The Potential of Knowledge

What if I told you that you already have access to infinite wisdom, boundless inspiration and creativity, and limitless love? Would you believe me? 

The logical mind would say this impossible or magical thinking. ‘But if we only believe what is rational and measure as real then the sacred will always seem unreal, for by its very nature it is beyond logic.’ This quote from Christine Lauritzen in her Jivamukti Yoga Focus of the Month entitled The Potential of Knowledge, touches on what spirituality, religion (at its best), indigenous and ancient wisdom, near death experiences, yoga and meditation all potentially open us up to: an experience of the world in its fullness, as it is. This includes the subtle world, that is beyond matter, which we often lay hidden until something magical happens. My teacher Sharon Gannon calls magic “a shift in perception.”

I know that when my mind gets still - really still and quiet - and I am listening deeply, often new ideas appear. Connections are made.  Answers to simple or even complex questions become clear. It often feels like I have stepped into a gently flowing river, being carried by something much larger than me. A river of limitless knowledge. 

My husbands experiences something similar in the showers, when all other distractions are gone and quite literally feels the flow of water pouring over him. He has solved many engineering problems simple by taking a shower! Its like a hidden river that only appears when the mind is quiet and the attention to the distractions of the world are have fallen away. 

In India, rivers are sacred. They are said to be divine, often revered as living goddesses - purifying, cleansing and life giving. Three of the most sacred are the Gaṅgā, the Yamunā, and the Sarasvatī. The Sarasvatī is considered mythical - hidden or an underground river - having stopped flowing around 3000 BCE due to geological shifts. Might there also be a hidden river, available to all of us, no matter our location or time we live in? Long before the digital age, when there communication was slow and limited, similar discoveries were happening in different parts of the world around the same time.

I have spent much of my life exploring consciousness through āyurvedic and yogic studies, as well as my own practice of these ancient road maps. Recently, I was introduced to a podcast called The Telepathy Tapes, which explores consciousness through the lived experience of non speakers, alongside emerging scientific perspectives. They ask questions such as:  Is consciousness housed solely in the brain, or does it exist as a field we can access? What if the brain is not a producer of consciousness but a filter or receiver for a field that exists outside of us? Could creativity and inspiration be conscious entities that "choose" human partners to bring them into reality?

This reminds me of a teaching from Ram Dass about romantic love. He said that we often walk around with our hearts closed as a survival mechanism for the ego. When we “fall in love,” the other person serves as a key. They unlock the door to an internal reservoir of love. Because the experience is so intense and the door seemed locked until they arrived, our ego makes a logical error: it assumes the other person is the source of the love, rather than the person who simply turned on the faucet.

I feel this when I gaze at my dog or at my husband (provided he has not triggered some old wound recently). There is a flow of subtle, pleasant sensation, and I love to soften into it.  When I do, I remind myself that it is not them giving it to me - though from the logical mind it certainly appears that way - it is love that is always there. They are simply reminding me of this hidden river. I know this because I have felt this flow of love, for no apparent reason - before they where in my life, when I was alone in the deep stillness and inner quiet.

This is what brings me to my cushion each morning. What excites me about each day - the possibilities abound. I do get stuck in patterned ways of thinking and seeing the world that keep me distant from this quiet mind. But after many years of returning, daily, those episodes of separateness no longer last as long as they once did. 

At the moment, I am treating myself to an āyurvedic spring cleanse: eating simply, taking supportive herbs, practicing self abhyanga (maybe the greatest self care ritual), filling my days a little less, sitting quietly a little longer, exploring creatively (like writing this blog), and walking in nature with my pup more often. There is a sense of ease and spaciousness that may have always been there, but only now is becoming more apparent. 

For months I’ve felt that something was shifting, though it had yet to reveal itself. Maybe this is the moment - when I make a little space, move a little slower, and allow myself to drift into the flow of infinite wisdom, boundless inspiration and creativity, and limitless love. 

You may not see it right, now but it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. I invite you to choose, each day, to live in the potential of awe.

Join me ONLINE or in person in Maui for a 21-day Āyurvedic Cleanse . Starts March 8th. Sign up here!

Journal Prompts

When do I feel in the flow? In awe? Open to receive?

What keeps me from stepping into the flow of infinite wisdom, boundless inspiration and creativity, and limitless love?

What is one thing I can do today that might allow for magic - a shift in perspective?