From the Hands of Many to the Hands of a Few
At the beginning of human existence, back when we were on a level playing field with all other animals, our instinct for survival was extremely heightened and developed. This instinct was as necessary as any other sense. And because it was employed on a nearly constant basis, it was a dependably reliable means of acquiring information.
The survival instinct was used in much the same way any pack or herd animal uses it today: to locate other animals and water, to know which plants are edible, to sense changing weather patterns, to perceive and respond to impending danger, and to identify friend and foe. While it was a primary tool used for such information gathering, this instinct also facilitated an understanding of our oneness with all things great and small. Because inherent in this instinct was the remembering of our union with the All-That-Is.
I’ll say more about this as we go on, but for now we need to understand the full significance of this lineage. The instinct to survive, along with its more obvious purpose, has always been part of the drive to stay in touch with our deeper selves, our place in the cosmos, our essential being.
As we developed the skills to build lasting shelters and cultivate food, our sense of security and safety grew, and our feelings of vulnerability lessened. Once settlements became widespread, and societal structures and laws were put in place, we continued to move further away from this more heightened sense of awareness. We no longer felt the need to know anything beyond what our five senses could tell us, so this knowing slowly started going dormant.
By the time civilizations were firmly in place, and organized religions were on the rise, the collective way of being was beginning to actively push people away from their remembering. The natural ability to have access to and be connected to knowing had officially become externalized. It would remain in the hands of a few from here on out. Only a small scattering of people would retain an active intuitive sense, with its access to greater awareness. These people would become valued for their ability to “see beyond” and to “know more,” and in time would become the requisite intermediaries to the Inner Knowing. No surprise, they were also frequently consulted by kings and rulers to advise on important matters.
As time went on, these uncommon individuals would be called by many names: oracles, seers, high priests, visionaries, prophets, healers, gurus, shamans, medicine men, etc. All would be considered as directly in touch with something divine.
In fact, they were just people, no more and no less, who came into this life open and stayed open. But one of the qualities that made them different was that their primary trigger for staying connected to greater awareness wasn’t survival fear (much of the instinct for survival relies on fear as a governor to slow us down and keep us cautious). Their first reaction wasn’t to go to fear, but to curiosity. While they may have had survival fear in their normal conscious state, when they meditated or achieved altered states, that fear was not present. They were in connection with the Inner Knowing, which allowed their spiritual centers to access expanded information on multiple levels.
At the same time, the ability of the average person had been both diminished and devalued. The further away from remembering the “common folk” moved, the more it seemed that these various “special” people developed “special” ways to enter this “special state of knowing.” And the less the average person believed they had any kind of ability to stay connected to remembering.
Further damage was done as this ability, this sense, became more and more distorted and misunderstood, and therefore more and more feared. This came about because as the knowledge and practice came to reside in the hands of the few, elements of it began to fall under the umbrella of the taboo and dangerous. A few examples would be magico-religious practices like dark magic, witchcraft, and so on. In most of western civilization, being associated with that stuff could get you killed.
And so it came to pass that something that was once perfectly normal for all of us—to be connected to greater knowing—got externalized and put into the hands of a few. And then ultimately turned into something to be dismissed and avoided.
What a tragedy. In my view, it is the greatest tragedy in human history. This is the source of loneliness, suffering, separation, and greed; a combination that has been the cause of all wars.
Because when we lost the full connection to the natural world, we lost the sense for remembering. When we no longer valued the abilities that let us know how the natural world flows, we diminished the capacity of that current that connects us to the All-That-Is. As we let that current turn from a great river into a stream and then a trickle, we lost the awareness of who we are, why we’re here, and what binds us to the All-That-Is.
As humankind has advanced, our relationship to both the natural world and the spirit world has been relentlessly eroded. Even though the loss of connection has transpired over thousands of years, the loss has been quickening in recent times. The extent of the erosion in much of the world today is astonishing.
What Does the Instinct for Survival Have to Do with the Inner Knowing?
Having established that we once had this knowing and intuition that was tied to the source, so what? Even if ancient peoples used to have it, is it really possible that we still retain this same ability? Is it possible that we can reclaim it again as a natural state?
Yes, absolutely. Everyone is born with an active intuitive awareness. This is really nothing more than a refined survival instinct, which I will outline in detail later. But before I get into discussing the ins and outs, let’s first make sure our heads are on straight and our feet are firmly planted on the ground. This is not a special or unique ability. We should be careful not to confuse “special” with “forgotten.” This is a forgotten ability. If you suddenly found a lost sock under your bed, you wouldn’t be thinking, “Oh, here’s my very special sock! I am a very special person for having such a special sock.” You’d be thinking, “Oh, I found the match for that other single. Good, I can wear this again.”
