Wise Inner Knowing
In the early eighties as a student at Boston University School of Social Work, I was fortunate enough to have many brilliant and articulate teachers. But one stands out as particularly savvy. This was my statistics professor. Mr. Maloof was there to help his class of social worker wanna-be’s learn how to gather, process and analyze information scientifically; but, ironically, his first message to us had to do with a different way of gathering information.
“The scientific method is only one way of gaining knowledge or truth.” He told a rather surprised group of students. Looking at a syllabus that contained books such as “The Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance,” and “The Tao of Physics,” I felt particularly excited as well as deeply validated by that first part of our reading list, for at the time I had already begun deep exploration of my own psychic nature.
By l980 I had done many psychic readings for people. But I was keeping a low profile at BUSSW, fearing that my other path toward self-development might be misunderstood. Still,here was my statistics prof. saying that intuitive knowing was valid and could yield truth. I was delighted.
The other good thing that happened in that class was that I sat next to Margaret. Neither she nor I particularly took to statistics, but we loved that first part of the syllabus that included Carlos Castenada and others writing about wise inner knowing. It all seemed to speak profoundly to Margaret and me.
We struck up a pleasant camaraderie, me and Margret, and often we hung out together after class. We were enjoying discussing the psychic and intuitive elements of our reading much more than we were enjoying statistics. We were thirsty for the truths those authors were imparting. On many occasions during those days I was close to sharing with Margaret that I was doing psychic readings on the side. But I was wary of being misunderstood. The mind-body connection was a new idea, not yet fully mainstreamed, and BU School of Social Work had professional values and principles to uphold. I worried that some of my beliefs could be considered heretical to good Social Work Theory. Then one day Margaret was unable to spend any time after class. In fact, she was in a rush.
When I asked Margaret where she was going, she looked at me sheepishly.
“I am going to do a palm reading for the assistant Dean,” she said quietly.
I could not hold back the belly laughter. “What is so funny?” She asked me.
Margaret was on a mission, so my disclosure was brief. But many conversations took place after we “came out” to each other with great relief and pleasure. We were elated to discover that we were both psychic readers as well as future social workers dedicated to the traditions of our profession.
With the support of Margaret, and vicariously from the assistant Dean, I was able to more fully embrace my quest to find pathways into wise inner knowing. I too was on a mission. I wanted to know how to use deeper knowledge to help myself and to help the people who were to someday become my clients in what I hoped would be the practice of clinical Social Work.
As a little girl, I had often been asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”“I want to help people,” was my answer, but I did not know then by what route this would happen. I just knew that it would. Now I was learning something about what and how this would come about. I wasn’t crazy about statistics, but I was soaking in everything I could about how people can learn and grow and become wise.
According to Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of “Women Who Run With the Wolves,” ancient medics identified the pathway to wisdom as the third of three pathways of the auditory nerve. This third pathway supposedly existed for the soul to hear its guidance and to gain knowledge. In my personal quest for this inner wisdom, I have found that when logical information is combined with information from the intuitive dimension, we are best able to solve our problems and make the decisions that direct our lives.
The inner dimension of mind, sometimes referred to as the non-rational dimension, can be thought of as the seat of imagination. Information coming from the imagination can be elusive. It is not like information you read off a fax or in a book. Often the intuitive and imaginative knowing comes from night dreams, day dreams, hunches, gut feelings, and particularly from the conscious quieting of the mind that allows deeper wisdom to come through. You can try out your imagination and see what happens.
Try this:
Imagine you are on a trip to somewhere you like to visit. It can be near or far. The idea is to use all your senses at the inner level to see, feel, and fully experience your spot. Even though you are familiar with your place, this is an intuitive exercise in imagination because your visit is happening inside your mind. Take a couple minutes to get all the information about this place. What are the colors, the temperature, the people, the sights, sounds, smells? Enjoy a full sensory experience.
It takes practice to use this technique, but here’s the most interesting part. You can learn to apply your imagination this way to unfamiliar situations. You can acquire the ability to stimulate creativity and access ideas to help you cope more effectively. You can visualize a painting you wish to make, unlock writer’s block, and reason out the best course of action to take in a tough situation. When faced with a difficult decision you can practice seeing potentials for different outcomes as a way of deciding what you want to do.
Recently I had a problem that stumped me. I had the opportunity to sell something that had been very valuable to me, but that I no longer needed. The potential buyer was someone toward whom I carried an old resentment. The person wanted the item for her son, but was offering much less than the item was worth. Her skimpy offer activated old angry feelings. I knew the child would benefit from the item, but I was torn between my old hurt, and wanting to let the item go. To solve my dilemma, I spent a bit of time in quiet contemplation. The unexpected answer came within my deeper mind, but at first I did not trust it. It seemed odd and out of place in the context of my resentment. Wise inner knowing was telling me not to take ANY money for the item! Further, I was being advised that if I gave the item away, I would be freed from the resentment which could twist up my insides in a heartbeat. That was hard to believe!
But I had committed myself to trusting my wise knowing; and I gave the item away. From the instant I delivered the gift, I felt an enormous chunk of old resentment lift. I had been carrying this invisible weight for years. While there were other actions to be taken later to clear the remaining shreds of resentment, had I not listened to wise knowing, I might still be burdened with a huge hurt, that was hurting only me. When you practice this inner knowing tool, what you are given can seem unreal. Yet, if you learn how to trust and use what you get you will have a powerful ally within your own mind.
It doesn’t mean everything will be always be factually correct; but it can be fun if you can check out the facts of a situation or very healing if you follow the guidance, as I did. As you practice you will be able to sort out the wisdom that you need from extra information that you do not. As you build your expertise in interpreting, trusting and using your intuition you will gain new insights and build a deeper understanding of your Self. You will create a base of personal operating knowledge that will help you develop imaginative solutions for facing the on-going challenges of life.