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Follow Along with the Transcript – Episode 039
Alex Ferrari 0:09
I'd like to welcome the show Dimitri Moraitis how you doin, Dimitri?
Dimitri Moraitis 0:12
Great, how are you and thanks for having me on.
Alex Ferrari 0:14
Thank you so much for coming on the show. I'm excited to talk to you about about the meaning of life. And we should hopefully have that answer by the end of this episode. So everyone listening, Dimitri is here to help us with that.
Dimitri Moraitis 0:27
Things
Alex Ferrari 0:28
Just a little things, the meaning of life, why we're here, all these kinds of things. Nothing no pressure, Dimitri. No, but But seriously, we're gonna dive in deep about your work in the spiritual realm, your journey as well. And, and, and maybe get some some some insight on some of these larger questions. I can't promise that we'll find the meaning of life at the end of this episode, but we're gonna do our darndest to find it. So first things first, how did you begin your spiritual journey?
Dimitri Moraitis 0:57
Well, that's a great question. Um, it began years ago, I was pursuing a career in motion pictures and television, and had gone to New York and studied there with NYU, and then came to Chicago and Chicago is really big in advertising. So I started getting involved with advertising production. And I said, No, this is, I really don't want to go all the way here. So you got to go to Los Angeles for that. And so I did. And it was actually starting to go very well. But when I moved out, I was having these. I didn't know anything about metaphysics. At that point, I was born Greek Orthodox, you went to Easter and because you know, it was basic stuff, but and I wasn't adverse to it. I just didn't know what it was. So I was having then I call them these inspiration moments. It was sort of like, it sounds weird to say, but kind of like being in another state of consciousness. Very elevating, very insightful. Very beautiful, but very unplanned. They sort of came like the wind, and they sort of left like the wind. And they just kept coming. And it got so strong. I had this awakening, it's unmistakable spiritual awakening, I call it my solemn the road to Damascus moment. But even initially, then I still didn't quite have the words for it yet. Some said, Oh, you've had a religious experience. No, it didn't quite a few like that. And then when I got metaphysics, and I put those two together, I said, Wow, I hit the bull's eye, this is what I'm looking for. And even in my days of filmmaking, I wasn't just wanting to be a filmmaker, I wanted to be a visionary filmmaker, you know how to, even then there was something not the norm, you know. And then I realized, wow, this is really what I've been looking for. It's interesting, you know, I followed my bliss to LA, but it led me into something a turn, I never would have anticipated. And, you know, I started reading a lot and studying a lot. But something said, Be careful about like joining a group or a teacher. And then about a year after this sort of deep searching. I met someone at a dinner party and an old girlfriend said, Well, I know you like these things. And would you like to come to this dinner party, this woman's leading a meditation, and it was Barbara, you know, that we do all the writing with and started all the whole organization. And she lived in meditation, I felt like the saints and doors started opening up again. And I had all this stuff on my mind. So I did kind of pull out all these questions. I was trying to understand what was happening to me. And she answered them as such eloquence. And I thought was a great conversation. She says, I interrogated her that night. But then when she started talking about, like, the other side, like with our new book is about, I realized, Oh, my God, she's talking from her own experiences. She was very understated in which the way she was talking. And he said, she's the one I got to study with. So then I jumped really into this. And then not only did I realize this is a personal quest, this was a professional one, too. I was meant this to be my career. And the problem was, is, you know, with filmmaking, you know, movies as a jealous mistress, so once all of you, you know?
Alex Ferrari 4:18
Oh, yes. Oh, yes, my friend. I am very well aware.
Dimitri Moraitis 4:22
Yeah. And it was hard. And, you know, the people I was meeting and these are, you know, influential peoples. In the beginning, I was a little too outspoken. I was just so excited by all of it. And they really thought, you know, Dimitri lost his mind a little bit here. But I knew this was my role. And working with Barbara, you know, Chris Moore started to happen. I started to understand I went through training. And then years later, I realized, you know, Bob, we have all this massive knowledge. We've got to organize it. And we started what became spiritual Arts Institute. We started writing all the books together. The new one that just came out heaven in your spiritual evolution is like the fifth in a series of seven. And then we were doing our classes in LA, then this opportunity here in the San Diego Encinitas area opened up. And this is sort of a spiritual Mecca down here. I say there's two cardinal virtues and Encinitas yoga and surfing is very true. And it just opened up this this thing, start flowering, and it happens to coincide with this beautiful, you know, flowering of interest in general. Now, I have to talk a little bit about Barbara that we work together now. She was She's much older than myself. And she was born during the Depression era. And her father was a Greek Orthodox priest. But he was also a builder of churches, he would, the diocese would send him to different places, literally, physically build the church, get the congregation together. And this is a time in the priests still had the long beards. And he could tell him, we're not in Greece anymore. We got to modernize ourselves. And but she was three years old, she was having these mystical experiences, and seeing auras and angelic visitations, and all this kind of stuff, and said, I didn't know what a quite meant, but I knew I was attracted, somebody had a great aura of like, pretty colors. And I knew, so I was attracted, some of that had ugly colors. Because you know, when you get angry and upset, it produces some pretty ugly energies in the auric field. And she said, sometimes I look at my parents when they were arguing, and I could see this discordant energy going between them and this little kid. So it was very disturbing. While when she was eight, she was 11. She actually got interested in acting herself a little bit, she joined a theater stock company, and this is a well known woman in the Midwest or at the Lumos. And you know, things are going well, but one time Dorothy says, come visit me privately, Saturday, and she goes there and and then she thinks, Oh, we're going to be dropped from the truth. She doesn't like my performing. But she said, how do you see things is what do you mean, I see things like everybody know, how do you see things? And then Barbara goes, Oh, she's talking about that. And then Dorothy said, you can see the aura can chew and Barbara's jaw kind of dropped, oh, my god, is that what it's called, she didn't even have a name for it. And she said, I can see the or two. I'm hermetic scientist, my mother, my grandmother, they're all hermetic scientists. I would like to teach you about your gifts. So they started, Barbara started studying with her and Dorothy had these beautiful handwritten manuscripts on unspiritual topics, including interpretation of our colors, and all of that. So this whole beautiful metaphysical world opened up to her. Later, she came to LA, interestingly enough, got involved with the showbiz world. But this is like the golden age of Hollywood. I mean, she knew people like you know, Cecil B. DeMille. She worked with Red Skelton when he was just a starter, you know, she actually her brother was actor and her other brother was a singer. And, you know, she said, Well, I was only 19. And they were complaining, they weren't getting enough work. And I could see in their aura, all this talent. So I said, why don't we just do it ourselves, you know, so she put on these variety shows for the troops and everything became really successful. They want to take her to Las Vegas and start this show. But she got this inspiration to now your your, your, your path is, you're meant to be a metaphysical teacher. And she listened, you know, and then later, she joined instead of this, this other mystic in LA, that trainer to teach because, again, at that point, none of this was popular. So, you know, Barbara thought, well, who wants to hear about this? So no, you're going to get a lecture platform, you're going to get over the airwaves, you and that's what happened, she started this amazing career. And then when I met her, she was kind of on sabbatical and sort of restarting things. And what I also didn't realize at the time, because again, there is this age difference, that she was training me to kind of take over, you know, part part of the lineage of this, you know, there's sort of a teacher student, it's like, you're passing this baton, so..
