April 16, 2025 • 26 mins
Dr. Douglas James Cottrell tackles a profound spiritual question: does elevating our consciousness really make life more elegant and easier rather than more difficult? His answer challenges conventional wisdom about the spiritual path.
The journey begins by defining what "raising vibrations" actually means—becoming fuller, more actualized beings who tap into the wisdom encoded in what Dr. Douglas calls our "soul's DNA." This reconnection allows us access to deeper understanding and better decision-making abilities, ultimately leading to a more purposeful existence.
Contrary to popular belief, Dr. Douglas emphatically rejects the notion that spiritual advancement requires suffering. He calls this perspective "a great deception" designed to control people through guilt and self-punishment. Instead, he advocates for a path of peace, virtue, and living by the golden rule. When we align with these principles, life naturally becomes more harmonious and fulfilling—not more difficult.
Using the powerful metaphor of a boomerang, Dr. Douglas explains that whatever energy we project into the world inevitably returns to us with equal measure and impact. This universal principle explains why those walking negative paths ultimately experience lives filled with fear and mistrust despite apparent power. The spiritual path isn't about escaping responsibility but embracing it—recognizing that while we can delegate certain responsibilities, our personal duties cannot be transferred to others.
Perhaps most powerfully, Dr. Douglas reminds us that spiritual experiences aren't rare, mystical occurrences. When we recognize that prophetic dreams, meaningful connections with friends, and moments of deep insight are all genuine spiritual experiences, we open ourselves to the awareness that we're already connected to dimensions beyond our physical reality. The key to true spiritual growth lies in being fully present, making conscious choices in each moment, and recognizing that both pleasures and hardships are temporary conditions in our eternal journey.
Ready to explore your own spiritual potential? Subscribe to Wake Up with Dr. Douglas James Cottrell and join a community of seekers on the path to greater consciousness and peace of mind.
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Episode Transcript
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Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to Wake Up with Dr Douglas James Cottrell,
your source for helpfulinformation, advice and tips to
live your life in a mindful wayin this increasingly chaotic
world.
For over four decades, DrDouglas has been teaching people
how to develop their intuitionand live their lives in a
conscious way.
His news and views of the worldtomorrow, today, are always
(00:21):
informative and revealing.
And now here's your host, DrDouglas James Cottrell.
Douglas James Cottrell (00:31):
Welcome to the Wake Up, the broadcast
where curiosity leads to deeperunderstanding.
I'm your host, Douglas JamesCottrell, and my good friend and
co-host Les Hubert is here withme, along with editor Jack
Bialik.
Les Hubert (00:43):
Hi, Doug.
Today I have an interestingquestion concerning elevating
our vibrations.
Back in the 1900s there was abook written called Masters of
the Far East.
It was written by a Dr, MSpalding.
He was kind of a rock star backin his day and he claimed that
raising our vibrations makeslife more elegant, more easy
instead of more difficult.
How is that, and how can we goabout doing this for ourselves?
Douglas James Cottrell (01:07):
Well, let's sort of talk about raising
our vibrations.
That's kind of one of thosegeneric terms.
So when we say raising ourvibrations, we mean becoming
better, fuller actuated, moreintelligent, wiser, able to
(01:30):
communicate with the divine.
So for every person out therelistening, they would have their
own personal uh, opinion orsome sort of understanding about
raising our vibrations.
So let's assume that raisingyour vibrations means that right
now, everybody listening to ourpodcast wants to be bigger,
better, more informed, smarter,wiser, more spiritual.
(01:54):
So, whatever reason they'rewanting this increasing their
vibrations or their energy ortheir levels it's of course the
intention is to be strongerspiritually.
You have in your soul's DNAthat consciousness, and so if we
say we want to raise ourvibrations, to become more
(02:15):
conscious of that wisdom that'swithin our soul's DNA, that
might be a good path to take, orto understand that raising your
vibrations to a higher level ofunderstanding by reconnecting
with the engrams, the vibrationin your soul, the soul DNA.
So if that's the case, thenwhat are we saying?
(02:36):
Well, I'd like to remember more, I'd like to know more and I'd
like to have access to allknowledge, so that when you have
a question or you are requiredto make a decision, you will
have information that will helpyou be well informed to make the
correct decision.
You know, quote unquote, neverbe wrong and always be right in
(03:00):
what you do.
And of course, we stumblethrough life.
We settle for less in life.
We endure life, and so when itgets to a point where you're not
happy, you reach out and youlook for more.
You want more, you want to getaway from the drudgery of life.
There must be something betterthan eating, sleeping and
(03:24):
working in life.
So the motivation of the, let'ssay, the uncomfortable part of
life helps you look for more.
Now, as you aspire to do more,there are certain conditions.
That is, when you want more,you have to struggle more, you
have to do more, you have towork harder, as they always say.
You know, you put a lot ofeffort in, you get a lot out, or
(03:46):
you get rewarded.
So that's a law of nature.
You know I often say you go tothe fireplace and say give me
heat and then I'll give you wood.
Well, you're not in the orderof events.
So you have to go back andfigure out what are the steps
and how do I get to where I wantto go.
So, somebody writing a book orsomebody putting their wisdom
down it's not the only book andthe only bit of wisdom.
(04:08):
Everybody has some.
