Learning Who You Are: An Introduction to Experimental Spirituality

Learning Who You Are offers a contemporary take on the age-old questions of who we are and why we are here. The book builds on current scientific knowledge to show how the physical and spiritual realms are interlinked. It does this by presenting a number of innovative models and conceptual frameworks that mesh with twenty-first century understanding. The book also discusses the process of validating these models and concepts empirically, through observation, and explains how meditation may be used to expand vision within and beyond the everyday self. Throughout, the emphasis is on practical processes, focused on the here and now, yet which have the potential to open a doorway into the beyond.

All this is explored using an open-ended, experimental approach that challenges the rigid dichotomies of the past, such as the mundane many vs the enlightened few, and the profane human vs the sacred divine. Historically, the notion of divinity has erected a barrier between humanity and the spiritual realm, which signals that whatever happens in the spiritual dimension is distant and so must remain an unfathomable mystery. Learning Who You Are alternatively, and controversially, asserts that the spiritual domain is not divine; individual human spirits, enlightened or otherwise, are not special; and the spiritual is neither distant nor unfathomable.

The absence of divinity means no Divine Being is pushing or pulling any of us during the course of our lives. So understanding the fundamental nature of our existence doesn't depend on divine decree or sacred revelation. We are already spiritual, hence appreciating the spiritual bases of our existence may be achieved straightforwardly--should we wish to do so, and be willing to make the effort required to discern them.

Learning Who You Are offers the spiritually inquisitive and adventurous a unique, contemporary perspective on what it is to be human, and what may be achieved while living on this often perplexing planet.

Peter Calvert worked professionally as an engineering research associate. He has extensive experience in Buddhist Vipassana meditation, Spiritualist platform mediumship and holotropic breathwork. After learning to write while in a meditative state, he began communicating with non-embodied identities who sought to transfer their knowledge into written form. The year 1998 proved a watershed. Peter began leading meditation groups, and also started channelling material intended to provide a new perspective on spiritual practices and metaphysical ideas suited to contemporary seekers. This perspective included new terminology, metaphors and models that update ancient spiritual understanding as described in the Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist traditions. Peter has established Agapeschoolinz to share what he is discovering, and is the author of a number of books on spiritual topics, including The Matapaua Conversations and The Kosmic Web with Keith Hill.

Keith Hill is a writer whose work explores the boundaries between spirituality, science, history, religion, culture and psychology. His spiritual training was in the Fourth Way teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff. More recently he has been drawn to the Michael Teachings. His books include Striving To Be Human, The God Revolution and Practical Spirituality, each of which won the Ashton Wylie Award, New Zealand's premiere prize for spiritual writing. Keith's translations include the Bhagavad Gita and Interpretations of Desire, mystical love poems by the Sufi master, Ibn 'Arabi. Keith's latest non-fiction work is The New Mysticism.