Alex Ferrari 9:08
Very, very Yoda Jedi style.
Dimitri Moraitis 9:10
Yeah. That's a broadcaster today. Yeah. Hopefully not talking like
Alex Ferrari 9:17
Yes, exactly. It's just like, you know, I always I always bring it back to the film business in one way, shape, or form because that's my, that's my language is what I learned. It's funny that you said that you were you followed your bliss to LA but then it took you to another direction. I mean, that's happened to me so many times in my life, even though my mistress which is the film industry has always been pulling, I call it the beautiful disease, because it doesn't the beautiful illness because it doesn't ever let go of you. It is it's with you at all times. And even when you're doing other things. You start thinking maybe I could shoot a documentary. Maybe I could shoot this or maybe I could do that. It's always sitting in the background, but that is any art and the artists has.
Dimitri Moraitis 9:56
You're an artist. I mean, film movies are wonderful. I My love for them has never disappeared.
Alex Ferrari 10:02
Of course, never. You can't. When you have the bug, it's it's there. It's there. It's there. It could be dormant but it always pops its head. Now you've used the term metaphysics a lot, can you please give the audience a definition of what metaphysics is like a kind of a primer?
Dimitri Moraitis 10:19
Well, it's very basic route. Metta means after, in physics, that means after the physical. So the idea is, this world is not just physical, there is a spiritual route to physical life. And even though we can't see it with physical eyes, it's there. It's actually miserable in its own way. And as you learn to get in tune with the spiritual part, which is really you, then you're opening up this whole universe. And I'll tell you, I just shut down and said, we're not, you know, physical beings having spiritual experiences, we're spiritual beings having physical experiences. So when you actually put it the right way, shall we say, you realize, okay, I'm not actually my body I'm in, I'm inhabiting this body. This is like a vehicle, I'm using this body, but it's not actually me. in touch with with the real you, this whole universe starts to open up. And it's not disjointed from the physical, it makes you actually more adept physically handle more things physically. So we tell people, you know, start with a spiritual, don't treat them as two isolated things. It's not earth life, spiritual life, it's all spiritual. And when you come at it from that perspective, you're not just blessing your spiritual life, your blessing all of your life, everything, your relationships, your career, find, it all has spiritual roots. And when you look at it that way, your whole life takes on a different demeanor.
Alex Ferrari 11:48
Yeah, I mean, looking through, through the lens of the physical world, it's so fascinating that we are basically just expressions of Earth, we come from the earth, we were carbon based life forms, if you will. And we're almost like projections of, of Earth. And it's an experiencing it through that, obviously, the Spirit is guiding all of that. But you come from the earth, and you go back to the earth, at the end of the day, the physical body does, but the physical body does. And so many people are so caught up in the physical body, because that's all that that's the only experience the only kind of barometer they have to it. But when you start looking deeper, and that is one of the things that I find that most human beings, I say the majority of the planet, is searching for meaning in their life, whether they find that in a church, whether they find that at a seminar, in meditation, and yoga, wherever they find it, they're constantly searching for a bigger, deeper meaning to their life, whether they're aware of it or not, whether it's cultural, or societal, or via country or so on. They're always looking. And there's a reason for that. Because even though we are kind of blinded, down here, if you will, by by the physical, something deep inside of us is always looking to connect back to where we truly come from, which is source, which is the spirit.
Dimitri Moraitis 13:16
Well, it's a little bit like, I don't wanna say amnesia, but we're sort of forget what we who we are here. So we think we are this body instead of a soul. So we behave like that, like you say, but there's a part of us that's nudging us saying, No, you don't have the full picture, you know, the Indian philosophy of Maya, the world of illusion, that's often misinterpreted. They're not saying the world is an illusion, they're saying our physical conception of the world is illusory, because that's only a piece of the spectrum. You know, we know now, there's the visible light spectrum, but there's all this other spectrum, you know, and that's the same with our ourselves, we're, we're much more interesting than we give ourselves credit for.
Alex Ferrari 14:01
It's so interesting, because as as you know, 100 200 years ago, microwaves radio waves Yeah, that stuff wasn't you couldn't even imagine, imagine it, let alone see electricity, all of that stuff you really couldn't. couldn't detect it. Whereas now that's part of our, our understanding, where now with quantum physics. Now, we understand that we are not even solid. If you go down to the molecular level there is it's just energy. So when you start in that's, you know, that science doing that, and I feel that science is catching up to spirituality.
