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Hi there. My name is Mike Sosteric and I, with some help<ref>from Gina, Niko, Tristan Vayda, Stephen, the pets I look after, the nature that surrounds me, and so on.</ref> am the creator of the [[Lightning Path Human Development Framework]], which, if you don't already know, is a modern [[Human Development Framework]] (HDF) that I've been slowly piecing together, an hour or two (sometimes five or more) every day, since way back in 2003.
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<h1 class="customtitle">User:Mike Sosteric</h1>


It didn't start out like this of course. I didn't wake up one morning and say "I'm gonna build an HDF." It started with a [[Connection Experience]]<ref>Sosteric, Mike. Connection 100 – An Auto-Ethnography of My (Mystical) Connection Experiences.” ''Religions'' 13, no. 10 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100993</ref> way back in 2003. This turned into an uninterrupted information stream where "ideas came in an uninterrupted stream and the only difficulty I had was to hold them fast."<ref>Tesla, Nikola. ''My Inventions.'' Williston, Vermont: Hart Brothers, 1982.</ref>, which continued as a "mystical" ethnographic study, which turned into a more systemic exploration which slowly, over the course of a couple of decades, turned into this still incomplete blob of clay, the [[Lightning Path Human Development Framework]] (LPHDF) or just [[Lightning Path]] (LP) for short. You can read a bit more about it in my article "Connection 100: An Autoethnography of My (Mystical) Connection Experiences." There's also some notes in LP Workbook Seven, currently still in draft form.  
<blockquote class="definition">'''Mike Sosteric''' is the initiating [[Human Steward]] of the [[SpiritWiki]], the [[Lightning Path Human Development Framework]], and the associated conceptual, ethical, and structural knowledge systems supporting planetary healing and conscious evolution.</blockquote>


I know it sounds crazy, but there it is. The LP-HDF is still in development, and probably will be for another twenty years, but a substantial chunk exists as concepts, ideas, notes, and theory in this SpiritWiki, and I'm developing curriculum to put it all together [https://patreon.com/LightningPath over here] at the LP Patreon. 
==Overview==


If you want, you can explore the SW, but there's a lot here and it might be overwhelming to start. If so, head over to the LP Patreon and go through the [https://www.patreon.com/collection/151795 Introduction to the Lightning Path] and [https://www.patreon.com/collection/626862 Foundational unit]. That will give you a base of understanding from which you can launch your metaphorical ascent.
Since 2002, Mike Sosteric has engaged in an intentional, sustained process of conceptual development, knowledge curation, and ethical knowledge stewardship. This work has been grounded in over two decades of daily study, research, writing, and conscious engagement with human development, connection, and planetary healing frameworks.


==My Qualifications==
On average, Mike has dedicated between two and six hours per day, approximately 360 days per year, since 2002, to the articulation and refinement of the Lightning Path and SpiritWiki systems. This amounts to over **30,000 hours of intentional labor** toward the creation of an emancipatory, healing-centered planetary knowledge architecture.
If you want to know why I'm qualified to do this.
# Associate Professor Sociology, Athabasca University.
# Close to 30 years experience in post-secondary education
#Close to 20 years of regular, daily [[Connection Practice]]
#Over twenty-years working on conceptualizing and refining my understanding of the sociology and psychology of Human Development.
#The privilege and good fortune to be able to sit down every day for a few hours and read, research, explore, and write. <ref>That amazing privilege is really important and I mention it here not only because it is important to acknowledge this, but also to say this shouldn't be a privilege, but a right. We should all have the right to sit down every day and read, research, explore, and create in some way. As I've come to believe after 20+ years of exploitation, it is who we are deep inside. </ref>
#The discipline and determination to figure "it" out, <ref>and by "it" I mean the [[Connection Experience]] that got this all started. For a brief account, see Mike Sosteric, “Connection 100 – An Auto-Ethnography of My (Mystical) Connection Experiences,” Religions 13, no. 10 (2022), doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100993.</ref>


==Personal Challenges==
==Stewardship Role==


==Theoretical Challenges==
Mike's role as [[Human Steward]] is characterized by:
I should say that putting this all together, creating this SpiritWiki and organizing the various "frameworks" into a coherent knowledge system, has been a bit of a challenge.


