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Chapter Fourteen
March 2008

Seeking the Source of Wisdom

Walking in these green mountains, I cross many streams, each unique and special – and each with its own name and identity. I often mark the progress of my journey by the crossing of these streams, remembering the time and tiredness it took to reach a particular spot in my earlier voyages. Seldom, but occasionally, I wonder at their source, and consider traveling upstream to discover where they begin.

For centuries in India, pilgrims have traveled upstream to the source of the mighty rivers, for it is believed that Gods gave them birth, and to be in the presence of the source is to be near to the Gods.

Each time I consider forging upstream, after a moment’s pause, I continue on my well worn trail in the mountains, leaving the upstream trek to others - for I remember that all the streams begin with the same source, the rain that nourishes my own yard and pond. I think the Indians know this too, but we each need our own way of seeking, and theirs is probably just as good as mine.

Through the ages, many wise people have tried to put into words the source of wisdom; Plato described the world of Pure Forms, Eliade studied Sacred time and space, Jung posited the collective unconscious and a higher Self, and Hegel talked of Absolute Spirit and the Essence. Still today, Quakers listen quietly for the still, small voice, Rupert Sheldrake talks of a morphogenetic field in which we are embedded, and each religion gives its particular name to the ultimate Source of the deepest wisdom.

The descriptions of this Source vary considerably, but perhaps they are all pointing to the same thing – each making a valiant effort at the impossible, to capture and convey in language something that cannot be so captured or conveyed. To say this in a somewhat different way: perhaps each is reporting a view of something that can only be seen partially from any one angle, from one perspective, like the story of the three proverbial blind men who encounter an elephant for the first time: “An elephant is like a thick rope,” said the first; “No, it is like a tree truck,” said the second; “Oh no,” said the third, “it is like a rough wall that breathes.”

For those who are willing to consider the possibility that there might be an elephant out there, even if they have not seen it for themselves, the next question becomes: How do I look for it, how do I find a way to encounter it for myself? For me, the best answer that has emerged in human history to this question is: find a way to develop and use your intuition as fully and completely as you can.

To this end, in Chapter 3 we learned that many artists realized they had to get out of their ordinary minds, out of their everyday perspective, to be able to touch the inspiration, the broader vision that gave rise to their artistic imagination. And it is clear that the connection between intuition and the inspiration of artists is very close, so close that Art critic Bernard Croce once said: "Art is perfectly defined when simply defined as intuition.”

Following this thread, what seems to be necessary to contact intuition is learning to step outside the hustle and bustle of daily life for a moment, to discover ways to get outside the everyday thinking, worrying, planning, taking care of business mind – so that a different kind of knowing can filter in. We must learn to “drift” into a creative state similar to that of artists – as well as philosophers and scientists and creative people of all kinds. As William James put it: “The world of our present consciousness is only one out of many worlds of consciousness that exist; . . . although in the main these . . . worlds remain discrete, yet (they) become continuous at certain points, and higher energies filter in.” James suggested that this can happen spontaneously when we are affected by a crisis, moved by a deep sense of urgency, or touched by a profound sense of purpose. But how, in our daily lives, do we find ways to invite these “higher energies” to filter in?

Seeing the goal in this way, a startling recognition emerges: Through the ages, human cultures have developed many practices and techniques specifically designed to do just this – to help people get out of their normal, everyday minds in order to get in touch with another way of knowing. Almost every single culture has created a systematic technology to invite the voice of intuition to arise. The list of examples is long and instructive:

American Indians, and other tribal cultures, created the vision quest, a time for the individual to leave the community and spend time alone in nature, often with a special task to perform or challenge to undertake. They also used drumming, chanting, ritual dance, and mind-altering drugs for the same purpose.

The Greeks often used initiation for this purpose, such as the Eleusinian Mysteries (into which many of the most famous Greek and Roman writers, thinkers, and artists were inducted). These initiates went through some dramatic process that helped them to break out of their old view of themselves, making way for a new vision of life and their role in society to emerge.

