The  Practical Spirituality Press The  Practical Spirituality Press: providing bridges to the Divine
The  Practical Spirituality Series
The  Practical Spirituality Press  

THE PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY SERIES is comprised of 25 books that address the full spectrum of questions asked by spiritual seekers. Several of these books are furthed grouped into their own series:

The first nine of these books are currently available.


Practical Spirituality Book 1
 

Beyond Believing:
Receiving and Practicing the Revelation of the Divine
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

A recent Gallup poll reported that 86% of all American adults believed in God. "Belief in God" is the primary way many of us describe our relationship to the Greater Reality. But why settle for just believing in God, when the tangible, ego-shattering experience of God would revolutionize your life? How "religion" became equated with "belief in God". The restoration of "re-ligio", the means for genuinely "re-connecting" with God.   Beyond Believing
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published:
April, 2000
68 pages


The "BEING REAL" Series


Practical Spirituality Book 2

Secrets of Human Transformation
Being Real, Part 1
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Secrets of Human Transformation, Being Real: Part 1   The impulse to change springs out of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. But what change is actually possible? And what bearing do approaches for change actually have on our happiness? In this book we will examine a variety of approaches to transformation, from Sigmund Freud’s psychotherapy, to Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits”, to the self-transcending God-Realization of the great Spiritual Masters.
published:
May, 2000
54 pages
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Practical Spirituality Book 3
 

Habits of Highly Spiritual People
Being Real, Part 2
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Perfect Happiness is possible through Spiritual Awakening from the dream of ordinary life. We provide a picture of the Spiritual practice for Waking Up, in the form of seven habits that serve to free up energy and attention from the dream so that the Awakened State can be discovered. The key to the practice is the Spiritual Master, who is the “guise” taken by the Awakened State in the dream, and who transmits the Morning Light into the dream to Wake us Up.   The Habits of Highly Spiritual People, Being Real: Part 2
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published:
June, 2000
69 pages

The "YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU" Series


Practical Spirituality Book 4

Transcending Life and Death in God, Part 1:
You CAN'T Take It With You
by
Chris Tong, Ph.D.

You CAN'T Take It With You
 

Does your life have a purpose? If so, is it one that isn't going to get instantly ripped off when you die? Many of us spend our lives denying death, allowing ourselves to be completely consumed and distracted by our responsibilities, our indulgences, and our search for things we cannot take with us after death in any overt form (knowledge, accomplishment, fame, or friendship). But death is still coming. We get little support from culture, society, biology, or even conventional religion for becoming adequately prepared; indeed, we are actively discouraged from even considering the matter. In Western society, the “dying business” at best tends to help us come to the point of acceptance of death (when in fact we should already be accepting death right now, leaving us sufficient time to prepare for what comes after). And the “death business” tends to assist the living go on living rather than assist the dead in their transition, as more informed cultures do. This book sensitizes us to our mortality, and encourages us to start preparing now.

(What does come after? See Book 5: You WILL Take It With You for the second part of this consideration.)

published:
July, 2000
42 pages
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Practical Spirituality Book 5
 

Transcending Life and Death in God, Part 2:
You WILL Take It With You
by
Chris Tong, Ph.D.

What will occur after we die? This question can be answered, on the basis of a large body of reports across the centuries — on near-death experiences, after-life experiences, reincarnation experiences, paranormal phenomena, and the direct awareness of Spiritual Masters — as well as by studying the laws of the psyche as we observe it in life, to predict its destiny after death. The report is not all roses, though. In fact, its conclusion is that there is life after death, and re-birth, but it is also likely that we are going to suffer greatly during the period between lives, unless we develop, during our lifetime, a powerful Spiritual practice that truly links up with God.

(How to do that? See Book 6.)

  You WILL Take It With You
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published:
August, 2000
54 pages
 
Practical Spirituality Book 6

Transcending Life and Death in God, Part 3:
You CAN Take It With You
by
Chris Tong, Ph.D.

