10.
Understanding outer knowledge versus inner knowing
NOTE:
This is an excerpt from the book The
Least You Should Know About Life.
All true spiritual teachings say that the real key to changing your
life is not found outside yourself; it is found only by going within.
Jesus said it clearly, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo
there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
The true meaning is that the key to changing your life, even your outer
circumstances, is to change your state of consciousness. Those who are
trying to control you or sell you something want you to believe that
the only way to change your life, the only way to attain happiness,
is to find something or someone outside yourself. You have been brought
up – programmed – to believe in this lie but it is now time
to dismiss it.
How can you make right choices, choices that will improve your life
experience? By realizing the fundamental truth that while the key to
making better choices is to increase your understanding, there is a
difference between outer knowledge and inner knowing. There are many
people who have ample outer knowledge, intellectual knowledge, yet their
lives never change. You find them in every field. For example, many
religious people – from every religion – know the outer
doctrines of their religion in great detail, yet they still cannot respond
to every situation with love—they cannot practice what their religion
preaches. Likewise, many psychologists or self-help gurus have extensive
knowledge of psychology yet they still have not transcended their own
limitations.
Most people face the eternal dilemma described by Paul, “For the
good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do”
(Romans 7:19). Knowing what is the right thing to do is not the same
as being able to do it, which is why so many people fail to walk their
talk. Yet why is there a discrepancy between knowledge and actions?
The reason is that outer knowledge is a poor way to change your actions.
As will be explained later, actions spring from a deeper level of the
psyche than where outer knowledge is stored. Thus, for knowledge to
effectively change your actions, the knowledge must come from a deeper
level than where your actions take place. In short, only knowledge that
is internalized will effectively transform your actions. When knowledge
is internalized, it becomes part of your being, it becomes wisdom and
understanding. As the Bible says, “Wisdom is the principal thing;
therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding”
(Proverbs 4:7).
Your actions are the products of the totality of your consciousness,
including what is below the surface of conscious awareness. If you truly
want happiness, stop being like the donkey who is constantly running
after the carrot. Stop seeking for the outer things that will supposedly
make you happy. Instead, seek the wisdom, the true, inner understanding
that will bring about happiness from within your own mind. Instead of
trying to control your circumstances and actions with the outer mind,
seek to change your fundamental outlook on life. Then, better actions
will naturally follow from your new state of mind.
How do you start? You start by realizing that you have a built-in ability
to know truth, to know what is the right thing to do. Jesus called it
the “key of knowledge,” the Buddha called it “enlightenment”
and many modern teachers call it “intuition.” This is an
ability to know, and it is beyond the intellect. The intellect thinks
mainly in an analytical way, which means that it compares every new
thought or idea to what it already knows. It seeks to label everything
and fit it into a category that makes it think it has everything under
control.
In contrast, intuition is not an analytical activity; it is a holistic
activity that enables you to see the forest instead of being lost among
the trees. Intuition allows you to go beyond what you already know,
and thus it is the only way to go beyond your current mental box. You
simply cannot use the intellect to go beyond the mental box created
by the intellect because the intellect cannot see the limitations of
the box—it cannot see that the box has become a prison.
The intellect stores knowledge by labeling ideas and putting them in
neat file folders in its databank. When a new idea comes to you, the
intellect compares it to what you already know. If an idea goes beyond
or challenges what you already know, the intellect is likely to dismiss
it. The intellect will never question its analytical approach to knowledge,
meaning that it will keep doing the same thing. Thus, if you want different
results, you have to go beyond the intellect and use your intuitive
faculties to expand your mental box. Intuition is the basis for all
revolutionary progress known by humankind, and you need to know that
there are two forms of progress:
-
Revolutionary progress
allows you to see deeper connections and thus take your understanding
of life to a distinctly higher level. It also allows you to know
that an idea is valid even if the analytical mind cannot fit it
into its existing databank and thereby “prove” its validity.
This progress is what allows you to develop a new world view. For
example, it was a revolutionary leap that empowered humankind to
transcended the world view that the Earth is flat.
- Evolutionary progress
allows you to gain a more practical understanding of the details of
a new world view. This can be very useful and has led scientists to
develop a lot of helpful technology. However, this could happen only
after they had expanded their world view based on a revolutionary
leap. The limitation of the analytical mind is that it tends to reject
or fail to understand anything that does not fit into its existing
knowledge, its databank. Thus, the analytical approach can become
a trap that prevents your growth. It leads to mental inbreeding.
To truly escape your current
limitations and learn to make right decisions, you need to activate
your intuitive faculties and learn to trust them. You need to learn
when to set aside the analytical mind and allow a higher part of your
mind to take you to a new level of understanding. As you become more
aware of your intuition, you will gradually begin to trust its validity.
You will increase your ability to discern between outer knowledge and
a deeper understanding.
The essential point is that there is no mechanical way to learn how
to make right decisions. The analytical mind thinks that if only it
can analyze and categorize everything, it can set up an unfailing system.
As long as you can fit a situation into the system, you can always make
the right decision. Yet history proves that “life” stubbornly
refuses to fit into any of the boxes created by the human intellect—be
they religious or scientific. Therefore, this is an impossible dream,
and many people have spent a lifetime pursuing it without ever finding
the Holy Grail.
It is far more constructive to let go of this dream and instead be willing
to follow your inner directions, even if it takes time to expand your
intuitive connection. As you move forward, learning even from your mistakes,
you will eventually reach a point where you know, through inner knowing,
what is the highest possible response to every situation.
The key is to realize that true inner understanding, true knowing, must
come from beyond the intellect. It must come from a higher part of your
being. To connect to this higher part of your mind, you must come to
understand the basic truth that you are a complex, even a composite,
being. There is more to you than meets the eye. If you are willing to
take a look beyond the surface level of your mind, we will explore the
real you in the coming sections.
If you are willing to move forward from this point, take a moment to
feel a sense of victory. If you have accepted the need to look for a
higher understanding outside your current mental box, you have moved
past the major stumbling block that prevents most people from finding
happiness. Allow yourself to feel that your life has been turned around
and that you are on the brink of starting an upward spiral. You are
on the way to fulfilling the ancient, yet timeless, call: “Human,
know thyself—know thy Self!”
11.
Is your world view limiting or enhancing your life experience?
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Copyright
© 2007 by Kim Michaels |
