About

Barry

Combining psychology and spirituality with a wealth of personal experience, my aim is to inform, inspire and occasionally entertain anyone who has ever wondered … Who am I?”

🙂 Barry

Hi, I’m Barry. I’m a psychologist exploring the hidden depths of human nature — what may be called our essence or soul.

Many people ask themselves “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?”

To answer “Who am I?”, they might begin by looking into their own personality.

To answer “Why am I here?”, they might turn to a spiritual teaching or philosophy.

But ultimately, both searches end up in the same place — who we are is why we are here. 

In other words, your mission in life … should you choose to accept it … is to be yourself, to allow the fullness of You to shine.

You see, the real You is not your personality. It’s your essence — that which is constant and ever present, yet also invisible, intangible, and silent.

Your personality — with all its quirks, hangups, and limitations — may be more superficial, but it is no accident. It is a kind of vehicle for your essence to learn how to shine in the world. “Self-realization” and “self-actualization” are what we call those moments when the essence that is You comes to outshine your personality.

Many psychologists, philosophers and other thinkers continue to regard all this spiritual and mystical talk as meaningless or irrational. I used to be one of them! But … I cannot deny my own discoveries and transformations — and I’ve had more than I could even hope for in one lifetime.

Nor am I able or willing to callously dismiss others’ experiences as mere delusions or wishful thinking.

My mission, like yours, is to keep exploring and being who I am. Our mission is endless as we will forever reach new heights in each lifetime, and beyond.

And like you, I have a specific project to work on as part of fulfilling my mission within this lifetime. In my case, my life task is to gather and share the inner knowledge that I find most helpful and liberating. Ideally in a way that is lucid and entertaining to as many as possible.

So the purpose of this website is to be a hub of information, inspiration and occasionally entertainment about who and what we really are — beyond (but including) the personality.

  • For occasional journal accounts of my own experiences, including meditation, manifestation, self-discovery, spiritual awakening and past life regression, see Journal.
  • My perspective is informed by various spiritual teachings, particularly those which focus on consciousness evolution and enlightenment. See Teachings.
  • You could also take a look at my various Articles, or check out my list of recommended reading under Books.
  • If you feel so inspired, you can send me a donation here: Donate.

— a d v e r t i s e m e n t —




About (part 2): My health and my purpose

(Updated 5 April 2014)

I just thought it worth mentioning this bit of back-story. I have two fairly serious medical conditions that have had a dramatic impact on my life, affecting my time and energy. And yet they also have a special relationship to this website.

The first is called Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis (RRP), a rare disease caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Ugly but benign tumors, rather like pink raspberries, constantly grow inside my trachea and voice box, gradually affecting my ability to breathe and talk.

I’ve had this since before turning 40 (c. late 2000). I wasn’t properly diagnosed for about two years, in which time I spent several months on the very edge of choking to death, fearing sleep every night, not sure if I would actually wake up the next day. And I had no voice at all, just a whisper. Plus a constant (like 10 times a minute) dry cough that drove everyone around me insane.

Eventually, thanks to the determination and skills of my fantastic wife, I was seen by an international  expert. properly diagnosed, rushed straight into hospital for an emergency operation, and saved.

A troublesome feature of this disease, however,  is that it doesn’t just stop. These airway growths have to be pruned on a regular basis, either by clipping or by burning with a laser, regularly enough to prevent choking. In my case, I have to undergo a 1-hour surgical operation under general anaesthetic every 3-4 months.

I have lost count of the number of operations I’ve had, but I’d guess it must be between 40 and 50 by now. Not surprisingly, perhaps, all those anaesthetics have taken a toll on my body’s general resilience. It now takes me at least a couple of weeks to return to normal functioning, and I am highly susceptible to infection.

Then in May 2008, after months of feeling increasingly “unwell” in some way, I suddenly experienced what felt like a possible heart attack. I was in my boss’s office at the time, so he called for an ambulance.

Well, the good news was that it wasn’t a heart attack; in fact it was a case of acute pericarditis, which is where a bug causes the pericardium (the membrane that envelops the heart) to inflame. This is rather painful in the heart itself, though for the record it feels more like a bullet wound, rather than the crushing weight that accompanies a heart attack. The sore, swollen membrane also affects the heart itself, resulting in weakness, as well as the anxiety that goes with constantly feeling your heart “struggling” with each beat.

The pericarditis cleared up in a couple of months, but my general condition didn’t; in fact it plummeted from bad to worse to terrible. I found myself in a constant state of utter fatigue and depletion, barely able to walk a few yards and certainly not able hold a book to read. On top of this I had all-over aches and pains, and feeble-mindedness. I felt like I had become a 90-year-old overnight. A 90-year-old with Alzheimer’s and the flu.

Again, a few false and misleading diagnoses had to be dealt with, until I was eventually diagnosed as having post-viral fatigue. This is the label for having constant fatigue for at least 6 months following a viral episode. If it still persists beyond 18 months, as mine did, then the label changes to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as M.E. It was once derided as “yuppie flu” – a sort of middle-class excuse for feeling tired. Despite the growing evidence now showing that the body’s ability to make and use chemical energy has been damaged in CFS patients, there are still many — even doctors! — who dismiss it as “all in the head”, or just malingering.

Fortunately, my doctors have been on the ball and there is a government-funded CFS/M.E. support clinic near where I live.

