WHAT IS THE LAW OF ATTRACTION?
The Law of Attraction has been suggested in literature, philosophy and religion throughout the ages. It is a law like gravity, in that it affects all things. Everything in your life, the good things and the so-called bad, has been attracted by this powerful law. Understand how and why your life unfolds as it does and learn to create the life you want!
READ MORE>A conversation with Caroline Myss
Caroline Myss is a pioneer and international lecturer in human consciousness. She is the author of many bestselling books and popular audiovisual recordings.
Michael James interviewed Caroline mid-way through her world lecture tour based on her latest book, Entering the Castle.
MICHAEL: Caroline, a lot of people today are searching for answers about life yet “turned off” by the terms Spirituality or New Age and everything that goes with that. Why do you think this is?
CAROLINE: The answer to that question is not a simple one. The search for answers to and about life is not new. That is the quintessential quest of the human being, captured in The Odyssey, for example. The frustration in the quest, however, for most people comes in their having not only unrealistic expectations of what lies at the end of the search for meaning and purpose, but that the search is answered by finding a fantasy job or a fantasy relationship. This misguided quest is not authentic spirituality but an expression of how we feel that we are entitled to get what we want, just like that, even from God. Being “turned off” is not a bad thing; it’s an indication that the so called New Age is now middle-aged and needs to mature in its association of spirituality as a means to physical comfort and realize that true spirituality is a path of spirituality illumination, prayer, and the quest for self-knowledge.
MICHAEL: How would you describe this emerging spirituality that has been coming into being over the past few years?
CAROLINE: I think of the emerging spirituality that has come out of the past fifty years – because we’ve been at this New Age movement for half a century now – as more of a hybrid in that the contemporary spiritual culture is a reflection of our needs as opposed to our ascending to the rigorous requirements and demands of the soul. We have created a comfort zone spirituality with a focus on health and healing to such an extreme that health spas, massages, and eating a vegetarian diet are actually considered doing something spiritual for yourself. The nature of the soul is that it is a vessel that seeks illumination and union with God and two, it seeks to serve others. While taking care of oneself is fine, that is hardly what I would describe as a spiritual path.
MICHAEL: How would you suggest we improve the quality of our own lives?
CAROLINE: That’s a personal choice but I am always in favour of individual’s following their inner guidance that inevitably directs them to complete unfinished business and beyond that, become a person of congruence. That is, instead of pursuing lofty, unrealistic goals such as your “highest potential”, work on perfecting your self esteem, your integrity, your honesty, keeping your word, not betraying yourself or your friends, and not being controlled by the fear of humiliation. If you can do that, you will become your highest potential automatically as that is a soul quality and not an occupation.
MICHAEL: How did you first start your journey into spirituality?
CAROLINE: I grew up in a spiritual home – I was always involved in my spiritual life. There was never a moment of beginning for me.
MICHAEL: How would you define your faith?
CAROLINE: As my comfort zone, as my interior castle, as my source of stamina.
MICHAEL: What is your definition of God?
CAROLINE: For me, God is all there is. No definition I can give can satisfy that question.
MICHAEL: Have you got any suggestions for a daily spiritual practice?
CAROLINE: Prayer is essential as is a devotion to personal reflection on the writings and teachings of spiritual masters or sacred literature that continually inspires you.
MICHAEL: Who are your favourite spiritual teachers/inspirational people and inspirational literature?
CAROLINE: Of course, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Emily Dickinson, Rumi, and Lewis Carroll.
MICHAEL: What can we expect from your latest book, Entering the Castle?
CAROLINE: I wrote this book as a guide deep into the soul. The soul is foreign territory for the westerner as the soul is not accessible through the mind, through mental chatter, through debate and descriptions of God. You can only enter your interior castle through prayer and we do not emphasize prayer and silence, much less personal reflection, as values at all. We have completely cut out the vocabulary required to resonate with the soul. The soul is a vessel of the sacred and the sacred requires respect and humbleness. Most people act as if God should serve them when, in fact, it is they that should serve God.
MICHAEL: There is a wonderful story about how Entering the Castle came to be. Can you share that with our readers?
CAROLINE: I would prefer that people read that story in the book! But suffice to say, I didn’t just write Entering the Castle. I entered my own Castle as I wrote this book, mansion by mansion. I took the journey that I am now leading readers on and I am doing the same work that I am encouraging others to do as a spiritual path of personal illumination. I have the deepest regard for this journey into the soul and for the power of the soul that the human being awakens. Nothing in your life is the same.
MICHAEL: In your book you talk about soul companions – the need for a community of like-minded others. Can you explain this concept?
CAROLINE: A soul companion is someone with whom you can share your interior experiences with God and the “progress of your soul”, as Teresa of Avila would say. Entering the Castle is a book that describes contemporary mystical spirituality and the nature of mystical experiences. Mystical experiences often cause an individual to feel separated from ordinary life because they are profound by their very nature and they are transcendent of your five senses. They reorient your understanding of reality and of the nature of God, who shifts from a mere intellectual thought form, which God is for most westerners, to an animated Being of Light that actually penetrates the walls of your soul. You no longer wonder about life after this life, or about the power of prayer or the healing force of love or the need to forgive or the truth that we are truly one with all life. That becomes a living fact, not an intellectual premise. But there is a profound crisis that occurs within a person when a truth actually shifts from something you just discussed to something you actually experience, not unlike the difference between talking about becoming a mother and then actually becoming a mother. You can talk all you want about how you will be as a parent before you are a parent, but the fact is that’s nothing but idle chatter. For the parent listening to you, it would be fair for them to think, “You don’t know what in the world you are talking about. Just wait until you have a child of your own.” I remember a situation exactly like that with a friend of mine who, first of all, used to say she would never become a mother because children are so much trouble. She was always annoyed with how parents would fuss over their little babies and make such a big deal out the every little thing their babies did.
One day she actually said, “If I ever became a mother, I’m just going to get a nanny or someone else to take care of them.” Then she became a mother – and all her chatter, her theories about mothering evaporated in an instant because they were replaced by the authentic experience of becoming a mother. Then the meaning of what it meant to be a mother filled out and filled in for her. The same can be said for the difference between the individual who chats about God but has not had a mystical experience and the mystic, who knows God through direct experience of God. Everything changes for the mystic.
MICHAEL: What can we expect from your workshop book tour for Entering the Castle?
CAROLINE: I am going to introduce the participants to extraordinary concepts of what it means to be a mystic out of a monastery in the world today, because I suspect many of them are exactly that and do not realize it. I will describe the interior of their Castle in detail and then, of course, I will lead people into their interior Castle. I will also introduce people to the notion of how to channel grace for healing and I will close the workshop with a healing session. I will also discuss the nature and power of prayer. I think it will be a wonderful experience.
MICHAEL: Thank you for your insights, Caroline and good luck with the tour!
Entering the Castle is available now in book and CD lecture format from all good bookstores. For more information about Caroline Myss including her tour schedule, go to myss.com. First published October 2007.