So look around, that's thefirst thing.
Look and see what's out there,as to quote unquote raising your
vibrations, because what you'redoing is you're actually saying
I want to know more and then,when I know more, then I can do
more.
And I can do more with theconfidence that what I'm doing
(04:29):
is going to pay off, it's goingto be successful, I'm going to
accomplish something, I'm goingto have more prosperity, I'm
going to have more success, I'mgoing to be more content.
And then you have to definethat, because what I just said
about all those things, they'rekind of like conditions.
So you have to come down andsay I want to have things that
(04:52):
will make me happy, I want tohave people around me that I'll
feel loved.
So having people around you isa real thing and of course,
their liking you or loving youor giving you affection,
provides what you're looking forin the first place.
So again, I'm talking in apretty simplistic way, but when
you want to go to the higherlevels of consciousness, all
(05:15):
those things apply.
And so if we take it to raisingyour vibrations, meaning raising
your consciousness, then wehave to say: what is that
exactly?
What is a religious experience?
What is a spiritual experience?
You know, when I once asked agroup of people that, they kind
(05:35):
of were lost.
I said have you ever had aspiritual experience?
They didn't quite know how toanswer.
And then I said have you everhad a dream, and then the dream
came true?
And it was oh, yes, yes, wehave lots of times.
And I said that is a spiritualexperience.
And they all looked at me kindof like, wide-eyed, in wonder:
(05:58):
what do you mean?
I said, well, that came fromthe great beyond.
You were in a dream state, ahigher level of mind or
consciousness, and here you werehaving a soul consciousness,
spiritual consciousness, raisingof your vibration,
consciousness, because you werehaving a dream of perhaps seeing
the future and you didn't evenknow.
(06:18):
Ascertaining what is it, theraising your vibrations that
you're aiming for?
It's kind of like I'm going totake a trip.
I'm leaving Friday.
Okay, where are you going?
Oh, I don't know, but I'm goingFriday.
So having a religiousexperience, raising your
(06:41):
vibration, has to be writtendown and defined so that when
you get there, you know thatyou've arrived.
That consciousness could be: I'd like to meet a spiritual (06:48):
undefined
master, a teacher.
I'd like to meet an angelthat's watching over me.
I'd like to meet a guardianangel.
I would like to be able to goto other heavens above.
I would like to feel thatall-encompassing love, like a
(07:12):
kundalini experience, where I amjust surrounded by so much love
.
I don't care about anythingelse.
I am so disinterested with thephysical world.
I just want to be in thatenvelope of that unconditional
love, and I have met people whohave done that.
Usually, once in your life is aa guarantee, but sometimes
(07:36):
people have it twice, and I meta person that had it three times
and they were spending the restof their life trying to have
that experience a fourth time
Les Hubert (07:46):
Wow.
Douglas James Cottrell (07:48):
Yeah, and it's kind of like okay, but
it's such a wonderful experience.
You know like everything elseis secondary.
However, that leads to the trapof always wanting the ultimate
pleasure and not having anythingelse.
So you end up looking for thispleasure, wasting, if you will,
(08:08):
your time and life, looking forthis feeling of absolute,
complete, unconditional love.
Well, we have to struggle alittle bit, we have to put the
effort in, because then when wehave the reward, it makes it
worthwhile.
We feel better, accomplished,rewarded, whatever we feel good
about it.
So, raising your vibration, isin a sense of having a kundalini
(08:31):
experience, like having afeeling of unconditional love
surrounding you.
Is it a sense of knowing, allknowing?
Is there such a place, a pointwhen you can know everything?
Yes, there is.
I've touched upon it, I'vewitnessed it, I've had
experiences of it.
(08:51):
But like a dream, i t was thereand then I blinked and it left.
So I was touching upon somedimension or place where this
knowledge was.
Is that what you mean, myfriends, when you say you want
to raise your vibrations?
What did this fellow have tosay in this book that he
determined what raisingvibrations was all about Le s ?
Les Hubert (09:16):
Well, he kind of was touching upon the fact that, in
some disciplines, we're taughtthat if, in order to strive
spiritually or to growspiritually, you have to suffer,
suffer, suffer, and then lifegets more difficult as you climb
that ladder, and he said.
No.
According to the masters of theFar East, he said exactly the
opposite.
Life because you learn more andyou figure things out, you go
(09:37):
yeah, I don't want to do it thatway anymore, I'm going to do it
this way, which seems a lotmore more elegant.
My question to you, though, isyou touched on knowledge and how
people move towards knowledge.
What if somebody was movingtowards the knowledge of, let's
say, like black magic?
I mean, that's knowledge initself, and yet they want to
recruit more knowledge.
So how does that differ fromsomebody who wants to grow in
(09:58):
knowledge in the other direction?
Douglas James Cottrell (10:01):
Is there any difference?
Knowledge is knowledge.
So the determination of whitemagic or black magic or magic at
all is a mindset.
(10:22):
So if one wants to have aconstructive life, and, you
know, do good things, or onewants to have a destructive life
and do destructive things, itbasically is a choice.
I mean prayer is (10:28):
I pray for the well-being somebody, I pray
for virtue to come to them, Ipray for them to overcome their
hardships or their illness.
And then the other side of thatis I pray for somebody to have
hardship, I pray for somebody tohave discontent.
