Awakening Your Inner Healer & Finding Joy Beyond the Mundane. A Conversation with Dean Graves. (Epi. # 187)

Bio:

Dean Graves is an experienced and authoritative spiritual teacher, author, and podcaster with over two decades of experience in meditation and mindfulness instruction. He has conducted numerous workshops and group sessions on self-healing and personal growth, guiding many individuals on their journeys toward greater self-awareness and enlightenment.  Dean's interest in spirituality and self-improvement led him to produce an internationally successful spirituality podcast and a series of YouTube videos of some of his live presentations. His podcast has helped many individuals to connect with their inner selves, find inner peace, and learn practical techniques to overcome mental health and emotional problems.  In addition to his podcast, Dean has written four books on self-healing and personal development. His books are a treasure trove of insights and practical techniques that help individuals to unlock their full potential and achieve greater success in all areas of their lives. Dean’s body of work also includes two podcasts dedicated to didactic information on the human experience with a focus on providing people with a blueprint for healing from stress and suffering and advancing their evolutionary journey.

Guest's Social Media Links:

https://www.ddeangraves.org

Email:
contact.dgraves@gmail.com

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Shilpa: Welcome, Dr. Dean Graves. I am so honored to have you here. 

[00:00:08] Dr. Dean Graves: Thank you. I'm honored to be here as well. Thank you for having me. 

[00:00:12] Shilpa: Yes, I, um, before I hit record, I was sharing how I had read your bio and it really resonated with me. And for that reason, I think The conversation around elevating our collective vibe and understanding your journey would be really beneficial for a lot of my audiences who all of us, given that we all are on a journey, and it helps to be able to resonate with others who may be living something that will help us improve our lifestyle.

[00:00:45] Shilpa: So, having said that, maybe, um, let's take a step back and you could share your, your path to where you are at now. 

[00:00:52] Dr. Dean Graves: Okay, well, I have a lot of years to share, so I'll try to condense it in just a few, uh, words. [00:01:00] Uh, the majority of my life was, um, uh, uh, unremarkable. Uh, I was, um, commercial real estate developer for my business career.

[00:01:12] Dr. Dean Graves: And along about my, uh, 50th year, uh, I, uh, came to the awareness that all that I was doing, uh, while I, relatively speaking, may have been successful at it, it wasn't bringing me greater happiness. And so, consequently, uh, that for everyone or for anyone is in and of itself an awakening. Awakening is nothing more than that realization that all of this stuff that I've been doing and been working on and so focused on, uh, is not making me happy and our objective in doing Life is to experience greater happiness.

[00:01:59] Dr. Dean Graves: That's why we [00:02:00] think that we're doing all of these things that we do that are conventionally, um, thought to be normal lifestyle. Um, so, from that point, I began looking around as to what alternatives. That there were to that lifestyle and those life ambitions and so forth, and you begin to discover that all of those things that we do are not able to provide us with greater happiness.

[00:02:34] Dr. Dean Graves: And so, consequently, we change our life focus and our perception of self primarily, which is, uh, one of our major objectives in this lifetime is to, um, explore. And that is everyone's common purpose to explore ourselves. Our mission in life is whatever we choose to do. We choose to be a [00:03:00] physician or a lawyer or accountant or whatever it is.

[00:03:04] Dr. Dean Graves: That we choose to do that is simply the mission that provides us with the opportunity to have certain types of experiences that will allow us to fulfill our purpose in life, which is self exploration. And so that is that essentially is my journey and why I got, uh, and how I got to this point is rendering all those, um.

[00:03:29] Dr. Dean Graves: beliefs that dominated the majority of my life and has led me on this journey of self exploration. 

[00:03:40] Shilpa: And from my understanding, one of the modalities that you apply is meditation. How did you come upon meditation and how has that helped you? 

[00:03:53] Dr. Dean Graves: Well, meditation is a tool that allows us the opportunity [00:04:00] to become more aware.

[00:04:02] Dr. Dean Graves: Uh, in meditation, almost every, and, and I've taught meditation for over two decades now and almost invariably every person, every student, every acolyte that comes to me or to a meditation, um, opportunity practice comes because they're running away from the stick. And the stick hurts, and so consequently they begin a meditation practice hoping to find some relief from the, the stick.

[00:04:33] Dr. Dean Graves: And one day, and this is an, these are immutable experiences for everyone that follows that path. You get a bite of the apple, and the apple tastes really good. And so your motivation transforms from running away from the stick to getting more of the apple. And so consequently, that, uh, is why I began to meditate.

[00:04:56] Dr. Dean Graves: I was running away from the stick. And [00:05:00] consequently, I had that experience of getting a bite of the apple and it totally transformed my motive. Meditation and my seriousness about pursuing even deeper levels of meditation.

[00:05:19] Shilpa: And how has that helped you, um, in other areas, maybe, maybe you can share perhaps, um, your relationships or your connections with others. Has the meditation modality helped with that? 