Dimitri Moraitis 14:43
I look at them, they're sort of you're sort of like the still not quite looking at each other, but they're more like back to back. And they just didn't need to like, turn around.
Alex Ferrari 14:51
Just turn around. You see what I mean? Like things that that, you know, the back of Ito was talking about and Yogananda were talking about and the These concepts are now being proven by science, right? You know, like the just energy, the concept of energy and the concept of being able to, you know, shift your body in, you know, like in yogic In the yogic tradition, if you're a master yogi, you can, you know, be in two places at the same time you can you can you, the physical world have such control of the concept of the energy in the physical world, that they can do things. These kinds of concepts are starting to be proven, not saying exactly, but the concept of energy and that we are just walking energy. It's really fascinating to see how that is all coming around, and even the last 50 years, 100 years concepts that were absolutely foreign yoga, meditation in the West. Oh, that was, you know, when you when Yogananda brought over yoga and meditation in the 20s and 30s. I can only imagine what it was like a man like him walking around in the 20s
Dimitri Moraitis 16:00
Oh, yeah, no. aroma, Nanda, who was another Indian teacher, he went to Boston 100 or so years ago, that was supposed to be the cutting edge place. Right? I had the first convinced them. I wasn't a barbarian. Right? It's not even seen somebody from India. From India,
Alex Ferrari 16:19
Let alone they don't even know where India was, or what is this Indian thing? You know, and it's it is so funny that Yogananda eventually, like, you know, where I need to be Hollywood. And that's it all goes back to Hallywood you know,
Dimitri Moraitis 16:35
I was saying years ago, this climate and it still is was just very conducive to spiritual. There's so many organizations come out here, the Rosicrucians Max heindel. You know, they're just, there's something about this area that was open minded for that.
Alex Ferrari 16:50
Well, the hippie movement, the the natural natural foods, the concept of organic, all that came from California. So there's something going on always has been something going on, in that in that land, for whatever reason, but there is, but it's, um, you know, as we as we pass through our spiritual path, there are pitfalls that we can fall into. Can you give any advice? Or what are some pitfalls to kind of look out for?
Dimitri Moraitis 17:16
Yeah, yeah. So that's a big area. So Well, first of all, just like anything in life, right? Not everything labeled spiritual is in fact, spiritual. Stop it. I mean, they're con people in every walk of life, right? Of course, the buck to be made, you'll find somebody trying to make it and trying to convince somebody snake oil term salesman. They're just they're always around. But they're also tests for us. Because why do we fall for the fool's gold because we don't understand what real gold looks like when it's not polished. Right? So there's a lesson for us if you fall prey to these pitfalls. Now, there are the straight, say con people. Um, I don't you know, there's a great story in the in the book Heaven, your spiritual evolution where Barbara talks about experience she had with a woman that was with the Jim Jones, you remember that? That guy? Of course, yeah. Kool Aid. How can you get? Yeah, yeah. And, you know, she went to see him because her friend really believed in him, and she could see his aura, and how horrible it was. And she said, get the heck out of here. You know, this guy is no good. This is long before Ghana. But she didn't believe him. Barbara, she said, No, you don't know what you're talking about. They never spoke again. And when? Yeah, when it happened, she was one of them. Well, what happened was, she did go down there with her family and kids. And she gave it to another family and kids to go with her. She was getting some inheritance from a grandmother. So he said, Go get the inheritance and come back. And then when she went back, the whole thing with a state Congressman happened, and that really got murdered. And you know, and then the her family and friends family took the Kool Aid, but she lived. Wow. I mean, can imagine living with that, you know? And I asked Barbara, why, why do you think she fell for it so much. Now, that is a rare, that doesn't happen every day. I hate to say here in this area is where the Heaven's Gate people were they all 50 people committed mass suicide because they thought they were going to be taken up to a spaceship in another dimension and all of that. But I asked her, Why do you think she felt so deeply for him? Okay, you know, he was charismatic or whatever. But this was way beyond that. And her answer was interesting. He said, You know, some people don't realize such evil really does exist. We always want to look at the good and everybody. And sometimes you don't realize that things are operating at a level that is not pleasant. And we have to be alert to it. But you know, it's just like you. If you're going to a bad neighborhood, you don't just say Oh, love carrying me through the neighborhood of if it's not a great neighborhood, right? You got to kind of prepare yourself for that. And we got to realize there are dangers in this world. And it's in the spiritual arena to Now, the other danger is a little more elusive. Because when you're dealing with mystical things, some of the challenges are on a, on a spiritual level, not just the material level, for example. There's such a thing as trance medium. Have you been familiar with that? Well, this is the idea that, you know, a medium is something that supposedly talks to the other side, right? But a trance medium goes into a literal trance state, like unconscious. And supposedly the spirit comes in and literally talks to the person. Oh, yes, of course. And their whole mannerism changes.
Alex Ferrari 20:46
That would be would be that would be Whoopi Goldberg and ghost.
Dimitri Moraitis 20:49
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I really do have
Alex Ferrari 20:53
Whoopi Goldberg and Ghost got it,
Dimitri Moraitis 20:55
You got it, you got. Now the idea is you're talking to some great mystic or great, angelic beings. It's got to be somebody that's like super enlightened and knows everything. So this one thing, or Barbara went, you know, she could see these things. He was a trance medium, and I guess he was charming. And he had a nice following of people. And she went to one of these events of friend Weiner go to again, she said, I always sit at the back of the room so I can make a quick exit. And here's this guy goes on stage goes into trance, and they don't remember the trance when they're in it. Actually remember it. This supposedly 20,000 year old sage was coming through him. And yeah, he was kind of saying, you know, people were asking kind of mundane questions about their life and, and he did seem to have some knowledge of what was going on with them. And they were all transfixed. And so Barba wanted to see, well, who's the control is the spirit really coming in? Because, you know, he only sees the person. And what he's what she saw, she zoomed in the light was not this high above soul, but this lowly almost, you know, masquerading spirit of low soul, and that another evolved soul at all. And but he was controlling the sky. And this lowly soul, this entity, picked up what Barbara was doing. And in full trance, no one has any idea what's going on. This guy gets up the, you know, the control, controlling him, walks to the back of the room, leans over to Barbara in a quiet voice and says withdraw your light. What do you expect coming from a drunkard like this? Meaning the media and Barbara's like, I better get out of here.