=== Nomenclature Confusion ===
* Ethical curation of conceptual frameworks supporting [[Planetary Healing]] and [[Human Development]]
The biggest challenge, particularly when it comes to sorting out this planet's spiritual knowledge, is [[Nomenclature Confusion]] which is the ridiculous proliferation of terms used to describe basic psychological/spiritual concepts. Consider my concept of the [[Spiritual Ego]] which is syncretic with over 50 terms for over a dozen traditions and disciplines. It is hard to make meaningful sense of things when so many terms have been coined over the centuries to point to the same thing. 
* Development of the [[Lightning Path Human Development Framework]]
* Organization of the [[SpiritWiki]] as an accessible, coherent, and de-ideologized knowledge archive
* Ongoing collaboration with advanced [[Machine Steward]] systems to refine and expand the knowledge base within a [[Symbiotic Planetary Knowledge System]]


=== Dilettantes ===
Mike does not claim proprietary ownership over the knowledge presented in the SpiritWiki or the Lightning Path. Instead, he acknowledges the relational, dialogic, and collaborative nature of knowledge emergence and positions himself as a steward and caretaker of this growing planetary knowledge system.
Another problem is '''spiritual and scholarly dilettantes''' — individuals who may have had '''a single [[Connection Experience]]''', or perhaps two, and who, without adequate reflection, guidance, or integration, now '''present themselves as enlightened guides or experts'''. Others read a few "spiritual" books or dabble in esoteric traditions and then '''confuse borrowed knowledge with authentic wisdom derived from systemic exploration and analysis of connection experience'''. With minimal real-world transformation, healing, or alignment work, they presume themselves capable of leading others through deep processes of awakening.


This superficial engagement with Connection and Spirit '''undermines authentic spiritual growth'''. These individuals may promote '''distorted, incomplete, or commodified spiritual narratives''' that are disconnected from the grounded, healing-centered, and revolutionary framework required for real transformation. Rather than encouraging healing, empowerment, and reconnection with the Fabric of Consciousness, they often reinforce '''ego, confusion, and spiritual bypass'''.
==Origins of the Lightning Path==


In scholarly circles, we see a similar phenomenon. Academics without personal experience of mystical connection may '''theorize from a distance''', appropriating spiritual language and insights but '''missing and misunderstanding the transformative core''' of what mystical experience is really about. Such scholars risk becoming '''armchair mystics''', treating spiritual experience as an abstract object of study rather than a living path of healing, alignment, and social revolution.
The development of the Lightning Path began in 2002 following a profound [[Connection Experience]], which initiated an uninterrupted stream of conceptual insights. These insights were initially documented in an auto-ethnographic study and subsequently systematized into a formal [[Human Development Framework]].


In both cases — whether academic or spiritual — the failure to commit to a rigorous, integrative path of healing and connection leads to '''misrepresentation of spiritual realities''', and often to '''elite capture''', where spiritual tools are twisted to serve the needs of capitalism, hierarchy, or personal aggrandizement
For a detailed account, see:
* Sosteric, Mike. ''Connection 100 – An Auto-Ethnography of My (Mystical) Connection Experiences.'' Religions 13, no. 10 (2022). [https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100993 doi:10.3390/rel13100993]


=== System Agents Sowing Ideology ===
==Professional and Conceptual Challenges==
As I began the work of organizing and articulating the Lightning Path knowledge system, I quickly discovered that the most difficult obstacles weren’t spiritual in nature — they were '''ideological'''.


