The Power of Looking Inward

So often we find ourselves in the midst of a busy, noisy existence moving from thing to thing.

The external word of matter holds our attention and becomes the reality that we know and trust. This is the reality of the measurable or quantitative world. A world that science has continually learned to master. This mastering is appealing to the human condition as we search for certainty in an uncertain world. However, for every advance science makes towards mastery, an unreachable infinite unknowable arrives as its exclamation point. Current thinking is that the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light. Pause for a moment and let that sink in. While we are witnessing the light from stars that have died, the universe is moving faster the other direction. So for every scientific known lies infinitely more unknown and as we expand our known external world the unknown external world grows even faster.

The same can be said for the internal world of the psyche. Each step towards knowing yourself reveals infinitely more that you hadn’t discovered yet. How often do you begin your day, end your day or pause your day to explore the reality that lies within as opposed to being caught in the world that lies without? Imagine if you spent as much time exploring your inner being as you did being in the physical world around you. What could you discover or connect to that no one else has the power to discover? How would this impact how you went about your day? I love pausing to meditate on the following Stoic idea, “my death is certain, the time of that death is uncertain so what shall I make of the time I have gifted in this present moment?” The power of looking inward is the discovery of the still, silent voice within that Socrates called his Daimon. It’s the quiet whisper that guides us towards that which is most life giving just for us. The abundant mystery of the next moment can be found in the still silence that lies within. This is the realm of peace, faith and love. A reality based not on quantitative truth but qualitative. The unmeasurable of joy, love, compassion and patience. This connection with our infinite internal reality allows us to uniquely connect to the infinite external reality and a manner that is rich with meaning and purpose. Life becomes a journey connected from our core center to the expansive connected cosmos calling us to participate.

As we each journey along the spectrum of individuation and unification we can find an uncertain certainty in the middle path of the nexus point of our internal and external worlds by unleashing the power of looking inward moment by moment.