Alex Ferrari 22:40
That's my cue to exit. Yeah.
Dimitri Moraitis 22:42
It's not always what appears to be. So when you get involved with metaphysics, it's very exciting. You want the whole world to share in what you're feeling. But our advice is, tread carefully. You know, you're heading into very beautiful but profound waters, and check your own motives. Why are you getting involved with this is because it just makes you feel better? Or you're you want someone to love you, are you? But are you really searching too deep in your own inner nature, if your motive is genuine, you'll find a genuine teacher. If your motives are a little bit self serving, you might be open to it, you know, when they say when the student is ready, the teacher appears.
Alex Ferrari 23:19
Now, I feel that if you you know, because I mean, I've studied many teachers, especially Eastern teachers, like Yogananda, and Baba Ji and nuclear SWAT and all these kinds of things. And it always I always find it that spiritual leaders or people who are trying to teach in this field, if they're preaching Self Realization, that's generally a good sign. As opposed to follow me.
Dimitri Moraitis 23:49
Well, yeah!
Alex Ferrari 23:50
Is that is that is that a pretty good barometer? Like, listen to what I'm saying? Find it inside of you. I am not the answer. I'm here to guide. But I don't get but you need to find the answers within you. I'm here to help you with that. Is that a good barometer for
Dimitri Moraitis 24:08
It's a very good barometer because, you know, no one can do the growing for you. Though, you know, the whole book we wrote having a spiritual evolution is the idea that our path is an evolution, we are spiritually evolving, meaning we have to do our own growing right, the parent takes care of the child, but the parent isn't actually making the child grow. The child is doing that on its own right. But the parent is helping to steer it so it doesn't get into trouble, or that it's learning in the right way. So a teacher is very much like that. They're like they they're further down the road, they've had more experience on it. So in Summon is kind of learning things. They help to steer the ship. I could have read 1000 metaphysical books and not gotten what I got from Barbara as a teacher because it's just there's some things that you can only learn by being with a teacher. Now, the only caution I would be is, if anyone promises instant Self Realization. Yeah, there's enlightenment and five easy pieces, you know, then be careful, this is not a quick road. So if you're expecting a quick fix, you don't, don't go to that person, then
Alex Ferrari 25:17
I'll tell you what, I'll just give you the example of my own journey in regards to meditation, which is my next question about meditation. But in meditation, when you first start, it's tough, it's difficult, you got to quiet the monkey mind. You got it, you got to start and then you know, you start at five minutes, and then maybe you go to 30 minutes, and then maybe get to an hour one day, and if you start, it takes years, years, to truly now get to a place where where I meditate for maybe two, three hours, in a day, I'm able to lose myself inside of inside of the meditation, I, I can feel it, there's a bliss, involved in the meditation, it's so much, it's even hard to come out sometimes, because I go in so deep, but that takes years. Like if you go, if you become a Buddhist monk, it's gonna take a long lot of meditation before you get to certain levels of consciousness within the meditation. We're all all these all these gurus that we've been spotted speaking of. And when I say Guru, I mean, the traditional sense of the actual Indian gurus, none of them, everyone's every one of them is like, this is gonna take a minute, this is gonna take some time, there's gonna be struggles, this is not an easy path that rings true as opposed to like, in 30 days, you will see Christ, and you will have Christ consciousness in 30 days, just by my book 1995. You know, like, but that's but so. So I always, you know,
Dimitri Moraitis 26:54
We want to eat the right too many times people want it easy.
Alex Ferrari 26:57
Every time. Every time. Nobody wants to go through the struggle, nobody. I want to wake up tomorrow with a six pack. And I don't want to I want to be able to eat whatever I want and look like Brad Pitt
Dimitri Moraitis 27:08
That machine that will make that happen for you. And then
Alex Ferrari 27:11
I bought that machine when I was in my 20s. When the electrical pulses, that's, yeah, that's a much. So but those are those kinds of things that you just like, Okay, if you can, if you understand that the journey you're about to take is going to be a long journey. And if you are in the journey for the destination, you're in the wrong journey. You need to enjoy the path, enjoy the walk, the walking of the path, because that's the enjoyment because life is not a destination life isn't is a journey. So because when you get to that, that destination, it's over quick. And I've had that conversation on my other shows about with these Oscar winners. But what was it like that, like, when I got up there? I said, Thanks for Thank you. And then you're like, now what? Like it's one night, right? And you spent 20 years to get there. Now what? And that and there's a lot of a lot of high performers who win a gold medal or you know, the Olympics or win an Oscar or win a Nobel Peace Prize, a Nobel Prize or something. And they're just like, now what, but as opposed to people who are enjoying the journey, they're like, that was nice. That was great. Had a great night. Let's move on and we're continuing down the path.
Dimitri Moraitis 28:30
Well, the great mystic Helena Blavatsky, right, that started theosophy, they asked her that in kind of a different way. They said when you reach those higher, then use the word heaven, but the higher mystical realms, you know, are you finished? When you reach kind of perfection? Are you are you done? Are you on clouds and playing hearts all day long? You're, you know, what are you doing? And I loved her answer. It said, No, you grow from perfection to perfection, evolutions and eternal process. So there are cycles. So in other words, to get to that Academy Award, or to get there was a lot of effort, and it was rightly spent effort. But it finished a phase of maybe your life, but it doesn't finish your life. You know, people think, Oh, I'll retire and I'll just travel for the rest of my life. Well, you may retire from a career, but you're not retiring from life, you know, so okay, you did really well. You accomplished all of this. That means good job in that area of your life. But now like you say, what's next? Where's the next big adventure that we need to go on? And if you take that attitude, you're always you know, the whole thing about the heaven worlds people think it is maybe a little boring there because you've finished and done it all. But as you go higher, your creativity expands. So I says, imagine, you know, your most creative moment today, multiply it by 100. And now you get an idea what it's like to be in the heaven worlds. So because you're much more more expressive in all that you're doing,
Alex Ferrari 30:02
And the love, the love and the bliss and everything else.