It may have been taught out of us, or scared out of us, but the instinct for survival can’t be completely killed off. Even more, the spiritual element of this awareness is impervious to destruction because it’s integral to our beingness. It’s our essence. Even if we’re not consciously in touch with it, it is present and alive in each and every one of us. While it can often seem to be stumbled over and discovered accidentally, it can also be cultivated to become a normal part of our life, to become a permanent part of our consciousness. At will, by desire, we can have the ability to communicate with higher wisdom, greater knowledge, spiritual guidance.
The Inner Knowing
Earlier, I defined the Inner Knowing as the bedrock consciousness, the pinpoint of light in us, that is still connected to the All-That-Is, with its ability to provide direct access to pure knowing. For Westerners, an easy way to think of it is as our umbilical cord to God. And energy flows both ways. At this stage, we usually experience it as the gateway to higher consciousness, which is the gateway to spiritual awakening.
Keep in mind that there are many gates in between, such as becoming more empathetic and compassionate, becoming more connected with nature, and opening intuition. These are just stations along the way. The end point is spiritual awakening. Reconnection to and remembering the One.
For those who are more visual, here’s a quick overview. Just remember not to think of this as a static hierarchy but rather as a flow of awareness.
The mind-body self has its own experience of its awareness, which may encompass any number of layers. The Inner Knowing is aware of the body-mind self but is not limited by it. It encompasses all layers.
Think of the Inner Knowing as the telephone operator or chat room assistant to greater consciousness, as well as to the All-That-Is. Depending on the clarity of the phone signal or strength of the internet connection, we get very clear, good information, or we may misinterpret what we are hearing or reading.
At the start, it’s not dissimilar to a version of the telephone game, in which what we hear can become distorted and therefore not terribly useful. But over time, we can get better at listening. We can get better at making the right connection (with the help of the telephone operator/chat room assistant) to get better and more useful information.
The key is to remain receptive and curious.
There is no need to throw out critical thinking. But we do need to allow for an open space, where we don’t immediately lead with judgment. Judgment has a tendency to clench and close down. Judgment wants the “one right answer.” In this space, the information can only be as good as the receiver is clear and open to many layers of possibilities.
Having and keeping that openness means maintaining a belief in ourselves. It’s been so long that we’ve given over our powers to external teachers—those designated wise ones—and have ignored our own Inner Knowing. While we might be open to believing that others have psychic abilities or healing abilities, or can communicate with the spirit world, animals, and nature, we have become closed to the idea that we could also have these abilities.
So, the challenge ahead is to resolve your disbelief that it’s possible for anyone, for the average person, for YOU to have this ability. Because, let me underline this again, this is an ability we are all born with.
But to reawaken it, to develop it more fully, there are necessary steps to take to get the rewards.
Getting on the Path
There are three primary areas of practice on the path to uncovering the Inner Knowing. Stop. Look. Listen. The next three sections of the book will go into these in-depth. But here’s a quick overview:
Stop
This section explains why it will be important to learn how to stop the pain, in part, by stopping the expectation that the outer world is going to fulfill you in any lasting way. And it will ask that you begin letting go of certain behaviors that have become normalized in modern life but work against you. You’ll find that lasting peace and happiness don’t reside in distractions and fleeting experiences.
I expect most of you will find the Look and Listen sections more comfortable because they will add to your skills and awareness. But be forewarned that some of the Stop exercises may be challenging in the way they will ask you to let go of long-standing habits.
I don’t expect you to be able to implement all the changes at once. But it will be important that when you can make changes, when you can let go of certain habits, that you do.
Think of the Stop section as spring cleaning. Dismantling and scrubbing everything can feel like a lot of work and may not be fun. But knowing that everything is sparkling clean and in its right place when you’re done will be very liberating.
Look
Looking speaks to the process of becoming observant and noticing. Spending more time outside in nature. Paying more attention to people and what you see and sense from them rather than what they are telling you.
Look at as much as you can as though you are seeing it for the first time. Truly. With full attention. Let yourself experience what you are seeing as the first time you are seeing it. Within that seeing, there will be an elemental awareness of a connection to what you are seeing. An awareness that there is a shared beingness within that seeing.
When you practice seeing long enough, you will begin to observe that, on an energy level, there is no separation. And, ultimately, you will see on the All-That-Is level that all is truly one. This kind of absolute seeing can happen in an instant. It doesn’t always have to take massive practice. But it does take massive intent. “My intention is to see. Fully see. All as it is. Not as I remember it. Not as I have been told about it. Not as I expect I should see it. But to fully see.” This is a profound exercise that will bring profound results.
