I want to touch on a topic that is so vast and significant that within the framework of one article, I can only provide an introduction. In the future, I hope to delve deeper into this subject and describe it in more detail. I plan to start sharing what I’ve discovered over the years while participating in shamanic ceremonies and working (interacting) with people in very unusual conditions.
The more I observe different people, the course of their lives, and the development of their destinies, the more convinced I become of one thought. Luck, success, health to a large extent, and especially happiness, depend very little on objective external circumstances and much more on individual psychic processes that we ourselves are often quite unaware of and poorly understand.
We can see countless examples all around us of how people in initially equal conditions achieve completely different results. This can be observed in any field: sports, art, science, business. We can even talk about success and happiness in personal life, although the criteria are less objective there.
For simplicity and clarity, let’s take the business sphere. In this area, we know countless examples of people starting from much worse conditions than their competitors and achieving far greater success. One could say that they are smarter. But that would be too vague. Of course, we are talking about a specific type of intelligence. Because if we speak of it in general terms, we’ll get confused. After all, there are scholars, professors, and academics who are usually not billionaires. But we wouldn’t say that the world’s leading scientists are less intelligent than major business figures. Obviously, we must acknowledge the existence of various types of intelligence that help achieve success in different areas of life. We can talk about types of intelligence such as intellectual, emotional, and even physical. I would expand the list and say that even within physical types of intelligence, there are many kinds, not to mention emotional and intellectual types.
Naturally, many attempts have already been made to analyze and determine the set of qualities that enable a person to succeed in business. My life observations suggest that while there is undoubtedly something in common, there are far more obvious external differences among successful businesspeople. And there are less obvious things that become apparent when you delve deeper into observing the processes of the psyche.
To make this clearer, let’s look at these processes on a different scale. Let’s take not individuals but entire countries. There are countries with excellent starting conditions: abundant natural resources, fertile land, a significant population, yet they are not very prosperous by such objective criteria as the average standard of living and life expectancy. On the other hand, there are countries with poor starting conditions: limited territory, few natural resources, yet they somehow become economically successful. I tend to explain this obvious difference by the difference in collective psychic processes among different nations.
We often hear discussions about how someone is «lucky» or «unlucky,» how circumstances unfolded for or against them, and so on. I am convinced that such things as luck, misfortune, and the gifts or blows of fate are also determined by those same psychic processes. The world is much more interconnected with us than it appears. This is not always easy to prove, so you can treat this idea as a hypothesis for now. But one thing is fairly clear. There are people who, even in the face of severe blows of fate, eventually overcome difficulties and achieve success. And there are people who, when given an opportunity, ultimately remain at the same level or fall even lower. For example, it is known that most people who win large sums in the lottery quickly spend them without moving into the category of stable wealthy individuals. It is precisely their psychic processes that prevent them from securing a new status.
What do these psychic processes consist of? They are merely our thoughts, feelings, and sensations—things that are always with us. Yet we know extremely little about them and are rarely able to radically change the inertia of these processes within ourselves. Why does this happen? What we see within ourselves is only the tip of a vast iceberg. The infinitely larger part lies within the realm of the unconscious. But even if we could change the visible part that we notice, such as chaotic thinking, persistent negative emotions, or harmful physical habits that hinder us in life, we would already have achieved much. But it rarely happens because the visible part we notice is governed by the unseen part of the iceberg. There lie the roots of the problems I mentioned: chaotic thinking, getting stuck in negative emotions, and various dependencies. You’ve likely seen many times, either in yourself or in others, how hard it is to overcome habits like smoking, eating unhealthy foods, or living a sedentary lifestyle. A person might overcome them temporarily, but then the habit often takes back control. Where does this resistance to our resolutions to make positive changes in life come from? From the hidden part of our psyche. The same applies to resolutions not to get irritated or offended by something, not to fall into despair, to think positively. All these resolutions are forgotten when it comes to real situations. And even if they are not forgotten, some unknown force still draws us into negative experiences. This force comes from the unconscious.
What constitutes this vast hidden part of our psyche? It holds our past, our individual history, which seamlessly transitions into our collective history. How can we know our personal history? Obviously, through memory. But how much do we remember from our lives? On the surface, it seems we remember almost everything except for early childhood. But when we start exploring this question in a trance, it turns out we don’t remember nearly as much as we thought. For example, we may remember a significant event but not the feelings it left us with or the internal decisions we made as a result. Early childhood is even more complicated. We remember very little of it. Yet in those early years, most of our understanding of the world and ourselves is formed. Most of our emotional reactions in various life situations are dictated by our childhood experiences. As our personalities develop, these reactions take on different forms depending on our educational and cultural levels. But the inner essence of these reactions remains the same.
This concerns individual history and its influence on us. Even more difficult is changing the inertia of the influence of our collective history. What is this collective history? Why does it affect us? In answering the first question, I would introduce some classification of types of collective histories: the history of the family or clan, the history of the country or people with whom a person is connected, and the history of humanity as a whole. These are different levels of the unconscious. I listed them in order of depth, moving further away from our individual consciousness. It’s clear that the history of our family is closer to us than the history of our people as a whole and even more so than the history of humanity. Why does it affect us? Because there are deep connections.
Let me immediately say that psychic processes can be changed through the development of individual consciousness, through conscious and consistent inner work, through diving down to the level where the roots of the problems lie. And of course, throughout history, there have always been people who, in one way or another, using various methods, tried to do just that.
