by Dr. Barbara O'Guinn Condron
Throughout the history of mankind there have been schools of thought that have taught the development of consciousness throughout the ages. They have been secretive. They have been cloistered in Himalayan monasteries or the halls of the Vatican. They have been specialized as was the school of Pythagorus and Socrates' Academy. Such wisdom has only been available to an elite group, not the masses. You either gained admittance through birth, or through money, or through position, or place on the earth where you were born, or you were appointed to it. The ancient wisdom belonged to only a few. Until now.
In a secular sense, schooling focused on cultivating genius — education centered on how to learn instead of what to learn — is unique in today’s world. In a religious vein, schooling devoted to the Enlightenment of Spirit is virtually nonexistent for most. Opportunities to learn are far too rare. The School of Metaphysics is changing this. Now whether you are young or old, rich or poor, single or married, a parent or childless, professional or laborer, devout or irreligious, you can learn and study and become. The only prerequisite for entry is a desire to learn. And that has never been offered on the face of the earth.
The student who seeks SOM education is a person who questions. He or she seeks answers to the questions that arise in his thinking. He expects that answers exist and that it’s not up to some unknown and unseen force or God to produce those answers. Rather he believes, and experience has taught him, that the answers are forthcoming to one who displays the highest abilities known to man — reasoning and intuition. Reasoning is the power in the conscious, waking mind. Intuition is the power in the subconscious, inner mind. Both are a sequence of events in thought. Both can be taught and learned. This is one of the objectives pursued in SOM study.
Education that Matures the Soul
For a quarter of a century, the School of Metaphysics has provided quality education in the development of consciousness. It is a forerunner in uniting what very much divides people in the world today. The two quarrelling groups can most readily be described as people of a religious nature and those of a scientific persuasion. A chasm stands between the two. They are constantly at odds. The beauty of metaphysical study is that it causes the mind to transcend whatever differences or conflicts there might be between science and religion. Through identifying causal principles an amazing accord becomes apparent.
We believe, and from our research we know, that you can teach someone how to come into contact with, become familiar with, and access his soul. This has until now been solely religious territory. Science has avoided the issue. For most people the soul is a concept, a result of faith. It’s something you believe exists — somewhere. You hope that your soul will be saved from punishment or purgatory or hell or damnation in the future because you live a good life. This is the extent to which most people go in their thinking. This is the commonly accepted view of the soul.
A metaphysician thinks beyond the norm, embracing bold insights that bring new awarenesses to mankind. Metaphysicians recognize that they are a soul and that the physical body is a temporary form the soul inhabits. They realize the physical conditions of their lives are transient, coming and going in a constant state of change. They only exist in as much as the soul needs to learn. From this vantage point, the physical world becomes the soul’s university, offering the opportunity to learn. Learning — or more appropriately understanding — is the sole reason for the soul to assume physical form. It is the height of understanding for someone to identify with the soul, to know what the soul needs, and to be about the work that the soul has to do in order to become whole. The SOM program of study teaches you to access your soul. It teaches you how to develop the discipline required to access the inner levels of your own consciousness. Inner level experience is necessary to know your soul for here you see your soul, face to face.
Most people’s recognition of the soul is through nightime dreams. Far too many people don’t pay attention to their dreams at all. Many people say, “I don’t dream.” When in reality, what they are really saying is “I don’t remember dreaming.” Scientifically we know that dreams occur in cycles every time we go to sleep. Some people have access to their soul or recognize their soul in telepathic experiences. They think of something and the person that they are with says it out loud. Or they have a special rapport with a best friend or spouse; one person starts a sentence and the other one ends it. This kind of mind to mind communication, or telepathy, is one expression of the soul. Some people commune with departed loved ones or angels or other entities that exist beyond physical vibratory creation. Others have inklings or clairvoyant experiences perceiving probabilities that indeed transpire. Then there are those whose talent propels them far beyond the accepted boundaries of the average. Such prodigies harmonize with inner resources and draw upon considerable wealth of wisdom to make everyone’s life easier. These are ways that some people understand and know their soul.
