Relating and Spiritual Consciousness is an inspirational book on how to improve your life through communication and understanding. It's author, Charles Berner, was a teacher and leader in the field of personal improvement and spiritual growth for over half the 20th Century. He created the Institute of Ability, Mind Clearing Programs, and the Enlightenment Intensive which is a process used world-wide to seek the truth by conscious, direct knowing of who you truly are. Berner taught that relating is the central activity in your life and spiritual endeavor. In the thirteen chapters of this book, i.e., Love, Reality, Improving Communication, Acknowledgement, Criticalness and Self Inspection, Facing the Crisis, etc., Berner describes the principles of effective relating for creating an awakened spiritual consciousness while also giving down-to-earth practical exercises for improving your ability to relate with more compassion, understanding and love. Throughout the book Berner's focus is on helping people develop more ability to live a life of choice and authenticity. The primary method he advocates for helping people to relate more deeply is through communication. He offers specific communication exercises for dissolving the varied psychological, emotional and spiritual barriers that stop people from achieving what they want in life. Berner's philosophy is that to fulfill the purpose of life you have to move in the direction of improving communication and understanding between between yourself and other. Berner wrote: "You are God and each person is God. Each person is a separate god from the other. This accounts for why, even though you are God, you can't always get your way in Life. If the other person is a God, then you as a God cannot force your will upon the other. The entire activity of Life is the project of working things out between all the individuals, each of whom is a God. All the problems we are having in Life are formed as a result of trying to reach understanding between Gods. We are related only by choice. This choice is called Love. We are related only through communication, the transfer of thought from one God to another."