When the spiritual path is unveiled before a person, they may find that they can step onto it willingly, choosing to begin the journey inward. They may be able to test the waters, or conversely they may be hurled head first into the unknown. The introduction may come out of a positive, negative, or disappointing experience. It may arise out of desperation or disillusionment as well. For some, there may be no religious or mystical context. They may simply out of a positive disposition, have as Abraham Maslow defined, a peak experience. This is an experience of centration and unity in which all negative thoughts fall away and one is completely enveloped in a sense of contentment and jubilee. A person could easily be turned on by the satisfaction of an accomplishment, a synchronicity, or a psychedelic experience. Inversely, a disappointment of failure, a bad psychedelic experience, or an existential crisis could also propel one onto the path. The First Noble Truth was inspired by the Buddha’s negative experiences with sickness, aging, and death. Disappointment and disillusionment can often be the seminal spark of the journey inward. A melancholy inspired by a disillusionment with society or the world can detach an individual from the routine mind enough to inquire and seek a larger meaning to reality. St. John of the Cross expounded such an experience in his Dark Night of the Soul. Chogyam Trungpa stated in Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism that “Disappointment is the best chariot to use on the path of the Dharma.” A desparation, or even boredom, to find something new with novel answers or information can be the impetus. Whatever the method, rest assured, once the veil is lifted and one steps foot on the path, there is no turning back. The journey inward has begun. There is no blue pill.
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For more information on the inward journey, such as the four interior factors of consciousness development, please visit Jared B. Hobbs at his blog Meditations and become a Scholar of Consciousness!
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