Have you reached your goals in life and find yourself asking, “Is this it? I’m here, I’ve achieved everything I set out to achieve and yet I wonder, is this all there is? Is this what life is supposed to be about? If it is, then why do I feel so empty?”

In this month’s Perspectives, we point to a bridge that crosses a veritable canyon of consciousness, from the precipice of emptiness to the fulfillment that comes from connecting with our inner wisdom, a source that lives in each of us. Getting there, however, can be a dark and rocky journey since most people were raised without knowing this inner landscape. In fact, our inner landscape is a path to a rich source of consciousness that clergy and governments for hundreds of years in the western world have deliberately kept behind locked doors. The pathway is behind the temple gates and they have been kept under lock and key for centuries.

However, if you are someone who “seeks the truth” in everyday life or works to obtain personal growth, the motivation and drive will fuel the journey that also requires courage to go beyond the temple gates.

Listening to your inner wisdom is a skill that was at one time thought of as something anthropologists studied in shamanic folk cultures around the world or was something done only by yogis or mystics. Today, the “skill” is being taught to the rest of us through special teachers giving workshops and retreats throughout the country. Jewish psychologist Dr. Edward Hoffman, in his book, The Way of Splendor, Jewish Mysticism and Modern Psychology, Shambala 1981, reasonably warns modern seekers of the Divine  within of the psychological dangers that come with the pursuit of higher levels of consciousness. Yet, this is a means for transcending the daily conflicts that rage in the mind. For some, there is no other choice, while for others, such a pursuit is not to be taken lightly, simply because it doesn’t work when taken lightly. As Hoffman describes the Kabbalists in Jewish history who have attained divine wisdom, he does so by including the all important preparations and commitment prior to beginning a daily practice of meditation.

Joseph Campbell wrote, “At some point, the body and mind together become fundamentally aware and convinced that the energy by which the body is pervaded is the same as that which illuminates the world and maintains alive all beings.”

Campbell, one of the most renowned anthropologist of our time, puts forth the concept that human beings carry the energy that illuminates the world, that is, from within each of us, we are a light that makes all things known in our world. That sounds as if each of us has the capacity, if cultivated, of achieving remarkable states of intuitive knowledge for what keeps all other beings, animals and humans, alive and well. Combine that with the skills of critical thinking, and each one of us is capable of great intellectualism integrated with a ‘heart of gold,’ the source of compassion for others.

We can learn a skill for reaching the inner landscape of our minds, following pathways that lead to mythic figures and to an inner source deep within that speaks with profound love and clarity. The skill enables us to cultivate a precious resource that has great benefits. One benefit is in cutting through all the distortions and distress we feel about how we are living when we’ve constructed our lives in response to social pressure alone rather than in response to our inner longings and intuition. The daily practice enables the seeker to forge a pathway for reaching a depth of self previously unknown. Once that has taken place, we can guide our actions from a rich inner source of intuition and wisdom when needed. Cultivating our source can take many years of preparation and practice to be sure that we are drawing upon true wisdom rather than the voices of our own distress or the distress of others.

Reaching the source of what drives us, getting in touch with our deepest longings can radically change the quality and feeling of everyday life. According to Hoffman, the Kabbalists have always regarded the human condition as being one with a constant sense of inner un-ease, that our normal mental state is by its very essence filled with conflicting thoughts and desires. They recognized that we are born with a neshamah -- a transcendent Self that yearns to rise above our petty material wants, as well as an even more exalted cognitive aspect or yearning -- both of which enable us to sense a presence within of vast, unused potentialities. Throughout our lifetime, says Hoffman, we experience an ever-present struggle among the different parts of our personality. And herein forms the core message of Hoffman’s book: Though few of us can realistically aspire to complete power over our negative feelings like anger and depression, we have far more ability than we often think. Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav declared, “Every man can have absolute control over his thoughts and direct them as he wishes.”

So, you may be thinking…where do I sign up?

A safe and very powerful way to try it out while seeking relief and insight into your own inner conflicts or fears is with the accompaniment of  a specialized clinical hypnotist who works in the field of past-life regression. The specialized form of regression is a method for taking a guided journey into one’s inner realms for the purpose of resolving severe intrapsychic conflicts or fears in everyday life.

Once you’ve tried the inner journey and feel the profound draw of something within, you may then wish to look into the well-known secular teachers who provide training on passage to the inner realms. One widely available program for making an initial voyage while awake and alert is the Intensive Journal method developed by the late psychotherapist, Dr. Ira Progoff. During the 1950’s, he worked on methods to enhance creativity and personal growth. Following the publication of his thesis in 1953 on the work of Carl Jung, he was invited by Jung to work with him in Switzerland. Progoff further developed his method during the ‘60s and 70s. Today, the method provides a way to mirror the processes by which people become dynamic and develop themselves. The workshop takes place over two days in a small classroom setting where you write in a unique journal designed specifically to take you on a journey. You are guided, through imagery, into caves and other images in nature -- many of which are ancient symbols that have profound meaning from the deeper level of consciousness tapped into during the workshop. If you follow through the whole two-day workshop, you will come upon a profound moment and place of true clarity, that is, if your mind can handle it. If it cannot, you are not prepared and will select to leave the workshop and come back another time. It is important to listen to that intuition because it is there to protect you. Once you return and complete the workshop, the outcome stays with you, it is a rich point of departure for the following days, months and years ahead.

