Does your life have a purpose? If so, is it one that isn't going to get instantly ripped off when you die? Many of us spend our lives denying death, allowing ourselves to be completely consumed and distracted by our responsibilities, our indulgences, and our search for things we cannot take with us after death in any overt form (knowledge, accomplishment, fame, or friendship). But death is still coming. We get little support from culture, society, biology, or even conventional religion for becoming adequately prepared; indeed, we are actively discouraged from even considering the matter. In Western society, the “dying business” at best tends to help us come to the point of acceptance of death (when in fact we should already be accepting death right now, leaving us sufficient time to prepare for what comes after). And the “death business” tends to assist the living go on living rather than assist the dead in their transition, as more informed cultures do. This book sensitizes us to our mortality, and encourages us to start preparing now.

(What does come after? See Book 5: You WILL Take It With You for the second part of this consideration.)

What will occur after we die? This question can be answered, on the basis of a large body of reports across the centuries — on near-death experiences, after-life experiences, reincarnation experiences, paranormal phenomena, and the direct awareness of Spiritual Masters — as well as by studying the laws of the psyche as we observe it in life, to predict its destiny after death. The report is not all roses, though. In fact, its conclusion is that there is life after death, and re-birth, but it is also likely that we are going to suffer greatly during the period between lives, unless we develop, during our lifetime, a powerful Spiritual practice that truly links up with God.

(How to do that? See Book 6.)

True wisdom takes into account while we are still alive both our mortality and what we are likely to carry with us after death (and the destiny that creates), and uses the course of a lifetime proactively, for the purpose of self-understanding, communion with That which is beyond life and death, and, ultimately, Awakening completely from the dream of life and death. We'll examine three of the key "problems" that will face us in the after-life — psychic attractors, psychic bullies, and the unrecognizability of Reality — and describe the Spiritual practice capable of dealing with them, not only after death, but in every moment of living.

We consider two tendencies that we inherit simply by virtue of living in Western culture — “spiritual correctness” and “spiritual anti-authoritarianism” — and we come to understand the liabilities they represent, relative to our own Spiritual happiness and liberation.

Spiritual correctness says: "all paths to the Divine or ultimate liberation are equal"; and anyone who suggests otherwise risks seriously offending or insulting whomever they are speaking with. But just as everybody knows that not all telescopes are created equal, not all religious means for tangibly linking up with the Divine are equally powerful, reliable, or revelatory. To find the means that will actually most benefit us Spiritually amidst the myriad of possibilities available, requires great discrimination.

Spiritual anti-authoritarianism began with the Protestant Reformation, in righteous reaction to the corruption of the Catholic Church (at the time, the exchange of money for a "reduced sentence" in purgatory). But this reaction too can be carried too far. We are all indeed equal in Spiritual “rights”, that is, in our Spiritual potential. But that does not mean we are all equal in our Spiritual Realization. And vive la difference! Thank God not everyone is equally Spiritually blind, and that the Spiritually Sighted are in a position to help the rest of us.

Taken together, all the great wisdom traditions around the world and throughout history offer a wide variety of views on (and experiences of) the nature of the Greater Reality and human potential in the context of the Greater Reality. In this book, we make sense of and compare the differing views. We place particular emphasis on the views of materialism, esoteric spirituality, and exoteric religion.

Materialism, the view that what you see (or hear, or touch, or taste, or smell) is what you get (or all that is real), is seen to have many limitations, including its tendency to insist on reducing everything to merely materialistic terms; and its inability to adequately account (in merely materialistic terms) for human consciousness, and hence, human death.

Esoteric spirituality deepens human potential by acknowledging the Greater Reality, and providing the means for experientially embracing It. We briefly touch on four different dimensions of the greater Reality — animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine — and we will elaborate upon these dimensions, their Realization, and the means for Realizing them, in Books 9, 10, and 11.

Exoteric religion is understood to derive from an originally esoteric source (such as a great Spiritual Master or a shaman). The practitioner of a legitimate exoteric religion — one that is still in touch with its esoteric roots — engages disciplines aimed at bringing him or her to full human maturity, in preparation for taking up the esoteric practices of his or her tradition. When an exoteric religion loses touch with its esoteric roots (e.g., by being “re-shaped” for the sake of political and social survival), it can devolve into an illegitimate exoteric religion that still may be socially and politically influential, but is spiritually bankrupt.

In Book 8, we identified four different dimensions of the Greater Reality: animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine.

In the animistic / psycho-physical experience (aspects of which are shared by shamans, medicine men, and psychics), it is obvious that we arise as a psycho-physical being within Nature, which has not only a “body” (the “objective reality” of the materialists) but also a “soul”, or psyche. This Sacred Earth is a seamless, psychic unity, populated by all manner of etheric and psychic forces and entities beyond the merely physical, with which we are intimately inter-connected (in a way that is not discernable from the purely materialistic view) and to which we can learn to be rightly, magically related (and, in so doing, allow the Sacred Earth to be revelatory, even a bridge to God).