The upshot of all this digression into my medical history is to point out the following:

(a) Sometimes, whole days, weeks or even months go by in which I lack the energy to concentrate or communicate. Needless to say, that includes my responding to personal issues that people write to me about. (I seem to have become a sort of psycho-spiritual agony aunt.) As you can probably see in the comments sections around the website, I do try to respond to each individual as best I can, but sometimes I simply cannot focus at all. If I have ever failed to respond to you, please accept my apologies.

On the other hand…

(b) This website and its continued expansion, including  my responses to readers’ questions, appears to be my life’s mission, or at least a platform for it.

One day, at a time when I felt I was not so much close to death but as good as already dead, I actually locked myself in a quiet room with a pen and notepad and decided not to come out until I had a clear, conscious knowing of my life’s purpose. If I only had, say, a year’s worth of activity left in me, what should I do with it? How could I die feeling satisfied that I had done what I came here to do? Was I missing anything?

It took about 45 minutes of introspection and self-enquiry, which took me through a series of insights.

First, I realised that whatever it is I might be here to do would be something I naturally find fulfilling and rewarding, as it will be an opportunity to let the essence of my soul (or the quality of my life force, if you will) flow at its best. In other words, to fulfil my life I must be authentic and express my true nature and the way I truly see things, even if that feels self-indulgent, as any falsity will lead to frustration and dissatisfaction.

Second, I realised that whatever it is that I would find most fulfilling would inevitably be of service or value to others. This just seems to be like a law of Nature: do what truly expresses your gifts and interests, and satisfies your heart, and others will automatically benefit. If service to others (or life in general, or society, God, whatever) doesn’t feature in your sense of purpose, you’re probably not seeing your true purpose.

Third, I realised that living with purpose, or being true to my purpose, did not necessarily mean giving up my day job or my lowering my standard of living if I was unwilling to do so. So long as my heart is set on self-fulfilment and service, and my mind is open to new possibilities coming from nowhere, the universe will find a way.

Finally, I got my purpose. I had to turn different words and phrases over in my mind a few times, but I could feel that I was on the right tack — it was just a matter of getting that “chime” feeling of resonance, that “tuning fork moment” in which the words describing my purpose match the feelings I seek (the joyous, uplifting and freeing sense of doing one’s true work, that which I came here to do).

Here it is:

To find something I feel  is really worth saying, and then to say it to all who are ready to hear it, and say it with exquisite beauty and clarity, such that their soul feels uplifted as a result.

The next day, I started this website.

And with hindsight I can also see how my illnesses have been a huge gift.

About (part 3): My kundalini awakening

(Updated 15 September 2014):

barryWow. Speaking of huge gifts, between September and November 2014 I experienced a Kundalini awakening — a two-month period of major mind-body-spirit transformation.

This not only filled me with utmost bliss every waking second, it also initiated the healing and revitialization of my body in more ways than I know. Check out my blog posts:

Personality & Spirituality
PERSONALITYSPIRITUALITY.NET

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77 thoughts on “About”

  1. BRAVO!! Well done Kudos to you for this! I have been a Micheal Group follower since 1987 and to find an extentensive and simple compilation of basics teachings in such a simplistic form is a blessing! I will positively pass and promote this blog because, this is powerful information for self-discovery and understanding!

    Thank you and NAMASKAR!

    Reply
  2. I love your blog. I didn´t knew I can leave comments since today.

    Well, very nice colours I mean design.
    And it is interesting I like to read. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Hello – Enjoyed your website. I had an extraodinary, surprising experience of visions of past lives years ago and finally had the courage to publish the book. If you would like to see a little about me, visit my website. The book, “Looking Out the Back Door: Visions of Past Lives” will be out in a few weeks.
    If you like I could send more about the “happening” and my adjustment to it. May I make a link to your website from mine?

    Reply
  4. Mr. Barry im doing research paper and would like to cite you from one of your articles, therefore i need some qualifications other than psychologist; and a last name would be nice! Thanks!

    Reply
  5. So I have been reading a lot about reincarnation and different soul types and stages etc. Now I’m just wondering who came up with all these? How did they know about all of these? Is there any proof other than the children with past life memories? I really need some kind of proof to truly embrace this concept. Can we explain this scientifically? Or this is just something you just have to believe…like religion???

    Reply
    • The idea of reincarnation has been around for thousands of years, enshrined in various religious teachings around the world. There have also been new teachings about it in the last hundred years or so, received through channelling (that’s when a human being goes into a meditative state and allows a higher consciousness to speak/write through them). What we might call scientific evidence for reincarnation has only appeared in the last few decades, in the form of children’s testimonies, past-life regression therapy, and documented physical correlations (e.g. birth marks that correspond to past-life gunshot wounds).

      However, none of this is “proof” for the existence of reincarnation, nor will it ever be. Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a proof when it comes to science and nature. Proofs exist only in mathematics and logic, for the simple reason that these are closed systems of meaning. (If X=1, then by necessity 2X=2. Why? Because that’s the way we define truth in algebra.) In science, however, we are just trying to find the best ways to describe the myriad facets of an infinitely open system – nature, reality.

      In maths and logic, there is only one possible right answer to any question. In science, no question is ever finally answered. Instead, we have theories, or working models, and those theories/models that appear to be supported by a lot of evidence tend to be accepted as “the likeliest explanation”.

      There is no “proof” for evolution, for example. As a theory, it is undeniably so well supported by the evidence as to appear to be the best explanation beyond reasonable doubt. Thus, many scientists assume it to be “true”, at least privately. Some, such as Richard Dawkins, go so far as to claim it to be “true” publicly and outspokenly. But all (good) scientists know that a well supported theory isn’t proof of anything – the question is never fully answered.