You CAN Take It With You
 

True wisdom takes into account while we are still alive both our mortality and what we are likely to carry with us after death (and the destiny that creates), and uses the course of a lifetime proactively, for the purpose of self-understanding, communion with That which is beyond life and death, and, ultimately, Awakening completely from the dream of life and death. We'll examine three of the key "problems" that will face us in the after-life — psychic attractors, psychic bullies, and the unrecognizability of Reality — and describe the Spiritual practice capable of dealing with them, not only after death, but in every moment of living.

published:
October, 2000
75 pages
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The "COMPARATIVE SPIRITUALITY 101" Series


Practical Spirituality Book 7
 

Appreciating the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and Revelations, Part 1: Beyond Spiritual Correctness
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

We consider two tendencies that we inherit simply by virtue of living in Western culture — “spiritual correctness” and “spiritual anti-authoritarianism” — and we come to understand the liabilities they represent, relative to our own Spiritual happiness and liberation.

Spiritual correctness says: "all paths to the Divine or ultimate liberation are equal"; and anyone who suggests otherwise risks seriously offending or insulting whomever they are speaking with. But just as everybody knows that not all telescopes are created equal, not all religious means for tangibly linking up with the Divine are equally powerful, reliable, or revelatory. To find the means that will actually most benefit us Spiritually amidst the myriad of possibilities available, requires great discrimination.

Spiritual anti-authoritarianism began with the Protestant Reformation, in righteous reaction to the corruption of the Catholic Church (at the time, the exchange of money for a "reduced sentence" in purgatory). But this reaction too can be carried too far. We are all indeed equal in Spiritual “rights”, that is, in our Spiritual potential. But that does not mean we are all equal in our Spiritual Realization. And vive la difference! Thank God not everyone is equally Spiritually blind, and that the Spiritually Sighted are in a position to help the rest of us.

  Beyond Spiritual Correctness
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published:
December, 2000
54 pages
 
Practical Spirituality Book 8

Appreciating the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and
Revelations, Part 2:
Three Views of Reality
and Human Potential
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Three Views of Reality and Human Potential
 

Taken together, all the great wisdom traditions around the world and throughout history offer a wide variety of views on (and experiences of) the nature of the Greater Reality and human potential in the context of the Greater Reality. In this book, we make sense of and compare the differing views. We place particular emphasis on the views of materialism, esoteric spirituality, and exoteric religion.

Materialism, the view that what you see (or hear, or touch, or taste, or smell) is what you get (or all that is real), is seen to have many limitations, including its tendency to insist on reducing everything to merely materialistic terms; and its inability to adequately account (in merely materialistic terms) for human consciousness, and hence, human death.

Esoteric spirituality deepens human potential by acknowledging the Greater Reality, and providing the means for experientially embracing It. We briefly touch on four different dimensions of the greater Reality — animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine — and we will elaborate upon these dimensions, their Realization, and the means for Realizing them, in Books 9, 10, and 11.

Exoteric religion is understood to derive from an originally esoteric source (such as a great Spiritual Master or a shaman). The practitioner of a legitimate exoteric religion — one that is still in touch with its esoteric roots — engages disciplines aimed at bringing him or her to full human maturity, in preparation for taking up the esoteric practices of his or her tradition. When an exoteric religion loses touch with its esoteric roots (e.g., by being “re-shaped” for the sake of political and social survival), it can devolve into an illegitimate exoteric religion that still may be socially and politically influential, but is spiritually bankrupt.

published:
February, 2001
108 pages
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Practical Spirituality Book 9
 

Appreciating the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and Revelations, Part 3:
The Sacred Earth — Realization of the Magical, Psycho-Physical Dimension
s
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

In Book 8, we identified four different dimensions of the Greater Reality: animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine.

In the animistic / psycho-physical experience (aspects of which are shared by shamans, medicine men, and psychics), it is obvious that we arise as a psycho-physical being within Nature, which has not only a “body” (the “objective reality” of the materialists) but also a “soul”, or psyche. This Sacred Earth is a seamless, psychic unity, populated by all manner of etheric and psychic forces and entities beyond the merely physical, with which we are intimately inter-connected (in a way that is not discernable from the purely materialistic view) and to which we can learn to be rightly, magically related (and, in so doing, allow the Sacred Earth to be revelatory, even a bridge to God).