I call upon all the lost soulsout there to bring influences of
(10:51):
difficulty and challenges, asopposed to I pray to all the
angels out there to uplift andhelp.
So in that essence, white magicand black magic is just a
prayer, one for constructive andbeneficial needs and the other
for destructive and selfishneeds.
And this is where it might getinto that point where people say
(11:13):
you want to invent yourself,you have to suffer, you have to
punish yourself.
I agree with our friend in theEast.
No, if you're suffering,especially if you're suffering
at your own hand, you got itwrong.
You're supposed to have awonderful life and, if I can say
, any one quality other thanlove profound that you will find
(11:38):
that way is living your life ina peaceful way, within due
bounds of all humankind, withvirtue, with honor, with caring
and with the golden rule beingyour choice of weapon.
You know, do unto others onlythat that you would like to have
(12:04):
done to yourself.
And I'm changing that by sayingonly.
But the idea is that what youare putting forth, what you're
giving out, is like a boomerang.
You throw that boomerang outand whatever you have on that
boomerang is going to come backto you exactly the same, the
(12:24):
same measure, at the same speed,and it's going to have the same
effect.
So why not throw out boomerangsof compassion, helping,
constructive aspects, not beinganything other than grateful for
other people and cheering themon in their own successes and
(12:45):
their own achievements?
So combining those two aspects,Les, about if you want to
advance yourself, you have tosuffer.
That's a great deception.
That's a deceit and that's away of somebody controlling
people by blaming them orgetting them more exactly to
(13:05):
blame themselves, for them tofeel guilty and then to punish
themselves.
That doesn't sound like heavento me.
That sounds like the otherplace.
So the freedom of your soul,the freedom of your mind, the
freedom of your life, thatdoesn't, in my mind, have
anything to do with sufferingand punishment.
(13:27):
Now life ,again pivoting alittle bit, life is full of
suffering.
We have difficulties, we getsick, we hurt ourselves.
We have friends, we have peoplethat we lose in our life.
They die or they abandon us orthey move away.
But you know, think about this.
When you ever start feelingsorry for yourself in that way,
it's like just a minute.
(13:48):
How many people were there atyour birth?
Well, there was apparently somepeople watching you, but you
were the only one.
No matter if you're twins ortriplets, you were there, one at
a time.
And so you came into the world,somehow, through excruciatingly
difficult and hardship, youwere born and then life got
(14:13):
better.
When you go out, it's the sameway, only it's not
excruciatingly painful.
It's a release, it's a reliefand you're moving back.
So in between those two points,you're on your own.
You're not really codependent.
You don't need other people tomake you happy, nor should you
(14:34):
expect other people to make youfeel any way other than you
choose to feel.
So in answering those questions,you pray to a bunch of bad
guys, they're going to make youfeel bad.
If you surround yourself withnegative people, meaning toxic
people, complaining people,you're going to feel toxic and
(14:57):
you're going to feel sad.
So if you surround yourself,it's like putting on a nice warm
coat and you have people aroundyou, you feel better,
especially if they're yourfriends and they care about you
and you care about them, youfeel wonderful.
Even though you don't know it,you're having a spiritual
experience because now, for thatmoment, you're together with
(15:20):
other people, which is onlygoing to be for a moment,
because everybody's going to gohome and you'll never, ever be
able to rekindle that moment.
So that's an essence of aspiritual experience.
But you've done it on your ownand together with other people.
They're on their own, buttogether you're all together,
sort of, you're all in the samepath, individually, but together
(15:43):
.
And so you start to look at itand say, yes, I don't need other
people to approve of me, Idon't need to people- please, I
don't need to be codependent.
Who's the only person in theworld you need to please?
Numero uno, yourself and thennot to get carried away like,
(16:06):
hey, I want to be the Big Poobah, you know.
No, I'm just happy to be herewith the group.
And so, with that understanding,you can find your way.
But understanding that you havetwo things: responsibility and
duty.
(16:29):
Responsibility you can hirepeople to take responsibility
lawyers or accountants andthings like that, responsible
for your welfare, your money.
But duty is something you doyourself and that duty cannot be
done by anybody else.
And the realization that,whatever it is you have to do,
because it's your duty andnobody else can do it, you're
(16:51):
having a spiritual illumination.
You're back to your birth.
Hey, I can handle this.
Nobody else can do it, so I'lldo it.
If you procrastinate, if youput off, if you assign your duty
to somebody else, it's going tofail.
So the key is hey, this is myduty, get on it right away.
So, in this search for spiritualillumination, yes, you can
(17:17):
contact some pretty bad actorsin the world and in the next
world, because the higher levelsand dimensions are exactly the
same in the degree ofconsciousness, as are the
dimensions that we're in here inthe world.
There are bad guys here in theworld.
They die.
Where do they go, Les?
They go to the bad guy's heaven.
(17:37):
I have another name for it, butthat's where they go.
So where do all the saints andwonderful people go?
Well, they go to the world ofsaints and wonderful people go.
So, having that idea that youcan have a spiritual experience,
spiritual illumination andunderstanding, it comes down to
(18:00):
who?
To you.
You can listen to other peopleand you can read other books and
you can agree with it.
You can have that a-ha moment.
You get it, you wake up, butyou did it on your own.