      So there is never such a thing as scientific proof – there are only scientific theories plus an accumulation of observations and other evidence which may or may not allow us to make a judgement as to which theory is probably “right”, or at least worth adopting as a working model. It’s similar to how a court case works. We can’t prove that so-and-so did the murder, but do we have enough evidence that supports the prosecution’s case “beyond reasonable doubt”?

      In the case of reincarnation, there is not now and there never will be proof that it is true. (Until, that is, the day you die and find yourself in the afterlife with total recall of your past lives!) So there is no proof, but there is an accumulation of evidence. There are a few scientists who find that the evidence is persuasive, and so they personally accept reincarnation as “true”. But most scientists have an unfortunate prior commitment to a materialistic worldview — they see metaphysical, paranormal and supernatural explanations as unscientific by definition, and therefore not acceptable as viable theories. They denounce the case for reincarnation as “pseudo-science”. They in turn are denounced as “pseudo-skeptics”.

      Now, another grey area in science is that, when it comes to testing a theory, a lot depends on the validity of the evidence. That’s another judgement call — some will accept (say) a personal testimony as evidence, and others will reject it as mere “hearsay” or “anecdotal”. Much of the evidence for reincarnation is of that type.

      So at the end of the day, it’s down to you. I personally came to a point where, after reading a lot of accounts of past-life regression, of children’s spontaneus past-life recall, of physical correlations between facial and pther physical features from one life to the next, of channelled material describing the reincarnation process … I was eventually persuaded to see the theory of reincarnation as the likeliest explanation. And privately I do believe it to be true, though I always leave some room for doubt as well — I’m not a “reincarnation fundamentalist” or an evangelist, just someone who has moved from an anti-reincarnation to a pro-reincarnation position over the course of many years.

      The descriptions of soul types you refer to have been around for about 40 years and come from a channelled source: https://personalityspirituality.net/articles/the-michael-teachings/

  6. Barry, suggestion, take you picture off the sight, you look sedated and like you haven’t smiled in 10 years.

    Will keep you in my prayers.

    What I Bless Blesses me.
    Lawrence

    Reply
  7. According to Astrology I am a Virgo. According to Numerology I am a 9 life path. According to Myers-Briggs, I am an INFP. I don’t believe in violence, war, or dissention. I think these are all very unnecessary ways of solving what seems to be a problem. I have always been very sensitive to other peoples feelings and in my surrounding environment. I love to help people and to be of a benefit to improving their lives or making their lives more happy. I will stick up for something or someone whom I feel is being treated unjustly. I spend a lot of time in quiet contemplation. I am extremely spiritual and mostly everything I do feels connected to higher power. I am not religious at all. Although, I believe that if one finds that religion helps them to enlighten their souls development and become better people then this is very good for the person. I believe in reincarnation without a doubt. I feel completely innocent in many ways, yet I feel deeper, intuitive, and insightful. Wondering what soul category I would fit into?

    Reply
    • Hi Lissa

      Based on what you’ve said about yourself, I would bet on you being a Mature (or possibly Old) Priest, emotionally centered, with spiritualist attitude, and I would suspect goal of acceptance though I would need a bit more to go on to be more confident about the goal. No sense of your mode or negative feature however.

      Any of that resonate?

      Barry

  8. Hello Barry
    I’m very interested in your articles and would like to cite them for a research paper I’m doing for school. If you could please email me with your last name and maybe some other qualifications, that would be great.
    Please have a nice day~

    Reply
  9. Hi Barry, I am using am quoting one of your articles in a research paper and I need to do a works cited page.. Can I please have your last name?

    Reply
  10. Thank you for this stunning, rich gold mine of a website! The beauty, clarity and integrity of what you write shines through! and it does indeed resonate with my soul… I look forward to reading lots more. Many blessings to you. Elaine

    Reply
  11. Barrymeister!

    Well hello you, über-miracle worker Barry… Where would I be, were it not for the marvellous skills of scholars? All my empathy, compassion and love is focussed at this moment in time to the very core of your soul… know that you are loved and sweet dreams!

    Arvin da Braga
    =^.|.^=

    Reply
  12. Hi Barry, I literally stumbled upon your blog – hadn’t read much, but as I worked my way down this first page and CFS jumped out at me, I knew I was supposed to find you. I too have CFS, unbelievably (for me!) for almost 30 years. I look forward to immersimg myself here, with you, for a while.
    ;} callee

    Reply
    • Hi Callee

      Ah, CFS! What a weird thing. On the one hand it’s a constant drag trying to get through the day with only 5-10% of normal energy available. But on the other hand, it forces me to be very conscious of what I’m doing with my energy, and when to stop using it.

      My personality has been a big part of the equation, and I suspect this is true of many. I have a mixture of Perseverance (never stop a task once you’ve started!) combined with Impatience (finish every task ASAP because there’s probably something more important to be done next). So I have this huge demand on my energy flow — committing too much of it unnecessarily AND committing it quite aggressively because I fear running it out of time. On reflection, it’s no wonder I went kaput!

      How about you, Callee? – I’m always fascinated to hear others’ stories/journeys with this thing.