In the Jewish tradition, the practice of Torah study evolved over the centuries to become a time of profound thought and reflection, a time to leave everyday concerns behind, and align one’s mind and heart with the deepest wisdom.

Early Christians went to the desert or the mountains to create time and space to be able to listen for guidance and inspiration in their lives, sometimes staying away from the everyday world for long periods. Later Christians founded thousands of monasteries all over the world, places designed specifically to create the opportunity for inner solitude, away from the demands and pull of everyday mundane world.

Buddhist cultures developed meditation, and then the meditation retreat, and then monasteries so that practitioners could leave the everyday world, go within, and awake to the intuitive understanding the Buddha had discovered.

The Quakers developed the practice of sitting silently, but in a heightened state of anticipation, inviting the still small voice of deep wisdom to emerge.

In Islam, the instruction came to stop five times a day and turn one’s heart and mind toward Mecca, to stop everything – leave the everyday world for a moment – in order to attune to a broader wisdom and purpose.

The list could go on and on: Tibetans developed the use of chant, Sufis used ecstatic dance, the Shakers gave themselves over to feverish song and dance, and Hindus used yoga and pranayama (techniques of breathing) and fasting.

Another important practice that developed through the centuries was that of pilgrimage. Many cultures encouraged their members to leave home and travel to sacred places, often encountering hardship and difficulty along the way. Why did they go to so much trouble? Almost certainly this practice developed to break the seeker out of his/her everyday routine and everyday mind – hopefully bringing the pilgrim into contact with a more profound knowing – and thereby providing a new and wiser perspective on life. This did not work for everyone, of course, (many pilgrims simply became immersed in the problems of the journey they were on), but many reported profound intuitive moments arising from their pilgrimages.

And of course there is prayer. Almost every culture and tradition has used prayer in one form or another to shift consciousness and bring about a deeper, or higher, or wiser perspective. All forms of prayer are not designed for this purpose (saying a prayer for something you want might or might not shift your consciousness very much). But at any moment, no matter where you are or what you are doing, you can shift into “prayer mind” in one instant. It is always there, available to anyone who wants to shift for a moment away from fears, anxieties – or the tyranny of expectations – into a wiser and deeper place.

Vision quests, meditation, chant, prayer, pilgrimage, ecstatic dance, singing, drumming, fasting, yoga, breath control, rituals, initiation, sacred study, mind-altering drugs, anticipatory silence – these are the tools we humans have developed through the centuries to get us out of our everyday minds and to bring us into contact with the intuitive dimension. And most cultures used several of these methods together, blending them in marvelous and creative ways.

In our modern world, in places where the above practices have fallen into disuse, new methods continuously emerge to fill the void left by their absence. One such emergence is the whole field of psychology, where people visit therapists, work with dreams, take up journaling – at least partly to get outside their everyday fears and anxieties and gain access to greater wisdom, a deeper sense of knowing about who they are and what their lives are about. Importantly, in most psychotherapeutic traditions, the intent is not for the therapist to tell clients what is true, or what they should do, but to help clients find a clearer and deeper source of knowing for themselves. (This is not the only reason people undertake therapeutic practices, but it is one significant reason.)

Many others have found their way to pursuits that hold an echo of ancient practices, and at least partially serve the same purpose as they did the numerous technologies developed and used by our ancestors. How many people today go hiking in the mountains, take up gardening, go skiing, or engage in various other sports at least partly to shift their awareness from the tensions of everyday life into a broader perspective? How many millions of “aha” moments have arisen out of these pursuits?

Another example is travel, which has largely replaced pilgrimage today – but how many travel plans are motivated by a secret urge to get out of the “normal” world and into a broader perspective of mind? This has been one of the most important practices of my life, for getting on a plane to a foreign land somehow gives me permission to step out of my everyday concerns, expectations, and plans, and open to broader vistas and greater perspectives of living.

