Read an Excerpt
Introduction
We are living in an age of possibility. We are more connected to each other than ever and have access to intelligent answers right at our fingertips through social media and new AI tools. With this access to so much intelligence, to so many answers, are we that much happier? In theory, we should be, right?
A survey of nearly 1,700 reveals that two-thirds of young people (ages sixteen to twenty-four) believe social media does more harm than good.
It feels like we are drowning in information but starving for wisdom. I believe that now, people are more disconnected from themselves than ever before.
Through our minds’ eyes, everything comes into focus. Yet, we have so many places to put our awareness outside of ourselves that it’s easy to get lost in a sea of meaningless information—unconsciously looking for the hit that will give us the clarity that we desire when the answer we are looking for is right where we are.
Without introspection, we would simply fall into the mold of our environment, pacified by the same answers to the same questions, as passion slips through our fingers.
The rhythm of life is speeding up. The pace of change is becoming more and more rapid. Alan Watts believed that we were living in the age of anxiety back in the ’60s, that modern society’s emphasis on materialism had caused a profound disconnect from the deeper, more meaningful aspects of existence. Since the ’60s, this emphasis on materialism has only increased, but the interesting thing is that more people seem to be becoming aware of it.
Consciously allowing space for your inner world is more important now than ever. Learning to tune into how you feel and listening to your intuition will be what will help you to swim through the noise with purpose.
When we become more open and familiar to those deeper layers of the mind, we find ourselves with greater clarity, inspiration, and direction. We also expand our awareness of the world around us.
You can be sitting in front of a fantastic lecturer with all the answers that will help you achieve where you want to be, but are you aware? Are you listening? How well can you engage? They can be telling you what you need to hear while you put your awareness elsewhere in the back of your mind—because you are not conscious enough of those inner callings to know that these are the words that will set you on the path that will feel good for you.
When you are disconnected from your inner world and intuition, you won’t be able to connect to the cues that will help you move forward.
How well are you able to connect to these words? Perhaps, as you read these words, you’ll feel a mix of emotions, phrases, or memories pop up in your mind’s eye as you follow along. Or perhaps your awareness is well-directed and you can feel each black word on the page slice through your psyche to your core as you feel they have meaning to you. Or perhaps they tap on your surface like raindrops on a window, while deeper down you are in the flow of questions that feel like they mean more to you at this point in time.
The message that will take you where you want to be deep down can be shouted right at you. It can shake your shoulders and beg you to listen, but if you can’t connect to it, if you are not aware of these deeper callings, it will be no good to you.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
—Carl Jung
When you know yourself deeply, you become more open to paths that lead to a life that will give you a greater sense of meaning and fulfillment. You become more receptive to the things that will lead to the change that you may be craving.
The topic of intuition is one that is deeply misunderstood. Science has struggled to grasp it, and yet it is an undeniable part of what it means to be human. The nature of immaterial knowledge often seems to get brushed under the carpet in this modern era—what can’t be measured is seen as less valuable—but I believe that finding your own path, finding your own meaning, is the most valuable thing of all.
This does not mean that you must be entirely unique and estranged from society, but if you are able to follow a path in absolute confidence and clarity that fulfills you? That’s worth everything.
People might associate introspection and topics such as meditation with boredom. Perhaps they have little patience or find that they bring up feelings of anxiety or unease at first, but when you get a glimpse of what it really means to be present, to break through to altered states of consciousness and experience intuitive phenomena for yourself, it is nothing short of life-changing. It makes you realise how much power you really have to shift the narrative of your life entirely.
I have grown up in tune to my inner world. I can say that in confidence, as I have been meditating regularly from the age of twelve. It has been a very strange journey for me, since I experienced a lot of intuitive phenomena very early on.
I grew up in a family who were familiar with mystical experiences like mine, but it was still very confusing to see how little people seemed to be open to my experiences outside of the gates of spiritualism. This always distressed me and made me question my experiences deeply. It made me want to break free from the woo-woo box that I was pushed into. What I experienced was too real and too shocking, and with investigation of other people’s experiences, things added up in a way that showed me there was something at play—more than chance or collective delusion.
On the way, I have gained a new perspective on psychic phenomena and intuition that I believe could help a lot of people understand the power of their inner voice and how to hear it, trust it, and use it to guide them. It has taken me years to gather and formulate this research.
I know what it is like to be someone who has experienced this phenomenon and how distressing it is to find a way to rationalise it. I don’t want anyone to feel lost in trying to make sense of mystical experiences when there are answers closer to the ground than they realise.
This book is about reclaiming the lost intelligence within, opening people up to the wonders of the mind, and helping those who have experienced mystical experiences to better understand them.