Dimitri Moraitis 30:06
Yeah, well, also some of the great, you know, artists were from the heaven worlds. When Handel was writing that Hallelujah chorus, he said I was in heaven. I was there. She was he was musically describing what he was experiencing. And that was about 500 years ago, 400 years ago, and we still can get into that spirit of it. So yeah, that's a beautiful thing.
Alex Ferrari 30:30
It's really interesting, too, because there's certain texts that hold their power. hundreds, if not 1000s of years, after their after their written an A now go back to the non dummy, you read Autobiography of a Yogi that book almost vibrates when you're reading it. I mean, if you're, if you're, if you're ready to read it, right, when I first picked it up, I was just like, you're not ready. I was I looked at it. I was like, Yeah, this is this is way too woowoo. For me. It took it took me years, it took me years before I went, I got back called back to read it. And when I read it again, oh, and you can feel like that. So certain books that have fallen into my into my my path, that are very powerful tools. Books are such powerful tools along the way. Because there's so much knowledge in it. But if there's, you know, you read the Bhagavad Gita, it's, it just comes off the page. And it's, it's something that is pretty fascinating to watch, really, really his experience.
Dimitri Moraitis 31:34
But let me circle back for a moment to meditation because you were really saying something important there. You know, we share our classes. Yeah, we have, let's say, a class to learn the basics. But we say it learning meditation or learning metaphysics is a little bit like learning a language or a musical instrument, you're not going to get good at it. In a short frame of time, you know, I used to teach piano for a while, what guy, he was getting married, he went to learn all these pieces for his wife by his wedding day. So he never played the piano before and three months, you wouldn't be able to pick up this, it ain't gonna happen. Yeah, you know. So, like you say, you can learn the basics. But to get the deeper experience, like you were describing, in your own personal case, it does take time, but that's the beauty of the road. It the you know, it's like, it's like a great love, the more you participate in it, the more you appreciate it. And that's the same with meditation. Now, we do encourage everybody if you're not already doing it, and on a spiritual path to meditate, because that is your one on one time with the divine. There's meditations receiving prayer by so How's it different from prayer, what prayers are petitioning, it's a sending out of energy you're making, you're reaching out to the divine. And then meditation is that stillness, but also, drawing in and our meditative practice, we meditate with divine light, because we work with the aura. So for example, the energy I found is so fascinating, okay, the energy of talent in the aura is different than the energy of inspiration. One is kind of an electric peacock blue talent, the other is more like a powder blue. And it's often seen more above the head. So you can be very talented but not inspired. And vice versa. You can be sort of inspired but but when you get them all working together, but in meditation, let's say I'm trying to build something maybe more love or whatever, you can call in that energy of love. Now, it doesn't mean you're automatically going to be more loving. But if you apply that energy or notice through the meditative practice, it's more effective. We, we had a doctor and he he was saying, and when the class is saying, you know, I'll be honest, I'm not very compassionate with my patients. You know, I see so many every day, it's kind of in and out. And he felt like there was like a piece missing, you know, so he said, Well, you need to work with more love, you need to show more kindness here, you're paid. They're not petri dishes. They're people, you know. So he worked with us rose Pinky learned to meditate a bit. And not only did he take the time, you know, to work with his patients more. And, of course, they vastly improved it, his practice grew even more, because they started saying things Oh, this guy's got great bedside manners. He's a really good doctor, right? But they didn't know why. But the energy was there. So definitely take the time. The other thing we recommend is regular meditations. It's great to do that weekend. It's a two hour or whatever meditation, but it's it. It's kind of like, you know, brushing your teeth a little bit. Every day, take time and don't don't do it. At the exhausting time of the day. When you're exhausted. Do it and your prime of the day, what the whole idea of tithing, right? You're not supposed to donate your money. It's supposed to be your first fruits. Right? You get your first paycheck. The tithing comes right away. because you're kind of saying, this is really your money, God. And the same meditation, if you make it the centerpiece of your day, then it will work. Now as far as the monkey mind, yeah, sometimes the smarter we are, the more we went to, like, Oh, I'm already thinking about what I'm gonna do after I meditate. And then all these things are kind of going on in our mind. And we have to realize the mind is like a muscle. If you have not trained the muscle to quiet it down, and be the listening mode, it's just a skill to learn. And actually, what we recommend there is to practice some concentration exercises, your ability to focus when Barbara started training me as a kind of, you know, an inner, inner teacher, the first lesson she gave me was on concentration, the ability to focus on something without deviation. For example, you could close your eyes in vision and say something very pleasing, like a beautiful red rose. How long can you hold that image before you start thinking about something else? And if it's two seconds, then you got to work on that monkey mind a little bit.
Alex Ferrari 36:02
Yeah, the way that mean for me was I just let the monkey mind talk and talk and talk until it just got tired. And I just let it fly it. So the thoughts will fly in, fly out, fly in fly out to the point where it just started to hazy go away until it was just very quiet, and then it just, and then you're gone. And then when you're in, you're able to go that deep, where time stops for you. You haven't, you have no idea that the time or anything like that, and it's not sleep. And that's a lot of people think like, oh, you're just sleeping up, you're just like, Now, I know what's yours. I know what sleep is. And this is not sleep. But I do feel extremely refreshed after a good meditation. And I feel energetic after a good meditation. Because I generally don't go less than an hour, I generally use an hour to two hours per session. And I do it every day. And the way I look at it is it's very, I'm banking hours. Just like when you're trying to learn to play the piano, you've got a bank hours that 10,000 hours to become a master your banking hours as a meditator and you just got to keep going and the longer the other thing for anyone listening, the longer you can go. The the more interesting stuff happens. You know, that's why these monks who meditate eight, nine hours a day, they they're they're going into places that is that you won't get in 30 minutes.