So, as we go to these people,Les, of attempting to understand
the dark side, it exists.
(18:20):
No one can say there is onlyheaven.
No one can say everything thatgoes wrong is the fault of the
devil.
Or no one can say that it's allman's fault (man, human kind, I
mean), it's all their fault.
No, we live in a world that isa world of duality.
(18:41):
We have light, we have darkness.
Choosing which path you'd liketo follow, I think, answers that
original question about what isillumination.
What is that spiritualexperience?
Well, it starts with youchoosing, like in the beginning,
to be born.
Have you ever thought of thatwhen you were born?
(19:02):
Was that like a spontaneous, bychance moment?
Or did you as a little baby sayI've had enough, I want out of
here.
You came into the world.
I kind of think that's the case, in talking to people who
remember their times in the womband their birth and things like
that, it's kind of like you'rechoosing everything.
(19:22):
So, as we explore this, whatdid you mean more exactly about
people visiting the dark Le s?
Les Hubert (19:29):
Well, yeah, it's interesting.
You mentioned this because Iknew a person who was involved
in organized crime early in hislife and I got to know him for
over a period of time and Iremember him telling me about
how, he said you know, he saidHollywood has it all wrong.
He said you know, in shows likethese, you know, these people
involved, the gangsters, theyhave lots of respect, they have
(19:50):
an easy life and they've got theworld, you know, by the -- the
world is their oyster.
And he said it's all not true.
And I said Well, what do youmean?
He said Well, he said, yes, youdo get a lot of respect.
But he said, eventually itcatches up with you and because
you're involved in suchnegativity as you just mentioned
, what you throw out comes backto you.
And all of their lives, he toldme, he said most of his friends
(20:13):
just didn't do well, andneither did he, until he got out
of that.
Like, he was able to get out ofit, thank God, and basically
live a normal life.
But he said you cannot trustanybody.
So when you're involved in thatnegativity, that power is there
, the respect is there, but youpay a dear price for it.
So he learned the hard way it'sbetter to go the other route
than that route.
Douglas James Cottrell (20:34):
Well, I think that kind of respect that
he's talking about was respectout of fear and more than likely
he's always looking over hisshoulder every day.
When you can't trust people,that means you can't have any
close friends to trust becausethey might be the person that
(20:56):
comes along and assassinates youor something or tries to
promote themselves byassassination.
So that's a world that ispretty toxic, but the respect is
out of fear.
People who respect you to yourface are having mental
reservations or inside they'replotting your assassination.
You know that kind of thing.
(21:17):
So what is that?
That's a world of toxicthoughts, but it's based on fear
.
So what's the answer?
To be in a situation where it'sloving thoughts.
I'm not talking lovey-dovey,romantic or sexual thoughts,
although those are good thoughtsto have.
It's a matter of being at peace.
(21:37):
You know, you go into a roomand everybody's in their room
and they're like, hi, Les, howyou doing?
They're happy to see you, andyou just let your guard down and
you're okay.
And you can even do somethingsilly and nobody's going to
condemn you or chastise you orcorrect you and say, oh well,
everybody does that.
You fell on your face, well,we'll help you out, but okay, I
(22:02):
suggest you don't do that againbecause it hurts.
Been there, done that, so passit on.
So the essence of, in thesimplistic terms we're talking
about, yes, Hollywood's got itwrong, but that fascinating
aspect of the heroes, thegenerals, the emperors, the
conquerors, something in ournature admires that might you
(22:27):
know, but might doesn't makeright.
So I don't know.
It's something fascinating withour character as humans.
But the other side of thatstory is the messiahs, the
saints, the wise men.
They don't go to conquer peopleand force them to do things at
(22:47):
their will, which we know,there's no empire in the entire
history of the world that hassurvived the world.
They come and they're there fora while and they go.
But the aspect of being kindand helpful and loving to one
another, that's always in theworld.
There just seems to be a wholelot less people today than there
(23:10):
was yesterday that were moreloving in yesteryear.
But the pendulum swings andthen our perception changes and
we find, wait a minute there's awhole lot less people in the
world causing problems andthere's more people loving and
being kind.
So somewhat of your perceptionand your bias, I guess, is one
way to perceive the world.
Not to be naive.
(23:31):
Have a practical outlook.
Look at situations that come toyou in your life, evaluate each
and every day and then be wiseenough that, when you learn a
lesson, to remember it and applyit next time.
So, as you reach out, in theseheavens of experience and these
experiences of the world, whatare you really doing?
You're being wise, and to havethe gift of wisdom means you've
(23:56):
lived a lot of life.
It also means you have a lot ofgood friends, just like you and
I on the Wake Up here, Les, wehave our friends out there.
We hope they'll subscribe toour Wake Up podcast and help us
spread the word.
and so things we say mighttrigger a word, a thought and
change somebody's life, and thenthey will pass that on.
(24:17):
That's what, praying to thehigher beings, to the avatars
and the saints, we don't want tomake God our servant.
We don't want to make theangels our servants.
We don't want to make dealswith anybody.
If you do this, I'll be so good.
We want to s ay s (24:33):
I want to be like you, I want to be fully
awakened, I want to be aware, Iwant to be self-aware, I want to
be realized, then I want to befully realized.
Can do .
