Universal Patterns of the Experience of Divine Guidance

During my research into the experience of divine guidance I discovered several universal patterns that seem to appear across spiritual traditions and cultures. This research included in-depth interviews with advanced spiritual practitioners and teachers from various spiritual traditions and cultures; a meta-analysis of sacred texts from the Judaic, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Shamanic, and metaphysical traditions; and over 20 years of experimentation and testing of numerous guidance theories and practices from these traditions. The following is a composite depiction of the universal patterns of the experience of divine guidance which I uncovered through this research journey:

Patterns of Experience

The Experience of Source

Individuals who have the experience of divine guidance appear to have a conceptualization of a SOURCE of guidance that either takes a 1st-person (Higher Self, Original Self, etc.), 2nd-person (God, Jesus, Angels, etc), or 3rd-person form (the Tao, Holy Spirit, the Word, Buddha Nature, etc.). This conception of a Divine Source of guidance also appears to include the projection of various particular attributes (imminent, transcendent, etc.), motives (beneficent, merciful, etc.), and activities (creator, sustainer, etc.) onto that Source. The attributes, motives, and activities the individual ascribes to the Source seem to affect their ability to connect with that Source. For example, individuals who perceive the Source of guidance as vengeful and judgmental tend to have a hard time receiving guidance, while those who perceive a loving and forgiving Source appear to have an easier time receiving guidance.

The Experience of Seeking

The individual who experiences divine guidance seems to go through a period of SEEKING a connection with the perceived Source through a process of preparation and purification facilitated by the performance of certain practices, such as prayer, meditation, and ritual. The perceived Source also appears to seek out the seeker, assisting with and/or instigating the process of preparation and purification, and sometimes even offering the seeker an experience of spontaneous guidance through divine grace.

The Experience of Receiving

The process of seeking culminates with the seeker having an experience of RECEIVING a communication from this perceived Source that seems to come in a variety of forms (perceptual shift, inner voice, visions, etc.) and appears to carry a particular content (information, direction, etc.), along with a range of experiential qualities (sense of a higher presence, heart-opening, etc.). The variety of forms seems to require a degree of openness and receptivity within the receiver. The receiver’s encounter with this perceived Source also appears to be experienced through the lens of an archetypal metaphor or theme of encounter (dipping into an inner river, becoming a divine vehicle, etc.), whose form seems to depend on the personal, cultural, and religious influences of the receiver’s life. There also appears to be a universal paradox around seeking and receiving, in that one must let go of all seeking in order to receive, yet one usually cannot receive unless one seeks; it appears that the challenge becomes knowing how long to seek before letting go of the seeking in order to receive.

The Experience of Following

The experience of receiving of communication from the Source ultimately leads to a period of FOLLOWING in which the receiver of Divine communication attempts to interpret and follow the guidance received. This following is based on various effects (fruits) of the experience of Divine communication (purification, consolation, transformation, etc.) that often follows the experience of receiving. The receiver of guidance then uses the effects of the experience, along with the form, content, and qualities of the communication that were received, to discern the authenticity, validity, and meaning of the communication. The receiver then seeks to incorporate the experience into their own life and consciousness.

Patterns of Influence

The individual’s entire process of conceiving of a Source of guidance, and seeking, receiving, and following guidance from that Source, also appears to be influenced by various other factors. These factors seem to contribute to, impede, develop, and mediate the experience.

Contributing Factors

There are a variety of internal and external factors that appear to have contributed to the seeker’s original seeking of the experience of divine guidance and that continue to influence the ongoing process. These may include experiences of insight, the individual’s relationship to the perceived Source, a sense of being called by the perceived Source, and various other life and religious experiences and influences.

Impeding Factors

There is an assortment of personal obstacles (ego, lack of awareness, fear, etc.) and personal constructs (mental, emotional, perceptual, etc.) that appear to impede or block the individual’s ability to seek, receive, and follow divine guidance. The individual must transform and/or transcend these obstacles and constructs through the processes of preparation and purification in order to move past the resistances to seeking and following, and to clear the barriers to receiving the guidance that is continually being transmitted.

