Master Charles Cannon is known worldwide as a master of meditation, contemporary spiritual visionary and holistic educator. He is the originator of the Synchronicity Experience and author of the spiritual autobiography, The Bliss of Freedom. Born in New York, Master Charles experienced visitations of the Blessed Mother (the archetype of the Divine Feminine) since his childhood and had many profound spiritual experiences. In his 20s, he came to India and became one of Swami Muktananda's closest Western disciples. When Swami Muktananda passed away, Master Charles returned to the United States and founded Synchronicity®, Foundation for Modern Spirituality, promoting what is known as the Synchronicity Experience, Contemporary High-Tech Meditation and Holistic Lifestyle. His approach is a combination of high-tech musical CDs that create meditative vibrations within the listener, and a holistic lifestyle to bring balance to the physical, emotional and mental. He does these through advocating a balanced diet, aerobic exercise for the body, encouraging love-based feeling for balancing emotions and healing the mind through affirmative thinking. He will be coming to Mumbai and Bangalore in late January / early February to introduce the Synchronicity Experience in India. Excerpts from an email interview:
You first came to India to receive wisdom and now you are coming to give it. Does not India have enough wisdom resources of its own?
First of all, I want to thank you for inviting me to be a part of your fine publication, which is one of the very few of its kind that is so consistently focused on the positive in these increasingly negative and polarised times.
I honour India as the ultimate source of authentic spiritual wisdom on the planet. By spiritual wisdom, I am referring not only to philosophical wisdom, but most importantly to the highest wisdom of spiritual experience… the experience of unified consciousness or what I call holistic awareness.
This is what my guru, the renowned Paramahansa Muktananda, always emphasised… experience over concept.
As to my coming to India, it is not that I presume to have wisdom that is not already there, but rather it is my particular focus, as directed by my teacher many years ago, to update and contemporise the ancient wisdom of India and bring it into the world of today. After all, we are evolving and updating our science, education, socio-cultural values and everything else in our world… why then do we leave our spirituality in the past?
What is your USP?
Referring to the previous question, what I am offering specifically is a modern form of spirituality based on the cutting edge of technology. Everything that India has already evolved in its rich spiritual heritage is complete and perfect – it only remains to update it and include what modern technology has to offer to bring precision and acceleration of results. India is fast becoming a world leader in technology… why not apply this to the meditative journey?
Could you explain what the Synchronicity Experience is and how it delivers on its promise of wholeness?
The Synchronicity Experience is a modern system of high-tech meditation and holistic lifestyle utilising precision sonic technology that balances the brain hemispheres, and delivers holistic awareness (or wholeness), in accelerated time frames. Synchronicity technology is embedded within musical meditation CDs that are listened to with headphones. The technology operates on the basis of vibrational entrainment that acts like a tuning fork for the brain. As you listen, the CD literally meditates you by entraining brainwave frequencies corresponding to more holistic states of awareness. We have a variety of CDs that target alpha, theta and delta frequency ranges for light, medium and deep meditation.
Are you suggesting that these technological soundtracks can actually bring a person to enlightenment?
Insofar as what may be termed “enlightenment” is an ever-evolving process rather than an end point, these soundtracks certainly facilitate that process to a remarkable degree. For many years, I have observed very consistent states of holistic awareness as delineated in the ancient scriptures in many Synchronicity practitioners.
Does it preclude the need for other spiritual practices or for a guru?
Meditation is a primary balancing technique, but I have discovered over many years that one must simultaneously address what I refer to as the “Primary Trinity” of mind, emotion and body that represent the three densest dimensions within human experience. That is part of the “holistic lifestyle” component of the Synchronicity experience and together with Synchronicity High-Tech Meditation, actualises an ever-increasing integrative wholeness.
As far as the role of the guru is concerned, that remains central to the human spiritual journey, for the guru provides the guidance and empowerment that is essential. But this precision system of high-tech meditation and holistic lifestyle makes the guru’s job a lot easier because it delivers to him or her a disciple who is more substantiated in wholeness, and therefore less challenging for the guru to work with.
How did your experiences in India as a follower of Swami Muktananda change your life?
In India, I was extensively trained in the orthodox contexts of the Vedic / Tantric wisdom that was my teacher’s wisdom tradition. It was there, under his guidance and through his example, that my life was transformed into one which is consistently focused in wholeness. From him, I came to understand that for me, the only worthwhile endeavour in life is to live consciously and holistically. My teacher was a perfect embodiment of wholeness as evidenced by the palpable power of his presence. As many are aware, he was highly acknowledged for the energetic transmission (or shaktipat), that he gave so freely.
Has the fact that you are in touch with both the East and West brought about wholeness into yourself?
I would say that a cross-cultural perspective has added depth and richness to my experience of wholeness. To witness the actualisation of the classical experiences recorded in the most ancient scriptures through the use of this modern empirical system has been most rewarding for me, as you can imagine.
Standing as we are today in the cusp between a dying world order and an emergent one based on spiritual laws, what does the world most need today?