Dimitri Moraitis 37:24
Yeah, generally, the 30 minutes will give you the start. Yeah, so to start that I've got a I've got a 12 hour day job and things like that.
Alex Ferrari 37:34
No, of course, of course. Yeah. Not everybody has a couple hours a day to do that. But at the beginning, you know, the 10 minutes, fine. 15 minutes fine, and then just start trying to grow and grow and grow.
Dimitri Moraitis 37:46
But it has to be also committed time. In other words, correct if you're thinking about everything else, but Barbara had a sheriff and she was saying, Bob, your meditations don't work at all for me. So okay, I'm coming to the house. You show me how they were friends how you meditate. She started two minutes. She was putting something on the stove. She picked up her mail. She came back down to meditate. That's not meditating.
Alex Ferrari 38:10
This doesn't work at all. Yeah, no, it's it's
Dimitri Moraitis 38:13
If you live with other people tell your kids you know, mommy, daddy right now is just in another space. Everything's fine. Unless the house is burning down. Let me have the space right now. You do?
Alex Ferrari 38:25
Oh, I do. And I still get a little knock on the door. I'm like, I didn't I tell you I was meditating. And it goes against like, it's horrible. And you're like in the middle of a good meditation, your clock clock clock clock clock? And is someone dead? Is the fire? Is the house on fire? No, I just can't get the Wi Fi password. I'm like, God, it's not fine. It's not easy finding enlightenment. When you have children. I'm just throwing that out there. Another set of challenges to your spiritual growth when you have kids. Now you also talk about the 10 Keys to Spiritual Growth. Can you discuss a few of them?
Dimitri Moraitis 39:03
Yes, yes. So Well, first, if I can just talk about the book just for a moment. Please go for it. Of course. So. So the latest book we wrote heaven and your spiritual evolution, it's talking about what actually is spiritual growth. What does it mean to growth? We're all talking about this spiritual evolution era spiritual growth era. But actually is it if you ask 10 Different people I bet you get 10 different answers. But from our the work we do growth, we know what it is to grow from a kid to an adult. But spiritual growth is the process of evolving through the many spiritual dimensions of life. There are right now we are we are we have this auric energy that we're vibrating, but it's also vibrating to a particular pitch. And that pitch is at a certain level. So let's say people think the other side is one place it's not it's many places the whole physical universe was born of the spiritual impulse. Sri Koteswara would say, when he gave that vision of Yogananda, he said, the physical universe hands like a basket on the tree of the astral universe. So this inner world is more vast than here. And it is multi level, there's many dimensions, there are levels of consciousness that we can embody here, but they're also literal places that you could visit. So let's say I built up through my life, you know, 50,000 watts of spiritual power and thrown it out there. And it's my time to cross over to go to the other side, I will take the light I have today, not yesterday, not tomorrow. And that will determine where I end up on the other side, it's not punishment or reward. It's like attracting like. And that's the process of evolution, growing through these dimensions of life. So what we say is in this life, you have a potential you have in that ladder, it's a journey of many lifetimes. By the way, it's not a one lifetime journey. But in this life, what is your potential, how far up that ladder, can you make it? In this incarnation now your potential may be different than mine, we're not racing with each other. But we are trying to urge it ourselves. And if you've had that awakening, which I'm sure many of your listeners have had, that is the calling to say it's time to take up this path is accelerated path, because you had the awakening. So listen to that make your growth a higher priority. Now, there are methodologies of doing this. The first is making space, if you have a relationship with somebody, spend time with them, relationship and going anywhere. So yes, you have to make time like you have so amply made, even though you have other responsibilities, you're a father, you're a husband, you're running a business, doesn't mean you have to forego all those things. You can have those things and make room for your spiritual growth. So make room for it in your life. And that may take a little effort. If your life is not designed, you know, I had this beautiful awakening, but my life is in a very lesson wasn't prepared for it. Actually, at the time, I had to do a lot of, you know, a lot of readjusting. Now some people their life is they've been kind of metaphysical from from like birth, you know, that's different. So making room is very important. And then as we share meditation, meditation is crucial. Because the light you earn, the spiritual power you earn is your passport to eternity, it will determine where you go. So the most precious thing you possess is not your fame, or fortune, or good luck. It's, it's your light, it's your spiritual life, because that you are going to take with you to the other side. Now you earn light with every good thing you do, even if you're not getting your gold star, keep doing those good things. It's building a power in you. And meditation, but not just meditation has to be meditation and application. If you're not living the truth, that you are embodying, it's not going to be a part of you. It's just a great idea. So whether it is you know, you look at the great traditions of the world, all conduct of living is number one. So how am I living my life, there are people that are growing faster spiritually. They don't even call themselves spiritual, but you look at the way they're living their life. And it really is a spiritual life. And there's others they're more the spiritual egotist. They know some things, they think there's suddenly all devolve.
Alex Ferrari 43:39
I'm so much more spiritual than you, Dimitri. I'm the most spiritual, I am the most. And also the most humble, humble list of the humble.
Dimitri Moraitis 43:48
You got it. You got it!
Alex Ferrari 43:52
Exactly those Yeah. When spirituality becomes ego, and it's like, it's insane.
Dimitri Moraitis 43:57
Like we get this but a spiritually gets this as well.
Alex Ferrari 44:00
It's horrible.