The first thing that might come to mind when it comes to psychic processes is the need to study psychology. Psychology is a relatively young science. But despite this, it has many directions and schools. There are many people who have received specialized education in one or several of its branches. There are many practicing psychologists. When we talk about the effectiveness of certain methods, we should first look at how successfully a representative of a school or approach has implemented and practiced those methods in their own life. That’s how I approach it. I observe how much a person has learned to consciously influence their own psychic processes. Because if they haven’t been able to successfully apply this method in their life, their ability to help others in managing their psychic processes is highly questionable.
As it happens, I have met and known many psychologists and psychotherapists, both in the past when I was studying psychology and now, as I continue to meet new psychologists who often become participants in my expeditions. Among them are many interesting people, some of whom sincerely strive to understand themselves and improve using various psychological methods. However, I must note that in the overwhelming majority of cases, the methodologies of modern psychology schools do not touch the deeper layers of the psyche and have a very weak connection between theory and practice. In theory, they discuss the unconscious, the impact of traumatic experiences, and the significance of parental influence during childhood. But practically applying this knowledge to help specific people often fails. Moreover, most psychologists I know have serious unresolved psychological issues. The most honest among them openly acknowledge this. Another problem is that practicing therapists often engage in guessing the patient’s problem, relying more on book knowledge than on direct insight and understanding of the person. Even if someone has mastered a wide range of knowledge from various branches of psychology, they often cannot apply it in specific life situations. Why? Because in real situations, theoretical knowledge is not enough; what’s needed is awareness. You need to notice and be aware of the manifestation of a specific psychic process before it completely takes over. Understanding and describing it afterward is certainly good, but it doesn’t solve the problem. And as we know, life situations come one after another.
So, without developing individual consciousness, we have no chance of becoming true masters of our psyche and, consequently, our destiny. But if psychology schools are not so effective in solving this problem, perhaps it’s worth turning to various traditional schools and practices that have long dealt with the topic of consciousness development. Naturally, this primarily refers to Eastern schools.
I won’t go into how difficult it can be to find representatives of authentic schools. Not all who claim a long tradition are actually authentic. Among the genuinely authentic traditions, not all are successful practitioners. This is a large and complex topic. I’ve had years of searching and interesting encounters in circles practicing Eastern techniques. But there have also been many disappointments. Again, following the same principle, I suggest carefully observing the practitioners themselves and their behavior in everyday life.
Often, people, especially students, are hindered by a certain exaltation with which they view some gurus, lamas, teachers, and «enlightened» masters. Without this exaltation and with the opportunity to observe their idols in more ordinary situations, they could see and understand much more. Moreover, it’s important never to turn off healthy critical thinking.
If we don’t delve into the nuances and details of various Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese schools, the main method of developing awareness in them is what can be called meditation. Some people talk about different types of meditation. Some believe that meditation is a state achieved through various techniques, while the techniques themselves are not meditation. I agree that techniques are not meditation, but I consider meditation not a state but a process that reveals a whole range of possible states and insights. All these states, despite their variety, are characterized by greater awareness, greater clarity of consciousness, or even an expansion of consciousness compared to everyday states.
There are many classifications of these states from different schools: dharana, dhyana, samadhi, satori, and others. People experiencing various meditative states speak of temporarily stopping the mind or halting the internal dialogue, of a white light descending upon them, of meeting their higher «Self,» their true nature, or cosmic consciousness. While allowing that a significant number of people may be deceived by their vivid imagination, I still know that such states are possible, and those who reach them experience some transformation of psychic processes that change the course of their fate.
I myself once experienced this, and I have no reason not to trust my own experience. I must say that very few, in fact, an overwhelming minority, reach the above-described states in their meditation practices. Rarely do meditations transition from a half-hour (two-hour) daily technique practice into a continuous daily process. And most often, in my observations, this happens not because of, but despite a person’s involvement in a school. Again, for the same reason that most of today’s popular Buddhist and Hindu schools, in the best-case scenario, are sleepy kingdoms. And many Indian schools are sectarian in structure. Where a person is rigidly manipulated, developing awareness can only occur through resisting it.
Once again, starting with equal conditions (just like in business), some people can easily enter a daily meditation process, while others struggle greatly or cannot at all. This requires talent, predisposition, or, in other words, a particular innate psychic characteristic.
Why is talent given to some and not to others? Answering this question is difficult. But in any case, the answer lies in a person’s past. In the past of the soul if one believes in life before birth. In genetics, that is, in the past experiences of our ancestors if one prefers a scientific view. Importantly, biologists have already recognized the influence of a person’s life experience on their genetic programs. This means that all the feelings we experience in life will affect not only us but also our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. This is literally a discovery of recent years. In my book, recounting my experience of the first shamanic ceremonies in Peru, I described this mechanism before it was officially recognized by science. However, many people in the past spoke about it in different words. Understanding this enhances our sense of responsibility and the necessity of working on developing our consciousness. And understanding that this to some extent affects the fates of nations and even humanity as a whole raises the stakes even higher.
Thus, in summing up, we can say that people have different innate or acquired characteristics of the psyche that allow them to be successful (or unsuccessful) in various areas. I also claim that some people have the gift of consciously developing these parts of the psyche more effectively throughout their lives.
But there is another gift that is important to mention. Some people have the ability to see the potential for success in others. There are those whose gaze can detect various talents that others can’t hide. They have the ability to discern to some extent the characteristics of other people’s psyches. There aren’t many of these people. But they can significantly help many. Not all of them are oriented toward helping others develop. They fall into different categories: those who see and simply draw conclusions for themselves, those who see and use it for personal gain, for example, in business or personal relationships, and those who use it for their benefit while harming others by manipulating them. The highest level is using this knowledge for the common good. And an even higher path is helping to reveal these abilities in those who have the potential to use them for the greater good.
