Inner-Work

The other day a teacher of mine wanted to make a point about how so few people in the world today want to do the Inner-Work. “They are afraid,” he said, “because to do Inner-Work is to become present with our faults, our wounds, and mistakes. Our society teaches people they are supposed to be perfect, our schools teach kids they are only loved when they are right. The result is a population of people who are terrified to look truthfully into their own nature.” I certainly could see his point. Generally, most people put substantial effort into appearing “correct,” whatever that might mean for them: whether it is their physical appearance, their words, ideas, mannerisms or religious and spiritual disposistions. When such is the case, to examine our true, embodied feelings can seem deeply threatening.

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I am also aware of many people who have tried to dive into Inner-Work, and have not achieved whatever it was that they were hoping to achieve: the result being that they have become cynical and pessimistic about the possibility of true lasting change, healing, and the attainment of whatever it is we seek through spiritual or religious practice. This is interesting because there are countless self-help books on the market and workshops, retreats, and similar such offerings out there. The internet makes every spiritual teaching, practice or process that has ever been written down findable. With so much information available, why are people not finding the success with their Inner-Work that they seek? I see a few reasons for this. 1. Inner-Work is not being conjoined with the kind of meditative discipline that makes it possible to access the Inner-Worlds in earnest. 2. There is a lack of perceptive mentorship which can help a mentee to discern between the embodied reality of their life, and the things they think about themselves in their head. This is a real issue, and a big reason why many people who have read every self-help book there is, and have attended countless workshops, have only come to feel cynical about the possibility of real, lasting change. You cannot think your way into being a better version of yourself, for even it is often the case that this fairly common desire is inauthentic, and only disguises a deeper, more latent and unconscious rejection of the self. For Inner-Work, an unconditional, uncompromising acceptance of the self, the personality, and the ego is necessary for the allowance of change, transformation, and healing to occur. As children, we are generally taught to only accept those aspects of ourselves which are pleasing to the people around us, our parents, teachers, and friends. Thus, it takes a substantial act of inwardly applied will to make up for this normal facet of our social conditioning. We can hold deeply embedded beliefs which make us doubt even the general beneficence of holding a space for ourselves of unconditional love, acceptance and openness. The consequence of this is that too often when people attempt Inner-Work and they encounter an aspect of their self that they have been conditioned to reject, the attempts to heal, or integrate the aspect in question only disguise the habitual, well-trained and conditioned action of inward rejection which relegates real and substantial aspects of the self into the recesses of the unconscious mind. 

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The solution for this that I am aware of is rather multi-faceted, and involves the capacity of a mentor, guide, or teacher to hold that space of unconditional acceptance with enough grounding, energetic competence, and perceptiveness for the mentee’s own subconscious mind to begin to absorb and integrate the new possibility which is being held and projected by the mentor. There is also the need for a sensitive and flexible ability on the part of the mentor to both identify, and transmit the appropriate meditative processes at the appropriate time which will support the mentee in the development of their own energetic integrity and capacity. With a firm, solid grounding in the appropriate meditative practices for your current state of energetic development and disposition, it becomes possible to make the subtle shifts deep within your consciousness that allow for the healing you desire to occur. Granted, this is not a pill, a quick fix, or any kind of band-aid. This is a process, and it is the process itself which can truly grow and mature your personality and allow for an increasingly profound union with your own Spirit, along with the attainment of the awareness, consciousness, and perception which can fullfill the thirst of some of life’s deepest questions.

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Astro-Harmonics offers an opportunity to explore Inner-Work within this context of mentoring, practice and process. As a mentor, I aim to meet you where you are at, and offer to you what will be most conducive to your soul’s path at the moment in time in which your session occurs.

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-Sam McRee