Your assessment of the current state of the world is very accurate. In a word… what the world needs most of all is balance. What we have is extreme imbalance. Imbalance of what? Of the negative over the positive… objective over the subjective… fear over love… concept over experience… illusion over truth…separation over wholeness. When there is such imbalance, humanity suffers individually and collectively. There is conflict, dysfunction, misery, and confusion everywhere we look. When balance, positivity and love emerge, experience replaces concept, truth becomes available, and wholeness is restored. Humanity begins to live with a greater awareness of its unity while celebrating its diversity.
What do you see in future for mankind and the world?
I see humanity at a crossroads. In one direction, there is the possibility of global sectarian conflict on a scale never before imagined – conflict that could result in the end of life as we know it upon this planet. In the other direction, there is a greater possibility for humanity to open to the awareness of its innate divinity. I believe this is what you referred to in your previous question when you said, “the cusp between a dying world order and an emergent one based on spiritual laws”. Human beings are unique in that we create our future based upon our choices in the present.
This much-loved book by “fynn” shares uncommon commonsense on how to worship god
Mum and Anna shared many likes and dislikes; perhaps the simplest and the most beautiful sharing was their attitude toward Mister God. Most people I knew used God as an excuse for their failure: "He should have done this," or "Why has God done this to me?" But with Mum and Anna difficulties and adversities were mere occasions for doing something. Ugliness was the chance to make beautiful. Sadness was the chance to make glad. Mister God was always available to them. A stranger would have been excused for believing that Mister God lived with us, but then Mum and Anna believed he did. Very rarely did any conversation exclude Mister God in some way or other.
After the evening meal was finished and all the bits and pieces put away Anna and I would settle down to some activity, generally of her choosing. Fairy stories were dismissed as mere pretend stories; living was real and living was interesting, and by and large, fun. Reading the Bible wasn't a great success. She tended to regard it as a primer, strictly for the infants. The message of the Bible was simple and any half wit could grasp it in thirty minutes flat! Religion was for doing things, not for reading about doing things. Once you had got the message there wasn't much point of going over and over again on the same old ground. Our local parson was taken aback when he asked her about God. The conversation went as follows:
"Do you believe in God?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what God is?"
"Yes."
"What is God then?"
"He's God!"
"Do you go to church?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I know it all!"
"What do you know?"
"I know to love Mister God and to love people and cats and dogs and spiders and trees"– and the catalogue went on – "with all of me".
… Anna had bypassed all the non essentials and distilled centuries of learning into one sentence: "And God said love me, love them, and love it, and don't forget to love yourself."
The whole business of adults going to church filled Anna with suspicion. The idea of collective worship went against her sense of private conversations with Mister God. As for going to church to meet Mister God, that was preposterous. After all, if Mister God wasn't everywhere, he wasn't anywhere. For her, churchgoing and "Mister God" talks had no necessary connection. For her, the whole thing was transparently simple. You went to church to get the message when you were very little. Once you had got it, you went out and did something about it. Keeping on going to church was because you hadn't got the message or didn't understand it or it was "Just for swank"
You first came to India to receive wisdom and now you are coming to give it. Does not India have enough wisdom resources of its own?
First of all, I want to thank you for inviting me to be a part of your fine publication, which is one of the very few of its kind that is so consistently focused on the positive in these increasingly negative and polarised times.
I honour India as the ultimate source of authentic spiritual wisdom on the planet. By spiritual wisdom, I am referring not only to philosophical wisdom, but most importantly to the highest wisdom of spiritual experience… the experience of unified consciousness or what I call holistic awareness.
This is what my guru, the renowned Paramahansa Muktananda, always emphasised… experience over concept.
As to my coming to India, it is not that I presume to have wisdom that is not already there, but rather it is my particular focus, as directed by my teacher many years ago, to update and contemporise the ancient wisdom of India and bring it into the world of today. After all, we are evolving and updating our science, education, socio-cultural values and everything else in our world… why then do we leave our spirituality in the past?
What is your USP?
Referring to the previous question, what I am offering specifically is a modern form of spirituality based on the cutting edge of technology. Everything that India has already evolved in its rich spiritual heritage is complete and perfect – it only remains to update it and include what modern technology has to offer to bring precision and acceleration of results. India is fast becoming a world leader in technology… why not apply this to the meditative journey?
Could you explain what the Synchronicity Experience is and how it delivers on its promise of wholeness?
The Synchronicity Experience is a modern system of high-tech meditation and holistic lifestyle utilising precision sonic technology that balances the brain hemispheres, and delivers holistic awareness (or wholeness), in accelerated time frames. Synchronicity technology is embedded within musical meditation CDs that are listened to with headphones. The technology operates on the basis of vibrational entrainment that acts like a tuning fork for the brain. As you listen, the CD literally meditates you by entraining brainwave frequencies corresponding to more holistic states of awareness. We have a variety of CDs that target alpha, theta and delta frequency ranges for light, medium and deep meditation.
Are you suggesting that these technological soundtracks can actually bring a person to enlightenment?