[00:05:37] Dr. Dean Graves: Well, it transformed your life entirely. Uh, it transforms, um, uh, family relationships. It transforms, uh, friends more often than not.

[00:05:47] Dr. Dean Graves: You will, uh, surrender those that you previously considered to be friends, and you develop new friends. Because you've changed, you become, uh, we are [00:06:00] magnets for the nature of our experiences. And so consequently, If we change the nature of the magnet, then we change the nature of our experiences, which includes all the people in our, um, sphere of influence that are attracted to us, and we consequently are attracted to them.

[00:06:20] Dr. Dean Graves: And so it's, uh, it becomes, depending on your degree of willingness to participate. It transforms the entire nature of your life.

[00:06:34] Shilpa: And, uh, could you perhaps even elaborate on one of the aspects I know that not everyone is in tuned with or aware of, is the fact that when you do Become a little more, I would say, in tuned with your true nature, that the nature of your perception of the world maybe shifts, [00:07:00] like if I'm speaking for myself and I'm wondering if this is true for you, that you perceive things more energetically, like you were saying, that you attract more of what you're in tune to.

[00:07:14] Shilpa: Perhaps you can share what that means when you say attract. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I know where my mind is going when I think about those concepts. 

[00:07:25] Dr. Dean Graves: Okay. The, uh, the nature of our experience is, uh, dramatically different. From what most people perceive it to be, um, and the mere understanding that fact that our purpose in life is to explore ourselves.

[00:07:44] Dr. Dean Graves: When you contemplate that, that in and of itself becomes transformative. We perceive that we. Uh, create thought, and every single thought is a complete experience. We [00:08:00] perceive, because of our low level of awareness, we perceive that an experience lasts some period of time, 30 minutes, an hour, whatever. But within that perceived experience are dozens of thoughts, and with every single thought, we are obligated to make a decision, and that decision very simply is, in and of itself, a complete emotion.

[00:08:26] Dr. Dean Graves: That decision is, this thought feels good, and I like it, and I want more of it, or it doesn't feel good, and I don't like it, I don't want more of it. We're all motivated to get more of what we like, and we learn by virtue of the process of analogy. Everything that we, uh, experience is an opportunity for comparison and contrast of this new experience, this new thought, with the inventory of thoughts that I have processed to date.

[00:08:57] Dr. Dean Graves: Uh, this is all part of the [00:09:00] process of, uh, exploring ourselves, we attract thoughts, which are our experiences, and as we attract those thoughts, we become more aware, and it is our purpose, we exist within a range of consciousness, and it is our purpose to be, first of all, awaken, and then become aware of And to complete our journey through this range of consciousness, we will become awareness and so consequently these experiences are simply opportunities that we attract.

[00:09:44] Dr. Dean Graves: It's how we experience creation, uh, every thought that we could possibly think. Um, or process, shall I say, is already created, and it is simply our task to attract [00:10:00] those thoughts that we need. Like that bring us greater joy. And so consequently, that is the nature of our experience. And in that is that self exploration that, you know, that we've been talking about 

[00:10:17] Shilpa: and, um, to draw another analogy or tying back to what you were mentioning moments ago, you were talking about the stick and it almost seems analogous to the fact that while.

[00:10:29] Shilpa: The stick may be something we've attracted. We've now learned that the polarity of what is feeling unpleasant. And now we're seeking something more pleasant. And it sounds like through meditation, you were able to then find what you were using as an analogy, the apple and experiencing that, which is the polar of that, which felt more pleasant.

[00:10:51] Shilpa: Um, when someone is unaware, then. These metaphors become very [00:11:00] helpful. How do you guide those individuals or souls who, um, may not even be aware that the pain or the stick is not the reality that they need to be experiencing? 

[00:11:16] Dr. Dean Graves: Well, that, uh, depends on their condition of being and where they are in the process.

[00:11:20] Dr. Dean Graves: Everyone begins the process, this, what we're describing is the process of healing, uh, and everyone begins the process. Wherever they are. In other words, you know, I might wish that I was at a certain level of awareness development, but that doesn't mean that I'm there. So I have to start wherever I am. The process is the same for everyone and progresses according to how, um, Earnestly that we undertake the task.

[00:11:53] Dr. Dean Graves: Um, the, I need to back up to fill in a void [00:12:00] there that might help with the understanding. Um, our design as humans, as, as participants in this range of consciousness. Is to create a hierophant or uh, a false identity or an ego. It's all the same thing. And this creation of this hierophant begins from the moment that we're born as we begin each lifetime in the condition of our cumulative or our cumulative consciousness pattern, which is actually our metaphysical self.