      Best wishes

      Barry

  13. Hello, Barry

    I stumbled upon your site a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t have the time to explore it in depth. Today, upon returning to work after a two-week vacation I started reading some of the articles more in depth, simply because the subject-matter helps calm mi restless mind.
    During my vacation my mother, who is in her sixties and is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer, had an unpleasant episode with a nasty stomach flu. She got over it in a couple of days, but her energy levels are still very low and she gets tired faster than usual… or than before the flue… Also, since I live with her, I noticed something that troubled me deeply… We wend to the market one day, because she wanted to prove to herself that she had the strength to go out. We bought some red grapes. Later at home, she was eating some and asked me where was the white grapes. I was perplexed. We hand’t bought any white grapes. There was also another similar occurrence.
    When I read what you wrote about CFS I started wondering if what happened could be a side effect of the stomach flue rather all the other possibilities that frankly fill me up with dread.
    So I don’t know what I’m asking really. I guess, since you mentioned that you were like “A 90-year-old with Alzheimer’s and the flu”…
    I guess I don’t want a mental ailment to befall her on top of her physical condition and I needed to confide my troubles with someone.
    It threw me off so much because nothing similar to the instance I described had ever happened before.

    Thank you for this amazing site and all the information and knowledge you share with us. And I wish you success in your goal.

    I may comment in other sections of the site. I just needed to share this experience I had with my mum.

    Thank you again

    Irina

    Reply
    • Many thanks for the feedback, Irina 🙂

      Sorry to hear about your mother. I am no medical expert so I can’t give a diagnosis, of course, but I can share a few things that I’ve learned through my experiences (and Scholarly research) that might be of some help for you.

      – CFS or ME is most often triggered by having to fight off a viral infection. I don’t mean one specific type of virus, it could be ANY virus.

      – The viral infection isn’t the sole cause. I don’t even think there is a single cause. Rather, the infection is usually “the last straw” for a body that has been overdoing it for far too long while under pressure and stress.

      – If you recover from a virus but find yourself in a permanent energy-less state for no apparent reason, the “official” medical term is Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome.

      In my case I had a bout of pericarditis (virus attacking the lining of the heart, causing it to inflame – felt like I’d been shot in the heart by a bullet). I recovered from that, yet I continued to feel like I had particularly bad case of flu thereafter.

      – One of the obvious symptoms of CFS is that if you exert yourself on Monday (like, say, doing a lot of shopping or moving furniture around), then you feel physically and mentally incapacitated on Tuesday and possibly also Wednesday. The fatigue rebound – it sucks.

      – Other symptoms can include insomnia or an abnormal wake/sleep pattern, the dreaded “brain fog” which is losing the powers of concentration and memory, and all-over aches & pains that come and go, all for no apparent reason.

      – Hoarse voice is another possible CFS symptom, which I have but had mis-attributed to the fact that I have operations on my throat several times a year. In fact, I’ve had 40-50 throat operations since 2001, which is a lot of general anaesthetic and may also be a contributing factor to CFS. The hoarseness is like not having enough power of breath to make your voice sound normal.

      – Some people get over their post-viral fatigue in a number of weeks or months. If you don’t get over it, then after a while it’s renamed CFS/ME. My local CFS clinic formally reclassified it from Post-Viral to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome once I’d had it for over 18 months.

      – If there’s a lot of pain (for no apparent reason) that is always precisely located in certain points of the body (for no apparent reason), then the condition might be called Fybromyalgia. The difference between CFS and Fibromyalgia is blurry apart from that one symptom. Check out list of symptoms: http://phoenixrising.me/mecfs-basics/dr-bernes-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-mecfsfibromyalgia-symptom-checklist-2

      My brain fog, when it is bad, is like when a computer freezes and nothing comes out of it. I can barely remember my name sometimes. The available level of mental energy and focus is so low that I cannot read a sentence AND understand it because by the time I reach the end of the sentence I have no memory of the start. It’s even worse in conversation. When someone is trying to have a conversation and the brain fog kicks in with me it’s like I can actually feel my brain collapsing with fatigue. I hear each word they say but I cannot string them together. Which can be really embarrassing! (It’s especially frustrating for my wife, who is an intellectually-centred Artisan with mode of Caution. She wants to run every idea and option by me, but often she can see that I’m just not receiving anything.)

      As fas as I have observed, people with CFS (including me) tend to have a particular personality profile. In the language of the framework used here, the most common trait seems to be the mode of Perseverance. That means, at least in the negative pole, a tendency to keep going on with any task to the bitter end, never stopping or resting despite being advised to, despite all resistance, despite all common sense, despite even your own body’s weakening. Well, that’s me! (or rather, used to be)

      In my case, I also have a CF (chief feature / character flaw) of Impatience, which means I tend to rush into action for fear of missing out on life. That, I think, was also a contributing factor for me at least.

      I also have the life goal of Growth, which is essentially a quest to understand everything in one’s life (…the universe…everything). The negative pole of that is confusion or overwhelm, when I’m experiencing and trying to understand more than I can cope with.

      So: I impatiently persist with trying to understand everything in my experience. I suspect that my CFS is a reaction to that – it has forced me to relocate to the opposite of Growth, namely “Retardation” or “Re-evaluation”, which is a bit like taking time out from life to rest and re-group. I can’t say that everyone with CFS has a similar profile, but I do think over-persistence is one of the factors, together with stress and then, of course, a nasty infection.

      Hope that helps clarify things one way or another. But good luck with it.

      PS – There have been recent studies reporting that taking certain medicines or supplements (I forget which) may stop Alzheimer’s in its tracks. Not reverse it, but stop it from getting worse. A good place to keep up with the research is here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/health_medicine/alzheimer's/
      There’s a similar section for CFS/ME:
      http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/health_medicine/chronic_fatigue_syndrome/

  14. Barry, thank you very much for the reply and your kind words.

    I think for now I’m going to prepare for the worst but hope and program the Universe for the best. Partially because I really don’t want to be too much dependent on the doctors in my country /Bulgaria/. They haven’t done nothing much to inspire confidence in me.