Any intuitive faculty is a way for you to access your soul and therefore know that it exists. For most people, however, esoteric knowledge is left to chance. It comes and it goes seemingly on its own whim and without any kind of direction or any kind of understanding on the part of the individual. The course of study in the School of Metaphysics changes your fate. You are no longer at the mercy of a force that is beyond your understanding and control. Through spiritual discipline you begin to bring to you illumined understanding of the nature of your own consciousness. The limitless power in it. And the awesome responsibility of it. You begin to recognize yourself not only as a soul but also as a spirit. Not only as a child of a God, or a Creator or The Source, but as one who is maturing and trying to reach compatibility with that Maker. This kind of education will be increasingly in demand in the years ahead.
Bringing Forth Genius
The kind of education that promotes and encourages personal Enlightenment is what every soul yearns for. Expanded consciousness is what ultimately every soul will achieve. The challenge of the School of Metaphysics is that it is designed for those who want to accelerate their evolution. This is the mission, the heart and soul, of the School of Metaphysics. It is not so much that what we teach is unique. The Universal Laws and Truths that guide creation can be found in the Holy scriptures of the world. Much of this schooling has been taught in secret schools of thought for centuries or by the great masters throughout history. What is unique is the accessibility of the study and the means to implement it. The School of Metaphysics is designed to accelerate anyone’s evolution, right now. This school exists for the people who are not satisfied with waiting. They are not the kind of person who tends toward procrastination, they do not just wait and see what happens. This education is for the kind of person who is a leader and server, who has an illuminating vision of the future, and a commitment to become enlightened. Such a person emulates Great Masters that they have read about, or indeed known, sincerely wanting to be like those people. Such an aspirant desires to be close to his God. He wants to be able to give back to humanity just some of what he has received in lifetime after lifetime after lifetime.
When this type of person is a child, he or she is described as talented and gifted. Early in SOM history, through our Clean Up America project, we became familiar with the real needs of these children. Each year we gave one hundred percent of the money collected for the project to schools for talented and gifted children. We met with unexpected challenges. With a nation that affords all of its youth a basic education, you would believe we would also respond to the accelerated needs of the future leaders, inventors, visionaries, and explorers. Originally, when we started looking we found all kinds of schools and programs for what were called “special” kids, children mentally or physically impaired. This was not the case for the quick learners. Schools for the talented and gifted were rare and programs often consisted of one hour a week of studies different from the regular curriculum.
The shocking truth was few people knew enough about how to learn to adequately teach these young minds. This is so important because what happens in the first seven years of our lives lays the foundation, the pattern, for an entire lifetime. These patterns are repeated throughout the life over and over. The strengths as well as the weaknesses. This does not mean that you can’t overcome any kind of adversity that you may have experienced as a young child. It does mean that what we give a newly incarned soul during the first seven years will make or break that individual for that lifetime. Applying metaphysical principles and practices in your own life prepares you for parenting. When you know basics of disciplining the mind, you can teach them to a child. Concentration, listening, recall, meditation, relaxation, intuitive skills. Personal responsibility, integrity, wisdom, and a love for Truth. When you learn spiritual principles and practices from a very young age, you can imagine what you might be able to accomplish throughout an entire lifetime.
How and what we teach the youth of the world determines the kind of world we will know in the next ten years, fifty years, the next hundred years. A recent U.S. survey of kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers asked what skills they thought their students would absolutely need in the next millennium. About 45% of them said the students would need mastery of a second language, 63% noted science and math skills, and 67% said students need to have technology and information background, ie. computer skills. Ninety-five percent of the teachers said their students would need proficiency in problem solving. Yet, very little problem solving is being taught in U.S. schools. Yes, there is a bevy of hypothetical “what if’s” but these are nothing more than secularized morality plays that teach our youth how to think negatively. They fail to teach reasoning which is the instrument of problem solving. Imagination is being taught even less in our schools. We can continue to wait until a problem arises, then go about using our innate or “God-given” reasoning capacities to try to correct it. But it’s far more visionary to be able to imagine what you want to occur that would benefit yourself and other people. Then find a way to make it happen. The difference is feast or famine. The difference is peace or war. The difference is wealth or poverty. If you have to wait for conditions to be a problem, then you have to wait for famine. You have to wait for poverty. You have to wait for sickness. You have to wait for war before you can set the creative intelligence that you possess into motion to solve that problem. We must teach our children how to use their minds fully, productively. And we must set an example.