We conclude by studying the limitations of the purely animistic / psycho-physical view, relative to the ultimate human potential of Complete Awakening from the dream of changes (in both its material and greater-than-material aspects). We lay out which developments in the etheric and lower astral dimensions of our being are necessary and useful for supporting and quickening our Complete Awakening.

  The Sacred Earth: Realization of the Magical, Psycho-Physical Dimensions
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published:
May
, 2001
145 pages
 
Practical Spirituality Book 10

Appreciating the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and Revelations, Part 4:
Heaven — Realization
of the Spiritual Dimensions
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Heaven: Realization of the Spiritual Dimensions
 

In Book 8, we identified four different dimensions of the Greater Reality: animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine.

In this book, we study those dimensions associated with the Spiritual view, along with the practices for Realizing these dimensions, and the egoic obstacles that must be transcended. We base our study on the understanding that we, ourselves, are a multi-dimensional composite of elements from these different dimensions (matter, spirit, and Consciousness). In the Spiritual view and Realization, it is obvious that we arise as a “spirit” within the all-pervading Divine Spirit, that we are always a part of God.

coming December, 2002
 
Practical Spirituality Book 11
 

Appreciating the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and Revelations, Part 5:
Beyond Heaven and Earth — Ultimate Realization
s
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

In Book 8, we identified four different dimensions of the Greater Reality: animistic / psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine.

In this book, we study those dimensions associated with the Transcendental and Divine views, along with the practices for Realizing these dimensions, and the egoic obstacles that must be transcended. We base our study on the understanding that we, ourselves, are a multi-dimensional composite of elements from these different dimensions (matter, spirit, and Consciousness). In the Transcendental view and Realization, it is obvious that we arise as a conditional being, along with all of conditional reality, in an Unconditional, Transcendental Reality. In some traditions, the Transcendental Reality is also a personal, Transcendental Consciousness, which is obviously our own True Self. In the Divine view and Realization, it is obvious that everything arises within a Divine Being Who is simultaneously all-pervading Spirit and Transcendental Consciousness; it is directly obvious that we are That One, and that everything is merely a modification of That Consciousness.

  Beyond Heaven and Earth: Ultimate Realizations
coming February, 2003

Practical Spirituality Book 12

How to Read a SPIRITUAL Book:
The Balanced Use of Discrimination, Open Heart, and Spiritual Authority
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

To read spiritual literature with receptivity and discrimination requires us to understand several things:
How to Read a Spiritual Book
  • how the spiritual experience of saints, yogis, and other Realizers relates to Reality Itself;
  • who the genuine Spiritual Authorities are that can establish the "ground rules" by which we can rightly understand and appreciate spiritual literature;
  • the Spiritual Realization of the people and phenomena being described;
  • the ground rules under which the authors write (e.g., hagiographers, scriptural deconstructionists, and New Age authors, will have completely different intentions, and will describe the same subject matter in completely different ways, and draw completely different conclusions from the same sources);
  • the social and political forces that may have influenced or altered the source over time;
  • how to read with spiritual receptivity, rather than the usual, merely conventional, skeptical mind that unwittingly robs one of spiritual opportunity.
coming October, 2002
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The "TABOO AGAINST SPIRITUAL MASTERS" Series


Practical Spirituality Book 13
 

The Taboo Against Spiritual Masters, Part 1:
How to Construct a Tabloid Expose on Jesus Christ
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Crucified. Poisoned. Burnt alive. The reasons why the greatest beings who have ever lived — who have offered the greatest hope for human kind — have invariably been denied and persecuted. Why Jesus, were He to appear again today, would be crucified not by wood and nails, but by indifference, scandals, and litigation. Why discrimination against minority religions continues to be tolerated, even indulged, long after the women's suffrage and black civil rights movements have made discrimination in those particular areas "politically incorrect".

