©2002 Lisa Dale Miller
astrowisdom.com
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I always chuckle when people approach me and say they need "a good psychic." The idea that inner knowing is somehow the sole purvey of specialists who call themselves psychics is ridiculous. There is no one that knows the answers to your questions better than you. You already are your own best psychic! So why is it that modern-day people are convinced they don't have the ability to access their own inner truth?

This fallacy has come to us courtesy of a culture whose main emphasis for the last three hundred years has been placed on the value of gaining knowledge through objective rational means. After Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Kepler, and Darwin, there was no way humans could continue to think of mythic and religious explanations as the only truth. The demystification of the workings of our universe through reliance upon the scientific method was a necessary part of human evolution and a profound gift of empowerment for humanity. However, this propensity to define the nature of reality (and human experience) by confining that definition to the empirical exploration of the physical properties of our world, has ultimately led to a one-dimensional understanding of the complexity of the nature of existence.

When the great minds of the Rational Age took the power to define truth away from religious authorities, they simultaneously insisted upon denying that the function of "knowing" involved anything more than cognitive or moral processing. To them, knowledge gained through the mind's introspective, psychic, spirit, and non-dual processes were labeled everything from unfounded and illogical, to unproved and non-existent. We moderns are the inheritors of this long legacy of intellectual invalidation of spiritual evolution, and this negation of spirit has only served, over time, to create societies and individuals that suffer from alienation, disconnection, anxiety, inattentiveness, agitation and disquiet. Our world suffers because we lack the tools for introspection and inner knowing.

Our cultural insistence on only learning about the outer world has left most people ill equipped to use their natural ability to access inner truth, and easy prey for those who would lead them to believe otherwise. It is certainly true that the transpersonal disciplines, which fall under the category of "spiritual" or "psychic" have also suffered from being denied a chance to evolve in a serious way along with science. The one-dimensional nature of most readings speaks volumes about how little emphasis many readers place on intellectual development.

So how do we bring together a strong reliance on objective observation with a necessary commitment to increase our experiences of the interior subjective realms? First, we need to establish a strong emphasis on making time each day to enhance our conscious awareness through contemplation and/or meditation. This can mean sitting quietly for fifteen or twenty minutes, taking a walk while practicing mindfulness, journal writing, or following a specific meditation program. The calm presence created by a consistent meditation practice strengthens our connection with many forms of inner knowing.

Secondly, we need to approach problem solving from a more holistic perspective; one that is rooted in common sense, but also includes and validates our inner sense of what is right and true in any given situation. When you enter a room, or start a meeting, try quieting your thoughts and pay attention to the energy around you. You will be surprised at how much information you can glean from the energetic/emotional vibrations of others. When you are faced with a decision or a problem, turn off the chatter in your head and tune in to the inner voice, what some people call a "gut feeling". Over time and with practice, your answers will spontaneously arise from your own internal source of wisdom.

Of course there are times in our lives when we feel it necessary to seek outside guidance. In this case, it is of utmost importance that we don't go looking for someone to give us the answers; rather we seek ways to increase our own receptivity to finding the answers ourselves.

Astrology and tarot, when practiced responsibly, are effective means to engage the part of you that already knows everything. These tools create symbolic bridges to the deep psyche, and open the intuitive levels of the mind to spontaneous revelation. Usually when my clients seek guidance about a specific question, they also receive information that forces them to consider the deeper core issues of the question. Looking deeply at oneself usually makes it possible to find more meaningful and empowering answers.

I believe that someday psychology can become the one discipline that bridges this "consciousness gap" and helps people learn how to integrate transpersonal knowing with rational, moral, and emotional knowing. This will require psychology to move beyond its current dictatorial insistence on rejecting all processes that cannot be validated by "objective" science, and transcend its current model to include tools that engender transpersonal experiences like meditation, energetic healing methods, tarot, astrology, and inner knowledge acquisition tools like journeying, plant/animal teachers, and ceremony.

We moderns have taken the rational approach to its fullest extent and now live in a world out of balance and in great need of healing. In order to bring about the full flowering of postmodernity, we must now focus our efforts on engendering the experience of conscious awareness for all peoples everywhere. Conscious awareness is the next frontier of knowledge, and it will surely answer the deeper mysteries that science has yet to solve…. as well as your own questions.

If you wish to comment please contact me!

©2002 Lisa Dale Miller
astrowisdom.com
All rights reserved
PERMISSION MUST BE GRANTED BY THE AUTHOR FOR USE ON WEB SITES AND FOR OUTSIDE PUBLISHING