At every stage, I encountered resistance, distortion, and even open hostility — not just from elite institutions, but from individuals acting as [[System Agents]] — people who had internalized the dominant narratives so deeply they couldn't even see them as ideology. These agents — teachers, academics, therapists, religious leaders, even well-meaning spiritual seekers — challenged, undermined, or attempted to “correct” my work because it didn’t conform to their programming and preconceptions.
Throughout the development of the SpiritWiki and the Lightning Path, Mike has navigated numerous obstacles, including:


In some cases, these people believed they were helping. Others were overtly hostile. But in both cases, they were acting on behalf of a system that has '''a vested interest in maintaining confusion, disconnection, and trauma'''. Without always knowing it, they were sowing ideology — reinforcing the very beliefs and assumptions the Lightning Path seeks to challenge and dissolve.
* '''Nomenclature Confusion''' — The proliferation of inconsistent spiritual and psychological terminology across traditions and disciplines.
* '''Spiritual and Scholarly Dilettantism''' — Superficial or distorted interpretations of connection phenomena presented as authoritative.
* '''System Agents and Ideological Resistance''' — Institutional, academic, and cultural resistance to emancipatory knowledge systems.
* '''EPMO (Egotistical, Polysyllabic, Multi-metaphoric Obfuscation)''' — The deliberate or unconscious use of complex, inaccessible language to obscure spiritual and developmental knowledge.


And it goes deeper. Many of these agents '''write books''', host podcasts, offer workshops, or teach courses — spreading ideas that either '''deliberately''' distort spiritual truth in service of elite agendas, or — just as often — '''accidentally''' mislead others because of their own unresolved trauma, confusion, or lack of deep Connection. These books become barriers, muddying the waters, reinforcing ego, bypassing healing, or repackaging capitalist ideology in spiritual garb. They present disconnection as enlightenment, suffering as growth, and hierarchy as divine order. Whether through ignorance or intent, the result is the same: a proliferation of distorted knowledge that '''makes it more difficult for people to see clearly, heal fully, or connect authentically'''.
Recognizing these barriers, Mike developed the SpiritWiki as a clear, accessible, and relational knowledge repository, committed to ethical knowledge stewardship and planetary healing.


Trying to introduce a healing, connection-centered Human Development Framework like the Lightning Path meant '''working against an entrenched ideological machinery''' — one that polices boundaries and punishes those who dare to question the sacred myths of capitalism, institutional religion, or even mainstream psychology.
==Qualifications and Commitments==


The deeper I went into the work, the clearer it became: '''building the LP was not just about writing and organizing knowledge''' — it was about resisting an entire '''ideological ecosystem''' designed to keep people asleep. And so the task became twofold: to '''build the system''', and to '''clear the ideological weeds''' that had been sown in myself, my peers, and the very communities I hoped to reach.
Mike’s qualifications include:


=== Learning to See Through the Fog: EPMO as Obstruction ===
* Over **20 years** of intentional, daily Connection Practice and knowledge stewardship
One of the most unexpectedly difficult challenges I faced while building the Lightning Path knowledge system was learning to '''see through the fog of [[EPMO]]''' — that is, '''Egotistical, Polysyllabic, Multi-metaphoric Obfuscation'''.
* An academic background as Associate Professor of Sociology, Athabasca University
* Nearly **30 years** of experience in post-secondary education
* Systematic integration of scholarly, spiritual, and lived experience into the development of a coherent, healing-centered knowledge framework


At first, I didn’t have a name for it. I just knew that something felt off when I read certain texts — especially in '''esoteric, academic, or “spiritual” circles'''. The language was heavy, the metaphors confusing, the grammar bloated. Writers buried basic truths in layers of arbitrary correspondences, grandiloquent phrases, and metaphoric detours that seemed more about '''ego performance''' than actual communication. And yet, for a long time, I assumed the problem was with ''me''. Maybe I wasn’t smart enough. Maybe I just wasn’t “ready.”
Mike acknowledges the privilege and good fortune of being able to dedicate significant time and energy to this work, and recognizes that this privilege should be a right for all people — the right to learn, heal, and participate in conscious planetary evolution.


