Michiel Koperdraat
Michiel Koperdraat (1956) is a musician, music teacher, and coach. In addition, he is a philosopher and likes to share his insights and experiences in the area of personal inner development. On this website, he writes about this, because he does not write a book, but a website.
Michiel Koperdraat:
“Practical spiritual philosophy is my great love, and I enjoy stimulating the desire for self-awareness and inner development in both myself and others. This aspect also receives attention in music lessons and workshops, as mental barriers have a profound effect on musical practice and group dynamics. A lack of inner anchoring means that musicians sometimes can’t fully harness their talents, preventing them from fully flourishing musically. This, in my opinion, applies not just to musicians. I always encourage self-reflection and self-observation while working with people. I’m convinced that we can only truly deepen our thinking, feeling, and actions (whatever they may be) when we get to know our true selves.
Attention
As a musician, I’m mostly self-taught. I taught myself to play various instruments and to sing, mainly by attentively listening to others, imitating their artistry, focusing on minute details, and then building on this foundation through improvisation and exploration. Improvisation is my primary source of inspiration and talent because everything that comes to my musical mind during practice, playing, and composing originates from Absolute Consciousness. I don’t feel that the ideas and music that come to me are ‘mine’. I didn’t ‘think them up’. They just appear, provided to me as a means to thrive in my life. Complete attention ensures that everything ‘necessary’ comes through and is ‘immediately available’ when needed. Without this total focus, I’ve found that the music can become mechanical, accompanied by various distracting mental side effects. In my view, this principle applies to everyone, in every profession, and in every action.
Flourish
As a musician, my job revolves around playing. But even as a spiritual philosopher, I am playing. This should be the case for every profession or activity because life is a playground where we can flourish. Truly playing removes any stress and pretension from any action. This leads to a game that is enjoyable to watch. Results then naturally reflect this play.
My interest in practical spiritual philosophy was sparked at a young age after being introduced to P.D. Ouspensky’s Fourth Way book ‘Man and his Possible Evolution’. Ever since, I’ve been searching (and still search) for the essence of inner development. Later, I found similar values in Vedic philosophy, especially those aspects that I could directly practice and which encourage further development and inner liberation. A significant insight I gained early on was from the teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky: the necessity of self-remembrance. Incorporating this into my daily life became vitally important to me.
I pursued a practical philosophy study (School of Practical Philosophy, Amsterdam, and Groningen) and taught study groups there for several years.
Autognost
Most of the time, I feel like an ‘autognost’. Similar to my experience in music, everything of vital importance seems to come to me naturally (as if from the Self) when I am in a state of complete attention. All wisdom resides in our consciousness as soon as we create space for it in Silence, directing our attention towards it, and are thus receptive.
In my interactive lectures, I start with crystal-clear principles that provide a clear and understandable picture of how our mind works. This arrangement lays out our potential and often self-imposed limitations. This setup allows us to communicate about inner development, which is the same as inner liberation, without much confusion. Liberation through ‘autognosis’ because, in essence, everyone is their own life coach through acquiring self-knowledge. Everyone is heartily welcome.”