Developmental Factors

The individual’s particular developing relationship to the Source, and their evolving degree of faith, will, and ability to surrender appear to develop over time and with experience. In turn, these same evolving forces may exert a developmental influence on the process itself.

Mediating Factors

The individual’s entire experience of divine guidance also appears to be mediated by a synergy between effort and grace, the creation of a conducive set and setting, as well as influential life experiences and events. A process of transcendent education also seems to influence the individual’s process of purification, and their personal and spiritual growth. This transcendent educational process includes the sense that the Source is transmitted lessons in the form of inner and outer life experiences as a way of inducing deep transformative change in us.

General Patterns

Ultimately, the individual’s authentic experience of divine guidance tends to be perceived as a profound subjective experience. It appears to offer superior information, knowledge, wisdom, and direction; foster constructive personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal growth and healing; and elicit a wide range of positive affectivity. These universal patterns also appear to manifest in unique ways according to an individual’s life experiences and perceptions, spiritual and religious tradition, and various cultural and social influences. 

References

THE SEARCH FOR A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE: A Spiritual Autobiographical Inquiry into the Experience of Divine Guidance by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. (2014).

THE EXPERIENCE OF DIVINE GUIDANCE: A Qualitative Study of the Human Endeavor to Seek, Receive, and Follow Guidance from a Perceived Divine Source.  Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D., Dissertation Abstracts International, 2005, 66 (05), 2855. (UMI No. 3174544)

Announcing LIVING A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE Online Course

LIVING A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE

A Special 8-Week Interfaith and Integral Spirituality Holiday Season Course

With Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D., internationally-acclaimed film and spirituality scholar-practitioner and author of the newly released book “The Search for a Divinely Guided Life”

MAKE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON A SACRED DANCE BETWEEN THE DIVINE AND YOUR SELF

From: December 7, 2014 (Sunday) at 1:00 pm Pacific Time 
To: January 25, 2015 (Sunday) at 5:00 pm Pacific Time 

About this Course

The LIVING A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE course is a transformational interfaith and integral spirituality journey through the holiday season. It is designed to foster a more sacred and deeply transformative season, and to help you more fully open to and embrace your own evolutionary quest for the Divine. Using holiday season celebrations from many cultures and traditions as archetypal containers, we will explore how the Divine has already been guiding your life through the creation of your own spiritual autobiography, uncovering and reframing your past and current life situations and challenges in the context of your evolutionary journey toward a higher, deeper, and more expansive way of being. You will also learn how to develop your own integral spirituality guidance practice for seeking, receiving and following guidance from your highest, deepest, and most expansive Divine Source on a daily and moment-by-moment basis.

Location:

This event takes place online.

Who is this Course For?

This course is for anyone who is interested in exploring and living a divinely guided life from a non-denominational, interfaith, and integral spirituality evolutionary perspective.

DETAILS

Join Mark for this transformative interfaith and integral spirituality course, which explores how we can open to, connect with, and more fully and deeply enter into a co-creative and co-evolutionary dance with the living universe. This course will be taught through eight weekly 90-minute conference calls (recordings for the calls will be posted for participants who are not able to join a call). Each week we will deeply explore a dimension of the process of opening to living a divinely guided life with assigned practices, readings and self-reflection assignments, along with online threaded discussions to connect with fellow participants and deepen your understanding and application of this work. Throughout this process we will be uncovering the signs and stories of your life that reveal the divine’s participation in your life journey, and developing skills and practices to help you more fully engage with and participate in your divinely guided life adventure.

Topics covered will include:

• Searching for the Divine Through Time and Memory;
• Deconstructing and Rebirthing our Relationship with the Divine;
• Transforming the Primal Wound into the Primal Calling;
• Cultivating the Witness;
• Tapping into the Evolutionary Impulse;
• The Art of Transformational Reframing;
• Interpreting Life Situations and Events from a Transcendent Educational Perspective;
• Using Holy Days as Gateways to the Personal and Collective Kosmic Curriculum;
• Discovering and Applying Universal Patterns and Practices of the Experience of Divine Guidance;
• Living in the Divine Flow in the Everyday World.