(24:53):
Just take your steps, myfriends.
Les Hubert (25:30):
Well thank you clarifying that because so many
kids today, as we wrap this up,so many kids
Well, we're in the presentmoment, for a moment, whether
it's a pleasurable thing or notso so pleasurable if it's a
difficult thing or it's ahardship, it's hardship only
going to be there for a moment.
So the ever-present moment iswhere we want to be.
Until next time, peace be withyou.
.
Announcer (25:45):
Thank you very much for listening to Wake Up If you
enjoyed this episode theever-present moments where we
want to be.
Until next time, peace be withyou.
Thank you very much forlistening to Wake Up.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe so you'll be
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we're producing.
For more about Dr Douglas'self-development classes, books
(26:07):
and other related products,please visit his website
douglasjamescartrellcom.
Until next time, we wish youall of God's blessings health,
wealth and peace of mind.
Welcome to Wake Up with Dr Douglas James Cottrell,
your source for helpfulinformation, advice and tips to
live your life in a mindful wayin this increasingly chaotic
world.
For over four decades, DrDouglas has been teaching people
how to develop their intuitionand live their lives in a
conscious way.
His news and views of the worldtomorrow, today, are always
(00:21):
informative and revealing.
And now here's your host, DrDouglas James Cottrell.
Douglas James Cottrell (00:31):
Welcome to the Wake Up, the broadcast
where curiosity leads to deeperunderstanding.
I'm your host, Douglas JamesCottrell, and my good friend and
co-host Les Hubert is here withme, along with editor Jack
Bialik.
Les Hubert (00:43):
Hi, Doug.
Today I have an interestingquestion concerning elevating
our vibrations.
Back in the 1900s there was abook written called Masters of
the Far East.
It was written by a Dr, MSpalding.
He was kind of a rock star backin his day and he claimed that
raising our vibrations makeslife more elegant, more easy
instead of more difficult.
How is that, and how can we goabout doing this for ourselves?
Douglas James Cottrell (01:07):
Well, let's sort of talk about raising
our vibrations.
That's kind of one of thosegeneric terms.
So when we say raising ourvibrations, we mean becoming
better, fuller actuated, moreintelligent, wiser, able to
(01:30):
communicate with the divine.
So for every person out therelistening, they would have their
own personal uh, opinion orsome sort of understanding about
raising our vibrations.
So let's assume that raisingyour vibrations means that right
now, everybody listening to ourpodcast wants to be bigger,
better, more informed, smarter,wiser, more spiritual.
(01:54):
So, whatever reason they'rewanting this increasing their
vibrations or their energy ortheir levels it's of course the
intention is to be strongerspiritually.
You have in your soul's DNAthat consciousness, and so if we
say we want to raise ourvibrations, to become more
(02:15):
conscious of that wisdom that'swithin our soul's DNA, that
might be a good path to take, orto understand that raising your
vibrations to a higher level ofunderstanding by reconnecting
with the engrams, the vibrationin your soul, the soul DNA.
So if that's the case, thenwhat are we saying?
(02:36):
Well, I'd like to remember more, I'd like to know more and I'd
like to have access to allknowledge, so that when you have
a question or you are requiredto make a decision, you will
have information that will helpyou be well informed to make the
correct decision.
You know, quote unquote, neverbe wrong and always be right in
(03:00):
what you do.
And of course, we stumblethrough life.
We settle for less in life.
We endure life, and so when itgets to a point where you're not
happy, you reach out and youlook for more.
You want more, you want to getaway from the drudgery of life.
There must be something betterthan eating, sleeping and
(03:24):
working in life.
So the motivation of the, let'ssay, the uncomfortable part of
life helps you look for more.
Now, as you aspire to do more,there are certain conditions.
That is, when you want more,you have to struggle more, you
have to do more, you have towork harder, as they always say.
You know, you put a lot ofeffort in, you get a lot out, or
(03:46):
you get rewarded.
So that's a law of nature.
You know I often say you go tothe fireplace and say give me
heat and then I'll give you wood.
Well, you're not in the orderof events.
So you have to go back andfigure out what are the steps
and how do I get to where I wantto go.
So, somebody writing a book orsomebody putting their wisdom
down it's not the only book andthe only bit of wisdom.
(04:08):
Everybody has some.
So look around, that's thefirst thing.
Look and see what's out there,as to quote unquote raising your
vibrations, because what you'redoing is you're actually saying
I want to know more and then,when I know more, then I can do
more.
And I can do more with theconfidence that what I'm doing
(04:29):
is going to pay off, it's goingto be successful, I'm going to
accomplish something, I'm goingto have more prosperity, I'm
going to have more success, I'mgoing to be more content.
And then you have to definethat, because what I just said
about all those things, they'rekind of like conditions.
So you have to come down andsay I want to have things that
(04:52):
will make me happy, I want tohave people around me that I'll
feel loved.
So having people around you isa real thing and of course,
their liking you or loving youor giving you affection,
provides what you're looking forin the first place.
So again, I'm talking in apretty simplistic way, but when
you want to go to the higherlevels of consciousness, all
(05:15):
those things apply.
And so if we take it to raisingyour vibrations, meaning raising
your consciousness, then wehave to say: what is that
exactly?
What is a religious experience?
What is a spiritual experience?
