Prologue

The Gift – a greater perception of the world into more than what the five senses can perceive. Heavily related to intuition, connection to others or the universe beyond what is immediately around you such as thinking about calling someone and then they call you. This allows you to experience yourself as more than your mind and body. You gain a new perspective and understand that all experiences are an opportunity to serve spiritual development. This is also referred to as multisensory perception. This is the start of greater awareness.

The Work – this is the action taken from experiencing the Gift or multisensory perception, this is creating authentic power. The Work is a gradual process as you work to change the internal part of you that causes you to respond with painful emotions such as anger, have obsessive thoughts or engage in compulsive and addictive behaviours. You are now striving to act through love and joy. Now you are aware, you can choose to act consciously and create different outcomes.

Spiritual partnership – a partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth. Each partner is responsible for their own spiritual growth but the other partner(s) support them and hold them accountable for continuing this partnership.

Five sensory individuals evolve by surviving. Multisensory people evolve by growing spiritually. People who are evolving spiritually seek spiritual partnerships to grow together. Spiritual partnerships allow you to co-create with other people who are also committed to their spiritual growth.

Our Trails to Empowerment community environment of living and working with positive, supportive people 24/7 means a spiritual partnership is the only relationship that is effective, as long as each partner is ready to commit to this partnership.

As with the Work, creating authentic power is a graduated process, not a single event. It is your purpose, it is the journey not the destination.

In our community, everything is a graduated process and everything is done with purpose. We know personal transformation and spiritual growth is a life long process.

Introduction

Spirituality – is not about conforming to traditions or commandments or accepting the authority of another. It is about appreciating the holy in everything and living to implement this. It means no judging of yourself or others, only discovering and transforming your interior causes for painful and destructive experiences and behaviours. It involves creating joyful experiences and constructive behaviours.

Gary Zukav describes five sensory humans as a dying species. Multisensory humans are evolving as they develop spiritual partnerships. Spiritual partnerships are more than what has previously been understood as spiritual.

The process of spiritual transformation is irreversible – you can’t go back. In our Trails to Empowerment community we know that once you’ve grown you can never go back to who you were before. Once you’ve learned something, you can never unlearn it. You have a responsibility to grow from your experiences and share them with others.

Old type relationships were based on a shared goal – when the goal was achieved, the relationship ended. The relationship between an employer and employee is for making a wage to survive to retirement. Between a car mechanic and client it is to pay to fix a car. Friends have fun together and offer sympathy, but the relationship ends when it is no longer fun. These relationships can be difficult and painful as people work ruthlessly for shared goals (such as a political campaign).

In our community, we have the shared goal of nature connection, conservation and spiritual development, but for those of us who are ready for spiritual partnerships, the connection is deeper than that. We have the desire and the commitment to be part of something bigger than self.

At the centre of old relationships is the desire to manipulate or control circumstances (including people) to achieve the goal. People do not act in a way that challenges their shared goal or expectations of the relationship as this is poorly tolerated by the other person and may cause the relationship to end.

In our community, we are able to challenge others on their actions and hold them accountable on their obligations, principles or responsibilities. We can do this as each person knows the role they play and that all interactions are opportunities to grow and evolve. We strive to make all interactions positive and not created from a desire to manipulate, put someone else down or make themselves seem better.

As people grow spiritually, these old type relationships are no longer enough. Survival is no longer the only goal. You need more to feel fulfilled. In the past, people searching for spiritual growth did so by retreating into hermitages or monasteries. Multisensory humans recognize spiritual growth cannot be achieved effectively in isolation, to evolve as a human, you need human connection. Harmony and cooperation are attractive to multisensory humans who are interested in self-awareness. People are seeking meaning and purpose in their lives, seeking to live with love and joy and contribute to Life. This is more important than money and other motivators of old relationships.

This is how we live in the Trails to Empowerment community. Although there are many things we have to work out for ourselves, being able to talk openly about everything with our spiritual partners means we can gain new perspectives and learn more about ourselves and others.