Dimitri Moraitis 44:03
Exactly. So those things help you in your spiritual journey. That's, that's the point. And then training we do. Yes. Like you said, you do your own growing. But you wouldn't take a weekend course and then suddenly say, Hey, I'm a Brain Surgeon. Right? So you need to really study and train and, and that's where the guru the teacher comes in. But you know, even Barbara would say what it says there. Look, don't don't accept these things, just because I told them to you put them to the test yourself. Correct. Take the principles and test them in your own testing your own application will be the validity of their value. You know, and if you don't find a value, don't use it. But if you do, but sometimes we find when we're teaching people aren't even hearing what you're saying. They've already reinterpreted in a different way. While you're not even trying it. If you're doing a science experiment, you have to isolate the thing you want to experiment with. So it isn't being influenced by other things and then you look at that just By itself, and then you run the test there, it's the same as spiritual principle, you need to understand what it is, apply it, and then make your judgment calls as to its value. And that does take a little time, that won't happen always. Then the other thing is, of course, healing. We are we do have wounds that we take in this life. And sometimes the wounds hold us back. We've had a traumatic experience that we had difficulties, we make the mistake of sometimes identifying ourselves as those experiences. And then that ability to transform the stresses and the blessings is a huge part of the journey, because we're all going to need to change something at some point, whether it's a thought, whether it's your body, whether it's a relationship, whatever it is, I found interesting that the Chinese character for crisis and opportunity is the same character. So you can see something as a tragic moment, the crisis or as an opportunity, and the choice is actually in your own mind.
Alex Ferrari 46:03
Now, can you discuss a little bit about the Eastern concepts of the astral world as as the Bhagavad Gita and the yogi's talk about?
Dimitri Moraitis 46:14
I think I have to share it the way we teach a little bit and see if there's a comparison show. So you know, the Bible says that my Father's house are many mansions. So the, in the ancient days used to call the spiritual levels, mansions or palaces of the common because it helped people understand what they were talking about. So the astral world. First of all, our least English word for it is means it's Latin, it means story like astral the cosmos kind of a feeling that's that's what's supposed to be. So the astral world is literally the plane of consciousness right after here. So when we cross over our first step on the other side is the astral world. Now, AstroWorld even itself isn't one dimension, it's multi dimensional, many levels, there are seven astral planes, seven sub planes within each 49 gradations of astral matter, we're interpenetrating with it right now. We're interacting with it right now. And some astral planes are almost like a literal, replica, you know, you're there. And you think, well, it looks just like Earth, I see you, you see me everything is kind of normal. Others do take on this other quality I was early on with Barbara, you know, we do some work kind of with the inner worlds. And I did have an experience there. And the higher and what I remember is not that it was so otherworldly feeling. It was a very pastoral setting. And there were the buildings and the distance and kind of some rolling hills. And But what was so different, was the divine presence was literally in the atmosphere. So you didn't question if God existed? If what is spiritual, you're living in the spiritual environment. And I came back and you know, I was on a high for three days from now, you know, that one experience? Because it just made you see the world differently. And the beauty is, you say, okay, that might be a great experience to have. But I'm here, I'm here stuck on earth. No, that's not exactly true. Because for example, heaven isn't just a place, it's a vibration. And you're meant to build that vibration of heaven, literally here in your physical life. So that will bring you to the door of heaven. Yogananda used to say the goal is to see God face to face while in a physical body, not just in some great hereafter moment. So I didn't mean literal face to face, but he meant the God within the enlightenment. You're meant to have here in the body. So we've got to build these beautiful mystical states here in physical life. And then that prepares us for what will lie beyond
Alex Ferrari 48:58
Now. Yeah, and that's very close to, I think, almost identical to what I was talking about in regards to Eastern concepts of the astral world. Dreams and the dream state. Yes, is something that I've always found very fascinating. It is as close to I equate meditation to being able to open yourself up to receive, like you said, opening yourself up to receive the divine or to connect with a higher state of consciousness. When we go to sleep every night, we do that we leave our bodies, you know, in many ways, and go to a higher state of consciousness, and then come back every night rested. That's why we were mess if we don't sleep. Well. We need we need that time to go. So can you talk to me about what the dream state is in your teaching?
Dimitri Moraitis 49:52
Well, you brought a huge topic you do like to go to the deep end of this.
Alex Ferrari 49:55
I mean, I mean, I told you the beginning we're here to discover the meaning of life.
Dimitri Moraitis 50:02
Yeah. Well, no, it's fascinating questions you ask. Well, in it's true in many ways, we're closer to the spirit worlds when we sleep. Because remember, we come from those worlds, Earth is a visit Earth is a schoolhouse, get comfortable, build a beautiful home, but don't get overly cozy in this home. It's not forever, you know, we're here to learn our lessons that go on. So what happens is during the sleep state, of course, is a physical regeneration that goes on. But there's also a spiritual regeneration that goes on. And it's true periodically, not necessarily every night, sometimes we are taken to the world of spirit to be refreshed, you know, especially in important moments in our life. For example, let's say there's a couple getting ready to conceive a child, they want to have a baby, we think, Okay, we're gonna have a baby, we know the process of having a baby, if we think of it in biological terms, and there's, of course, the biological piece. But there's a soul in that baby body, that soul didn't come from the body. So actually, what happens I know this may sound a little fantastic is both parents are taken up to the inner worlds. And they meet the soul that's going to be their, their kid. And there's an agreement to say, Yeah, you're going to be my mommy, you're going to be my daddy, I'm going to be your son, I'm going to be your daughter. It's agreed to. And then shortly after that, the physical conception takes place. And then the spiritual biological process of incarnating the soul in that life begins. So it's coordinated from the spiritual dimensions, which is why giving birth is one of the greatest honors on Earth, now, another soul into this life so they can fulfill their purpose.
Alex Ferrari 51:49
So then, with that said, there's also an agreement, that it's all doesn't have to be positive. Sometimes, sometimes you're coming into an alcoholic family, or your Dad, dad, karma. And that's, and that's, but these are, these are agreements as well. So like they're there to teach you on a journey. And that's part of the education of this life. And if you're, if you're abandoned, or you have a supportive family, both our car and education.