  How To Construct a Tabloid Expose on Jesus Christ
coming April, 2003
 
Practical Spirituality Book 14

The Taboo Against Spiritual Masters, Part 2:
Where Prejudice Still Runs Unchecked
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

The Taboo Against Spiritual Masters
 

In the twentieth century, much progress was made against several longstanding forms of discrimination. Despite the need for even further progress, such groups as women, men and women of color, homosexuals, and the handicapped, have all made inroads in our society, sensitizing it to, and educating it about, many varieties of prejudice, both overt and subtle. But in one area discrimination against religious minorities and their founders — the attitudes of our society are still extremely backward and prejudicial. Button words like "cult" and "cult leader" and knee-jerk associations with "brainwashing" and "exploitation" are used in all the media with the much the same abandon and insensitivity as "nigger" was used before the civil rights movement. We chronicle the long history of persecution throughout the ages of religious minorities and their founders (including the persecution of Christianity in its infancy, leading to the deaths of Jesus and many of his disciples), and examine the origins of (and the motivations behind) such persection. We propose five stages in the fight against intolerance of religious minorities, based on the successes achieved to date by the movements for civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, and so forth. We argue that it is spiritually essential for organizations and social movements such as FIRM (The Foundation against Intolerance of Religious Minorities) to succeed in their purpose.

coming June, 2003

Practical Spirituality Book 15
 

Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

True spiritual life has always been a challenge: there have never been large numbers of genuine saints, yogis, or holy men and women in any given age of the world. But while some obstacles to spiritual practice have remained constant throughout the ages, others are unique to our own age. In some sense, we are born with three strikes against us (more, in fact). Significant spiritual growth can occur only when we have understood and transcended all the primary obstacles, whether they are set by culture, society, biology, or even conventional religion.

  Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
coming August, 2003

Practical Spirituality Book 16

The Presence of the Miraculous
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
 
Miracles are interactions between the Spiritual and Divine Dimensions of Reality and the material dimensions, something like the "wormholes" posited by contemporary physicists, that link together different points of space-time in the material universe. Miracles occur regularly, and take a wide variety of forms. The greatest miracle — in terms of its benefit for the Spiritual liberation of all beings — is the permanent establishment of an unimpeded Opening between here and Here!.
coming October, 2003

Practical Spirituality Book 17
 

Psycho-Physics: Toward a Theory of (and Participation in)
Everything, Everyone, and God
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

The Promised Land of physicists is a simple GUT (Grand Unified Theory) or TOE (Theory Of Everything) capable of explaining all physical phenomena. But a theory that truly accounts for everything, must also take into account subjective as well as objective phenomena; it must be a psycho-physical theory, and, moreover, a DART (Divinely Aligned Reality Theory) which is grounded in the Transcendental Psyche.

In general, such theoretical unifications lead to practical consequences of extraordinary reach. "Electro-magnetism" led directly to the development of the electric motor, one of the cornerstones of modern technology. A DART-based "psycho-physics" will lead directly to a "technology" of happiness, and the true alleviation of human suffering at its root. But, by its very nature, this "psycho-technology" will not be usable in an independent, purely "objective" manner; self must be invested.

  Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
coming December, 2003

Practical Spirituality Book 18

Does God Exist?
Why Are We Not Seeing God RIGHT NOW?

by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
 

We examine the long history of this infamous question, the traditional "answers" to it, and then examine whether it is a real question. As C.S. Lewis once quipped, "God has better things to do than sit around for centuries waiting for God's existence to be proven."

If God exists, why is God not obvious to us? We examine what we are doing to prevent the Vision of God, how everyone else supports us in doing that, and what we can do instead to go beyond the greatest human blind spot of all time.

coming February, 2004

Practical Spirituality Book 19
 

Why Do We Suffer?
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

One of the longstanding questions of believers in God, particularly in the Judeo-Christian tradition, is "If God is all-good, how could God create a universe that contains evil or in which people suffer? Or, if God didn't create evil or suffering per se, how could God allow it?" Many people have slid into atheism largely for lack of an adequate address to these questions. We examine the history of this question (and the responses to it), and then suggest a real answer to the problem of suffering, by placing responsibility where it belongs — on us — and elaborating what we must understand and do (which is necessarily Spiritual in nature) in order to be free of suffering.

  Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
coming April, 2004

Practical Spirituality Book 20

The Goodness of Love:
On Spirituality and Morality
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
 

Conventional notions of morality range between the materialist's God-less universe in which morality is a purely human and social artifact, not in any way inherent; and the "mainstream religion" notion of God in charge, inherently good, and somehow directing the course of the universe in such a way that good wins out — at least in the end — despite the "problem of evil" in the interim.

In this book, we examine a different notion: that God is not in charge, but — even so — the genuine Spiritual practice of communion with God (and ultimately Realization of God) goes hand in hand with being a naturally moral person who cannot help but serve the Spiritual liberation of all beings.

coming June, 2004

Practical Spirituality Book 21
 

Evidence for the Existence of the Greater Reality
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Anyone interested in spirituality should be aware of the latest evidence available confirming or strongly suggesting the existence of various aspects of the greater-than-material reality. Studies and data are drawn from such diverse sources as: neurotheology; psychic phemonena studies; studies of documented miraculous phenomena; quantum physics; and reincarnation studies.

  Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
coming August, 2004

Practical Spirituality Book 22

What's The Matter with Matter:
Why Materialism is a Myth
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
 

Just as "doubting Thomas" needed to touch the wound in Jesus' side to know that Jesus was alive, we use physical touch as an ultimate testing board (or "touchstone") for what is real. But what actually occurs when we "touch something"? Is it as solid and fixed a matter as we have been trained to believe? Or is even physical touch a far more complex affair than we ever realized? Are we ever really directly in touch with a "material universe"? Or are we only in touch with our own perceptual and conceptual representations of whatever actually exists? These questions directly probe the validity of a purely materialistic viewpoint.

coming October, 2004

Practical Spirituality Book 23
 

Let Wisdom Rule:
On the Separation of Church and State
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

A brief history of the "separation of Church and State" issue, from Plato to today, and in States around the world and throughout time. The difference between true freedom of religion — where religion is openly expressive and freely exercised — and the confinement of all expression of any religion or spiritual path that acknowledges the existence of a Greater Reality to "behind closed doors", which implicitly but powerfully advocates the religion of materialism (in violation of the establishment clause of the US Constitution). The dampening and darkening impact of the religion of materialism on the human spirit, and particularly on the survival of minority religions. Why world peace requires both human and spiritual maturity, and why those who have that maturity must require it of their leaders if there is ever to be a true and lasting world peace.

  Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
coming December, 2004

Practical Spirituality Book 24

Spirituality and Reactivity:
Ending the "War" Between the Flesh and the Spirit
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
 

The transcendence of reactivity is a characteristic we often ascribe to our heroes, real or archetypal, whether they are Joan of Arc silently enduring being burnt alive, Clint Eastwood stoically not reacting while being beaten by a gang in a classic Western, the Buddha sitting cross-legged with eyes shut, or the baby Jesus described by "no sound did he make". Spiritual growth can certainly be viewed in terms of transcending reactivity. However, such growth is not signed by someone only sitting in a lotus position (the Buddha led a very active life!), or in a Christian monk's cell (Jesus led a very active life!), where their "transcendence of reactivity" depends on separation from the world and "the flesh" altogether. It is signed by the freedom to be completely happy, and to be lovingly, actively expressive for the sake of others, in whatever form is required (even "tough love" when necessary), under any circumstance whatsoever.

coming February, 2005

Practical Spirituality Book 25
 

The Qualities of Real God
by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

What is God really like? Does Real God have any discernable qualities, or must we be satisfied with abstract descriptions such as "the ground of being"? Different religious traditions around the world suggest different qualities: "all good", "all knowing", "all powerful", "wrathful", "the creator", "the sustainer", "the destroyer", "the judge", "the father", "the mother", etc. But how many of these are simply projection of human qualities onto God, as many students of the world's archetypes and mythologies have suggested? And how many of these qualities are the result of looking at incorrect or incomplete "evidence" in the world around us while making such assessments? What can we say about the actual qualities of Real God?

  Ten Primary Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
coming April, 2005




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