Carl Jung, the Swiss psychoanalyst, devoted himself to research into the subject of symbols and their importance for humanity. In his book, Man and His Symbols, Doubleday, 1964, Jung observed that the meaning of our most ancient symbols can never be totally absorbed or understood in words, that they actually resonate from deep within. Jung is best known for dream research where he found by talking to hundreds of clients, a similarity in the meaning people derived when they saw certain figures, objects or animals in their dreams.

Along the way to the Divine are fears and blockages of all types, instilled by both our mind and culture to keep us from reaching the source. The annihilation of the ego takes place along the way, according to Hoffman, which is not trivial by any means. It is not something one does by making a decision one day or offering one’s ego up to God with the message, “take me.” Alcoholics Anonymous and its companion programs for overeaters, substance abusers and those who are addicted to shoplifting or sex, are guided daily to hand themselves over to a “higher power.” Once addicted, it is very difficult to overcome the addiction on one’s own therefore a 12-Step program is adopted to move through a preparation process. The process can take months or years. The core of the process is that of giving up the ego, which is tied into the addiction, and exchanging it for a trusting relationship with one’s higher power, which actually is far stronger and far more satisfying than one’s ego could ever be.

The methods of self-development are less significant than our attitude and commitment to our growth within. If you regard yourself as someone of intensity who is willing to do “whatever it takes” to find peace within, in truth, so the sages tell us, we must be both diligent and patient without expecting any immediate dramatic rewards during meditation. The Kabbalistic tradition makes as one of its key issues the necessity for adequate training before beginning meditation. Hoffman teaches us that one of the oldest and simplest forms of meditation is with the Tree of Life, a primary image for raising our ordinary frame of mind to higher perceptions. He guides us to “gently dwell on the poetic majesty of this powerful symbol. Thus, the Zohar is filled with vivid descriptions of this heavenly entity that entices our imagination.”

The Zohar, also called The Book of Splendor, contains readings from the Kabbalah. Imagine a meditation practice that guides you so deeply within, you find yourself entering the following place as described in volume 2, pg. 159:

[In the beginning] the House of the world was made. This House forms the center of the universe and it has many doors and vestibules on all sides, sacred and exalted abodes where the celestial birds build their nests, each according to its kind. From the midst of it rises a large tree, [the Tree of Life] with mighty branches and abundance of fruit providing food for all, which rears itself to the clouds of heaven and is lost to view between three rocks, from which it again emerges, so that it is both above and below them. From this tree the house is watered. In this house are stored many precious and undiscovered treasures.

Imagine having such a resource to call upon in daily meditation, to rise above the negativity and stress of the day, in order to be refreshed and fed from this rich spiritual resource. The Tree of Life grows above the rocks into heaven and lives below the rocks in the physical plane where we live. From this tree, our house is kept hydrated, full of nourishment, never to dry out and wither away. It is there, through our meditation, if we want to call upon it. The meditation practice has within it the experiences of coming upon precious and undiscovered treasures -- revelations, insight, epiphany, answers to one’s prayers -- which occur when one transcends one level of awareness and moves into another.

Jean Houston, Ph.D., a prolific author and one of the founders of the Human Potential Movement, is widely known as one of the masters of Sacred Psychology, the domain of human experience that involves our inner landscape and passage to the Divine within. In her best known book, In Search of the Beloved, Houston introduces the reader to a practice that helps build a bridge from one’s everyday life to the depths of enriching psychological experience.

The Beloved lives within us and pulls us deep within when we need to heal. It is the force that causes us to retreat for awhile when we’ve been hurt. It is a deeply loving energy that lies within and pulls us in to emerge into the healing depths of its reach and warm embrace. For many who work in the social services and who are energized by their work each day, they are in the presence of their Beloved, which opens the gates to a deep sense of caring and a sensitivity to the spark, the life force that lives in everyone. They are able to see the uniqueness of every person and in doing so, they are fed with spiritual food.

“Sacred psychology,” says Houston, “shows you that you are richer, deeper, stronger and more a mystery than you know. The work of sacred psychology is to school you in your own depths. Your energies, power, stamina, and moral force seem limited only because your personal and cultural expectations set limits.”

Imagine attending a series of group workshops where you learn to go beyond the expectations formed by your family, your profession, your schools and social organizations, your politics and citizenship. All of those help set up your routines and govern your social responses, how you work and interact with co-workers. Houston tells us that when we allow these to exclusively define our lives, we eventually run dry. Sacred psychology takes us to a depth of awareness that deeply enriches our everyday existance by adding dimension and thereby adding a deeper sense of meaning.

Such work is not for everyone and should not be done at home alone. Rather, it should be learned from an experienced guide to light the way. But, why go there? Some people feel that since this is a rich human aspect of experience, then everyone has a birthright to it.

Knowledge of the secret pathway to our wisdom remained locked behind the gates of the temples and churches while mystics, priests and kabbalists engaged in the practice. Without this depth of understanding, people live day to day literally without knowing which side is up.

Where families are under the authoritarian rule of a matriarch or patriarch whose inner wisdom is unknown can spell catastrophe and major dysfunction for the family because the very basis of our moral sensibilities and our capacity for constructively guiding and supporting those we love comes from this inner resource. For those who do not have access to their inner landscape, they must rely on what they are told and what they can remember for guiding them in principles for daily living. The inner compass has a weak magnetic core, it is constantly spinning as it looks for approval or meaning from this person or that book or that movie, and is driven by distress rather than clarity.

As you know yourself to be a seeker of truth and nothing is going to change that, you have crossed the first threshold to a lifelong journey. Just be sure you prepare well and have a high-minded, loving teacher to guide you, one within your mind and one whom you can see by appointment.