    Of course I know no one can’t make diagnosis over the internet. But I am grateful you shared your experience. Maybe when I read about it here I just grasped at the first straw I saw. But like I said. I will hope and program the Universe for the best.

    I guess all I really want is for my mum to do what she’s set out to do in this reincarnation in relative comfort and lucidity.

    Knowing for oneself and believing in all that is discussed on this site doesn’t make it any less painful watching your loved ones in pain or battling some illness or other and you helpless to do anything to take their pain away.

    Thank you again for answering. I wish you well.

    Irina

    Reply
  15. Hello Barry, Was hoping to cite some of your work on self-deprecation. Would you be able to provide me with some of the necessary information?

    Reply
  16. Hi Barry! Just a question. Why do we long for people no longer in our lives. I’m in love and happy with my partner. I had an ex who was narcissistic and used me for money and academic stuff. I was with him 10 years but the last 8 were toxic and this was over 4 years ago. I’m healed and happy. So why do I catch myself wandering sometimes? I will never contact him and even the idea repulses ME knowing how I will be treated and the level I had stooped too. he wasn’t a nice person to me and lied about everything. I normally don’t talk about him and if I ever see him I turn away but sometimes when I’m listening to a certain song my mind wanders back to him. Despite how awful he was we did have a good communication level (even though he lied a lot about his personal life) but we had awful chemistry and there was no tranquility there just lots of turbulence and arguments. I just want to know why and whether this means we have some sort of karmic connection.

    My second question is does God exist? The more I research the abrahamic religions the more man made they seem. I want to believe and I do believe but I cant believe that God would ask us to do some of the rituals out there. I think I’m losing my faith!!!

    Reply
    • Hi Sara

      My guess is that you are not allowing yourself to have mixed feelings. At a conscious, intellectual level we tend to categorise and pigeon-hole things: this person is good, this event is bad, and so on. It makes life simpler and more efficient – but it also makes our perceptions imprecise. No person is wholly good or bad.

      You knew a guy with whom you had good communication: you felt “met” and understood by him. At the same time, he was narcissistic and exploitative. I’ve known similar people. It’s tempting to just write them off as bad guys, but then we’re not acknowledging their better qualities, and part of us knows that.

      I suspect there was a karmic thing gong on here. One possible scenario is that you are spiritual “cousins” who have known each other a long time, and lived together in a several lives, and that includes a few role-play lives. For example, in one life you could have been the exploiter and he (or she) was the exploited, and now you have reversed roles. So from a personality point of view, you’ve had a horrible experience with a horrible person, while from a soul perspective you’ve finished playing out an important “game” with one of your beloved buddies. Hence mixed feelings – an inner recognition of your closeness despite outer appearances.

      God:

      Now there’s a small, easy-to-answer question!

      Basically, there is an intelligence both behind and within the entire universe. It isn’t some big fella with a beard, however. And it isn’t some fierce High Court judge who decides who gets to go to Heaven. Those are myths, pure and simple. The word “God” is tricky, however, because those are exactly the sort of images it automatically conjures up.

      Some people prefer a more neutral-sounding term such as “the Source” or “the Tao”. But then there’s the risk of overlooking the fact that “it” is inherent within ourselves. It isn’t like the Force in Star Wars – mysterious, ethereal, hard to grasp. It’s the very core of you and me and everything else. It’s the very fabric of all existence – nature, humanity, matter, energy, consciousness, life, art, science … it’s all the same being in myriad forms of self-expression and self-exploration, but also with some illusions and shadows thrown into the mix.

      In a very real sense, we are all God playing peekaboo with itself. We are all “fragments” or “extensions” of the same infinite being. Our mission is to know ourselves, to gradually grow in consciousness and, eventually, know ourselves as the infinite.

      As we evolve, our ability to conceptualise and appreciate “God” alters. Here, it is a good idea to famliarise yourself with the soul ages. Younger souls tend to imagine God as a father or mother figure, because that’s as far as their imagination and limited experience can take them.

      This is where the Abrahamic religions have sprung from. The Old Testament “God” is a rather grumpy father figure, which made sense to the largely illiterate tribes of the ancient Middle East.

      As souls evolve they can become more rational, and many will then reject the idea of God altogether. Hence “God” is dismissed by educated thinkers as a very silly concept invented by those largely illiterate tribes of the ancient Middle East.

      But souls evolve further and come to discover that there is something within themselves, within others, and within the entire cosmos, that is all the same — the same essence, the same life force, the same intelligence. There is a far bigger picture than the rational human mind had been capable of perceiving. Yet it can be experienced directly, without the intervention of the rational mind.

      Some people refer to this as “God”, not having any better word for it, but still they aren’t referring to some father figure “up there”. Rather, they have discovered an omnipresent creative consciousness that takes delight in losing bits of itself in human form and then rediscovering those bits in moments of great joy.

      You and I are instances of the same God-being, apparently wandering around in search of ourselves and our place in the universe, but the deeper intelligence within us knows that we will inevitably get back to complete awareness of our divinity.

      There’s nothing wrong with losing your faith, by the way. It doesn’t mean you automatically become a rational-minded atheist with no sense of the divine. Rather, you become an open-minded truth-seeker who is ready and willing to KNOW the divine rather than merely BELIEVE in the divine.

