ACT for Spiritual Development

1. ACT for Spiritual Development Hank Robb, Ph.D., ABPP

2. Joseph Campbell’s Four Functions of Mythology Mystical Function (Making contact with “the mystery”) Cosmological Function (Seeing “the mystery” through all things) Social Function (“rationalizing” social action) Individual Function (addressing life phases)

3. “Spiritual” Possibilities RELATIONSHIPS I AM Divinity. (though not the “you” you think you are) I RELATE to Divinity. ATTITUDES Say “yes” to the world as is. Say “no” to the world as is. Say “yes” after you “fix up” the world.

4. Kundalini“Hierarchy of Spiritual Energy” Mystery Without a Face (Rapture) Mystery With a Face (Rapture) Aggressive Action to Change Self Compassion Aggressive Action Directed Outward Pursuit of Sensual Pleasure Hanging on to Existence

5. Assumptions Your are one being in one universe.

6. Assumptions If you have the usual body parts, you have hands and feet. They are part of your one being. You also have a spirit.

7. Assumptions That, too, is part of your one being.

8. Assumptions Your feet are not your hands and your hands are not your spirit and they are all part of the one being that is you.

9. Assumptions Conditions of the universe arose that brought you into existence and, one-day, conditions will change and you will go out of existence.

10. Assumptions There is no spirit that is separate from the one being that is you. There is no body that is separate from the one being that is you.

11. Assumptions The spirit of your one being will end when the body of your one being ends because you are one being.

12. Assumptions The actions you take in your one life will affect the one universe of which you are now a part and that was here before you and will be here after you.

13. Assumptions Those effects may be characterized as great or small, good or evil, or in a variety of other ways. None of us knows, for sure, what effects each of us will have.

14. Assumptions However, each may know what effect was intended, if, indeed, one was intended.

15. Assumptions Whatever you are going to do will have to be done here and now in this place and in this moment because there is no “other place” and no “other moment.”

16. Assumptions If these assumptions fit for you, and you are looking for spiritual development, perhaps this mode of development will prove helpful.

17. Metaphor The Spiritual Reality approach, like many other spiritual approaches, makes use of metaphor.

18. Metaphor When I was in high school, I learned a poem titled, The Highwayman. The poem began, “The road was a ribbon of moonlight.”

19. Metaphor If on hearing this, one were to go outside with scissors in order to cut up material to tie bows in one’s hair, then we would say there and been a misunderstanding of language because there was never any literal material made of moonlight for anyone, including the highwayman, to interact with.

20. Metaphor In this presentation, I will try diligently to point out metaphors when they are in use.

21. Metaphor Even so, it may be useful not to take any talk too literally, especially when it is meant to open us to spiritual dimensions.

22. Root Metaphor Diamonds are aspects of the universe found here on earth.

23. Root Metaphor One aspect of diamonds is their potential for brilliance.

24. Root Metaphor Before the brilliance is brought forth, it is only a potential within the diamond.

25. Root Metaphor After it is brought forth, it is an aspect, or quality, of the diamond itself. It is not “added on.”

26. Root Metaphor The brilliance is not something other than the diamond itself. The brilliance is an aspect, or quality, of the diamond. It is a way of being a diamond that has been brought forth.

27. Root Metaphor If the diamond disintegrated, so would the brilliance. Brilliance and the diamond are one rather than two.

28. Root Metaphor Bringing forth brilliance from a diamond includes cutting and polishing it.

29. Root Metaphor And the cutting and polishing must be done wisely.

30. Root Metaphor So, as with diamonds, spiritual brilliance, that is potential in each human being, can be brought forth.

31. Root Metaphor We, however, are not inanimate objects. We don’t have to wait around. We can get busy doing the job ourselves, and we can do it wisely.

32. Root Metaphor That is just the sort of thing that this mode of spiritual development intends.

33. Root Metaphor Hopefully, no individuals hearing or reading these words buy that they will literally become brighter through the mode of spiritual development outlined here or that they require literal cutting or polishing. Believing such things means there has been a linguistic error.

34. Root Metaphor Yet there is some sense in which spiritual brightness does brighten the world where it is found.

35. Root Metaphor And don’t stop paying the electric bill because of the previous sentence!

36. Caution! From this perspective, many spiritual traditions contain metaphors that we may find useful. Even so, we had better be careful. Many traditions do not make the unitary assumption of Spiritual Reality.

37. Caution! They operate on an assumption of fundamental duality in which there is literally a second universe. Body and spirit are not of one being but alternate entities that sometimes war and at other time co-operate with each other.

38. Caution! In these traditions, one aspect of the duality is usually to be preferred over the other, typically the spirit over the body.

39. From the Spiritual Reality Perspective We are one being with one body and spirit just as we are one being with one pair of eyes and and one pair of ears as well as memories of the past and hopes for the future.

40. Metaphorically Speaking The Kingdome of the Father is spread upon the earth but men and women do not see it.

41. Metaphorically Speaking This is the golden lotus world.

42. Metaphorically Speaking I and the Father are one.

43. Metaphorically Speaking I and my beloved are one.

44. Mind In addition to our spirit and body, the one being we are also has a mind. Our mind is largely made up of thoughts, images and sensations.

45. Thoughts Those radio programs inside your head.

46. Images Anything with a picture.

47. Bodily Sensations Your heart beating faster or slower. Your hands feeling cooler or warmer. Your stomach feeling more tense or more relaxed.

48. Thoughts, Images & Sensations Sometimes you can control your thoughts, images & sensations.

49. Thoughts, Images & Sensations More often thoughts, images and sensations just “arrive.” Jack and Jill went up the …

50. Little Miss Muffet sat on a … When was the last time “tuffet” was in your head? I didn’t know what a “tuffet” was until I looked it up I have a good “story” about how “tuffet” got in my head and no real memory. Lot’s of “stuff” that “shows up” is like that.