[00:12:37] Dr. Dean Graves: And we simultaneously exist in both the metaphysical world and the physical world. And science calls our, our metaphysical self, the, our times, time space environment, and we are participating in what they call the space time environment, same thing as physical and metaphysical worlds, but we begin each lifetime [00:13:00] In the condition of our metaphysical being, and we, from birth, when the first thought that we process, we begin to create this hierophant.

[00:13:10] Dr. Dean Graves: We create this hierophant for the sole purpose of getting more of what we like. Even as an infant, we have experiences. And we, uh, we know what we like, and so we adapt our behavior in our, at that stage, very elementary perception of self in order to attract more of those experiences, more of those rewards, I guess you could say.

[00:13:35] Dr. Dean Graves: As we develop, our awareness incrementally increases automatically up to a point. And our hierophant changes minutely. We modify that hierophant, that identity, that ego, minutely, depending on how successful the beliefs that we have [00:14:00] incorporated into this identity are effective. If it's effective, I keep it.

[00:14:05] Dr. Dean Graves: If it's not effective in getting more of what I like, then I dismiss it and I incorporate usually another one. While we're an infant or, um, small, small children, the primary source of our experiences is our immediate family, siblings, cousins, small group. When we get into the sixth year, go to school, And our world expands and we have significant greater opportunity in order to have experiences.

[00:14:40] Dr. Dean Graves: So we modify our identity dramatically. At that point, we again modify our identity dramatically. when we go through puberty. One of the reasons that teenage years are often so difficult, particularly the adolescent years, [00:15:00] is that we have an, um, a significantly increased capacity for awareness, but we have no information.

[00:15:08] Dr. Dean Graves: And so we're trying to gain information in order to find some basis of operation for our Uh, here a fan and to get more of what we like, we will stay at that level of awareness until such time as we consciously undertake the task of escalating our awareness, even as adults with some people go through their entire life with no significant increase in awareness beyond what they had when they were a teenager, they had greater experiences, greater information, but their awareness is not.

[00:15:48] Dr. Dean Graves: Uh, increased and so this by the very nature of this, we are creating stress for ourselves because [00:16:00] stress is not the byproducts that, uh, science and medical science has defined the matter of manifestations within the body. Stress is any experience that we interpret negatively. It doesn't feel good.

[00:16:17] Dr. Dean Graves: That's stress. We've experienced stress because that experience did not meet our expectations that was put forth by this false identity. And so, consequently, we're creating constantly stress over and over and over and over again, and it's, uh, we can have immediate gratification from some experiences, and some people choose that as their sole source of, of, of happiness, and another immediate gratification, but the, uh, fact is that if you don't cure that belief that you've incorporated into your hierophant, Then you create suffering for yourself, and [00:17:00] so this compounds that stick, all of this is the stick, because we're continually attracting more things that we don't like, that we don't, and we have to keep changing this hierophant.

[00:17:13] Dr. Dean Graves: And that is essentially, um, that is the stick, but that is stress and that is suffering and this is what causes us, that motivates us to become more aware and to change at some point in our life, hopefully, that we have that realization that all of this stuff that I've been doing isn't working, it's not bringing me greater happiness.

[00:17:40] Shilpa: I like this analogy that you use, the terminology of What stress means and the polar of it is that which makes us feel good opposite of stress. Now, I'm sure you may agree with this is though those, um, [00:18:00] there are so many souls who probably really do feel stress, but don't have the modalities and awareness of how to truly find soul satisfying peace.

[00:18:12] Shilpa: And so they look for things that feel good. In all the wrong places and I'd like to hear your thoughts on that because it's it's probably something evident to you and I and many people, but how do the rest of us who actually have some knowledge share this in a way that's meaningful so we can help others.

[00:18:37] Shilpa: I hope this question makes sense. 

[00:18:39] Dr. Dean Graves: I, I, I understand, I think your question, so lead me elsewhere if I'm not, if I'm not going where you want me to, um, awareness is both the discovery tool and the healing tool that we all have in order to discover what needs to be changed and to change it. [00:19:00] Uh, but awareness is directional, and while we're in this period where we are still unconscious, literally unconscious, and, uh, constantly recreating this hierophant every time that we process a thought, our awareness is pointed outside of us.

[00:19:18] Dr. Dean Graves: It's directional. We perceive that the world around us, the environment around people, places and things around us are the source of providing us with more of what we like we, and that someone state that has enhanced that stage is relying purely on immediate gratification to get more of what we, what they like and it.

[00:19:41] Dr. Dean Graves: You know, it, uh, there's no storage facility for that good feeling because you have to renew it every time you finish one experience. You have to do it again in order to get that, that feeling awareness becomes particularly the purpose [00:20:00] of meditation is to help you to teach you to invert that awareness inside and become exploring to be, um, becoming able to explore yourself and determine what it is inside of you.

[00:20:14] Dr. Dean Graves: That is the magnet that is attracting the nature to you. of these experiences. So the healing process is very, it can only be done by the individual. We cannot heal someone else. We can guide them. You can lead the horse to water, but they are obligated to do the drinking on their own. And so consequently, we reach a break point.

