During the years that I was getting my master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology at the University of Santa Monica, my life was constantly changing—at an even higher speed than normal. I’m sharing this story here as I think it may help you to see a different perspective of some of the things that you might be experiencing as well.
So many things were changing! Old relationships were falling apart, and new ones were blossoming. I was also alone a lot. My decade-long business of being the owner and publisher of an art magazine was no longer exciting to me and I was in the process of selling that business, along with pretty much all of my possessions, because nothing really felt right anymore. I read tons of books with concepts that were brand new to me at the time. I even changed my hair color from brown to a dark teal. The person I had been for so many years was literally drifting away. As I said already, everything was changing.
And then I learned one of the most important and fundamental principles of Spiritual Psychology (there are many life-changing principles of SP. This is just one for today). It is this: “Outer experience is a reflection of inner reality.” Upon first reading this, it had the flavor of a clever meme quote, but living it is a whole different experience. And notice that the outer is an experience and the inner is a reality. This is an important distinction alluding to the inner world being the one that is real and the outer simply a reflection. So, our truth is what is inside us, and we create our external world from this place.
My outer experience of life felt like everything in my world was crumbling and changing—because it was. There was an entire year during this that every time I picked a tarot card, it was The Tower card, which is a card where there is a massive storm happening and a tower is crumbling to the ground. Sounds kinda intense. It was. That card also symbolizes sudden change, destruction, higher learning, and liberation, among other things. So, yeah, it was one of those years.
My inner reality was just like my outer experience. Many sudden changes and shifts were happening inside of me, and all that was not in alignment with my inner world was being challenged or terminated. I was ending relationships and behaviors overnight. Things that no longer worked for me were being destroyed by me (I didn’t destroy the business, but I sold it. If I would have held onto it for longer, I probably would have destroyed it.) I was deeply fascinated by everything I was learning and higher learning became everything to me. All I wanted was more knowledge and wisdom and the new info and friends from grad school were providing that for me. I finally chose to liberate myself completely from the person I had been to a brand new me (who now apparently wanted a full head of blue hair). Growth, freedom, and learning were the most important things in my inner reality.
I’m sharing this because we often find ourselves in moments of big life transitions and we sometimes feel resistant to change or overwhelmed by it. This perspective of “outer experience is a reflection of inner reality” helped me to see that everything going on in my outer world was simply because I was changing internally on a deep level. Old thoughts and ways of thinking inside of myself had to change or die. It’s the only way to really clear enough space to build anew. It felt intense because it was, and I can sometimes be intense, so that’s how I did it back then, and I was a newbie at learning this principle.
I now know that if I ever want to slow down the external things, I can get myself and my inner reality more calm, and when I create that inner peace, the external experiences will reflect that. Another example would be if I want more love in my external world, all I need to do is be more loving in how I speak to myself. And if I want to feel more prosperous, yup, you guessed it, I can get there by changing my mindset to an internal space of gratitude and prosperity first.
So, do a little inventory for yourself with these simple questions:
- What’s going on in your outer experience right now?
- What does this tell you about the state of your inner reality?
- List anything that comes to mind.
- Do you like what’s going on externally? Internally?
- If you don’t like it, what internal things might you want to investigate or change in order for your external experience to be more pleasant?
It’s always, always, always an inner game first.
What are your thoughts on this Spiritual Psychology principle? Can you see clearly how this shows up in your life? As always, you are invited to share your thoughts, feelings, and insights with us! Comment online or send an email ([email protected]).