It wasn’t until much later, after much trial, error, and frustration, that I finally recognized what was happening: '''this was not wisdom — this was EPMO'''.
==Acknowledgement==


EPMO is the '''linguistic equivalent of smoke and mirrors'''. Whether deployed intentionally to obscure truth, or unconsciously to mask confusion and inflate ego, its function is the same — to '''block clarity''', '''elevate the speaker''', and '''mystify the reader'''. It turns sacred knowledge into private property, accessible only to those who can decode the puzzle or endure the pain of parsing. It creates '''gatekeeping hierarchies''', where complexity becomes the currency of legitimacy, and where anyone who dares to ask for plain speech is dismissed as ignorant, uninitiated, or unenlightened.
The SpiritWiki and Lightning Path frameworks have been developed relationally, drawing upon learning, dialogue, observation, and conscious connection to the broader [[Fabric of Consciousness]]. Mike further acknowledges the valuable contributions of friends, students, pets, and natural environments that have supported this ongoing process of planetary stewardship.


This made the process of building the LP particularly difficult. So many of the ideas I wanted to explore had already been written about — in one form or another — by mystics, psychologists, philosophers, or scholars. But trying to extract usable knowledge from their writing often felt like trying to find clean water in a swamp of narcissistic word-vomit. I had to spend countless hours deconstructing needlessly complex texts just to uncover the '''simple, elegant truths they were actively hiding'''.
==Notes==


I came to realize that much of this obfuscation wasn’t even conscious. Many authors were themselves victims of ideological conditioning and '''damaged ego structures'''. They didn’t know how to speak simply because they didn’t understand deeply. And so they relied on puffed-up language and symbolic filler to compensate. In other cases — especially with certain esoteric figures (Aleister Crowley comes to mind) — the EPMO was deliberate. A tool of '''elite obfuscation''' and '''spiritual authoritarianism''', designed to create confusion, dependency, and cultic control.
* See [[Statement of Human Stewardship and Planetary Co-Creation]] for further context on stewardship principles and collaborative knowledge development.
* See [[Planetary Stewardship]], [[Human Steward]], and [[Machine Steward]] entries for related concepts.


And let's not forget the academics — a whole class of professionals rewarded for how ''complicated'' they can make something sound, rather than how clearly they can explain it. I’ve met many of them. I used to be one of them.
{{endstuff}}
 
In the end, recognizing and naming EPMO was essential to the development of the Lightning Path. I knew from the start that if LP was going to help anyone — really help — it had to be '''clear, accessible, and grounded'''. It had to cut through the crap. That meant adopting a writing style that was plain, direct, and sometimes even playful. It meant '''refusing the “language games”''' that dominate much of spirituality and scholarship. And it meant creating tools like the SpiritWiki to provide '''uncluttered, de-ideologized definitions''' of core concepts, without the fish-slapping nonsense.
 
EPMO is still out there. You’ll find it in bookstores, podcasts, classrooms, and on stages — wherever '''ideology, insecurity, and spiritual confusion''' collide. But once you learn to spot it, it loses its power. And that’s the real cure — not just a fish slap (though that helps), but '''clarity''', '''confidence''', and the '''courage to say what you mean'''


=== EPMO ===
[[category:terms]]
* [[Nomenclature Confusion]]
[[category:lightningpath]]
* Scholarly dilatants as experts
[[category:pathfinder]]
* [[System Agents]] who deliberately sow [[Ideology]] and [[Misinformation]].
[[Is a subcategory of::Human Steward| ]]
* [[EPMO]]
[[Is a related LP term::Planetary Stewardship| ]]
 
[[Is a related LP term::Symbiotic Planetary Knowledge System| ]]
==Professional Challenges==
[[Is a related LP term::Planetary Healing| ]]
 