[00:20:39] Dr. Dean Graves: That's why awakening is so important that you come to that self realization, that self awareness, that All this stuff that I, something's wrong. I'm not getting happier. I have to keep doing this immediate gratification. And so, by learning to invert that awareness, to learn to change the [00:21:00] magnetic nature of your beingness, your condition of being, is how anybody and everybody heals and advances along the consciousness or the enlightenment path.

[00:21:13] Dr. Dean Graves: Now, one of the, one of the essential things that we have to do when we are in this range of consciousness is make a choice, and that choice very simply is, and it's called the choice, we have to choose whether we are going to Polarize service to self or service to others, and in that choice is the decision either to continue to enhance this hierophant, this false perception of self, to the nth degree, or do we begin to surrender that and choose the path of service to others.

[00:21:54] Dr. Dean Graves: The importance of that path is that is the foundation for the, um, [00:22:00] almost all the rest of our evolutionary process. Those that are, and we're seeing, uh, seeing it dramatically in the U. S. culture, as well as the culture of the world, a bifurcation of the population for those that are transcribed. Either still unconscious, meaning that they're still in chaos, or that they have made that decision that they're going to enhance that path of separation and enhance their service to self ideology.

[00:22:32] Dr. Dean Graves: The other portion of the population is making that decision in the, um, the, uh, protests that we're seeing on student campuses again is a good illustration. Whether you agree with their ideology or not, their choice is obviously service to others, because that's their ultimate intent, regardless of what the content or political nature of their statements are.

[00:22:59] Dr. Dean Graves: That [00:23:00] is what they are demonstrating is that choice of service. To others, but that is a conscious choice that we have to make, and we do that because of the way that we are, the way that we feel, and that choice will determine, uh, the balance of our evolution through the, uh, through the consciousness path.

[00:23:22] Shilpa: I really like the way you've segwayed into this concept of this collective choice. Maybe those weren't your words, but the way I perceive that information is that going from the point of awareness to knowing self realization is my responsibility. That is how I will find my true joy. And then recognizing that But that vibration is also occurring on a more collective level.

[00:23:56] Shilpa: So like the protest being an example that the true [00:24:00] intent behind it is for the greater good of humanity. 

[00:24:04] Dr. Dean Graves: Right. Absolutely. Yeah. 

[00:24:07] Shilpa: And so that really helps me because the, the theme of this particular podcast is elevating our collective vibe. And I, I think you answered the question. Like what I was wondering is how can we.

[00:24:21] Shilpa: I, Shilpa, or individually, Dean, how can we do our part in elevating the collective vibe? 

[00:24:32] Dr. Dean Graves: Well, uh, we are magnetic, and the more that we, um, heal ourselves, the more magnetic we become. And so, we influence those that are around us. And we are, we, we learn by observing others. This is the process of analogy. We perceive, and this is the basis of marketing.

[00:24:56] Dr. Dean Graves: You're a marketing expert. That's the basis of marketing, is [00:25:00] we show someone with a product that looks happy with the product. And so my perception as a, as a prospective purchaser is, well, if I had that product, then I would be as happy as that person. And it seldom works out that easily, but that notwithstanding, that's how we make those decisions.

[00:25:20] Dr. Dean Graves: Thank you. And so, consequently, we observe people in our sphere, in our, um, um, available range of the experience that we perceive to be happier than us as we become more aware than we recognize those inherent qualities about that person or that that person's behavior demonstrate, and so we begin to mimic them.

[00:25:44] Dr. Dean Graves: We begin to behave as they do until. We have to, we no longer need to pretend. We become that person. And so, consequently, that's how the population elevates its awareness and elevates its, its, uh, progression [00:26:00] along the evolutionary scale, consciousness scale, is by emulating those that we perceive to be happier than we are.

[00:26:10] Dr. Dean Graves: It's a simple determiner. They're happier than, what are they doing that I'm not doing? And so we begin to mimic that until we become that. And then we look for another answer. Person or people to do the same thing again and to take this even higher 

[00:26:28] Shilpa: and everything. You said it absolutely resonates with me.

[00:26:32] Shilpa: I mean, even the most simple example, when you said you emulate others, um, I'm a mother and I. Very intentionally will be honest with my son. I'm constantly work in progress, but I also meditate every morning I'm hoping that the little seed of thought goes into his mind or consciousness But sometimes he will sit with me for a minute or two, but I'm hoping that I'm, I'm setting an example.

[00:26:59] Dr. Dean Graves: Well, you no [00:27:00] doubt are. Your, um, your child is about how old? 

[00:27:06] Shilpa: He's eleven now. 

