In counseling if we set our minds to practice the highest truth we know, and if we aim to be in attunement with that truth, we are likely to experience spiritual awakening in which we merge with that truth and rise to expand consciousness.

In working with soul exploration, the sessions seem to be best when both client and regressionist have spiritual development as a primary focus. The emotional charge needed for thoroughness in exploration works best when combined with contact with one’s essence. Rapport and attunement happen easily when the center is a spiritual ideal — something to which the client is aspiring. A focus beyond material, physical, mental, and psychological issues is important in making progress at any level. Centering upon a pivotal, personal, spiritual ideal will keep us balanced.

If you are a beginner in working with ideals, there might be a tendency to confuse ideal with idea or with a goal. Over the years, we have been very goal-oriented. Recently, many groups have been mission-oriented. More and more people are becoming aware that, through personal transformation, life can be enriched at the inner level of their being. When corrections are made at the spiritual level, it is only a matter of time until changes are made at the physical level— in behavior. Physical manifestations are conceived in the spirit and put into action by the mind.

Ideals are related to motives and intentions. They come from the person’s essence. From the hypnotic state, Cayce, the Father of Holistic Healing makes the statement, “ � ideas are not your mind — ideals are principles acted upon by the mind.” (2533-6) In the Cayce Readings, ideals are mentioned more than ten thousand times. Two people can perform identical tasks. For instance, consider the person who is bagging your groceries: one in a loving, caring manner; the other in a selfish, ego-centric way. The completed service or product appears to be the same; however, each person’s energy creates different vibrations. When the motive for doing something is one of cooperation, kindness, love, or any other spiritual ideal, we feel good because we have generated high-level spiritual energy.

Statements of orientation become ideals only after we become involved in them. Knowing which direction to take to a destination will not get us there until we take those first steps and start moving in that direction. Nothing happens until we move. In Genesis, Chapter 1, we read that the earth was without form until God moved. He talked after He moved. The sequence: create/imagine, do something, talk. It is only by the application in practical experience that words can become ideals. By choosing ideals, we begin to awaken the spirit — to generate the energy, to generate new behavior. In the application, the awareness expands the energy of the principle. It leads to spiritual understanding. When we live the ideal, the wisdom gained through the application of principles will become transformational.

The re-orientation to the inner world of spirituality can lead to inner transformation which can be observed in a change of direction in life. It can be achieved by focusing attention upon, and by putting into practice, a spiritual ideal.

Standards for living should be the highest that we know. Actions based upon a sound philosophy of life must flow from that higher consciousness. When the standard is set the spiritual ideal is the motivation which permeates attitudes and actions in the home, the job, and in community interactions. It is the foundation and direction of life. It is the spirit, the essence, through which we function. It should be the highest principle in our awareness.

When we use hypnotic suggestions or affirmations using the client’s own phrasing of the chosen spiritual ideal, it becomes as an open door or a channel through which the client can become attuned to the Creative Force, or God. It can be a word, a picture, or a feeling.

Often, there are strong issues which are impacting emotionally upon the client. In order to help the client to understand something which has its roots in another lifetime, we, as hypnotist, or hypnotherapists, need to set our sights upon the highest understanding /truth /measure /standard /guide that we know. When we live the highest ideal, we experience a spiritual awakening which enables us to go beyond limited beliefs which we have encountered.

We choose ideals, spiritual principles by which we guide our lives. As the little boy said when he didn’t want to go to school, “It’s not the work, it’s the principle(principal) of the thing!” In the school of life, we do what the principle says. An ideal serves as a sense of stability, a criterion by which we make decisions. It is a conscious choice of a personal standard by which we can judge our potential actions. Recently, in a counseling session a client said, “I have standards; they might be low, but I have them.” Standards of attitudes and behavior should be the highest that we know. When we choose principles and put them into practice, they become our ideals. We convert words to concepts, then to attitudes, followed by actions in order to gain a better view. It is in the experience, the living, that we understand the ideal.

It might be true that a near-death or kundalini experience or any other sensational revelation might awaken us. Such experiences are of benefit to some people; however, we can choose. We can start right where we are. To experience a transformation, we can simply orient ourselves to an ideal, a personal North Star. We must choose to act in a way consistent with the spiritual ideal.

Each desirable action has a basis in a strong spiritual philosophy of life, sometimes universalized and at an unconscious level of mind. If we neglect to choose the highest ideal, then we default to something of a lesser nature. Our actions are based upon mental attitude; mental attitudes are founded upon ideals. Slightly paraphrasing the Cayce Readings: the spiritual idea is the guide, mind is the builder, and the physical action is the result of our ideals, our belief systems. Some belief systems are not the highest; some ideals acted upon are less than the highest. Behavior is the result of the ideal filtered through the mental attitude.

Physical ideals are concerned with actions. We make a decision regarding how we are going to express a spiritual ideal in a physical manner. We decide what we can do to express the feeling of what we have chosen as a spiritual ideal. Think in terms of specific actions such as : vacuuming, washing the car, talking with a friend, etc. Physical ideals are the expressions of spiritual ideals in words and actions. A physical ideal: to have a tidy office; a physical goal: to put the books back on the shelf. An ideal is a purpose connected with a motivation which is connected with spirit.

Compare the spiritual ideal to a faceted diamond. The overall ideal, over many lifetimes, of oneness with God would be represented by the whole faceted diamond. An ideal for a lifetime(e.g., service, patience, love, etc.) would be represented by the whole faceted diamond. An mental ideal is the attitude in which we approach work in any area of life. A physical ideal is the action taken based upon a mental attitude which is grounded upon the lifetime spiritual idea.

How do you measure your life? Often we might know through intuition— from flashes of insight. There is empirical knowledge and there is revealed knowledge. When choices have to be made, do you have a vision, a measuring device, a standard, an ideal by which you measure your alternatives? Examine the energy within you. What is your motivation for doing what you do? Do you consider such factors as : a sense of fairness, giving good service, and unconditional love? Are you demonstrating cooperation, kindness, oneness, and patience? Do you determine the standards by which you live?

Here is an exercise designed to help you identify your ideal:

1. Recall a person who, in your judgment, has lived, or is living, a very highly-evolved spiritual life.
2. Select a word or phase which applies to that person. Write that word or phase on paper.
3. Write the names of five other people whom you respect. What principle of living do they seem to have in common? Write that principle on paper.
4. If somebody were writing a news story about you, what personal quality would you like to see in print?
5. Write a word or phase which is or could become your ideal.