On the one hand, I feel that one of the great gifts of our time is the increasing recognition of what we might call “spiritual biodiversity” — the extraordinary depth and richness of expressions, modalities, and revelations that are available in the modern day thanks to the internet and other sources of information. We are blessed with an unprecedented abundance of resources, an opportunity to participate in a kind of grand experiment, weaving together elements from different traditions to discover what most resonates and catalyzes our unique being.

At the same time, this very proliferation can also foster a certain kind of confusion, overwhelm, or even spiritual materialism if not held in a proper context. In a world where the classical reference points and reality-checks are quickly dissolving, it can be all too easy to get lost in the spiritual supermarket, endlessly sampling exotic states and peak experiences without ever quite landing in an embodied, integrated awakening.

As such, I feel that spiritual friends, mentors and communities have a more important function than ever, but one that requires a certain kind of quantum leap from the traditional “top-down” model. The call is to develop a new form of relational praxis, one that honors the intrinsic sovereignty and singular trajectory of each practitioner while also providing meaningful orientation and reflection along the way.

In my experience, this invites a sensitive balance between unconditional affirmation and skillful re-direction. A willingness to validate the entire spectrum of unfolding even as we illuminate the potential pitfalls and nudge the system back towards its deeper truth.

More than anything, it asks that we create spaces in which practitioners can unpack the depths of their spiritual process, can feel truly seen and mirrored in all of their glorious strangeness without any pressure to conform to external standards or dogmas. Crucibles in which each being’s journey can be shared and metabolized by the group field, alchemized into a kind of distilled, transpersonal wisdom.

At the same time, I believe it is crucial that such containers be anchored by those who have traveled the territory deeply, who carry a kind of lived, embodied understanding of the paradoxical nature of the path. In a sense, the central vocation of the 21st century spiritual guide becomes something like a “resident freedom pointer” — one who has taken as their core mission the compassionate illumination of all subtle and not-so-subtle forms of fixation that arise within the relational field. It is in the encounter between the particular and the universal that the seeds of a new, authentically integral spirituality are germinated.