Dimitri Moraitis 52:20
Exactly. Well, Barbara, when she was going, after she gave up her showbiz career, she was going through a lot of inner playing travels, and they were showing her the reincarnation process, literally how it was being done. And she went to this one area, where there she saw what were going to be like, the foreign babies and things like that. And she said, My heart just broke, you know, seeing them. So why Why Why would, why would there be the form baby coming through. And they showed, you know, remember, there are full souls in those little bodies, and they're working through karma. And what they do is they show them by going through this experience, how much karma you are observing, and they say, sign me up, Scotty, you know.
Alex Ferrari 53:04
I need to get rid of some I need to lose some weight. I need to go on a diet. And this incarnation is going to help me get rid of these pounds, which is karma.
Dimitri Moraitis 53:13
Exactly. It's a purification. Karma is done in love. It's not punishment. But we we if we see it from the eyes of spirit, we don't see it just from the eyes of the poor little baby having the difficulty there's a there's a greater force at work. Now as far as dreaming. Dreaming is different from inner plane journey. So dreaming is actually a mental state. There's a part of our mind that operates on this unconscious level. Right? The Freudian slip, you're yelling at somebody and her name is Sarah and you call them Gwendolyn woodwinds, your mother's name. Why are you yelling at me and calling me by her mother
Alex Ferrari 53:52
Never ends never ends well, when you call it a woman, another woman's name, never that scenario ever. Any scenario, bad bad for you.
Dimitri Moraitis 54:02
But that's your unconscious working in the unconscious has no restrictions, right? It just like in a dream, you can have three heads and it can feel completely normal in the dream, right? But that's different from actually going to the inner worlds is an actual memory and when you bring that back, but sometimes people will have dream memories of being in the underworld. So they'll dream that they were in a temple or something like that. And so that could be so dreams are also a processing thing, because we process a lot of experiences through dreams. So they're important to all those dreams. The nighttime is, you know, the body's at rest, but boy, the soul can be quite active.
Alex Ferrari 54:40
No, no question about it. And, you know, there's I mean, there's so many questions about how to how to evolve here, how to go on this spiritual journey. You know, there's a lot of talk in regards to finding your higher self to connecting with that inner strength, that self realization. You your work and you And Barbara's work. How do you suggest that seekers, people who are looking for this connection? How do they begin the journey of finding their higher self or connecting with their higher self that self realization process?
Dimitri Moraitis 55:16
Right! Well, you do want to answer the call, that's number one, don't let the cares of life get interfere with, when you had that awakening, it's like falling in love, don't say, Oh, I'll get to her later, you know, answer the call. And then you do have to kind of, again, a good place to start really is meditation, where you do start to kind of give some space to yourself, to just start to explore these possibilities and see where it takes you. And then, you know, again, in my case, what I did is I did look at the different traditions, I did look at the different options to see well, you know, do I want to follow a particular path, you know, right now, often people are gathering different paths, and kind of, Oh, I'll take something from here, I'll take something from there, I'll take something from there. And that works up to a point. But then we do say get qualified education, it's, you, it's hard to figure it all out on your own. It is, again, literally like trying to be a brain surgeon on your own. There's just too many pieces of the puzzle. But don't rush to find somebody, wait till you feel prepared. And then usually that person will appear. And that person will help you in the journey, you do have a higher self, it actually is a beautiful point of light above your head, you know, and that higher self is guiding you on your journey. And it is already prompting you every day. It's prompting you. So a basic question we asked is do you feel inspired in your life? If the answer is no, it means it's not that you've been neglected by the Divine, it's that you're not listening enough to the Divine you haven't. You're too preoccupied with what you're doing here. We should be feeling inspired. I don't mean that we're going to write a concerto every day, but we were what we're feeling inspired in our life, because that tells you you are connecting with the higher. Other thing is look at your love flow. Where are you in your loving expression and your compassion kindness to others, the path of evolution is paved in love. And if you notice, you know, I don't have a lot of love right now. Well let that happen. And the Bible says, If you can't love each other, whom you see how can you begin to love God whom you do not see. So we got to realize the Divine is in everyone around us? And are we seeing all the problems of people around us? Are you starting to say, try to go beyond that and see that beautiful spark? Mother Teresa is to say, you know, I've seen the face of Christ and everyone I help. She didn't mean that figuratively. She meant that literally. And you know, the doctors knew you're not, you know, don't seem to some of these kids are never going to make it. But she said I'm here to give them their dignity, to know they have value to see their true worth.
Alex Ferrari 57:53
Now, Dimitri, where can people find find out more about your work? And and you put in your new book?
Dimitri Moraitis 57:59
Yeah, great. Well, first of all you can our organization is Spiritual Arts Institute. We do a lot of online classes long before the zoom, you're into it for years and years and years. And it's spiritualarts.org. Or if you're local at all to Southern California. We're here in the Encinitas area. And then the book Heaven in your Spiritual Evolution is in bookstores, anywhere, and we hope that you enjoy it. Take a look at it.
Alex Ferrari 58:29
Dimitri, I appreciate you not only being on the show, but with the work that you and Barbara are doing and hopefully helping other souls and other people find their inner and higher self and self realize and you know, get to that next level get to those, those higher levels that we were talking about. So I'm not sure if we decided if we answered the question, what is the meaning of life, but I think we shed a little light on it. So I do appreciate you my friend.
Dimitri Moraitis 58:54
Well, thank you so much, and for the good work you're doing.
Alex Ferrari 58:57
Thank you, my friend.
Links and Resources
- Dimitri Moraitis – Official Site
- Communing With The Divine: A Clairvoyant’s Guide to Angels, Archangels, and the Spiritual Hierarchy
- Change Your Aura, Change Your Life: A Step-by-Step Guide to Unfolding Your Spiritual Power
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