[00:27:07] Dr. Dean Graves: Okay, well, uh, your child is not of the same range of consciousness that we are. Particularly me, and he's far above us, and he will demonstrate these characteristics of that higher range of consciousness as he matures, and we are at a, we're experiencing a magnificent transformation of the population and the planet itself.

[00:27:39] Dr. Dean Graves: The global warming, as scientists define it, is indicative of the planet healing, and it will continue whether we're here or not. The earth is, I mean, the population is not going to restrict the earth. healing, the planet's healing, but the population is at a, is at a [00:28:00] crossroads. And we are going to be provided over the next five to six years, uh, essentially the opportunity, the intensified stimulus for the people within the population to make that decision of whether I'm going to polarize service to self or service to others.

[00:28:19] Dr. Dean Graves: And the population will isolate Into those respective groups and divide. We essentially, there are multiple Earths, and we perceive there's one, but there's actually multiple Earths. We just don't, we're not aware of it because of our low level of consciousness. Uh, Earth is designated to be, the planet itself is already a 4th density planet.

[00:28:45] Dr. Dean Graves: We are a 3rd density population for the most part, but virtually all the children that have been born since, uh, mid 2005, 2006 range. Overwhelmingly for density. And so the [00:29:00] children that we're seeing on college campuses now are those children reaching relative maturity where they can become influential within the global population.

[00:29:14] Dr. Dean Graves: But as that continues, then the population will bifurcate and there will be a continuation of the 3rd density experience. on another earth, and the continuation of the 4th density generations on a 4th density earth, and they will not interact. 

[00:29:33] Shilpa: Well, um, I'm so glad we're going deeper into this. I know this podcast would go on for hours because you just, uh, my heart is singing this with several concepts you just brought up.

[00:29:45] Shilpa: One of them, um, just to back up a little bit, this is more of a conversational podcast, so I think it's okay that my son was named very intentionally Omni by my mom was deeply spiritual. And she. [00:30:00] Had this intention with his name that every time she would utter his name, she would say it as own. And the, you know, the primordial sound of the universe of peace.

[00:30:11] Shilpa: And we call him Omni, but which also has a multiple name. And I named my business after him Omni Mindfulness and 

[00:30:20] Dr. Dean Graves: very appropriate. 

[00:30:21] Shilpa: Yeah, and I just, I love the idea that, she used to say the same thing, that this new wave of souls that are being born. are of a higher vibrate vibration level. And I know when I say these things, most people think, Oh, she'll show us off on doing.

[00:30:41] Dr. Dean Graves: I'm 

[00:30:41] Shilpa: just 

[00:30:41] Dr. Dean Graves: trying 

[00:30:43] Shilpa: to stay in my little box and not let other people know. But I think with you, I can be more candid that this is something that really makes my heart sing. Particularly when you mentioned this concept that I'm not familiar with. Um, the second earth and density, I'd love for you to [00:31:00] enlighten me a little bit there because one of the things I'm seriously passionate about is our ecosystem, our environment, how we're affecting nature.

[00:31:09] Shilpa: And I have a very deeply spiritual take on it. And I think of everything in nature as a vibration and a level of vibration, and then we attract things that we are. Thank you for having me. harmonious with, but I've, I'm not familiar with this concept of the density in earth. Would you mind sharing a little bit?

[00:31:29] Dr. Dean Graves: Sure. Um, uh, the, all of creation is divided into ranges of consciousness that are defined, uh, as densities. And each density is divided into, uh, a multitude of dimensions. And so if you think of a density, if the density were a mile, a dimension would be an inch. And so we are, we are progressing, uh, in our evolutionary growth, uh, [00:32:00] incrementally through each density.

[00:32:02] Dr. Dean Graves: We don't have to go one by one. I mean, we can jump ahead. There's no rule that says we can't jump ahead depending on how we change ourselves. And so, consequently, the, um, the nature of the experience that we currently and historically have enjoyed is a first density planet, which, uh, for ease of explanation is inorganic matter, and a second density planet, which is plants and animals.

[00:32:33] Dr. Dean Graves: Anything or organic that enhances first entity. You gotta have a first entity planet. This is what all the gases that the, you know, scientists see, oh, there's a formation of a planet. I see it's gas. In another billion years it will be a planet. Well, that process begins way before we see the, the gases. And this is consciousness.

[00:32:55] Dr. Dean Graves: It's just consciousness at a very low range, very low [00:33:00] level, and it, each planet is unique because of how that, that consciousness decides they want to be. And so we have some planets that are more developed than others. Obviously, earth is a fully formed planet. Um, second density was a decision. It didn't organically just miss mysteriously happened.

[00:33:25] Dr. Dean Graves: It was, it was a decision to make earth, And, or, um, a second density planet enhancing a birth density and humanity, uh, is a third density range. Third density is the first range of consciousness where a, an individual, uh, Soul, as we perceive it, um, was created, and that soul, which is a consciousness pattern, will continue its entire evolution as that [00:34:00] soul.

