrock upon which our consciousness is ultimately built. Jesus referred to this turning as a new birth. The Psalmist referred to it as being taught by God. We think of the spiritual quest, then, not so much as a program of self-improvement, but as a process of intuitively based self-realization and soul revelation.
The Myth of Soul Evolution: Talking Points
The concept of soul evolution is derived from the belief that the average individual is presently spiritually incomplete, but is moving toward a state of enlightenment. This belief is derived, at least in part, from forming a false spiritual ideal toward which we believe we are to aspire. We’ve mistakenly placed the soul on an evolutionary track that is better associated with our biological, intellectual and cultural advances. Our attention has been distracted away from our changeless spiritual core, causing us to feel something essential to our wholeness is missing when in fact it has always been fully present. This shift in our attention from the inner to the outer is depicted in the biblical fall of man, the birth of the false self-image. The spiritual journey is not about reaching some kind of critical mass that tips the scale by filling the self-image with spiritually accurate information. It’s about moving the awareness to its rightful foundation of the spiritually sound soul. The self-image and all its many aspirations become less as our values become grounded in the broader landscape of our spiritual reality.
Exploring the Myth: Talking Points
This episode delves deeper into the ramifications of the the evolving soul myth. If soul evolution were indeed a fact, it isn’t a human problem. A single human mind can no more thwart the cosmic process than it can, through pure thought, stop the flow of a river. It isn’t the soul but our perception of the soul that is affected by our thinking. If we hold that the soul is complete, we open our mind to the light of the soul. We embrace as ours already the guidance, healing or prosperity for which we pray. To say we’re here by choice doesn’t mean we’ve chosen the specific challenges we encounter. We’re not here to get something from earth life. The soul is complete without earth or a body. We’ve come to experience this earthly realm for the joy of expression.
A Paradigm Shift: Talking Points
This episode takes the position that your soul is all it can ever be right now and you have the ability to experience it, no evolution required. This, of course, runs counter to the soul evolutionist who has never had a convincing experience with the deeper aspects of the soul. We each carry a worldview, a paradigm, from which we evaluate our experience. In A Paradigm Shift we explore a trinity of core values that set the tone for our particular worldview. These include 1) our understanding of the nature of God, 2) our understanding of the nature of the individual, and 3) our understanding of the nature of the relationship between God and the individual. This episode is intended to help us understand our paradigm and the impact it has on our life. Through the use of some powerful imagery, we examine the process of making the shift from a paradigm of separation to the paradigm of oneness.
Our Executive Faculties: Talking Points
As part of our consciousness-forming equipment, we each have five faculties at our disposal. These include imagination, faith, will, judgment and elimination. We use these faculties to either build our house of consciousness on the ever-shifting sands of the self-image, or we use them for their intended purpose of building from the bedrock of the soul. In this episode we explore the function of each of these faculties and we look at ways in which we can use them to enhance our soul’s expression.
Natural Supply: Talking Points
One of the most beautiful passages of scripture comes from Matthew’s account, with Jesus clearly stating that a genuine understanding of our spiritual heritage naturally translates into a life free of fear and material want; a condition already enjoyed by the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. It is our understanding and trust in the present and accessible spiritual domain, awaiting our recognition, that fulfills our material requirements; a state that brings to mind that carefree harmony between soul and body that we enjoyed in the womb.
The notion of spiritual progress can become a set of blinders focused only on how adept we are at material demonstration. The point we may miss in our quest for things is that, from our soul’s point of view, it has never been a question of God or mammon. Our needs are met at all levels. Are we settling for just the visible aspect of available support, or do we seek an understanding of that unseen Source that sustains the soul? The most meaningful kinds of spiritual teachings are not those that tell us how to think, but those that confirm what we have thought and deeply felt in solitude, others have thought and felt as well. We didn’t come here to wander aimlessly looking for something in people, places, and things that we don’t already have. The one thing that earth holds for you and for me, is the life we intended to live when we made the choice to come here.
J Douglas Bottorff 