Insofar as what may be termed “enlightenment” is an ever-evolving process rather than an end point, these soundtracks certainly facilitate that process to a remarkable degree. For many years, I have observed very consistent states of holistic awareness as delineated in the ancient scriptures in many Synchronicity practitioners.
Does it preclude the need for other spiritual practices or for a guru?
Meditation is a primary balancing technique, but I have discovered over many years that one must simultaneously address what I refer to as the “Primary Trinity” of mind, emotion and body that represent the three densest dimensions within human experience. That is part of the “holistic lifestyle” component of the Synchronicity experience and together with Synchronicity High-Tech Meditation, actualises an ever-increasing integrative wholeness.
As far as the role of the guru is concerned, that remains central to the human spiritual journey, for the guru provides the guidance and empowerment that is essential. But this precision system of high-tech meditation and holistic lifestyle makes the guru’s job a lot easier because it delivers to him or her a disciple who is more substantiated in wholeness, and therefore less challenging for the guru to work with.
How did your experiences in India as a follower of Swami Muktananda change your life?
In India, I was extensively trained in the orthodox contexts of the Vedic / Tantric wisdom that was my teacher’s wisdom tradition. It was there, under his guidance and through his example, that my life was transformed into one which is consistently focused in wholeness. From him, I came to understand that for me, the only worthwhile endeavour in life is to live consciously and holistically. My teacher was a perfect embodiment of wholeness as evidenced by the palpable power of his presence. As many are aware, he was highly acknowledged for the energetic transmission (or shaktipat), that he gave so freely.
Has the fact that you are in touch with both the East and West brought about wholeness into yourself?
I would say that a cross-cultural perspective has added depth and richness to my experience of wholeness. To witness the actualisation of the classical experiences recorded in the most ancient scriptures through the use of this modern empirical system has been most rewarding for me, as you can imagine.
Standing as we are today in the cusp between a dying world order and an emergent one based on spiritual laws, what does the world most need today?
Your assessment of the current state of the world is very accurate. In a word… what the world needs most of all is balance. What we have is extreme imbalance. Imbalance of what? Of the negative over the positive… objective over the subjective… fear over love… concept over experience… illusion over truth…separation over wholeness. When there is such imbalance, humanity suffers individually and collectively. There is conflict, dysfunction, misery, and confusion everywhere we look. When balance, positivity and love emerge, experience replaces concept, truth becomes available, and wholeness is restored. Humanity begins to live with a greater awareness of its unity while celebrating its diversity.
What do you see in future for mankind and the world?
I see humanity at a crossroads. In one direction, there is the possibility of global sectarian conflict on a scale never before imagined – conflict that could result in the end of life as we know it upon this planet. In the other direction, there is a greater possibility for humanity to open to the awareness of its innate divinity. I believe this is what you referred to in your previous question when you said, “the cusp between a dying world order and an emergent one based on spiritual laws”. Human beings are unique in that we create our future based upon our choices in the present.
This much-loved book by “fynn” shares uncommon commonsense on how to worship god
Mum and Anna shared many likes and dislikes; perhaps the simplest and the most beautiful sharing was their attitude toward Mister God. Most people I knew used God as an excuse for their failure: "He should have done this," or "Why has God done this to me?" But with Mum and Anna difficulties and adversities were mere occasions for doing something. Ugliness was the chance to make beautiful. Sadness was the chance to make glad. Mister God was always available to them. A stranger would have been excused for believing that Mister God lived with us, but then Mum and Anna believed he did. Very rarely did any conversation exclude Mister God in some way or other.
After the evening meal was finished and all the bits and pieces put away Anna and I would settle down to some activity, generally of her choosing. Fairy stories were dismissed as mere pretend stories; living was real and living was interesting, and by and large, fun. Reading the Bible wasn't a great success. She tended to regard it as a primer, strictly for the infants. The message of the Bible was simple and any half wit could grasp it in thirty minutes flat! Religion was for doing things, not for reading about doing things. Once you had got the message there wasn't much point of going over and over again on the same old ground. Our local parson was taken aback when he asked her about God. The conversation went as follows:
"Do you believe in God?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what God is?"
"Yes."
"What is God then?"
"He's God!"
"Do you go to church?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I know it all!"
"What do you know?"
"I know to love Mister God and to love people and cats and dogs and spiders and trees"– and the catalogue went on – "with all of me".
… Anna had bypassed all the non essentials and distilled centuries of learning into one sentence: "And God said love me, love them, and love it, and don't forget to love yourself."
The whole business of adults going to church filled Anna with suspicion. The idea of collective worship went against her sense of private conversations with Mister God. As for going to church to meet Mister God, that was preposterous. After all, if Mister God wasn't everywhere, he wasn't anywhere. For her, churchgoing and "Mister God" talks had no necessary connection. For her, the whole thing was transparently simple. You went to church to get the message when you were very little. Once you had got it, you went out and did something about it. Keeping on going to church was because you hadn't got the message or didn't understand it or it was "Just for swank"
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