changes. It is not a head-trip, conjured up by overactive neural synapses.

To put it another way, it is spiritually helpful if your own mood, frequency and wavelength are similar to, or harmonic with, the frequency of the benevolent field.

Or, to put it another way, you may think that spiritual experiences must be unusual and extraordinary; and anything less is not spiritual.

Again, contemplate the situations and circumstances in which you most easily experience a spiritual connection. Which of them would be most easy for you to repeat regularly and often? Which of them attracts you most? Begin to formulate a plan for actually putting yourself again into those situations and circumstances that support your spirituality.

The only way to do this is through a very personal and private self-management in which we take responsibility for how we guide our spiritual lives.

Once more, the lesson is about the attitude you have to your body. It needs to be a kind and attentive relationship.

psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) and neurotheology (see Glossary).

One area of PNI that is particularly relevant to spirituality is the focus on those hormones and neurotransmitters that are responsible for the ‘spiritual’ feelings of relaxation, pleasure and even bliss, such as serotonin, oxytocin and – my own field of expertise3 – endorphins.

ignore the simple reality that life throbs within all of us and that spirit is in everything. Modern spirituality is clear that it is normal to be aware of our cosmic context. We are in it, just as a fish is in water, or a bird is in the air.