I recently wrote an article on the importance of information and communication and how it affects aging.  Now let's look at what it means for spiritual development.
    The most obvious is that your spiritual teacher needs to give you correct information to help you develop.  Also, your spiritual teacher must be able to communicate to you what you are doing wrong and do it in a way that won't get you upset or frustrated (which shouldn't happen anyway if you trust your teacher).  It also need to be personal.  Of course, some general instruction can be done in groups but, just as you get better results at the gym with a personal trainer, you will develop better spiritually if your teacher gives you personal instruction to help you with your specific problems and starting where you are now.  I can't tell you how to get to Boston if I don't know where you are now.  The same with spiritual instruction, you need to know where you are now.
    The not so obvious part of it is the information and communication that comes directly from spiritual dimensions.  Quantum physics tells us that everything is light and that light carries information.  The same is true of God's Light, the Light of spirit.  That Light also carries information of a spiritual nature.  It is meaningless to your body and mind, only your soul can understand it.  In the International Community of Christ, we call that Information Factors or I.F. for short.  When, through the use of prayer, chanting, music, etc, you enter a more spiritual level, your soul can receive and understand it and grow from it.  But it isn't going to happen when your hid in a cave or sitting in a dark church with all the windows darkened (No, I don't hate stained glass windows, many of them are very beautiful, that's beside the point).  You need to go outside into the natural light which is also where you will find the most spiritual light.  Just as your spirit body stays with your physical body most of the time, the spiritual Light stays with the sources of physical light, and for us on Earth, that means the sun.