[00:34:01] Dr. Dean Graves: In other words, first density and second density are nondescript. The experience that they have are very valuable and very informative, but they're learning it at an incarnation is not preserved from lifetime to lifetime or through the evolutionary process. We are the first range of consciousness of a range of experiential densities.

[00:34:24] Dr. Dean Graves: Where we have sufficient awareness in order to do what we're talking about doing and becoming awareness. Uh, the next range of consciousness is higher, closer to the creator for the, for the ease of understanding. And they will do the same thing that we do in this range of consciousness. Only they already are awareness and they will be doing the same thing.

[00:34:53] Dr. Dean Graves: with love. The next range of consciousness above them, uh, will [00:35:00] do the same thing with wisdom. The next, and those are the three experiential densities. The next range above that is a creator being density, the sixth density. And they do the same thing with unity. The range above that is stillness. They will become stillness.

[00:35:19] Dr. Dean Graves: And then after that is when we reemerge with source, Where we started from. So the whole process and the intent of Um, creation is to send consciousnesses far away from the creator by diluting its awareness, uh, and allowing it to evolve, uniquely evolve back to source, bringing with it all the experiences and the explorations of self that it enjoyed along the, the journey.

[00:35:51] Dr. Dean Graves: And by doing that, consciousness fulfills the purpose of creation, which is so that the one infinite creator might know itself [00:36:00] by experiencing itself. So a density, if you think, you remember back to high school chemistry, the, the concept of molarity, and which is essentially the density of, of, uh, particles within a solution.

[00:36:16] Dr. Dean Graves: And that is a good illustration of what a density is. A lower density just is greater, um, concentration of particles within the solution. And it's dense, it's heavy, uh, as we evolve and that becomes less dense and less heavy. And so our vibration increases because we're not confined. And our frequency increases as well because of our freedom of, of, um, movement, I guess within the solution to continue that comparison.

[00:36:53] Shilpa: So, um, you know, I've, I've heard this among a lot of my spiritual friends is this concept of [00:37:00] expansion. So it sounds like this is analogous to expansion because when things are dense. They're more contracted, but as you expand your conscious or expand your vibrant, vibratory level, it is similar to what you were talking about.

[00:37:16] Shilpa: And when you were saying different earths, um, is that something as in like literally earth or? It's also this expansion of our consciousness of what we call Earth. 

[00:37:29] Dr. Dean Graves: Well, it's, it's, uh, the, the variety, I understand that all of creation is a concept. And so what we perceive to be physical, that there's distance, that there's space in between, that there's movement.

[00:37:45] Dr. Dean Graves: Movement is just change. That's all movement is. But we perceive movement as natural, inherent. We can't live without that. Movement, but there are, uh, [00:38:00] universes that don't experience movement, and I can't conceive of how they can function because I'm programmed to function within the universe that perceives motion.

[00:38:13] Dr. Dean Graves: But there are multitudes, these are all distortions, and creation is made possible because of distortion, so our evolutionary process. is surrendering our perception of self and expanding that perception of self in order to graduate from fourth density. They begin as we are, as we perceive ourselves, and as an autonomous being, but in order to graduate from the next range of consciousness.

[00:38:38] Dr. Dean Graves: They will surrender that autonomous perspective of self and become what's called a social memory complex. And that is the signal that they're ready to graduate to fifth density, the next range of consciousness, that they have adequately surrendered that perception of self and perceive themselves as a larger single organism.

[00:38:57] Dr. Dean Graves: We perceive ourselves as an autonomous organism. [00:39:00] The next range becomes the social memory complex that begins the fifth density experience and they will expand the, the, um, the nature of that social memory complex until they are ready for a sixth density. And 6th density is the density of unity, and so consequently it is a vast, vast, uh, expansion of that perception of self, and unification again with the, with the creator, or towards the unification of the, with the creator.

[00:39:34] Shilpa: So when you use the term healing, Um, there is two minds, the very logical, non spiritual part of me is like, oh, heal, as in, oh yeah, I got that cut, we gotta heal it. But you're, when you're saying healing, it sounds to me like you're talking about expansion. 

[00:39:51] Dr. Dean Graves: It's only distortion that we perceive our confinement and our isolation as an autonomous being.

[00:39:59] Dr. Dean Graves: So the more [00:40:00] that we surrender that and see the unity of our, in our cohesiveness, our, our common effort of, uh, simply walking each other home to the source that we began from, it is healing. We're healing those false perceptions of self that we all share at this range of consciousness by design. 

[00:40:26] Shilpa: So I have two more questions and then we'll wrap up.

