I had a hard time realising how spiritual my real-life work was.

I think that makes a lot of sense, especially since so much of your real life work really does have an intensely spiritual component; helping the bereaved, assisting animals and the landscape directly. Not many people I think are in these sorts of positions.

I think as well, it's possible to be completely skeptical and think it's all delusion or imagination, and still reap the benefits of an active life of 'visualisation' (if that's what a person wants to see it as). Consciousness is only a small part of our every day awareness, so why not exploit the rest of our brains too?