A Virtual World

When we lived in Boulder, Colorado, we were intrigued by the numerous gurus and teachers who came through town. There were workshops in Hinduism (various kinds), Buddhism (various kinds), various lineages of Sufism, Western Esotericism, Native American traditions, sound healing, healing with light, angelic contacts, etc. nearly every weekend.

We enjoyed sampling a few of these offerings, even though we remained deeply committed to our own paths, which at the time were the Sufi Order International (now renamed the “Inayati Order" and Jewish Renewal. We realized there was an advantage to having all those options available: you can try them out and see what path and teacher is a good fit for you. The disadvantage comes in the temptation to follow "the path of the week."

By Taken by Jesse Varner. Modified by AzaToth. - Self-made photo. Originally uploaded on 2006-04-19 by Molas. Uploaded edit 2007-12-23 by AzaToth., CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3267545

The situation was somewhat different when we moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The spiritual offerings were not quite as varied, but we had plenty of options available, including visiting Native American dances and ceremonies at nearby pueblos.

CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=628679

By David Gearing, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10799351

Then we moved to Spain. We have a rich cultural life here, but we missed the spiritual community we had in the US. We began traveling to the UK regularly to attend classes with Tim Freke and other teachers. And in recent years, we have discovered online classes that make in-depth teaching available wherever we happen to be in the world. The internet provides a plethora of opportunities for online learning, and we have enjoyed becoming part of this virtual world. I never would have thought that online learning could be so transformational, but it really works for us.

There are a number of platforms and organizations offering webinars and online learning courses. The one we use most often is the Shift Network. We have taken courses from Robert Moss on Active Dreaming, Barbara Marx Hubbard on Conscious Evolution, and Andrew Harvey on the Divine Human. Some of these courses include extensive “break-out sessions” and private Facebook pages where you can interact (virtually or in real time) with fellow students. There are courses on Shamanism, Mystical Christianity, Native American Wisdom, HeartMath, the Enneagram, etc. The Shift Network appears to have mastered the technical issues of online presentation, and the courses are professionally run and offer good value for the money.

The internet offers us even more options for exploring spiritual paths than we found in Boulder—and we don't even have to leave our living room. We feel connected to fellow seekers around the world, even though we have only met online.

If you would like to see what is currently on offer at the Shift Network, including free multi-teacher summits, click on this banner:

Do you have online courses that you would like to recommend? Put your recommendation into a comment and I’ll look into it.

Note: This message was brought to you by Sven and Coyote (see previous blog posts). You may meet them (and us) at the next Shift Network event. (And, by the way, if you decide to sign up for anything via the banner on this blog post, I will receive a small discount on future enrollments.)