Learning Who You Are: An Introduction to Experimental Spirituality

Learning Who You Are offers a contemporary take on the age-old questions of who we are and why we are here. The book builds on current scientific knowledge to show how the physical and spiritual realms are interlinked. It does this by presenting a number of innovative models and conceptual frameworks that mesh with twenty-first century understanding. The book also discusses the process of validating these models and concepts empirically, through observation, and explains how meditation may be used to expand vision within and beyond the everyday self. Throughout, the emphasis is on practical processes, focused on the here and now, yet which have the potential to open a doorway into the beyond.

All this is explored using an open-ended, experimental approach that challenges the rigid dichotomies of the past, such as the mundane many vs the enlightened few, and the profane human vs the sacred divine. Historically, the notion of divinity has erected a barrier between humanity and the spiritual realm, which signals that whatever happens in the spiritual dimension is distant and so must remain an unfathomable mystery. Learning Who You Are alternatively, and controversially, asserts that the spiritual domain is not divine; individual human spirits, enlightened or otherwise, are not special; and the spiritual is neither distant nor unfathomable.

The absence of divinity means no Divine Being is pushing or pulling any of us during the course of our lives. So understanding the fundamental nature of our existence doesn't depend on divine decree or sacred revelation. We are already spiritual, hence appreciating the spiritual bases of our existence may be achieved straightforwardly--should we wish to do so, and be willing to make the effort required to discern them.

Learning Who You Are offers the spiritually inquisitive and adventurous a unique, contemporary perspective on what it is to be human, and what may be achieved while living on this often perplexing planet.