Countless examples could be given of ways people have found to open to a place of expanded awareness: Practicing a musical instrument, immersing oneself in research or study, singing, and many crafts such as knitting provide practitioners with an opportunity to shift consciousness to a more meditative state. Attendees at classical music concerts often report transcendent experiences. For that matter, how many people go to rock concerts in order to be carried “outside themselves” by the music and the crowd and the dancing—and sometimes the drugs? One could argue that part of the immense popularity of rock concerts and bands and clubs is due to the fact that they partially – and incompletely – fill the void left by the demise of some of the ancient practices mentioned above.

Again, this is not to say that all of the above pursuits are undertaken in order to reach an intuitive state of mind. Far from it. But numerous reports suggest that people sometimes engage in these activities for just this reason, and there are many accounts of people finding themselves spontaneously immersed in deep intuitive experiences when engaging in the above pursuits. In The Spiritual Nature of Man, distinguished Oxford Professor and zoologist Sir Alister Hardy writes that among the 3000 people he studied who reported transcendent experiences, the primary trigger for 18% of such experiences was encountering or creating art, and another 12% were triggered by an encounter with the beauty of nature.

The Source of Intuition

Einstein was asked: "What, in your opinion, is the most important question facing humanity today?" His reply: “Is the universe a friendly place?” In this amazingly brief and simple response is captured the very heart of our question about the possible source of intuition. If, as the materialists say, the universe came about in a chance and random way, the only common goal would be to fulfill one’s personal urges and desires however possible. In this kind of world, human life is simply a power struggle, with each person maneuvering to get what they want for themselves. People might band together to work for some end, but each person would be acting in their own self-interest, and each would betray the group or any member without hesitation if it suited his or her purposes. (The entire world as one giant set for the television series Survivor.)

This is the world Nietzsche proclaimed in Beyond Good and Evil, with this addition: some groups will try to persuade others to act in an idealistic way in order to gain an advantage. The ideals espoused are not be based on anything real, however, but are merely a tactic to thwart those who would otherwise triumph in the “Will to Power” game of life.

In Einstein’s view, if this is the true nature of the world, “we are simply victims to the random toss of the dice and our lives have no real purpose or meaning.” Focusing on “safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that is unfriendly,” we will more than likely end up using our technology in a very destructive way – perhaps even destroying humanity itself. This is the danger foreseen by Einstein in adopting the worldview proclaimed by Nietzsche.

There is another alternative. In accepting the possibility of an Unseen Order, Einstein becomes much more hopeful; then we can use “our scientific discoveries . . . to create tools and models for understanding that universe. Because power and safety will come through understanding its workings and its motives." In essence, if there is an order to the universe, which is not neutral but friendly to human life, then our task is to find ways to live in harmony with that order.

If this is the world we inhabit, individuals cannot simply create the rules of life to benefit themselves, but must learn how to navigate in a stream that has an existing current. Personal urges and desires do not go away, and sometimes will still dominate our thoughts and actions, but there is another current, or field, or force to be considered – something that is shared with others, and within which we can all find common ground. If such a current exists, then that is the Source of intuition.

To approach this crucial point from another angle: if my intuition is only in me, and there is no larger order or meaning or purpose outside of me which I can contact, then my intuition is only a tool for my personal drives – my will and my desires. Its only function is to help me get what I want. In this situation, my intuition has no outside reference point to provide a larger sense of what is “right” or “good” – for these do not exist beyond my personal urges and desires. Further, there are no shared values, goals, or meanings with other people – we literally live in the proverbial dog-eat-dog world.

In this world, each person will always be trying to use “the other” to fulfill strictly personal needs and desires. (To emphasize a point stated before: sometimes as a strategy to get what one wants, a person or a group might define something as an “ideal value,” and try to convince others to abide by that idea – but the underlying purpose will be to facilitate the person or group who created the ideal to get what they want for themselves – at the expense of those foolish enough to buy into the manufactured ideal.)

