I teach classes all around the planet and when I bring up the term spirituality, there are often murmurs in the audience—and with 150 to 200 people there in the room, murmurs do not go unnoticed.

 

So much conflict in the world today has its roots in religion, and many people carry around negative feelings related to past experiences with religion. Some religious groups condemn people of other faiths and spiritual paths. Thousands of atheists gathered recently in Washington to proclaim their rights to express their views openly. More and more people describe themselves as “spiritual, not religious.” It seems we need to rethink spirituality and find new ways to forgive and understand ourselves and others.

 

The terms spiritual and spirituality have taken on some new meanings in recent times. The words have been associated with so many different things. These associations are positive and negative, good and bad, happy and sad. And for many individuals, none of these labels apply. The problem is not with the label of spirituality itself, but rather the associations that so many have made.

 

About six years ago, I began to refer to our Huna Workshops as Consciousness Workshops. On our website Huna.com, the event is called the Huna Higher Consciousness Workshop. I did this because a while ago I realized that we were attracting non-spiritual people to the workshop. Now before you email me and explain that everyone is spiritual, let me agree: when you are on a spiritual path, you do see everyone as spiritual. However, depending on your particular path, you may not see it that way. That is to say, a person on a non-spiritual path may see everyone as being non-spiritual.

 

The realm of the dichotomy or duality in which so many of us live, is one that must be transcended to experience the non-duality of concepts. Rather than debating a term like spirituality, religion or any other label, let’s look at what we want to achieve as human beings in experiencing higher levels of consciousness. With this in mind, we quickly realize that each path is perfect, and each label we choose is perfect. If you want to be religious, great! I am sure you want to be more conscious of your religious path, right? Likewise if you want to be more rational in life, being more conscious is vital, correct?

 

We live in amazing times in that energy as proven, personal empowerment is something we agree we could use more of, and increasing consciousness has become a part of our culture. This was not the case when I was teaching in the 90s, so I love our growth and expansion on the beautiful planet.

 

My five-year-old daughter asked me about energy after watching Avatar. She said, “Daddy, you teach about energy. How do I work with my energy?” Wow! What a great question! Not, “Daddy what is energy?” or worse, “That is just silly.” She wanted to know what energy is and how she could apply it to her life.

 

I said to her: “Skylar, do you know what lightning is?” She said “Yes!” I then explained that lightning comes down to earth in a flash. And that it usually looks for something to connect to that will ground it. I found a picture of a lightning rod, and explained that the energy then goes into the earth. She got it, oddly enough, in a flash!

 

I told my daughter, “Skylar, your body is a lightning rod, and mana (the Hawaiian word for energy) comes from above, finds you, and connects/grounds in your body.” She smiled and said, “How do I get more to come down!?!” I told her that is exactly what we have been teaching at our Huna workshop for 22 years now. “Wow, Daddy, that is a long time!” she replied.

 

Now, let’s kick it up a notch for the adults. You are already connected to energy (read Dr. Bruce Lipton’s book The Biology of Belief or any book on Quantum Physics). We are already on a path. Each path is different of course. However, there are similarities. There are certain stages or doorways we have to pass through to achieve higher levels. From a Huna perspective, the big picture stages are called the lesson of mastery and the lesson of life. One way to approach higher levels of consciousness is through the path of individuation which Carl Jung taught. I believe that Jung was much more “spiritual” than many thought during his lifetime.

 

Looking at Jung’s work through the perspective of Huna helps people absorb the concepts. It is about moving from the realm of the ego-driven society that we have created in Western thinking, to the realm of the true Self or Higher Consciousness.

 

Many students have said they avoid this type of study because they fear the loss of their identity. That is simply not the case with this type of work. Rather, think of moving from elementary school to middle school as my twelve-year-old son just did last year.

 

My son Ethan is the same person; he is just at a different level now. When you move through these doorways or stages, you are still you. Of course some things will change. Even so, a few friends that I have known for close to 20 years just said to me this year, “Wow, Matthew, you haven’t changed at all! And yet you have…” They meant that I am the same person, and yes, life has progressed, some doorways opened, and I have passed through.

 

I hope this helps you on your path so that you may increase your consciousness and become more the “you” that you want to be.

 

Got questions? Please respond in the comments below or contact me through our Facebook page. Also, check out our trainings at NLP.com and Huna.com.

 

Mahalo,
Dr. Matt