You know, when I once asked agroup of people that, they kind
(05:35):
of were lost.
I said have you ever had aspiritual experience?
They didn't quite know how toanswer.
And then I said have you everhad a dream, and then the dream
came true?
And it was oh, yes, yes, wehave lots of times.
And I said that is a spiritualexperience.
And they all looked at me kindof like, wide-eyed, in wonder:
(05:58):
what do you mean?
I said, well, that came fromthe great beyond.
You were in a dream state, ahigher level of mind or
consciousness, and here you werehaving a soul consciousness,
spiritual consciousness, raisingof your vibration,
consciousness, because you werehaving a dream of perhaps seeing
the future and you didn't evenknow.
(06:18):
Ascertaining what is it, theraising your vibrations that
you're aiming for?
It's kind of like I'm going totake a trip.
I'm leaving Friday.
Okay, where are you going?
Oh, I don't know, but I'm goingFriday.
So having a religiousexperience, raising your
(06:41):
vibration, has to be writtendown and defined so that when
you get there, you know thatyou've arrived.
That consciousness could be: I'd like to meet a spiritual (06:48):
undefined
master, a teacher.
I'd like to meet an angelthat's watching over me.
I'd like to meet a guardianangel.
I would like to be able to goto other heavens above.
I would like to feel thatall-encompassing love, like a
(07:12):
kundalini experience, where I amjust surrounded by so much love
.
I don't care about anythingelse.
I am so disinterested with thephysical world.
I just want to be in thatenvelope of that unconditional
love, and I have met people whohave done that.
Usually, once in your life is aa guarantee, but sometimes
(07:36):
people have it twice, and I meta person that had it three times
and they were spending the restof their life trying to have
that experience a fourth time
Les Hubert (07:46):
Wow.
Douglas James Cottrell (07:48):
Yeah, and it's kind of like okay, but
it's such a wonderful experience.
You know like everything elseis secondary.
However, that leads to the trapof always wanting the ultimate
pleasure and not having anythingelse.
So you end up looking for thispleasure, wasting, if you will,
(08:08):
your time and life, looking forthis feeling of absolute,
complete, unconditional love.
Well, we have to struggle alittle bit, we have to put the
effort in, because then when wehave the reward, it makes it
worthwhile.
We feel better, accomplished,rewarded, whatever we feel good
about it.
So, raising your vibration, isin a sense of having a kundalini
(08:31):
experience, like having afeeling of unconditional love
surrounding you.
Is it a sense of knowing, allknowing?
Is there such a place, a pointwhen you can know everything?
Yes, there is.
I've touched upon it, I'vewitnessed it, I've had
experiences of it.
(08:51):
But like a dream, i t was thereand then I blinked and it left.
So I was touching upon somedimension or place where this
knowledge was.
Is that what you mean, myfriends, when you say you want
to raise your vibrations?
What did this fellow have tosay in this book that he
determined what raisingvibrations was all about Le s ?
Les Hubert (09:16):
Well, he kind of was touching upon the fact that, in
some disciplines, we're taughtthat if, in order to strive
spiritually or to growspiritually, you have to suffer,
suffer, suffer, and then lifegets more difficult as you climb
that ladder, and he said.
No.
According to the masters of theFar East, he said exactly the
opposite.
Life because you learn more andyou figure things out, you go
(09:37):
yeah, I don't want to do it thatway anymore, I'm going to do it
this way, which seems a lotmore more elegant.
My question to you, though, isyou touched on knowledge and how
people move towards knowledge.
What if somebody was movingtowards the knowledge of, let's
say, like black magic?
I mean, that's knowledge initself, and yet they want to
recruit more knowledge.
So how does that differ fromsomebody who wants to grow in
(09:58):
knowledge in the other direction?
Douglas James Cottrell (10:01):
Is there any difference?
Knowledge is knowledge.
So the determination of whitemagic or black magic or magic at
all is a mindset.
(10:22):
So if one wants to have aconstructive life, and, you
know, do good things, or onewants to have a destructive life
and do destructive things, itbasically is a choice.
I mean prayer is (10:28):
I pray for the well-being somebody, I pray
for virtue to come to them, Ipray for them to overcome their
hardships or their illness.
And then the other side of thatis I pray for somebody to have
hardship, I pray for somebody tohave discontent.
I call upon all the lost soulsout there to bring influences of
(10:51):
difficulty and challenges, asopposed to I pray to all the
angels out there to uplift andhelp.
So in that essence, white magicand black magic is just a
prayer, one for constructive andbeneficial needs and the other
for destructive and selfishneeds.
And this is where it might getinto that point where people say
(11:13):
you want to invent yourself,you have to suffer, you have to
punish yourself.
I agree with our friend in theEast.
No, if you're suffering,especially if you're suffering
at your own hand, you got itwrong.
You're supposed to have awonderful life and, if I can say
, any one quality other thanlove profound that you will find
(11:38):
that way is living your life ina peaceful way, within due
bounds of all humankind, withvirtue, with honor, with caring
and with the golden rule beingyour choice of weapon.
You know, do unto others onlythat that you would like to have
(12:04):
done to yourself.
And I'm changing that by sayingonly.
But the idea is that what youare putting forth, what you're
giving out, is like a boomerang.