[00:40:30] Shilpa: I could talk to you for hours. One is, um, it's again a little bit esoteric, but when you talk about, we've 

[00:40:38] Dr. Dean Graves: been talking about is esoteric, 

[00:40:41] Shilpa: but it's something that I dwell on and this is why I probably am such an isolated geek, but. I want to understand, um, I guess it won't be a very linear question but how do we, [00:41:00] those who are aware, and definitely you are more even aware of these concepts than I am, I think on an intuitive level I get things, but I couldn't articulate it as well as you have, but how do we then at least encourage those who are not necessarily Necessarily on the same wavelength, but maybe understand.

[00:41:23] Shilpa: Yes, it's good to, um, be good to humanity. It's good to recycle, it's good to be kind to your neighbors. Um, to be How do, to be a model? How do you bring into the concepts? Oh yeah. Just to be a model, 

[00:41:35] Dr. Dean Graves: right? To be mo to model who you are. It's all, it's all that we can do. I mean, their awareness has got to bring them to the point that they, uh, assume responsibility for their own evolution.

[00:41:46] Dr. Dean Graves: And in this range of consciousness, all that we can do is model. And give them the opportunity to model that, but the awareness and the awakening and the awareness, um, is up to them. We can lead them to water, but we can't make them [00:42:00] drink. 

[00:42:02] Shilpa: You know, and I, um, have to admit though, even with the knowledge and intuition and tools I have, and ambition to expand, And sometimes that's so esoteric I can't even explain it to my husband.

[00:42:16] Shilpa: Um, but I'm also flawed. I am continually a work in progress. I'm, maybe it makes it harder because I meditate. I'm so aware of things. Sometimes it drives me a little bit batty because I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm like a little hyper aware of stuff and thoughts. How do you reconcile that? 

[00:42:40] Dr. Dean Graves: Well, you use that as a tool because you're feeling stress.

[00:42:44] Dr. Dean Graves: Yes. That in and of itself is stress. 

[00:42:46] Shilpa: It is. And so 

[00:42:48] Dr. Dean Graves: that is, that is a message to you about what you need to become aware of that you still have incorporated into your, the beliefs that you, that have created this hierophant [00:43:00] and begin to surrender that.

[00:43:05] Shilpa: Um, how did you understand the concepts as effectively as, as you described each concept? On a very intuitive level, I'm like, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. But, how, like, like you said, your story, your journey, you started out in real estate. Then you understood, perhaps what, what I'm articulating is pain and the desire for more.

[00:43:29] Dr. Dean Graves: Sure. 

[00:43:30] Shilpa: And you've arrived in a place where you've used or utilized modalities like meditation. But how did you decipher, understand these concepts so effectively? 

[00:43:40] Dr. Dean Graves: Well, uh, contemplation, uh, as you, as you surrender this, this, uh, hierophant, and you surrender the constraints of your, your perception of self, then the, the universe is available to you to answer any questions that you may have.[00:44:00] 

[00:44:00] Dr. Dean Graves: You have to pose the questions. They're not going to show up and say, this is what you need to know. Because they don't know that you're ready for it. So as you develop questions, and you, we are all students, regardless of the level of consciousness, we're all students. And so you pose questions to those higher classmen, uh, about what you need to know.

[00:44:23] Dr. Dean Graves: And they are more than willing to explain that to you. 

[00:44:29] Shilpa: That's wonderful. Uh, Dean, I hope I can have you back again, because I, I really sincerely enjoyed going The depth in which we were able to go. Um, if there is any parting wisdoms for those who are like, Whoa, that was very esoteric of a podcast. But I, I wonder what I could do because I'm interested in, um, collectively helping the, In, you know, the consciousness or the vibration, um, what's [00:45:00] three takeaways that are practical that somebody can do, um, that's listening to us today?

[00:45:07] Dr. Dean Graves: Um, take the time to begin to invert that awareness inside, uh, and become aware of what are the aspects of you, um, uh, the, the healing process is twofold. We have, we, every experience that we've had in our life that was not pleasant was a message to us about something that we were supposed to learn. And that's a homework assignment.

[00:45:32] Dr. Dean Graves: And you remember from school, if you didn't do your homework, that doesn't mean the homework's still not due. You just didn't do your homework. And so we get to keep that homework assignment in the form of an emotion until such time as we do the homework. Once we do the homework, then we can put that burden down and never have to deal with it again.

[00:45:53] Dr. Dean Graves: And so that's emotional baggage that we are carrying that depletes our energy necessary [00:46:00] in order to escalate our awareness. Energy fuels our awareness. And so the healing process of becoming aware, you can do this by yourself or you can do it with a therapist. And, um, um, some of the books that I've written, I have some excellent exercises that can be self applied that will help people, um, do tremendous healing, uh, in a very short period of time, which accelerates their ability to sit in meditation, or a lot of people think I can't sit in meditation, that's just my mind runs, well, there's a reason for that.

[00:46:37] Dr. Dean Graves: And if you understand that when your mind is racing and running, it's not because it's undisciplined, it's because you don't have the energy to control it. And if you think of yourself as an electrical outlet, and there are, um, a dozen hair dryers plugged into you as an outlet, None of the hair dryers are going to work right [00:47:00] because there's not enough energy.

