Background and Foundational Experiences

It is difficult to say where our journey begins and ends. I believe there is a fundamental curiosity in everyone, but like most human qualities, the need to understand the mysterious is stronger in some of us than in others. Many children at play, for example, are enthralled by play itself, the pure experience of joyfully interacting with the world. They are happy to accept nature as it appears to the senses and are unbothered by questions about the source and inner nature of things.

Other children inquire constantly, and to each answer they receive they always find another "Why?" And then another, and another.

I was a child who often wondered how the world had become the way it was, and for what reasons.

My father died when I was eight months old, so at a very early age I was led to thoughts of life and death and the connection between the two states of being. Where had my father's essence gone? Where were his experiences and knowledge? Was it possible that he could somehow sneak back into our world? Was there a door somewhere? I wanted to know what that gateway looked like. I imagined ways the on-off switch for life might work.

My need to ask and try to discover answers about human existence took a first important turn during a seemingly mundane event in junior high school.

Who's in There?

One day as a young teenager I was staring at myself in the mirror, noticing signs of unfolding puberty. I looked so different from the way I had before. It was as if I were changing into someone else. There was fuzz on my face. I was getting pimples. My muscles were growing. I realized I was becoming a new person physically.

For a long time, I looked deep into the pupils of my eyes, until their darkness seemed to turn into twin portals. I remember asking myself, Who's in there? Who am I?

I kept staring, waiting for the answer. The longer and harder I looked, the better I understood that "I" was not in my body. Instead, my body was a shell that housed my consciousness. This thought produced an eerie feeling and I hurried away from the mirror and out of the room.

My experience with the mirror created a dramatic shift in my sense of reality — the idea that I wasn't my body but instead a consciousness inhabiting a body was overwhelming to me. The insight wasn't a passing fantasy but became a deep-seated certainty that would not reverse itself, though I tiptoed around its ramifications for a long time.

Not the First

I was not the first person to ask who I really was and awaken to a new reality as a result. I believe it's an experience as old as humanity.

I've always been fascinated by biblical texts and their descriptions of human experience. They reveal that we are still asking the same questions people posed three thousand years ago. This questioning surely took place well before the invention of written language, perhaps fifty thousand years ago, and likely even before that.

Who are we? is a question whose possible answers have always opened doors to exploring deeper realities.

Many contemporary books and movies dare to ask and try to solve this riddle of identity that is apparently as ancient as mankind. Tom Shadyac, a well-known movie director, made a film called I Am after a near fatal bicycle accident set him on a journey toward a deeper understanding of humanity. He sought the answer to the simple and profound question "Who am I?"

Shadyac's accident is just one example of the kinds of openings that bring a person to search for hidden truths to the deep mysteries of life. Everyone's journey is both similar and unique. In many ways he did not find an exact answer but found one that can give us great comfort. He discovered a connection that unites all of humanity and that goes beyond the understanding we can gain from our five senses. Likewise, my experience of gazing into the endless dark within my own eyes was the beginning of my search.

My next life-changing discoveries occurred during my chiropractic education. I encountered new experiences that were truly eye opening and would develop my awareness of what might lie beyond the limitations of my five senses.

Muscle Testing

My first surprise in chiropractic school was an introduction to muscle testing, also known as applied kinesiology, a technique used to access the innate wisdom of the body. Here's how it works: you select a "test muscle" to work with and then ask the body's consciousness a question. The muscle will either stay strong or go weak, and in that way, answer yes or no.

You can use this technique to assess food allergies and sensitivities, something chiropractors have always diagnosed and treated. In this form of muscle testing, a patient places a bit of the suspect food in the mouth and if the observed muscle becomes weak on testing, it's a signal that the food does indeed produce negative effects. The same method is used to evaluate spinal dysfunction. The chiropractor palpates an area of the spine, and if the test muscle then becomes weak, he or she knows that portion of the spine is a problematic area.

Muscle testing has expanded beyond diagnosing physical ailments. Many chiropractors believe that asking questions of the patient's subconscious mind can tap into issues that are impairing the healing process.

As my experience with muscle testing grew, I became more and more astounded by the accuracy with which it answered diagnostic questions. The more I practiced the technique, the more convinced I became of its amazing benefits and the passages it opened to layers of the body and mind that usually remain hidden.

I thought long and hard about this strange, life-enhancing approach developed by Dr. George Goodhart, who discovered it in the course of his chiropractic practice. I became intrigued about what this technique might indicate about the human mind and body and their connection to one another — and perhaps to sources of conscious energy beyond the individual.

Where Does It Live?

I considered several possibilities that might explain the underlying mechanisms of muscle testing and unconscious knowledge. Was there a form of consciousness connected with the patient's body that superseded the knowledge of the conscious mind? In chiropractic philosophy this source of knowledge, consciousness, and well-being is known as "innate." This innate consciousness always has...