You throw that boomerang outand whatever you have on that
boomerang is going to come backto you exactly the same, the
(12:24):
same measure, at the same speed,and it's going to have the same
effect.
So why not throw out boomerangsof compassion, helping,
constructive aspects, not beinganything other than grateful for
other people and cheering themon in their own successes and
(12:45):
their own achievements?
So combining those two aspects,Les, about if you want to
advance yourself, you have tosuffer.
That's a great deception.
That's a deceit and that's away of somebody controlling
people by blaming them orgetting them more exactly to
(13:05):
blame themselves, for them tofeel guilty and then to punish
themselves.
That doesn't sound like heavento me.
That sounds like the otherplace.
So the freedom of your soul,the freedom of your mind, the
freedom of your life, thatdoesn't, in my mind, have
anything to do with sufferingand punishment.
(13:27):
Now life ,again pivoting alittle bit, life is full of
suffering.
We have difficulties, we getsick, we hurt ourselves.
We have friends, we have peoplethat we lose in our life.
They die or they abandon us orthey move away.
But you know, think about this.
When you ever start feelingsorry for yourself in that way,
it's like just a minute.
(13:48):
How many people were there atyour birth?
Well, there was apparently somepeople watching you, but you
were the only one.
No matter if you're twins ortriplets, you were there, one at
a time.
And so you came into the world,somehow, through excruciatingly
difficult and hardship, youwere born and then life got
(14:13):
better.
When you go out, it's the sameway, only it's not
excruciatingly painful.
It's a release, it's a reliefand you're moving back.
So in between those two points,you're on your own.
You're not really codependent.
You don't need other people tomake you happy, nor should you
(14:34):
expect other people to make youfeel any way other than you
choose to feel.
So in answering those questions,you pray to a bunch of bad
guys, they're going to make youfeel bad.
If you surround yourself withnegative people, meaning toxic
people, complaining people,you're going to feel toxic and
(14:57):
you're going to feel sad.
So if you surround yourself,it's like putting on a nice warm
coat and you have people aroundyou, you feel better,
especially if they're yourfriends and they care about you
and you care about them, youfeel wonderful.
Even though you don't know it,you're having a spiritual
experience because now, for thatmoment, you're together with
(15:20):
other people, which is onlygoing to be for a moment,
because everybody's going to gohome and you'll never, ever be
able to rekindle that moment.
So that's an essence of aspiritual experience.
But you've done it on your ownand together with other people.
They're on their own, buttogether you're all together,
sort of, you're all in the samepath, individually, but together
(15:43):
.
And so you start to look at itand say, yes, I don't need other
people to approve of me, Idon't need to people- please, I
don't need to be codependent.
Who's the only person in theworld you need to please?
Numero uno, yourself and thennot to get carried away like,
(16:06):
hey, I want to be the Big Poobah, you know.
No, I'm just happy to be herewith the group.
And so, with that understanding,you can find your way.
But understanding that you havetwo things: responsibility and
duty.
(16:29):
Responsibility you can hirepeople to take responsibility
lawyers or accountants andthings like that, responsible
for your welfare, your money.
But duty is something you doyourself and that duty cannot be
done by anybody else.
And the realization that,whatever it is you have to do,
because it's your duty andnobody else can do it, you're
(16:51):
having a spiritual illumination.
You're back to your birth.
Hey, I can handle this.
Nobody else can do it, so I'lldo it.
If you procrastinate, if youput off, if you assign your duty
to somebody else, it's going tofail.
So the key is hey, this is myduty, get on it right away.
So, in this search for spiritualillumination, yes, you can
(17:17):
contact some pretty bad actorsin the world and in the next
world, because the higher levelsand dimensions are exactly the
same in the degree ofconsciousness, as are the
dimensions that we're in here inthe world.
There are bad guys here in theworld.
They die.
Where do they go, Les?
They go to the bad guy's heaven.
(17:37):
I have another name for it, butthat's where they go.
So where do all the saints andwonderful people go?
Well, they go to the world ofsaints and wonderful people go.
So, having that idea that youcan have a spiritual experience,
spiritual illumination andunderstanding, it comes down to
(18:00):
who?
To you.
You can listen to other peopleand you can read other books and
you can agree with it.
You can have that a-ha moment.
You get it, you wake up, butyou did it on your own.
So, as we go to these people,Les, of attempting to understand
the dark side, it exists.
(18:20):
No one can say there is onlyheaven.
No one can say everything thatgoes wrong is the fault of the
devil.
Or no one can say that it's allman's fault (man, human kind, I
mean), it's all their fault.
No, we live in a world that isa world of duality.
(18:41):
We have light, we have darkness.
Choosing which path you'd liketo follow, I think, answers that
original question about what isillumination.
What is that spiritualexperience?
Well, it starts with youchoosing, like in the beginning,
to be born.
Have you ever thought of thatwhen you were born?
(19:02):
Was that like a spontaneous, bychance moment?
Or did you as a little baby sayI've had enough, I want out of
here.
You came into the world.
I kind of think that's the case, in talking to people who
remember their times in the womband their birth and things like
that, it's kind of like you'rechoosing everything.
(19:22):
So, as we explore this, whatdid you mean more exactly about
people visiting the dark Le s?
Les Hubert (19:29):
Well, yeah, it's interesting.