[00:47:01] Dr. Dean Graves: So as you start unplugging those hair dryers, the one that's supposed to be plugged works just fine. The same is true with controlling your thoughts and controlling your mind and becoming more aware. As you have to heal this emotional baggage, which is a burden to carry, depletes your energy. And that is a major part of the healing process and advancing along the enlightenment process.

[00:47:25] Dr. Dean Graves: As you escalate this awareness, then you have more energy to become aware of the beliefs that you've incorporated that are restrictive beliefs that keep you experiencing constant stress. And, uh, so begin the process. Just say, I'm ready to commit myself to heal myself. And all the healing has to be done by ourself.

[00:47:47] Dr. Dean Graves: There are guides. Therapists are a great source to help with that. Uh, spiritual leaders are a great source to help with that, but you don't have to have them. You can do it if you're, if you live on a mountaintop [00:48:00] somewhere all by yourself, you can still

[00:48:06] Dr. Dean Graves: And so I would encourage people greatly simply to make that decision. I'm, I'm not happy. I know that I'm not happy. So now what do I do? Then start looking around to see what you need to do, what works for you, who can you emulate to mimic to be more like them to reach that, that higher plane of awareness and just begin the process.

[00:48:33] Shilpa: I just absolutely love that point. And no, you don't necessarily need a guru or a particular form of spiritual guidance, but it does help like you started go inward and have, um, utilize modalities. And those who are listening, they can in the show notes, find, um, a reference to your website and your books.

[00:48:58] Shilpa: So I definitely encourage those [00:49:00] who are, um, curious how they can become their own catalyst in Healing 

[00:49:08] Dr. Dean Graves: their own healing agent 

[00:49:10] Shilpa: your own healing agent and see because I know this on a Multiple levels. I feel like there's so much hope that people are unaware of like what they see in this physical world They think well ultimately then there's death and there's this and it just feels at times very dark you know because I've Witnessed it from those lens You And because I sometimes forget what I know, what I know is that I'm a soul.

[00:49:45] Shilpa: And what I know is that there's complete innate joy in connecting with my, what I call higher self. Then there's more to this flesh. There's more to this. Being [00:50:00] of where we are. Maybe we could end with you sharing that because people need to know that there's, there's something better. 

[00:50:07] Dr. Dean Graves: Oh, yeah, this. Well, if you think that the nature of our experience and I make this, this, this metaphor, if, uh, if you imagine that we're on a sports team, the sports team, regardless of the sport, they practice all week long, they go through game films, coach yells at them and all that stuff.

[00:50:25] Dr. Dean Graves: Yeah. And they exercise, and they figure out what they need to do to be better in the game. Then you have a game on Friday night, and you try to employ all of those things that you learned while you were in practice. Then the game's over, and you go back another week to practice. Learn, you know, what did I do right, what did I do wrong, how can I improve on that, all of that sort of stuff.

[00:50:48] Dr. Dean Graves: We're in the game right now. This is just the game that we're experiencing and when we leave this game, when we leave this incarnation, we're going to go back and figure out, well, I meant to [00:51:00] do that, but I didn't do that and I need to do this to do better. And so it, it's, it's a season. It's not just a lifetime that we're encountering.

[00:51:11] Dr. Dean Graves: The average human is, has had over 3000 lifetimes and some as many as 8000. And so it's a process and we're in the game right now. We're in the intense part of it where we're supposed to remember what we learned during practice and put it into, into, uh, the game to do better. And so understand that you are in a term, uh, you are, you are the creator experiencing itself at this range of consciousness.

[00:51:42] Dr. Dean Graves: And your greater happiness is continuing upon your commitment to become aware of that and surrender those perceptions of the autonomous self that keep you isolated and separated and perpetuating your own stress. [00:52:00] 

[00:52:02] Shilpa: Well, on that note, I am going to, um, say that this was so much fun. I loved our conversation.

[00:52:10] Shilpa: Yeah, me too. 

[00:52:12] Dr. Dean Graves: I appreciate the opportunity. 

[00:52:14] Shilpa: Yes, and I, like I said, hopefully I can have you back and we can go deeper on any facet of what we conversed on. 

[00:52:22] Dr. Dean Graves: Yeah, I'd love to. Always happy to talk about this and hopefully provide people with information that they need in order to perpetuate their own journey.

[00:52:31] Shilpa: Yes. And like I mentioned moments ago, um, if anyone's listening, please look at my show notes, please see that, um, Dean has provided so much value in his website, his books, and he has ways to help you. You can become your own, what did you call it? 

[00:52:50] Dr. Dean Graves: Healing agent. 

[00:52:51] Shilpa: Healing agent. Okay. Well, thank you so much.

[00:52:55] Dr. Dean Graves: Thank you.