This course uses an Integral Spirituality approach, which is a form of spirituality that seeks to integrate the theories and practices of all faith traditions in a way that recognizes the universal aspects of all paths while also honoring the unique gifts that each path offers. In addition, the Integral spiritual approach helps us integrate spirituality itself with all other dimensions of our being and becoming. From this Integral Spirituality perspective, the “Divine” refers to a higher, deeper and/or more expansive source of wisdom and guidance that can be perceived in various ways, including as a 1^st Person Higher or Deeper Self; a 2^nd Person “Thou” or “Other;” a 3^rd Person Force or System; and/or a simultaneously individual and collective Evolutionary Impulse.

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity – to open more fully to the blessings, graces, miracles, and tender mercies of a divinely guided life.

Dates: 8 weeks: December 7, 2014 – January 25, 2015   

Cost: $345.00 USD plus handling fee (Includes a free download of the book The Search for a Divinely Guided Life* in PDF eBook format)

Scholarships and Discounts: Discounts and Sliding-Scale Scholarships are available for those in need – For more information contact:  divineguidanceproject@gmail.com

Number of Participants: Up to 20

Instructor: Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Weekly Conference Calls:  Sundays 1-2:30 pm Pacific Time

• December 7
• December 14
• December 21
• December 28
• January 4
• January 11
• January 18
• January 25

PRESENTER

MARK ALLAN KAPLAN, Ph.D. is an internationally-acclaimed integral and transpersonal film and spirituality scholar-practitioner. He has conducted and published groundbreaking lived inquiry and academic research in integral and transpersonal approaches to art, media and spirituality, and practices professionally as an interfaith spiritual director, transformative personal development coach, award-winning filmmaker, and media psychologist and consultant. Mark is also a celebrated transdisciplinary artist, author and educator. His spiritual writings include the newly released "The Search for a Divinely Guided Life" and "The Experience of Divine Guidance," and he is the founder and Executive Director of the Divine Guidance Project, a trans-denominational research initiative devoted to the study and advancement of the experience of Divine guidance across religious traditions, cultures and domains of experience. Mark has studied and practiced the experience of divine guidance for over twenty-five years both personally and in an academic setting, and he is the researcher and author of one of the first cross-cultural and cross-traditional academic studies on the experience.

*The Search for a Divinely Guided Life book is also available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon.com. SPECIAL OFFERS INCLUDE: Free Kindle Edition with Purchase of Paperback Edition and Kindle Unlimited Subscribers Read for Free

Evolutionary Guidance

In evolutionary or integral psychology and spirituality, the evolution of consciousness is a key element. Taping into and consciously working with the evolutionary process is also a key element, and an essential way of tapping into the evolutionary process is by attempting to connect with the guiding force of evolution itself.

Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen call this force the “evolutionary impulse:”

“The evolutionary impulse is the consciously experienced choice-in-action to take form and become the whole universe. It is the energy and intelligence that burst out of nothing, the driving impetus behind the evolutionary process, from the big bang to the emerging edge of the future. And that impulse is active right now, throughout the life process, and at every level of your own human experience. In fact, that life-pulsation is the most important part of who and what we are. When you locate that impulse in the depths of your own self, you will become aware that it is inherently free and explosive in its freedom. It is dynamic and completely unrestrained in its nature. While Being feels like eternal peace, Becoming feels completely different. The evolutionary impulse is felt as a sense of tremendous urgency, an ecstatic urgency. At the level of consciousness, it is experienced as a sense that something unthinkably important must occur NOW” (Andrew Cohen, Evolutionary Enlightenment).

Jean Gebser called this guiding force the “inner commission” and saw it as pointed to a greater force or intelligence at work within our lives:

“How do we live? Whichever way we may live, we need to remember that we are also lived by an authority or a power for which there are many names. And, above all, we must remember one thing, namely that whichever way we live, we follow, whether we know it or not, an inner commission that points beyond ourselves” (Jean Gebser, The Ever-Present Origin).