      A book I would definitely recommend for you at this point is Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsh.

      cheers

      Barry

    • That’s such an amazing reply and I’d like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the amount of ideas you’ve given me to speculate upon. I’ve always found religion and the rules to be man made and I’ve always thought someone somewhere glimpsed something of the divinity and tried to bring focus to it using a series of rules and codes to go by. I wonder why i was born into this religion then but I feel like and I’m now reaching my 30s that there’s more than this. As a child I found it horrible when a priest told me Jewish and Christian priests would go to hell because they were worshipping the wrong way, so it is something I’ve always questioned and as a teen had come to the conclusion all religions are right and as long as we believe its ok, only now I find myself thinking even that’s too simplistic. My current partner is also of the same mind and we both have decided we are agnostic until further research.
      The past relationship makes sense.. I guess karma does suck sometimes and it’s cool to have a theory as to why I still think back to someone I really don’t want to be with.
      It is so nice that you emailed me and this response I’ll be keeping and pondering back on for a very long time… Thank you!!!!
      I’ll be reading through the articles on soul ages and try and find my spirituality again 🙂

  17. Hello Barry:
    Yesterday, by “chance” (something that i do not really believe) I came in contact with your website. This is really phenomenal as I am not so well versed in working with computers.

    From an educational standpoint, I have gone through three Master degrees, two doctoral degrees, and one post-doctoral fellowship. I have been a counselor/psychotherapist for 35 years and I have read extensively on various subjects. I am awed at the clarity, depth, simplicity, beauty, understanding, genuineness, congruence, and yes I would even say truth about what you state. It’s as if all of a sudden a door opened in my life and I can now see very clearly (even though I was diagnosed with Age Related Macular Degeneration in my left eye). I want to thank you profoundly and profusely for your courage to write about matters that are so important.

    I am very grateful for your presence and for your insights. Please keep writing. You are truly gifted.

    I would like to learn more about the 35 levels of the soul. Is there a way of finding out at what stage and level an individual is at presently. I care deeply about others. I am a highly spiritual individual and I have a keen interest in self-awareness, self-exploration, and self-development. Although I am also very interested in the state of Love (not necessarily the romantic state), there are times when I am far from being loving. I would also love to be able to print your material and put it in a three ring binder for my personal use–I like to read and underline/work with the material.

    I am very familiar with the books Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls, but I was not familiar with the Michael Teachings materials. Through my work, I hypnotized a friend who channeled an entity knows as The Lamb of God which provided me with lots of information even if it really does not resonate much with who I am.

    I would greatly appreciate if you were to inform me on how i can discover my soul stage and level.

    Thank you for being such a great teacher. Best wishes to you. Please know that you are held in great regard.

    Sincerely,

    Sebastiano

    Reply
    • For Sebastiano, if it “does not resonate much with who I am.” To me, without reading more of Barry’s work, you are using your ‘truth bell’ during these sessions. Don’t legitimize untruth. If it doesn’t resonate, because it doesn’t provide what you’re seeking, is one thing, and doesn’t invalidate the info. However, if it doesn’t resonate, as in this could be true but I’ll have to deliberate further, or, this doesn’t sound right because that big thunk was my truth bell telling me NO!, please do everyone a favor and don’t incorporate or validate that information for yourself or anyone else. I don’t know how the person uses the information from your interactions, but people need to know what is truth, period. Everything else is ‘else’. Don’t fall into the metaphysical trap of thinking entities are so much more knowledgeable or speak with absolute truth. They are just other souls living in a different reality.
      As for love, there is only one kind that truly matters, and that is unconditional love. It’s very difficult to understand that mind-state, but worth the journey. The best Masters of that are in the Vedic traditions, yogi’s etc. Otherwise, what most people call love is just another feeling manifesting out of an incoherent belief system. The state of unconditional love is mostly akin to what a parent would feel when they give a kidney to keep their child alive, or a parent letting a child suffer the consequences of their actions instead of protecting them, or someone allowing their spouse to divorce them because they know they are unable to be what their spouse needs. Until I became a dog person, I didn’t realize how much most dogs ‘are’ unconditional lovers. I think they provide the love people have been searching for. People unintentionally fill the empty spot with their dogs, not realizing the significance.
      I hope this coincides with your knowledge, Barry!

    • Recent research shows that dogs, but not cats, are like sensitive human infants in that they become emotionally attached to their owners (or mothers in the case of humans). The attachment experiment shows that some infants bond with their mothers and some don’t. Those who do will become anxious when mother suddenly leaves the room and a stranger enters. Those who don’t barely notice the difference. A dog will cry and fret when its owner unexpectedly disappears. Cats, in contrast, are more autonomous and self-serving – they don’t care who they are left with so long as they get fed.

      So – emotionally sensitive people like myself find it easy to bond with dogs, who have no agenda in their relationships with humans other than to reciprocate the attachment.

      Come to think of it, it’s as if dogs have a goal of Acceptance while cats have a goal of Dominance.

    • Hi Sebastiano

      Very sorry for my late reply. Your message arrived at a time when I was distracted by domestic upheavals. (I wonder how many others I have missed.) I guess that must have been meant to happen in some way.

      I am so glad you have benefited from my website.

      To determine your soul age, your surest option is to contact one of the Michael channels — Victoria Marina, Shepherd Hoodwin or Troy Tolley. I would guess it is most likely that you are a Mature soul as my website seems to attract them (and I am one too … Birds of a feather…). Young souls do not identify with all the search-searching, and Old souls are not so hungry for understanding. The actual level within the cycle is much more difficult to pinpoint without a channelled reading,

      I really hope this helps.