We conclude by studying the limitations of the purely animistic / psycho-physical view, relative to the ultimate human potential of Complete Awakening from the dream of changes (in both its material and greater-than-material aspects). We lay out which developments in the etheric and lower astral dimensions of our being are necessary and useful for supporting and quickening our Complete Awakening.

In Book 8, we identified four different dimensions of the Greater Reality: animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine.

In this book, we study those dimensions associated with the Spiritual view, along with the practices for Realizing these dimensions, and the egoic obstacles that must be transcended. We base our study on the understanding that we, ourselves, are a multi-dimensional composite of elements from these different dimensions (matter, spirit, and Consciousness). In the Spiritual view and Realization, it is obvious that we arise as a “spirit” within the all-pervading Divine Spirit, that we are always a part of God.

In Book 8, we identified four different dimensions of the Greater Reality: animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine.

In this book, we study those dimensions associated with the Transcendental and Divine views, along with the practices for Realizing these dimensions, and the egoic obstacles that must be transcended. We base our study on the understanding that we, ourselves, are a multi-dimensional composite of elements from these different dimensions (matter, spirit, and Consciousness). In the Transcendental view and Realization, it is obvious that we arise as a conditional being, along with all of conditional reality, in an Unconditional, Transcendental Reality. In some traditions, the Transcendental Reality is also a personal, Transcendental Consciousness, which is obviously our own True Self. In the Divine view and Realization, it is obvious that everything arises within a Divine Being Who is simultaneously all-pervading Spirit and Transcendental Consciousness; it is directly obvious that we are That One, and that everything is merely a modification of That Consciousness.

• how the spiritual experience of saints, yogis, and other Realizers relates to Reality Itself;
• who the genuine Spiritual Authorities are that can establish the "ground rules" by which we can rightly understand and appreciate spiritual literature;
• the Spiritual Realization of the people and phenomena being described;
• the ground rules under which the authors write (e.g., hagiographers, scriptural deconstructionists, and New Age authors, will have completely different intentions, and will describe the same subject matter in completely different ways, and draw completely different conclusions from the same sources);
• the social and political forces that may have influenced or altered the source over time;
• how to read with spiritual receptivity, rather than the usual, merely conventional, skeptical mind that unwittingly robs one of spiritual opportunity.

Crucified. Poisoned. Burnt alive. The reasons why the greatest beings who have ever lived — who have offered the greatest hope for human kind — have invariably been denied and persecuted. Why Jesus, were He to appear again today, would be crucified not by wood and nails, but by indifference, scandals, and litigation. Why discrimination against minority religions continues to be tolerated, even indulged, long after the women's suffrage and black civil rights movements have made discrimination in those particular areas "politically incorrect".

True spiritual life has always been a challenge: there have never been large numbers of genuine saints, yogis, or holy men and women in any given age of the world. But while some obstacles to spiritual practice have remained constant throughout the ages, others are unique to our own age. In some sense, we are born with three strikes against us (more, in fact). Significant spiritual growth can occur only when we have understood and transcended all the primary obstacles, whether they are set by culture, society, biology, or even conventional religion.

The Promised Land of physicists is a simple GUT (Grand Unified Theory) or TOE (Theory Of Everything) capable of explaining all physical phenomena. But a theory that truly accounts for everything, must also take into account subjective as well as objective phenomena; it must be a psycho-physical theory, and, moreover, a DART (Divinely Aligned Reality Theory) which is grounded in the Transcendental Psyche.

In general, such theoretical unifications lead to practical consequences of extraordinary reach. "Electro-magnetism" led directly to the development of the electric motor, one of the cornerstones of modern technology. A DART-based "psycho-physics" will lead directly to a "technology" of happiness, and the true alleviation of human suffering at its root. But, by its very nature, this "psycho-technology" will not be usable in an independent, purely "objective" manner; self must be invested.

One of the longstanding questions of believers in God, particularly in the Judeo-Christian tradition, is "If God is all-good, how could God create a universe that contains evil or in which people suffer? Or, if God didn't create evil or suffering per se, how could God allow it?" Many people have slid into atheism largely for lack of an adequate address to these questions. We examine the history of this question (and the responses to it), and then suggest a real answer to the problem of suffering, by placing responsibility where it belongs — on us — and elaborating what we must understand and do (which is necessarily Spiritual in nature) in order to be free of suffering.

Anyone interested in spirituality should be aware of the latest evidence available confirming or strongly suggesting the existence of various aspects of the greater-than-material reality. Studies and data are drawn from such diverse sources as: neurotheology; psychic phemonena studies; studies of documented miraculous phenomena; quantum physics; and reincarnation studies.

A brief history of the "separation of Church and State" issue, from Plato to today, and in States around the world and throughout time. The difference between true freedom of religion — where religion is openly expressive and freely exercised — and the confinement of all expression of any religion or spiritual path that acknowledges the existence of a Greater Reality to "behind closed doors", which implicitly but powerfully advocates the religion of materialism (in violation of the establishment clause of the US Constitution). The dampening and darkening impact of the religion of materialism on the human spirit, and particularly on the survival of minority religions. Why world peace requires both human and spiritual maturity, and why those who have that maturity must require it of their leaders if there is ever to be a true and lasting world peace.