There seems to be considerable confusion around this whole issue of "raising vibrations." For some people, this is just a catch phrase that they heard somewhere, and which they generally assume to be the right answer to something, or everything! However, as our questioner points out, the glib way this phrase is often used does little to help anyone understand what is actually being addressed (for those who do seek to address something).

Technically, "raising vibration" has to do with the frequency level at which one functions (or vibrates) in a number of areas. To some extent, the mere thinking that one chooses to "raise" their "vibration" is actually helpful in this regard. Making such an intention in a conscious way demonstrates an important level of mindfulness that is actually necessary before one can progress very much along these lines. First comes the intention, and this may occur prior to one's actual understanding of all that is involved. Nothing can take the place of mindful, intentional focus toward oneself in spiritual development. That being said, one must be somewhat cautious in simply accepting anything one hears regarding spiritual progress. To some, this could simply mean physical healing of one condition or another. Indeed, there is a spiritual component to such, and indeed, healthy functioning organs do vibrate at a higher frequency (bio-electrical frequency) than do diseased organs. But one must always be careful not to leave the impression that an individual who has a physical ailment is lesser evolved than another who is not experiencing such.

The point I want to make with you is that it is very easy to get into some notion of vibrational assessment without recognizing an egoic component at play. Some make the mistake of thinking they see accurately the vibrational pattern of another, when they're seeing only some unconscious interpretation of something they regard as another's vibrational pattern. Often just such activities can lead to a kind of judgment practiced (often unwittingly) against others. That being said, there certainly are elements with which one can work to effect a general raising of thought vibrations.

As you probably know, I sometimes talk about the "four bodies," meaning the physical body, the mental body, the emotional body and the spiritual body. Now these are not physically manifest (other than the physical body, of course), and thus are ways of talking about four different vibrational spectra which create human consciousness. In truth, you can work with any of these "bodies" (by which I mean composites of aware energy) and have a positive effect (or effects) on all "bodies." There is one of these four, however, that is probably the most significant in raising the overall vibrational quality of one's thought and feelings, and therefore oneself. The "body" of which I speak is the emotional body. By learning to raise the frequencies of the emotions one generates, literally all four "bodies" are positively affected.

Some of you have listened to a lecture I gave within the past year entitled, "The Last Frontier." In this lecture, it was the emotional body to which I was referring by the title. Indeed, it takes some level of both understanding and skillful application of mind to approach healing in the emotional body. Such healing, or vibration-raising, can result if one becomes mindful of three things: their thoughts, their words and their actions. By paying keen attention to these "three gates," as they are called in some traditions, one can learn to consistently move each to a higher vibratory level. Most people have not even thought of challenging their own thoughts and feelings. Rather, they just accept them as if they were completely true and adequate. If one is mindful, however, they will come to discover that they have accepted patterned reactions and behaviors, believing them to be legitimate responses to the many emotional stimuli in life.

When one can replace hatred or envy with compassion, that one has significantly raised his/her vibration. When one replaces pettiness with tolerance and listening, clearly one has shifted her/his momentary vibrational emanation. Practiced over time, one's heart chakra learns to relax and remain open. The individual learns to feel more secure in his/her own body/mind space, and life simply becomes more and more gratifying. The delicate part, however, is not to replace emotional reactivity with some form of denial. In such cases, one may look to others as if there has been some measure of transcendence, but in fact, things are becoming more complicated rather than more whole.

Often denial arises as a response to some area over which the individual has no control. It the person were really in the process of transcending the patterned emotional reaction, s/he would simply recognize that the best part is to drop the need for control. But if one is not yet able to do that, or if one fears confronting his/her own demons in order to drop the need for control, s/he may try to divert the energy flow beneath the surface of consciousness. Thus something is "denied," which may look like the person is ignoring the problem or that he/she is "maxed-out" and simply shifts the focus. While neither of these could adequately be called a "bad" response to the situation, if it is relegated to the unconscious process, one will need to "pay the piper" later on. It is only by paying full attention to one's own emotional responses that one is able to go free of the patterned, habituated reactions of one's past. It is likely these patterned, habituated responses have stood between one and her/his enlightenment.

In truth, you could say that such progressive emotional development is, indeed, part of the evolutionary process; but this is not something that can necessarily be seen or experienced by looking at the whole of humanity. It is rather an individual process whereby a person seriously decides to study how her/his mind (meaning both thoughts and feelings) works. To some extent, of course, one can learn from observing the progress of others, but until a strong desire to shift upward on the vibrational spectrum awakens, not much real progress is actually made. One can learn to demonstrate more socially acceptable mannerisms, or perhaps can learn to gain in popularity from observing the behaviors of others; but opening to one's own enlightenment is quite another matter. The latter course mandates rigorous scrutiny of one's own mind (or at least of that which one takes to be his/her own mind). Indeed, this path is not for the faint of heart nor the fickle of focus. It will require of each his/her very best effort, a lot of patience, and ultimately, supreme compassion. Unfortunately, many are not up to the journey (or so they believe).

Irrespective of what spiritual path one follows, the serious seeker will eventually come to the conclusion that s/he (or the ego that one takes to be oneself) is their strongest opponent one will ever face. True, it often feels like the trouble comes from outside oneself; but with close scrutiny, one discovers it is not so much the event one faces as it is how one faces the event that really matters.

Some seem to believe that if one is "living right," there will be no trying circumstances in his/her life. Such a proposition clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding both of karma and of what is taken to be a "self." The only way to break through the illusion of having/being an individual "self" is with rigorous scrutiny of the mind. Under careful examination, in fact, you can't really find it at all.

Of course, as one pierces the veil of illusion concerning the mind and the self, one cannot help but raise one's vibrational pattern. After all, it is the lower frequencies that concretize into a dense notion of "self and other." As one (knowingly or unknowingly) explores the emptiness of both, the thoughts and feelings begin to vibrate at successively higher and higher frequencies. Whenever one's thought and feelings move into a devotional connection with the Divine, they vibrate at a higher frequency. Whenever one is inspired or caught up in a flow of reverence, one's thought/feeling frequencies naturally and beautifully raise. When these sorts of "frequency raising" experiences are consciously sought and applied, all manner of physical distortions and afflictions may also respond to the higher frequencies and abate or heal. As one see through the illusion that these things are inherently "real," the grasp of the mind is freed and one has the opportunity to experience her/himself as pure consciousness. Frankly, the vibrations do not get much higher than that!