      Best wishes

      Barry

    • I jump into this by accident….i am very impressed with ur explanation on the level of soul as i am a very scientific person but yet soul searching….when i am about the judge my level of soul, ur reply to Seb assured me * a mature soul…glad to know you

  18. Hi, I’d like to cite this website for an essay I’m writing. If you could send me more details like your last name and such it will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

    Reply
  19. Hi Barry, I am an addiction therapist and I would like to cite you in one of my groups. Can I have your full name?

    Reply
  20. Mr. Barry im doing my thesis and would like to cite you from one of your articles, therefore i need some qualifications other than psychologist; and a last name would be nice! I also wanna to know the year when you compose the article about the personality.Thanks!

    Reply
  21. Hi Barry
    I would like cite your ideas so would like to know what is your family name

    Regards,
    Ahmad

    Reply
  22. Hi Barry me again! 🙂 hope you are well, I really enjoy reading all your responses and they always leave much food for thought.
    I recently read a book on experiences of reincarnation – it focused on documented stories that have been in the media at some point.
    One of the chapters covered the soul being split reincarnated ie splitting into two and living in two different people, or where reincarnation overlaps so a person who dies reincarnates into a child already conceived. It detailed an example of a split reincarnated soul who lived in two different people.
    This seems really far fetched to me, and really complicated. I just wanted to know what your views on this were.
    Thanks!
    Samina

    Reply
    • I know what you mean. My little brain struggles to take in the idea of souls dividing and having parallel lives. However, I like to keep an open mind, and one or two things have suggested to me that the possibility could be real. I was told that in my last life I died 5 years after I was born in my present life, and that this was a deliberate decision on my part (to go straight from one life to the next without the inter-life transition). I can imagine that the consciousness of a dying old man could slowly transition into that of a young child without too much conflict. But living two whole lives at once – I find that more of a stretch to grasp. I guess my jury is stil out until I’m better informed…

  23. Hi barry! Yeah I guess I need to read around it, multiple reincarnation at any one time is just really strange, why would we split when we have all the time in the world and it overcrowds the world I guess if there are more than one of us about at any given time.
    I have experienced another phenomena that I have experienced multiple times. I have people I can never speak to again. And we have all moved on. I never see them. One has passed away and one did something unforgivable. But sometimes, my mind just gets a thought in its mind, like a pang for times that have long gone and I just constantly think and think abojt them. Not to the point I can’t function. Just more of a wondering thought eg I wonder what he is doing or I wonder what she would have thought about this. And when my thoughts reach an all time crescendo I will see the person I can never speak to again and see they are ok and the thoughts calm down. And with the person that’s passed away as strange as it sounds I will get someone like a family member or friend tell me they saw them in a dream, or someone will speak and end up saying the exact same phrase they would have said and again my mind just settles. And then in another few months or years it starts doing the whole longing thing again.

    It’s like reassurances from beyond. Have you experienced this and is this possible or do I just have an overactive imagination. It’s happened more and more as I’ve gotten older and lost things and people that I wish I hadn’t.

    Reply
  24. Dear Barry

    I’m a 2nd level old sage, and I have been following your blog for couple years now. Your blog has helped me understand the teachings much much better and clearer. I’m very intrigued by your story and would love to know more about you. From reading your blog, I believe you’re an old soul. Would you mind telling me more about your 7 chief features and your soul age? I apologize if you have already mentioned that somewhere on your blog.

    Thank you.

    Reply
  25. Thanks for creating this site. We’ve had similar experiences, especially with awakening and health issues.

    Reply
  26. Hello Barry, I hope you are doing better. Reading your bio made me sad to see how much you are suffering. I’ve battled life-long illnesses but nothing anywhere near yours, and mainly spiritual and emotional battles at that. Well after seeing lots of western medicine and also natural healing doctors with no success, I started looking into alternatives. I stumbled on energy psychologists. I’ve had only 2 sessions with one so far and I’very seen vast improvements in my physical, mental and emotional health. I plan to continue my work with them until I feel my issues are resolved. The great thing is that they can even work remotely. They work with the Body Code and the Emotion Code. For your case, make sure you get a certified Body Code practitioner as they will also know the Emotion Code as well. Go on to the website http://www.healerslibrary.com to find a practitioner or email me if you have any questions. I’d be happy to share my experience with you. I’m new to my spiritual awakening and I look forward to reading all your website has to offer. Wishing you get well soon,

    Susana

    Reply
    • Many thanks, Susana
      I am energetically much better now thanks to a spontaneous kundalini awakening (see the blog posts in late 2014). My main problem at the moment is severe foot nerve pain due to a slipped disk last year. It prevents me from sitting for longer than a few minutes, which is frustrating as I can’t just sit and read a book. Having a treatment for it soon so hopefully there’s light at the end of the tunnel!
      Cheers, and thanks for the info about the Body Code and Emotion Code – I will take a look.
      Barry

  27. I discovered this site in 2013. Recently, I discovered a paragraph that illuminates your basic ideas, according to my interpretation. If I am incorrect, please delete 🙂

    “Psychologists are turning to religion because just knowing about ourselves is not enough. We need the added dynamic of faith in a power outside of ourselves on which we can rely. Books on psychology and psychiatric treatments are not enough without the strength that comes from faith in God … Clergy and rabbis are turning to psychology because faith is an act of mind and will. Religion must be presented in psychological terms to some extent in order to satisfy the modern person. Faith must be built largely on our own psychological experience.”
    (Twenty-four Hours a Day, Hazelden, 1975, August 6)

    Reply
  28. Barry:

    Been reading thru your website today. First and foremost my heart goes out to you for the needless suffering you have endured. I am sorry you’ve had to endure such pain in your life. You didnt do anything to deserve it. You are a good man. You care about people. I hear that from the way you respond to others here. I also dont believe you chose this life of yours. Neither did my wife choose hers.

