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When we make our first forays into IST, we learn how to bring the light of discernment to our inner world. There’s power in replacing layers of opinions, preconceptions, and false beliefs with direct experiences of ourselves.

Clarity and vision are the building blocks of discernment. They act like beacons cutting through inner fog and darkness, showing us what is actually us and what is not.

The more we care for and cultivate the light of discernment, the more we can rely on it as a compass for navigating our experience. We are equipped to move from appearances to underlying reality, which brings a depth of freedom that only comes from doing the work to know ourselves.

Discernment carves out a path to what in us is substantial and lasting. If we were to observe how often our thoughts, moods, and preferences change on a daily basis, we’d probably be amazed by how fleeting it all is.

The level at which we ARE is entirely different. It doesn’t change with external circumstances. Being there means reconnecting with Presence. When we do IST, we are reinforcing the path forged by discernment and preparing to take it into our lives.

The development of discernment is one of the major ways that IST empowers you to navigate the world from Presence instead of mechanical patterns. Far from creating reliance on your practitioner, these techniques are designed to show you all of the resources you already have inside.

What is sourcing?

“A great secret of wisdom is: to know something, find its source. This can be applied to a whole range of spiritual mysteries, including our present topic.” (Regression, Past Life Therapy for Here and Now Freedom 3.2)

There is no more important thread running through the Inner Space Techniques than sourcing. IST was originally called Inner Space Interactive Sourcing. To better understand sourcing, we can think of it as a movement. When we source something, we move from one level of reality to another.

Imagine you’re a doctor. Your patient enters, presenting with a variety of symptoms. You could remain on the level of the symptoms or move behind their appearance to investigate the underlying cause. The symptoms are many and could even appear to offer conflicting information. From that level, it would be difficult to put together a coherent picture of what’s happening inside your patient. However, a deeper investigation reveals a single underlying cause for all those apparently conflicting symptoms. What was happening behind the scenes becomes manifest. You’re now in a position to treat your patient effectively.

There’s much to see about sourcing in this analogy. When we source, we move from appearances to reality, from consequences to causes. There, at the source of whatever we are investigating, we can really know. When we know the source of something, there is often an experience of simplicity, as if the complication of more superficial layers gave way to a piercing clarity. In the analogy, it would be akin to the doctor’s experience of seeing the single cause behind all the different symptoms. The dots are connected and a greater sense of meaning emerges.

Sourcing is not a technique. It is a function of consciousness. In fact, it is one of the highest and most noble functions, a real power. We can see this clearly when we begin to experience the power of sourcing firsthand. The Inner Space Techniques take us beyond the level of our ordinary mind – the endless inner dialogue that goes on in our heads day in and day out – using the power of sourcing.

The ordinary mind or OMC (ordinary mental consciousness)is only one of many levels available to us. As we experience the sourcing power of consciousness, we can access places inside ourselves that we’d never seen before. From there, it is possible to find freedom and resolution around problems, ingrained patterns, or stuck emotional charges. Why? It’s because we are seeing and working with them at their source. In other words, we are addressing the cause of the illness instead of the symptoms. Sourcing opens up possibilities for emotional resolution and self-knowledge that are profound.

“At deep levels, clients may have simple realizations which will completely change their life. In the twinkling of an eye, more is achieved than in years of explorations at the surface level of the mind.”

Let the power of sourcing work for you.

 

You don’t change by solving your problems. You solve your problems by changing.

These two sentences are at the heart of the Inner Space Techniques. They name something that can be difficult to see upon entering the world of spiritual work.

The truth is that we begin this work identified with the impasses or problems inside. In the face of that identification, what do we do? I find it helpful to see that problems aren’t just problems, they’re also standpoints. Each problem is like a perspective we’ve taken on the whole of ourselves. The difficulty is that when we are identified with a problem, we see very little of ourselves and just as little of the problem itself.

So much problem solving happens from exactly this compromised standpoint. It’s as if we expected the solution to come from the very same level as the problem. But, as the quote with which we began suggests, the solution comes through a change. What kind of change are we talking about?

When we undergo a change on a spiritual path, we are opening to a different standpoint. It’s not unlike reaching a vista on a hike. From there, vision is unimpeded. Everything can be seen effortlessly. The Inner Space Techniques facilitate this change of standpoint with respect to ourselves. We find the place inside where we can see more of what we really are; not only see more, but be more. When we come to the source of ourselves, we are capable of the kind of profound change that would have otherwise eluded us.

It’s not the problems themselves that often matter at that point, but the metaphysical opening that moves us beyond the dynamics that were there, unseen behind the problems. From the spaces of metaphysical depth that we can access through the Inner Space Techniques, we see beyond appearances. The dynamics that kept us locked in the patterns of the problem emerge in an environment of clarity and from that clarity there is freedom to do and to be otherwise.

Trying to change by solving problems never really gets us to the heart of the problem. Dropping agendas around problems and seeking the source of ourselves with sincerity can move us further and show us more than we ever thought possible.

Meaningful change is within reach.