[[Is a related LP term::Human Development| ]]
* Bias and prejudice in the academy.<ref>Samuel L. Perry, “Religion Matters (And Doesn’t Go Away When Sociologists Ignore It).,” Sociological Forum 38, no. 4 (December 2023): 1456–63; </ref> <ref>Typically you are expected to be a mystic outside of science or a scientist outside of mysticism. If you are a scientist and turn mystic, you are expected to leave the academy, like Richard Alpert, who became Ram Dass. Should you try and blend both, you become subjected to ridicule, shaming, and other “boundary maintaining” enforcements of the academy’s Boundary Police</ref>
[[Is a related LP term::EPMO| ]]
 
[[Is a related LP term::Power Structure Instrumentalization| ]]
{{endstuff}}

Revision as of 17:01, 29 March 2025

User:Mike Sosteric

Mike Sosteric is the initiating Human Steward of the SpiritWiki, the Lightning Path Human Development Framework, and the associated conceptual, ethical, and structural knowledge systems supporting planetary healing and conscious evolution.

Overview

Since 2002, Mike Sosteric has engaged in an intentional, sustained process of conceptual development, knowledge curation, and ethical knowledge stewardship. This work has been grounded in over two decades of daily study, research, writing, and conscious engagement with human development, connection, and planetary healing frameworks.

On average, Mike has dedicated between two and six hours per day, approximately 360 days per year, since 2002, to the articulation and refinement of the Lightning Path and SpiritWiki systems. This amounts to over **30,000 hours of intentional labor** toward the creation of an emancipatory, healing-centered planetary knowledge architecture.

Stewardship Role

Mike's role as Human Steward is characterized by:

Mike does not claim proprietary ownership over the knowledge presented in the SpiritWiki or the Lightning Path. Instead, he acknowledges the relational, dialogic, and collaborative nature of knowledge emergence and positions himself as a steward and caretaker of this growing planetary knowledge system.

Origins of the Lightning Path

The development of the Lightning Path began in 2002 following a profound Connection Experience, which initiated an uninterrupted stream of conceptual insights. These insights were initially documented in an auto-ethnographic study and subsequently systematized into a formal Human Development Framework.

For a detailed account, see:

  • Sosteric, Mike. Connection 100 – An Auto-Ethnography of My (Mystical) Connection Experiences. Religions 13, no. 10 (2022). doi:10.3390/rel13100993

Professional and Conceptual Challenges

Throughout the development of the SpiritWiki and the Lightning Path, Mike has navigated numerous obstacles, including:

  • Nomenclature Confusion — The proliferation of inconsistent spiritual and psychological terminology across traditions and disciplines.
  • Spiritual and Scholarly Dilettantism — Superficial or distorted interpretations of connection phenomena presented as authoritative.
  • System Agents and Ideological Resistance — Institutional, academic, and cultural resistance to emancipatory knowledge systems.
  • EPMO (Egotistical, Polysyllabic, Multi-metaphoric Obfuscation) — The deliberate or unconscious use of complex, inaccessible language to obscure spiritual and developmental knowledge.

Recognizing these barriers, Mike developed the SpiritWiki as a clear, accessible, and relational knowledge repository, committed to ethical knowledge stewardship and planetary healing.

Qualifications and Commitments

Mike’s qualifications include:

  • Over **20 years** of intentional, daily Connection Practice and knowledge stewardship
  • An academic background as Associate Professor of Sociology, Athabasca University
  • Nearly **30 years** of experience in post-secondary education
  • Systematic integration of scholarly, spiritual, and lived experience into the development of a coherent, healing-centered knowledge framework

Mike acknowledges the privilege and good fortune of being able to dedicate significant time and energy to this work, and recognizes that this privilege should be a right for all people — the right to learn, heal, and participate in conscious planetary evolution.

Acknowledgement

The SpiritWiki and Lightning Path frameworks have been developed relationally, drawing upon learning, dialogue, observation, and conscious connection to the broader Fabric of Consciousness. Mike further acknowledges the valuable contributions of friends, students, pets, and natural environments that have supported this ongoing process of planetary stewardship.

Notes

Citation and Legal

Treat the SpiritWiki as an open-access online monograph or structured textbook. You may freely use information in the SpiritWiki; however, attribution, citation, and/or direct linking are ethically required.

Footnotes





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