by user_dd | Mar 18, 2020 | Community Conversations
I am wishing you well as we continue to prepare for the impacts of the Corona Virus/COVID-19 on our communities, as well as sending love and prayers to those that have lost friends and family to the virus already. Please wash your hands and note social distancing recommendations. Here’s a John Hopkins article on social distancing.
Due to the pandemic, I am suspending all of my in-person classes until the May 5th. Currently enrolled students will receive special instructions via email regarding their particular classes.
Where possible, we are converting our offerings to an online format at Matthew’s Zoom link:
For example, all our meditation classes will be conducted online. You can find more details about which events are virtual on our website calendar by looking for ‘Virtual’ in the front of the event title. For example, “Virtual: Meditations for Awakening.”
Once group classes resume, we will be practicing social distancing with 3-6 feet between every person. We will refrain from hugs and handshakes, as well as giving reminders to each gathering about social distancing and its importance, even during breaks.
Community Support
You are invited to join a movement to bring peace to the world at a time of crisis. Learn important coping skills through meditation (15m), connect and share experience with a community of support (15m).
Global Health and World Peace Meditation
Join Zoom Meeting at 8:30pm PST every weekday for the next 4 weeks starting today!
https://zoom.us/j/5037656542
Client Sessions
We are continuing to see clients 1-on-1. All of our sessions are always done fully clothed and almost all sessions are hands off or with a rare touch. Touching on the head required for a few of our sessions will be with hands sanitized directly before and after, or with surgical gloves.
While we’re not currently sick, anyone can be a carrier, have no symptoms, or have unknowingly been exposed to the virus. Certain authorities are suggesting everyone behave as if they have been exposed. We imagine Oregon will make the same recommendation soon.
Doorknobs and shared touch surfaces are being sanitized between every client. The front doorknob is being sanitized morning and evening—bring you own hand sanitizer for the building entry doorknob as you should for all public spaces at this time.
Practitioners will be following strict CDC handwashing guidelines before and after every client.
Clients with symptoms or known exposure are asked to self-isolate and not attend their private session or class.
Stay Safe and Sanitized Out There
We hope that this information is helpful for you making an informed decision about your attendance. We care about your safety and the safety of vulnerable populations most at risk during this pandemic.
We look forward to serving you during this difficult time.
Yours in the Light,
Matthew Koren
Guide in the Lineage of King Salomon
Certified by the Modern Mystery School
Founder of Spirit in Transition
Feel free to contact me with questions/thoughts/dry humor: 503-765-6542
by user_dd | Mar 10, 2020 | Community Conversations
When it comes to consciousness studies, there are many systems you can use as a lens to organize and develop your understanding of the different states of consciousness available.
And states of consciousness are the goal people are after—sometimes the only goal in their spiritual pursuit.
Have you ever wondered why people who seem to be able to achieve a high state of consciousness can still be assholes? This is because simply pursuing a state of consciousness doesn’t take into account one’s worldview, perspective, and fundamental life orientation. Ken Wilbur in his latest book The Religion of Tomorrow calls this a ‘stage’ of ‘growing up’ as opposed to a ‘state’ of ‘waking up.’
You may be pursuing a state of consciousness from a very egotistical or biased view. Or from a place of wanting more power, money, sex, whatever. Have you ever known anyone who can experience or attain a high state of consciousness but is still racist, homophobic, or bigoted in their worldview?
Not only do these people exist, the world has numerous examples of whole traditions that are still misogynistic, homophobic, or racist. For example, the Theravada Buddhist tradition makes a clear distinction between what and how male and female contemplatives can practice. If you study in one of their temples like I have, you’ll notice that the women are kept very separate from the men, and they do drastically different tasks as well (like cleaning, cooking, and washing).
Of course, each tradition has very good reasons for doing this. In fact, there are important energetic differences between a male and female-bodied person. So, I’m not saying the whole Theravada Buddhist religion is misogynistic, I’m saying in my two-week observation of it, as an outsider, non-practitioner, with little context (including language) ONE ANGLE of it looked pretty misogynistic.
I say this with the deepest respect for my meditation teacher, the abbot of the monastery there.
How can this be?
If you follow Ken Wilbur’s writing on consciousness studies, he provides a fairly comprehensive explanation. I won’t try to summarize Ken Wilbur’s life work in one blog post, but for our purposes here it’s helpful to look at the difference between ‘states’ of ‘waking up’ and ‘stages’ of ‘growing up’ in consciousness studies.
Stages are like points of view, a way of seeing the world. Regardless of your stage, you can achieve a very high state of consciousness, it may just be limited by the point of view or perspective of your stage. For example, if your stage believes the gods are wrathful and vindictive, then all thunderstorms may seem like an angry message from the gods above.
Wilbur’s book Integral Psychology charts over a hundred different developmental modes or stages of ‘Growing Up’ that are used by developmental psychologists, spiritual traditions, and other authorities the world over.
States are simplified into four states: gross / subtle / causal / non-dual (dreamless). As you continue to dive deeper into meditation or dream-states you lose consciousness of manifest reality and rise into higher states of being that are not identified by any dualistic experience, but rather, an experience of oneness/Unity.
The problem arises when you achieve a high state of consciousness, but from a lower stage of consciousness, and you view your experience through the lens of that stage/perspective. So even if you’ve lived a perfect life in relation to the gods, and have achieved a high state of connection with them, well, you may become really confused when someone implies ‘them’ is actually ‘one’ god, a unity.
‘Wake Up’ AND ‘Grow Up’
The best perspective we will ever achieve on certain traditions and practices may be from the outside. Details of these systems, especially if they’re secret and reserved for the initiated, may never be revealed to us—and you can see by its fruits that the Theravada tradition, again just as an example in this case, was wildly successful in shepherding many generations of contemplatives through important breakthroughs in states of consciousness, so it’s clear they served an important purpose in human evolution.
But the question remains, do they still? Is this ‘stage’ of growth still relevant to our journey? Or rather, a better question, how do you know when you’ve moved beyond one stage to the next?
If you truly want to develop your consciousness, you must both ‘wake up’ and ‘grow up.’
You can explore that with the next guru you meet who doesn’t treat men and women, different racial groups, or sexual orientations equitably.
I for one would rather be in a stage of growth that honors all aspects of the identities of my sisters and brothers on the path to enlightenment. Unity with God is, after all, a birthright of ALL people, right?