When we explore the teachings of the various spiritual traditions and the personal anecdotes of those who have attempted to seek, receive and follow guidance from a perceived Divine Source, we discover that at the heart of the guidance experience is that the guidance always appears to be guiding us toward a higher stage of evolutionary development. Each tradition has their practices for seeking, for receiving, and for following, from purification practices that attempt to help us remove the obstacles in our personality and consciousness that keep us from accessing and receiving the guidance of the “evolutionary impulse” to mindfulness/awareness practices to help us be fully open and present to receive to discernment practices to help us understand, clarify, validate, and act on the guidance received. This evolutionary guidance appears to be communicated through many different forms, including 1st Person inner promptings, like hearing an inner voice or getting a “gut feeling;” 2nd Person messages from a higher “Thou” or outer “others,” like receiving a message through the presence of a Divine other or having something that someone else says resonate into a deeper and higher meaning; and 3rd Person lessons from external events and circumstances.

One of the simplest and most universal ways of connecting with Divine or evolutionary guidance is attempting to be in the present moment and holding all that is happening as the guidance you need in that moment…

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment” (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth). 

Communicating Meaning Through Art

As an artist of many different mediums (film, drawing, text, photography) I can honestly say that on one level it feels like a miracle when a viewer understands my work in the way that I intended it. And there is often another miracle, when the viewer sees something in my work that I did not consciously intend, but when they speak their truth it rings true for me as well.

I have studied the language of my mediums and how each of their material elements communicate differently across cultures and societies; I have studied the psychology of how individuals perceive and view art; I have studied symbols, metaphors, and archetypes across cultures; and I have studied how different states and stages of development in the viewer and the work communicate with each other. I believe all of these are factors in how the artist communicates to the viewer.

Yet, there is also something else involved here; something I learned in the form of both direct experience and teachings from some of the masters of art I have studied with over the years...this something else is that the more a creative work comes from a deeply personal meaningful place in the artist, the more universal its meaning becomes. This is the great paradox of art and meaning; the more personal the work the more universal and the less personal the work the less universal. Actor and playwright Sam Sheppard said it beautifully when he spoke to my class at the AFI many years ago. He said that if an artist starts with a deeply human truth, one from their own experience or one from the life of another, then the work becomes universal because what is true for one human heart resonates with all other human hearts.

In addition, as a practitioner of art as an integral spiritual practice, I see myself as a creative channel for the Divine; and that when I align myself with the Creative Source as the Divine Suchness, Thou and I AM, the Source speaks through me into the work and out to the viewer. From this perspective, in addition to my own personal meaning being expressed in and through the work, I believe there is a higher meaning being channeled through me and the work that I most often am not even conscious of. Sometimes I discover this meaning when a viewer shares what they received from the work; other times, years later, I discover this hidden meaning when viewing my work from a different place in my own life journey. In the end, each individual views the work from where they are at on their live journey and when a work of art is a channeled work; I believe it has the capacity to become a kind of magic mirror in which the viewer receives the message that is perfect for them at that particular moment on their life path.

From an Integral perspective, I would say that meaning in art is tetra-resonant, in that a work of art can have subjective, material, cultural, and/or social resonance. This resonance channels meaning between the work of art and the viewer, and one can gauge the general message of the art work through any and all of these resonance channels/dimensions. The more this meaning is rooted in a deep truth in any and all of these dimensions, the more universal the message becomes.

In the end, as an artist I never know for sure beforehand if my intended meaning will translate to others; I can only strive to speak the truth as I perceive and feel it and attempt to communicate it through as many resonance channels and dimensions as possible. I have found that I feel that I have communicated with the audience if I have touched them somehow, and I have come to feel that the reception of my intended meaning is not as important as the reception of the meaning that arises through the wondrous and miraculous process of channeling the creative force…

*Image: Enlightenment by Diana Calvario (dicalva)

Night Watch

In the fall of 1985 I visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I remember walking into the room where Rembrandt’s “Nightwatch” was hung. I froze in my tracks and softly gasped (in-spired). The painting’s presence was so powerful that it felt as though I had entered the presence of some great force. The painting seemed alive, as though Rembrandt had captured the life energy of himself, the people he was painting and the presence of the divine, and fused it all into the paint and canvas. I sat in front of the painting for hours, while it spoke to me through image, character, story, color and light about human struggle and divine yearnings within myself and within all of humanity. The messages I was receiving from the painting seemed to be answering some of the inner questions that had been on my mind just before I entered the museum. That night I lay in bed feeling a deep sense of gratitude for the gifts of the inspiration and guidance I had received at the foot of that giant wondrous canvas.