You mentioned this because Iknew a person who was involved
in organized crime early in hislife and I got to know him for
over a period of time and Iremember him telling me about
how, he said you know, he saidHollywood has it all wrong.
He said you know, in shows likethese, you know, these people
involved, the gangsters, theyhave lots of respect, they have
(19:50):
an easy life and they've got theworld, you know, by the -- the
world is their oyster.
And he said it's all not true.
And I said Well, what do youmean?
He said Well, he said, yes, youdo get a lot of respect.
But he said, eventually itcatches up with you and because
you're involved in suchnegativity as you just mentioned
, what you throw out comes backto you.
And all of their lives, he toldme, he said most of his friends
(20:13):
just didn't do well, andneither did he, until he got out
of that.
Like, he was able to get out ofit, thank God, and basically
live a normal life.
But he said you cannot trustanybody.
So when you're involved in thatnegativity, that power is there
, the respect is there, but youpay a dear price for it.
So he learned the hard way it'sbetter to go the other route
than that route.
Douglas James Cottrell (20:34):
Well, I think that kind of respect that
he's talking about was respectout of fear and more than likely
he's always looking over hisshoulder every day.
When you can't trust people,that means you can't have any
close friends to trust becausethey might be the person that
(20:56):
comes along and assassinates youor something or tries to
promote themselves byassassination.
So that's a world that ispretty toxic, but the respect is
out of fear.
People who respect you to yourface are having mental
reservations or inside they'replotting your assassination.
You know that kind of thing.
(21:17):
So what is that?
That's a world of toxicthoughts, but it's based on fear
.
So what's the answer?
To be in a situation where it'sloving thoughts.
I'm not talking lovey-dovey,romantic or sexual thoughts,
although those are good thoughtsto have.
It's a matter of being at peace.
(21:37):
You know, you go into a roomand everybody's in their room
and they're like, hi, Les, howyou doing?
They're happy to see you, andyou just let your guard down and
you're okay.
And you can even do somethingsilly and nobody's going to
condemn you or chastise you orcorrect you and say, oh well,
everybody does that.
You fell on your face, well,we'll help you out, but okay, I
(22:02):
suggest you don't do that againbecause it hurts.
Been there, done that, so passit on.
So the essence of, in thesimplistic terms we're talking
about, yes, Hollywood's got itwrong, but that fascinating
aspect of the heroes, thegenerals, the emperors, the
conquerors, something in ournature admires that might you
(22:27):
know, but might doesn't makeright.
So I don't know.
It's something fascinating withour character as humans.
But the other side of thatstory is the messiahs, the
saints, the wise men.
They don't go to conquer peopleand force them to do things at
(22:47):
their will, which we know,there's no empire in the entire
history of the world that hassurvived the world.
They come and they're there fora while and they go.
But the aspect of being kindand helpful and loving to one
another, that's always in theworld.
There just seems to be a wholelot less people today than there
(23:10):
was yesterday that were moreloving in yesteryear.
But the pendulum swings andthen our perception changes and
we find, wait a minute there's awhole lot less people in the
world causing problems andthere's more people loving and
being kind.
So somewhat of your perceptionand your bias, I guess, is one
way to perceive the world.
Not to be naive.
(23:31):
Have a practical outlook.
Look at situations that come toyou in your life, evaluate each
and every day and then be wiseenough that, when you learn a
lesson, to remember it and applyit next time.
So, as you reach out, in theseheavens of experience and these
experiences of the world, whatare you really doing?
You're being wise, and to havethe gift of wisdom means you've
(23:56):
lived a lot of life.
It also means you have a lot ofgood friends, just like you and
I on the Wake Up here, Les, wehave our friends out there.
We hope they'll subscribe toour Wake Up podcast and help us
spread the word.
and so things we say mighttrigger a word, a thought and
change somebody's life, and thenthey will pass that on.
(24:17):
That's what, praying to thehigher beings, to the avatars
and the saints, we don't want tomake God our servant.
We don't want to make theangels our servants.
We don't want to make dealswith anybody.
If you do this, I'll be so good.
We want to s ay s (24:33):
I want to be like you, I want to be fully
awakened, I want to be aware, Iwant to be self-aware, I want to
be realized, then I want to befully realized.
Can do .
(24:53):
Just take your steps, myfriends.
Les Hubert (25:30):
Well thank you clarifying that because so many
kids today, as we wrap this up,so many kids
Well, we're in the presentmoment, for a moment, whether
it's a pleasurable thing or notso so pleasurable if it's a
difficult thing or it's ahardship, it's hardship only
going to be there for a moment.
So the ever-present moment iswhere we want to be.
Until next time, peace be withyou.
.
Announcer (25:45):
Thank you very much for listening to Wake Up If you
enjoyed this episode theever-present moments where we
want to be.
Until next time, peace be withyou.
Thank you very much forlistening to Wake Up.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe so you'll be
notified when a new episode isposted, and we'd greatly
appreciate your review of ourshow on iTunes or wherever you
get your podcasts to let othersknow about the great content
we're producing.
For more about Dr Douglas'self-development classes, books
(26:07):
and other related products,please visit his website
douglasjamescartrellcom.
Until next time, we wish youall of God's blessings health,
wealth and peace of mind.
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