The fire is real.
I sometimes describe the experience of spiritual transformation as feeling like one is on fire. Few people can allow themselves to stay in the fire long enough to burn away old conditioning.
Additionally, modern society has built itself upon the basic belief that comfort is one of the most valuable things there is. Modern human beings do all that they can to be comfortable or to minimize difficulty. And difficulty is only okay if it there is more comfort at the end of the difficulty.
Thus, people are completely unprepared to surrender to the sense of “burning,” which is one of many types of intensities that may come up in the purging of old conditioning on the path to realizing spiritual freedom.
In this class, I hope to help people better understand what “spiritual burning” is rather than general ego upset (of which there are many) and how to use these intense moments to shed attachments.
If you’d like to come, please sign up for my free newsletter to be notified when I’ll be sharing this class.
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The Fires of Transformation Class Description
Change can be hard.
But it’s often the ego that creates that difficulty .
And it can do all kinds of things. It can trigger all kinds of physiological responses and emotions. The intensity of what can come up can surprise people. They feel things that they didn’t even know were possible to feel.
As mentioned earlier, people have a deep commitment to comfort, and the experience of this internal fire flies in the face of everything that most people have been taught to want. Even those who have learned to embrace some level of difficulty in life are often at loss for what to do in this particular kind of intensity, and they may get stuck in the self-improvement/fixer trap, as they attempt to work through something to get out of it. But this is just more ego at work.
All Kinds of Experiences Erupt
I’m sure you’ve seen the long lists of “symptoms” of awakening. Those experiences and ailments are, by-and-large, products of a person’s reactions and the emotions/tension that they are already carrying with them. However, many people blame the spiritual experience rather than to see how they are reacting and what they are carrying. Those reactions and old wounds then lead towards trying to escape the perceived difficulty, but really, they’re trying to escape themselves.
Yet some do manage to get out of their difficulty–usually through self-medicating, avoidance, and other ways of masking their own feelings.
But others can’t quite escape.
Still the mindset that needs to be cultivated is to surrender, not escape.
Surrender to fatigue.
Surrender to the busy mind.
Surrender to the truth of your wounds.
Surrender to any and everything inside you.
In surrender, we learn how to spiritually transform. We learn how to allow transformation rather than attempt to control it to get to whatever outcome the ego wants. This ego mentality is part of the very mentality creating so much discomfort. It is the wet wood that is fueling the friction between the fire of your soul/awareness/true reality. Without that wet wood, there is just pure untroubled fire.
But since we are beings of habit, we are deeply habituated to our thought and behavior patterns, and there is a process of letting them go that can feel intense. Thus, most people will have these intense moments as they go through a process of release.
Who Should Come to this Class
I want to emphasize that you don’t have to have a major spiritual experience to feel like you are in the fire. The internal reactions of the ego can make anyone feel like they’re in the fire. Learning how to burn is, in part, learning how to be with unconscious emotional and physical reactions, which all human beings have as far as I’m aware.
If you want to realize spiritual freedom, you should be in this class to understand what may be asked of you.
If you feel like you’re already in the fires of transformation, you should come to learn to surrender NOW.
If you feel like you are regretting escaping the fire, you should come to prepare yourself to return to the fire.
If you have emotions, you should come. haha
What You May Learn in the Fires Class
Some of the topics I will likely touch on include:
- What surrender is and why it is critical,
- How to turn towards the fire and inquire into what is “burning,”
- Why returning to awareness is a profoundly important practice during this time,
- The problems with trying to escape the fire,
- How and when to increase the intensity of the fire, and
- What it means to transform and become the fire.
For some more thoughts on this topic, you can read/view these resources:
When to Intensify a Spiritual Awakening
Specifics of the The Fires of Transformation Class
Here are the specifics of how the class works.
- One gathering at either Monday at 9 AM Pacific Time or Monday at 5:30 PM Pacific Time (depending on who wants to come and their timezone)
- Have a class of around 10 people
- Meet online via Google Meet (this online video service is free)
- Meet for 1 hour and 1/2
- Most of the class will be a lecture style
- There will be around 1/2 hr for people’s questions
The suggested donation is 50 USD for those who can afford it. For everyone else, it is whatever fits your budget. Please don’t donate until after we spoken together and you’ve gone through the enrollment process. Signing up for my newsletter is NOT the enrollment process. That comes later.
If you have questions about this class, I’m happy to answer them.
Once again, if you’re interested and aren’t on my free newsletter, you can sign up below. I’ll send out an announcement when I’m enrolling people in The Fires of Transformation class.
In love and kindness,
Jim Tolles