The Seeker

This image reminds me that...

The true seeking of knowledge and wisdom

requires whole person, or embodied learning,

as well as a deep commitment to

a life of lived inquiry,

in which every experience

is taken as a lesson to learn.

Alley of the Unseen Forces

My earliest childhood memory is of a haunting mystical experience I had when I was in first grade. One morning, as I was getting ready to go to school, I experienced a deep sense of panic at the thought of returning to the ridicule and laughter I was receiving from my fellow classmates because of my stutter. Walking down the block with the other kids, the dread became unbearable. I turned the corner and slipped behind some tall bushes. As I watched the other kids going to school, I started to calm down. After a while, the street was empty. I slowly got up, turned down our back alley, and walked back to my house. I snuck into the garage, took my bicycle, and rode off, feeling the urgency of escape. After riding through the neighborhood for a while, I turned down an alley and suddenly stopped.

Autumn leaves swirled around the cracked pavement of the alley, being blown in spiraling waves by the strong Midwestern winds. White billowing clouds swiftly rolled across the bright blue sky above, and the electric power lines gently hummed around me. In an instant all my pains and fears vanished and I was filled with a sense of awe and wonder. Somehow I felt the power and beauty of the unseen forces at play all around me, and I sensed a presence of something vast and deep and unknown around me and within me. A feeling of safety and peace filled me, and I stood there for what seemed like hours.

Over the years, I have returned to this memory over and over; bathing in the gravity of that experience; and remembering to open to the unseen forces at play in every moment, both within me and all around me.

*Excerpt from Original Gravity: A Personal Narrative Theology Inquiry into the Experience of Seeking, Receiving, and Following Divine Guidance by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

God in Drag

"It's all God in Drag!" I first heard this phrase from Ram Dass while attending one of his spiritual retreats. All of us laughed deeply when he delivered the phrase with his perfect spirtual/comic timing. I laughed so hard I almost cried while the ripples of my laughter mixed with the chills of feeling like I was hearing a profound truth.

Over the years this phrase has often helped me to surrender into the Divine Flow of life by reminding me that whatever is happening is perfect as it is and I just need to be fully present to it.

So many times in my life I have been re-minded of this truth. So many times I have had experiences that seemed bad, horrible and/or traumatic, only to find out over time that they were part of a greater arc of experience that almost always brought about growth and blessing.

At that same spiritual retreat Ram Dass expanded on this idea of "It's all God in drag" by telling the following story:

There once was a rancher who had a beautiful stallion. He loved this stallion and pampered it with love and attention. One day there was a great storm and the stallion broke free and ran off into the mountains. The rancher and his family all sat around the hearth and bemoaned their bad fortune. The old grandfather merely sat in the corner and whispered a soft and whimsical: "ah-so."

Three days later, after the storm had passed, the stallion returned. As he galloped into the coral, three wild horses followed him. The rancher and his family were overjoyed at their good fortune. Of course, Grandpa just smiled and said "ah-so."

The ranchers' eldest son asked if he could learn to break in one of the wild horses. His father began to teach his son, when all of a sudden the wild horse threw the son across the coral. The son broke his hip and laid in bed in dire pain. The family huddled around, grumbling about the great misfortune. Grandpa gently held the boy's hand and whispered once again…"ah-so."

The next day a great army came to the village and took all able-bodied young men. The ranchers' son was spared. All eyes looked to the grandfather, who just smiled wisely and said…"ah-so."

Ah-so...Oh-Gee...It's all God in Drag!

