The Nine Stages of Spiritual Apprenticeship

How can a relationship with a spiritual guide aid a seeker on the path to enlightenment? Author Greg Bogart details the challenges and problems that arise in this unique student-teacher relationship, from the process of chosing a spiritual guide through the end of the association and the separation from the teacher. There is a natural cycle that both teacher and student follow in the process of discipleship, including
-- Initiation and testing of the student
-- Attainment, enlightenment and separation
-- Finding the teacher within and becoming a teacher for others

Author Bogart takes a positive and highly nuanced psychological and intellectual approach to every area of discipleship, including the ethical ramifications of every interaction between student and teacher. For example, he thoroughly discusses
-- How to seek and choose a teacher
-- The importance of the teacher's lineage
-- How to recognize healthy and unhealthy forms of merging with the teacher
-- The role of the student's ego and personal limitations
-- The role of effort and grace in the formation of the connection

The Nine Stages of Spiritual Apprenticeship also includes a full overview of the nature of -- and the path to -- discipleship in the major world religions and mystical traditions, including Sufism, Hasidism, Christian mysticism and the major Buddhist sects.

Thorough, inclusive, problem-solving, ethical and inherently positive, this is a one-of-a-kind how-to book that will serve all who seek spiritual enlightenment.