    My wife has been diving headlong into new age philosophy for the past few years. She is a seeker and has been seeking answers for most of her life. She was born into a family of neglect and chemical dependency. Her mother was an alcoholic and father a drug addict and dealer. She has endured physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of her parents and countless others. She has always wondered why she was born to such “worthless parents”.

    She has been spending thousands of dollars annually seeking answers from self labeled experts in the new age. She pays hundreds of dollars an hour to get special channelling sessions in which these people channel: archangels, spirits, entities, Jesus. All of the channelers and the things being channelled are telling her that she chose this life of hers. She chose to receive all of the abuse she has received. Every single one has told her this including all of the spirits channelled. They even tell her to stop complaining and just deal with it. All of this is her choice. My favorite was when mother god jumped in and said she is not suffering and is not wounded. Its at that moment when you realize some people should have their license to practice taken away.

    So the net effect of all this is that my wife has given up. She still believes in the worldview. Its the worldview that she believes in that has caused her to give up fighting or so she says. It’s been painful to watch. A strong woman who once was committed to fighting for restoration, emotional healing, and healthy loving relationships has now given up on such things and is now only interested in “spiritual experiences” since she was dumb enough to sign up to be tortured.

    My wife is a good woman. I love her deeply. I find her to be a fraction of what she used to be since diving into new age religious practice. She used to be an honest person to a fault. I have found her to be a woman more willing to lie, keep secrets, and a person who believes wisdom more important than love. She believes smart people have more value than someone who is loving. She would have never said that just a couple of years ago. She gets much of that she says from gnostic teachings and from the regular new age channellers she listens to. I never actually knew she listening to this until recently.

    I would love to hear your take on this. I would be willing to share all of the people she listens to. From where I come from its best to get out in the open and name names those who are harming others. I wish you well. I may not share your worldview but that doesnt mean I’m not moved to compassion because of the pain you are suffering. I really do believe that your life did not have to be this way and if you step out of your worldview for just a second you might feel the same way as well. Take care and share with me your take on all of this. I would appreciate it.

    Reply
    • Hi Brad

      You wife is freely choosing her own thing, as we all do. It seems you are being selective in which of her choices and behaviours you are willing to understand and accept. This often happens in a couple when one starts opening up to new experiences or perspectives which the other sees no value in. Rather than try to understand what the first partner is getting from it all, the second simply dismisses it as meaningless and blames the first for being wrong-headed.

      Love always accepts the validity of another’s choices, even if reason judges them to be wrong. I’ve made many, many, many wrong choices in my life, and gone down many dead ends, but all of them were valid and important lessons for me as a conscious being seeking integrity and harmony.

      Some people, and I’m one, feel a profound need to grow. When your goal is growth, you are attracted to explore the unfamiliar, to seek whatever may lie beyond, and to keep changing. Absence of change or novelty feels like stagnation for the soul.

      Despite my physical ailments I’m an extremely nourished, fulfilled, and contented individual, blessed with great love. I’ve had more joy and bliss and divine contact than I feel I deserve. I’m thankful for all the unusual and irrational choices I’ve made, including all the bad moves, the wrong turns, and the terrible mistakes. And my wife accepts and values every single one of them too.

  29. Thank you so much for your site! found it “by accident” while trying to learn something about past lifes and regression therapy, which might be my next step in this adventure called life. I’ve spent hours reading (although I should be outside enjoying the very short Finnish summer 🙂 and learned and got many insights about my life, and some loved ones lifes too…

    I also seem to have a goal of growth, with an mode of passion. No wonder this life is such a dramatic and surprising mess 😉 – and seriously, it takes a load off my shoulders, this viewpoint that I CHOSE this kind of life, not just that I’m so crazy, unstable and traumatized. I’m not a victim! And yes, life has thought me much, and more and more I’m trying to learn consciously from the sudden turns and crisis of life.

    I’m happy to have found your pages. I feel like you are a similar, familiar soul (hard to express in English), it’s very comforting because often in normal life I feel like weirdo more or less… all the best & thanks for your work!

    Reply
    • Hi Maaria,

      Lovely to hear from you. I’m currently enjoying the heatwave in England (many miles away from all the terrorism and tensions). And on top of that I’m also delighted to know that you have found my website to be insightful.

      Cheers!
      Barry

  30. Hi Barry,

    Just wanted to respond to a previous comment about dogs and cats. Cats do in fact love their human companions but as they are not pack animals, they have no desire to “please” their humans in the way that dogs do. Their first instinct is to please themselves. But they do have emotions and can be very loving and affectionate.

    Cats become more attached to their surroundings than they do their humans, although it is also true that cats can and do bond with each other. Cats can also develop close bonds with dogs in the household as well.

    Cats show their love for others simply by wanting to be in the same space with those they love. They may not always show eagerness towards being around you, but if they seem to spend a lot of time in the same room with you, it means the like/love you and simply want to be near you (without having to climb all over you). You could say that cats function in a mode of reserve or caution. 🙂

    Yes, the Crazy Cat Lady has spoken.

    Peace x
    Kay

    Reply

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