Divine Flow

Many years ago, while I was backpacking through Europe, I began to notice myself falling into two distinct patterns of experience. One pattern seemed to consist of periods in which everything flowed smoothly. Things would unfold effortlessly and seemed to work out perfectly. I would meet people who would point me in the right direction where I would in turn meet others. I would have the sense that I was in the right place at the right time and that there was a grand intelligence guiding me. All the elements of my life and the life of those I met seemed to be in some kind of beautiful synchronized orbit held together by some strange unseen force ... and life felt rich and full of "original gravity."

Then, suddenly, I would find myself in another pattern of experience. Everything seemed to go wrong, and I was out of the flow. I sensed that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Places I wanted to see would be closed or inaccessible. People seemed distant and cold. I felt isolated and alone. Every step was an effort, and I felt out of synch with everyone and everything.

Slowly I began to realize that there were certain thoughts and perceptions that seemed to precipitate and support these two different patterns of experience. A surrendering of my plans, expectations, and past memories preceded the periods in which I experienced a sense of flow and effortlessness. During these periods of flow I would tend to be totally in the present moment. I seemed to naturally accept things and people as they were. The periods in which I experienced everything being out of balance seemed to coincide with planning, expectations, and/or following a past idea, suggestion, or desire. A flood of past memories and future concerns also marked these times.

The qualities of my flow experiences were very similar to those described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his writings on flow (1990; 1993; 1997). These qualities include the loss of self-consciousness, a sense of being part of some greater entity, and an altered sense of time (Csikszentmihalyi, 1993). This experience of flow is "... like being carried away by a current, everything moving smoothly without effort" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1993, p. xiii).

At first I tried to manipulate myself into having these flow experiences, but that only seemed to send me farther into the other experience. I began to see that each pattern of experience was related to the other. My periods of flow seemed to come from the surrender produced by the culmination of the frustration of the "out of the flow" experiences.

When I finally surrendered to the whole process the rest of my journey was filled with miracles and blessings. I felt guided at every step by a loving and compassionate force beyond my comprehension. Though I had explored spirituality and caught glimpses of this force prior to my trip, none of my previous experiences compared with the combined depth, magnitude, duration, and everyday integration of my experiences in Europe.

When I returned from my trip overseas I was unable to retain my deep and continual connection with this force, yet somehow I felt as though I had awakened from a deep unknown sleep. Everything seemed different; old familiar people, places, and experiences had a different quality to them. It was as though my center of gravity had shifted.

It is a disturbance of the equilibrium of the self, which results in the shifting of the field of consciousness from lower to higher levels, with a consequent removal of the centre of interest from the subject to an object now brought into view: the necessary beginning of any process of transcendence. (Underhill, 1961, p. 176)

Before my journey, my life was centered on career and finding romantic love, with short excursions into the realm of spirituality. After my experiences in Europe, the center of my life seemed to shift toward becoming the best human being I could become, and to find a way of reconnecting with the experience of Divine Flow. I began to explore, more deeply and earnestly, the world's spiritual and religious systems for knowledge and practices that could aid in my journey. And ultimately, I was lead to a process of self-reflection and self-inquiry to deepen my quest to understand this strange and wondrous experience of being in the Divine Flow.

*Excerpt from Original Gravity: A Personal Narrative Theology Inquiry into the Experience of Seeking, Receiving, and Following Divine Guidance by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

First Taste

Many years ago I traveled to London for the first time and met a sixty-year-old British postal worker in the Duke of Wellington Pub in Soho.

He bought me a glass of barley wine and told me it had a very good original gravity.

I asked him what he meant by original gravity.

He explained that it was the British method of expressing the strength of a beer.

He winked and said I should always make sure I’m partaking of strong original gravity.

As he spoke these words he seemed to momentarily transform from an intoxicated postal worker into a sparkling-eyed mystic.

In my mind, the phrase original gravity blossomed into a metaphor for living life to its fullest, and over the years it has become the catch phrase for the state of being I aspire to attain in my life and through my work in creative expression, education, spirituality, research and healing.

*Excerpt from Original Gravity: A Personal Narrative Theology Inquiry into the Experience of Seeking, Receiving, and Following Divine Guidance by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.