Institute for Real God Comparative Spirituality

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.The focus of this department is to make sense of and compare the differing views, placing particular emphasis on the views of materialism, esoteric spirituality, and exoteric religion; and to emphasize the difference between "armchair" comparative religion and empirical comparative spirituality which is based on Spiritual practice and Realization.

COMP101: Beyond Spiritual Correctness — There is an analog of "political correctness" that we might call "spiritual correctness". It goes something like: "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 with "political correctness", "spiritual correctness" can be carried too far. We begin to presume that, in order not be discriminatory, we must cease to be discriminating. The focus of this course is the understanding that, not only is it "okay" to compare spiritual practices we are considering taking up — in fact, it is absolutely essential, if we truly care about what we will realize spiritually.

COMP102: Three Views of Reality and Human Potential — 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 course, we make sense of and compare the differing views. We place particular emphasis on introducing and comparing the views of materialism, esoteric spirituality, and exoteric religion. We also identify four different "dimensions" of the Greater Reality: animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine.

COMP103: How to Read a SPIRITUAL Book — A significant part of comparative spirituality is reading spiritual literature. This course focuses on how to read spiritual literature with receptivity, discrimination, and recognition of and respect for genuine Spiritual Authority. Doing so requires us to understand several things: 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. We also study the "textual analysis" traditions of exegesis and hermeneutics, and consider the similarities ans differences between the techniques developed by those traditions and what is required to read a book that is aimed at communicating a Spiritual Revelation.

COMP201: The Sacred Earth: Realization of the Magical, Psycho-Physical Dimensions — In course COMP102, 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.

COMP202: Heaven: Realization of the Spiritual Dimensions — In course COMP102, 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.

COMP203: Beyond Heaven and Earth: Ultimate Realizations — In course COMP102, 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.

COMP204: Religious and Spiritual Uniqueness Claims — This course surveys and evaluates religious and spiritual uniqueness claims, both contemporary and historical. It considers which ones are ungrounded (often serving as the basis for "holy" wars) and which ones are worthy of serious consideration, in the same way certain phenomena of physics, such as black holes, gravity waves, certain planetary conjunctions, etc., are rare or unique, but truly exist nonetheless, and are worthy of serious consideration. The degree of emotionalism surrounding such uniqueness claims stems from confusing three things:

• social egalitarianism, in which all religions and spiritual traditions are to be considered equal in their human and civil liberties (e.g., the right of anyone to freely practice the religion of their choice without persecution);
• religious sociology, in which all religious and spiritual traditions are considered equal in the potential value of their "myths" for consoling human beings, providing a sense of purpose or meaning for individuals, etc.;
• religious truth, in which the focus is on what is true — actually, potentially, or partially — about each religious or spiritual tradition. As with alternative scientific theories, there is nothing guaranteeing that all spiritual traditions must be equally true — even though anyone should be able to practice any of them freely; and anyone may be consoled, or provided with "meaning", by any of these traditions, even though consolation and "meaning" need not have anything to do with truth.

Examining truth in religions or spiritual traditions requires a methodology, even as science is based on a "scientific method" that has allowed its findings or proposals to be accepted as truth (actual, potential, or partial). This course will also consider spiritual methodologies adequate for the task.

• Comparative Spirituality 101