The alternative to this worldview is radically different. If there is an Unseen Order, then my intuition, and yours, both have the possibility of connecting with That, and thereby providing guidance as to how each of us can be live in harmony with life’s stream. Crucially, this larger order is not my creation, nor yours, but something shared between us and with all other people – perhaps co-created with them – which means that the guidance of true intuition can help each of us live in harmony with others, and with life itself. In this worldview, there are “values” and “rights” that arise from a common Source, and in which we all share – which means we can refer to them for guidance in shared projects and plans and dreams – as Jefferson voiced so beautifully in the Declaration of Independence.

If an Unseen Order does exist, human conflict is not precluded – individuals and groups will still act to fulfill their needs and desires, and they will often run head-on into the needs and desires of others. But in this reality, there are values to which we can all refer if we will, and there are parameters within which conflicts can be contained if the competing parties acknowledge the existence of these common rights and values. In fact, most wars through history have been waged within some agreed upon parameters, and most conflicts guided by an assumed framework of values – one more sign that most human beings have a built-in sense that there is some Source beyond each individual’s Will to Power.

There is one further, and dramatic, benefit to this view of reality: For those who can step outside of their individual needs, urges, and desires for a moment, they will find themselves in a field, a common ground, in which they discover that they are not alone, but share an understanding and a wisdom with every other being who has ever found their way to this place of the Source. As Joseph Campbell put it in The Hero with a Thousand Faces:

We have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known: We have only to follow the thread of the hero path.  And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; and where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.

Or as Rumi put it even more mystically and poetically:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
         there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
         the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
         doesn't make any sense.*

Or perhaps, as Zen teaching surrests, you will discover that there is Not Two.

The Practical Side - Connecting with Intuition

If this “source of true knowing” does exist, why is it so elusive? One answer is that it is so much a part of our very nature that it is always operating below our threshold of consciousness, constantly affecting us in subtle and sometimes profound ways, without our even being aware of it. For instance, are you aware of what you are doing when you are digesting food, healing a cut on your arm, or fighting off an infection. Perhaps in the same way, intuition is operating as a fundamental part of your life system, without much conscious thought being given to it most of the time.

However, it is also true that our small urges and desires are operating constantly as well – pushing our deeper knowing out of the way in order to get us to pursue the urges and desires our small self wants right now. In other words, our whims often overpower our deeper knowing.

Thus on many occasions, when intuitive awareness guides us in one direction, we don't pay attention, because our small self wants what it wants Right Now. At other times, perhaps we are stuck on a course of action, and too busy to listen to the feeling that it is time to reset the compass. Sometimes we don't trust what we are sensing, or perhaps we don’t like what would be required of us if we were to follow our intuition – we would have to give up too much, make too many sacrifices – so we turn away. Yet if intuitions arise and we do not listen, they will probably come less and less frequently, and perhaps even disappear from our conscious awareness.

Another reason that intuition is not as available as it might be is that many of us do not give sufficient time and attention to the practices that have been developed through the centuries to bring us into connection with that “awareness that flows through the underlying deep connectivity of things and events.”  Yet this is the one action has the greatest possibility of affecting the flow of our lives.

A Way to Begin

To increase your connection,  try the following steps:

1.  Find a practice that gets you out of your daily, taking care of business mind, that brings you into contact with moments of inspiration and deep intuition You might experiment with several until you find one that feels right for you just now in your life. 

2. Now commit your time and energy to regular practice! (I know, it is difficult.)

3.  Listen to and value what arises.

4. Work to Know Yourself as thoroughly as you can, so you can discern the wheat from the chaff, whims from a true deeper knowing.

5.  Act on your deep intuitions, commit to actions that grow out of your moments of inspiration.

6.  Be willing to make the necessary sacrifices, be willing to let go of the things you are holding on to that stand in the way

These steps are not easy, but the reward is potentially great, for they might just bring you “the possibility of unerring accuracy and appropriateness” in the decisions and the living of your daily life.

*Once in this field, you will be in harmony with the Source, and will naturally do what is right and good. As Augustine said, Love, and do what you will. When still motivated by Nietzsche’s will to power, a shared value system that defines “wrongdoing and rightdoing” is necessary.