Listen
There’s a process that gains steam when you stop and calm down, that allows your seeing ability to open up and magnify. Because only in quiet and stillness can we truly look. And through seeing, there is an awareness that communication is happening from everything, with everything, all the time.
The instinct then says, listen. Because there is a hearing that happens within the seeing.
“I hear your intelligence. I hear your life force pulsing. I hear what you need, what you give, what you’re here for.”
And in that hearing, there comes a complete sharing, where there is an awareness that what you are seeing and have now come to hear, also sees and hears you.
This is not something abstract. This is penetrating through all the illusions to the place where there is only One. That One sees. That One hears. And while you believe you can separate out the seeing and the hearing, that is also an illusion that eventually gets dropped. This may not make sense until you have this experience, but once you do, it really does all become clear.
In the beginning, this is one of the ways you’ll find the Inner Knowing. The Inner Knowing is that which desires to communicate, to share wisdom and awareness, insight and truth in the way just described, with an entwined compassion within the hearing/listening, telling/voicing. There is a love and complete acceptance.
This is one of the ways you’ll know how to sort the inner voices. If what you’re hearing is just your scolding voice, inherited from parents and society, telling you you’re not working hard enough, doing enough, capable enough. This voice is not the Inner Knowing. The Inner Knowing is neither a scolding voice nor a judgmental voice.
In fact, it is not a voice at all. It is you who will translate into a voice and give words to what is entirely telepathic. For the brain to comprehend, it instantly translates into words the body can understand. That is not to say the Inner Knowing will not communicate the truth, and sometimes that truth may feel hurtful. But know that the intention is not to hurt. It is the receiver who’s translating it into hurt. The Inner Knowing is incapable of saying anything with the intention of harm. If what you are hearing/translating feels harmful, it is not the Inner Knowing, it’s some other part of you.
Don’t be quick to turn the Inner Knowing into a Guardian Angel or your personal guru. It is not religious in nature.
Don’t be quick to name the Inner Knowing. The Inner Knowing is not a person. It is a greater awareness available to everyone all the time.
Yes, it’s this simple and this hard. Stop. Look. Listen.
You have to stop first because the Inner Knowing won’t speak when you are rushed. You have to look deeply, to see all there is to see, so you will remember to connect with everything around you. In the connecting, you will become aware of a profoundness of being.
From that beingness, listen. Within that listening, you will find the All-That-Is, intelligence/awareness, always present and always willing to share. And in that sharing, your “Self” will be revealed to you more fully.
Within that revelation, you will be changed. In that changing, your external life will begin reflecting more fully who you are. This change in you will influence how others respond to you, as well as the choices you make going forward.
Beginning the Process of Reacquaintance
The biggest challenge with reacquainting ourselves with the Inner Knowing is believing.
If you believe you don’t have this ability, you’ll prevent yourself from experiencing your connection with the Inner Knowing. It’s really this simple: If you decide you can’t, you can’t. If you decide you can, you can. You have nothing to lose by deciding you can.
But sheer belief is not enough. It just gives you permission to start. “I believe I can do this, so I will let myself try.” That’s as far as belief can take you.
The reality is practice makes perfect. You have to be willing to go through trial and adjustment until you stumble across the experience of knowing. It’s a way of being, a way of learning, a way of connecting to the All-That-Is. And it can take time to get familiar with both the process and the experience.
The way to experience the knowing is to make the connection, receive the communication, and realize it’s not you simply communicating with yourself. It’s developing the ability to discern that you received information you wouldn’t have come up with on your own. You wouldn’t have thought that thought, or said those words, or known that information.
The only way to build trust is to experience knowing. The more you experience knowing, the more you will know how to make the connection to more knowing. Again, it happens through practice.
That’s why, in the beginning, the practice exercises are key. They will be outlined as this book goes on, along with how to make them habits and then ways of being.
Briefly, you will be asked to spend more time in nature, in meditation, and in exercising each of the senses. This will include learning how to become aware of energy patterns as well as how to understand vibration and non-verbal communication. I will ask that you work on remembering your dreams, because much of the communication with the Inner Knowing and the intuitive awareness starts there. And I will ask that you start keeping a daily journal.
One of the main challenges in making a solid and lasting connection to the Inner Knowing is in learning how to sort out the various competing voices and handling the needs of the ego and its attachment to individual identity. You will need to learn to recognize the difference between when you are actually making a connection with the true voice of your Inner Knowing versus when you are just you talking to yourself. Or when your subconscious hopes and fears slip in. Or your cultural beliefs start interjecting as the angel/devil on your shoulder.