As a nation, as a planet, we must admit that education is not just learning how to read and write, although these are very important. Education is learning the mechanics of how thinking occurs because once you learn how you can do anything. This is freedom, and that’s why I’ve spent twenty years teaching metaphysics. I could have taught many things. I could have chosen to specialize in writing, art, music, or in some kind of physical endeavor. But I would not have been as influential because what I teach people through SOM is the key to being able to have anything you desire. I know every time I teach someone how to use his mind effectively, I have opened every door in the universe to him. All he has to do is choose which one he wants to walk through. This is the essence of education in the next millennium.
The Coming Changes
Memory. Imagination. Attention. Each of these mental skills can be taught, learned and practiced. We, at the School of Metaphysics, teach adults how to use the power of their minds. We know one’s command of reasoning determines the quality of his life, success or failure, solitary or companioned, memorable or forgettable. It also dictates whether he is happy or sad, friendly or adversarial, at peace or in turmoil. A reasoner can rise above his original station in life. History is filled with such people. And now it is time for more of them, many more. The time is coming when the outstanding leader, the scientific inventor, the artistic genius, and yes the spiritual master, will no longer be the minority. The time is approaching for humankind to experience a surgence of creative genius that will initiate an era of Enlightenment yet to be seen on this planet. This will require changes in education and in religion.
In the present educational system there are all kinds of attempts to instill in our youth and the youth of America concepts like respect. Respect for diversity, respect for other’s points of view. Respect for opinions. This is pervasive, not only in how we educate our youth but in how we live our own lives. The media reports and promotes the concept daily. They’ll say “arguably” the most important factor to longevity, “arguably” the best restaurant in town, “arguably” the smartest candidate for presidency. Listen for it, you’ll hear it. It’s always “arguably”. Nobody stands for what they believe in anymore. This is a result of the idea and how it’s been promoted of “respecting someone else’s opinion.” It’s difficult to teach something you know nothing about it. It’s very difficult to teach respect when you don’t teach concentration. From being able to focus your mind, you can understand what something is. Once you understand something, you can pay your respects. When this understanding is lacking, in place of respect you find fear. And what do we see in too many of our schools? We see children who are scared to go to school. We find teachers who are scared to go to school. Why? Because of drugs, because of guns, because of the threats of violence.
Imagine, what will happen when we teach children how to focus the power of their mind. What will happen when we encourage them to imagine rather than wait for a problem to solve? What will happen when we teach them to meditate; to find a place of peace within themselves? Where there’s love, where there’s peace, where there’s generosity, where there’s hope, there is no place for fear or hatred or anger or destruction. This is universally true. In many ways, in the educational system in this country, we have tried to secularize concepts that traditionally have been religious. We have tried to separate what we call church and state. When what the country was founded upon was a freedom to be able to express your sense of spirituality. Your sense of religion whatever it might be. It is freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. We find ourselves in a quandary, needing the spirit of the law while denying the spirit exists.
And so we come back to the School of Metaphysics because the School of Metaphysics goes where no government and no educational system has gone before. It marches right in the middle of teaching spirituality. Not as a belief system or as a dogma, but as a series of disciplines that open the individual to genius, to the supernatural, to the divine. These disciplines that are based upon universal principles that apply to anyone, anytime, anywhere. It does not matter what color you are, it doesn’t matter how tall or short, it does not matter how rich or poor, it does not matter if you are well or ill, it does not matter which country you are born in, it doesn’t matter what religion you follow — you can become a metaphysician. You can access the levels of your own consciousness and possess a direct grasp of Truth.
There’s a profound openness that comes as you develop your own consciousness. How you see yourself and the world changes. You quickly realize the more expanded your consciousness, the more we have in common. When you leave behind small-mindedness you realize how small the world is. Unity born from enlightenment is what the School of Metaphysics is bringing to the world.•