The more you practice, the more you will be able to distinguish between the various voices clamoring for the mic.
Expect that the ego will have flare-ups. It doesn’t want the connection with the Inner Knowing. Because that means it no longer retains the position on high, to control your emotional state and habits. This may take some doing, but eventually the ego’s grip will loosen as the connection with the Inner Knowing gets stronger.
Meanwhile, subconscious fears may enter. Past forgotten hurts and memories may resurface. All these parts of yourself may try to prevent this connection from developing. In the end, the Inner Knowing will help you dissolve all these past hurts and memories, and subconscious manipulations.
As the relationship with the Inner Knowing becomes stronger, control is less and less of an issue. It becomes about trust and partnership, and a greater experience of reality. With the opening to greater awareness comes more intuitive and spiritual experiences.
In the beginning, it’s useful to have a format and a procedure. We’ll discuss the value of creating a ritual around the process, to help you begin creating new good habits. In time, these habits will set deep grooves and become part of your beingness.
Begin keeping a journal that you write in daily. Start as though you’re having a conversation with a wise and loving being who only wishes the best for you. What would you ask that being? What would you want to know? What would you want to understand?
Begin the conversation. Write whatever comes to mind. Don’t edit. Don’t audit. Don’t think about it. Write as fast as you can. If you seem to be stumped and nothing seems to be coming through, just write what you are feeling. What are you worrying about? What are your cares? What are your hopes? The voice will begin communication with you once again.
The fastest way to stop communication with the Inner Knowing is through fret and worry and deciding that you can’t. To get the process flowing again, just start writing again and you’ll pick up the Inner Knowing’s voice again. This may happen many times during a single journal entry. Communicating. Receiving information. Doubting the information. All goes silent. Communicating again and receiving information. Doubting information. All goes silent. Just be patient and keep at it. It won’t take long to get past this phase so it’s important to fight off the inevitable moments of discouragement.
The Payoff
If you follow the steps and you do the practice work, you will access the Inner Knowing.
The results you’ll achieve will be in direct correlation to the amount you practice.
If you go about this process willy-nilly, then you will have willy-nilly results. You can still have breakthrough moments of greater consciousness and wisdom. But it won’t be a reliable tool that you can use on a regular basis. It will be more like a rain cloud on a hot day that bursts overhead and quenches you before moving off. You’re left wondering what happened, and wanting to call the rain cloud back, but not being able to. So consistency will be the key.
The great thing about the relationship with the Inner Knowing is that you can go as fast or as slow as you like. If it feels like it’s too much or too scary, you can slow down the process. If this is something you’ve been wanting for a long time and just didn’t know how to do it, you can go as fast as you like.
There are no negative side effects. Although some people initially may feel more emotional and vulnerable. And this sensitivity can seem as though it is a negative side effect. It is, in truth, a cleansing. As this cleansing continues and the body becomes lighter and lighter, the speed and access to the Inner Knowing gets easier and easier.
Over time, when you look back and read through your journal, it will become crystal clear what was you talking to you, what were your subconscious fears, and where the Inner Knowing’s voice came through, pure and true.
Over time, you will realize that the Inner Knowing has a different way of expressing itself from the other parts of you that talk to yourself. It will have a different cadence and rhythm. Over time, these distinctions will become familiar and obvious to you. And you’ll notice that the value of that information will be very different from the subconscious information or the fears or other emotional states that you use to communicate with yourself.
As you see that there’s valuable information, in a distinctly separate voice, not in sound but in essence, you will start trusting it. You will start bypassing the other frequency channels that have disrupted you in the past. You will feel you have that clear channel, that clear access available to you at will. It will become a source of joy and something that you look forward to connecting with.
Down the road, you will not need to sit in meditation or do journal writing. The Inner Knowing will become a permanent part of your consciousness; a permanent connection will have been established. You will have access any time, any place, and it will be instantly available to you.
You will notice that the things that you care about begin shifting. The things that you worry about lessen. All moves toward simplicity.
As you begin accessing greater consciousness, it becomes obvious what matters and what doesn’t. What you want to be connected to and what you don’t. What worldly information you want to allow to permeate your being and your mind, and what you don’t. It will serve as a litmus test for what’s good for you and what’s not.
Start the process with great anticipation and excitement, and expectation. But also with a realistic time frame. It may take time for that communication to become solid. But, as I’ve said, you have total control over how fast or slow this happens.