Imaging the Future Today
MOST OF US SENSE A VOID, A LONGING WITHIN US that yearns to be filled with some vague thing just outside our grasp. We think when we get that job, promotion, meet that special person, own the new Mercedes, win the lottery, buy that dream house, have a million dollars in the bank, then everything will be okay.
What I have just described is an expectation; the expectation that something in the future will fill our void and then everything will be better. The truth is that even when we obtain that special something, we suddenly look around and sense a new emptiness, and start thinking everything will be better when we find true love, when our health improves, when our book gets published, when…
Somebody once likened this situation to taking a train ride across the country without enjoying the scenery and instead, spending the entire trip anticipating the destination. The reality is, that life is a journey, not a destination. And throughout our lives we all experience problems, concerns, and hurts. We have all been impacted by the injurious events in our histories, which continue to affect our present day lives, leaving us lacking in some manner. Of course, there are also joyful moments when we feel elated and fulfilled, however, the feeling of wanting something more inevitably always returns.
The void we experience and mistakenly try to fill with various expectations, material possessions, or events is a very important part of our psyches. It is meant to be filled by accessing something specific, which resides within all of us: the fullness and purity of our natural Self untainted by the negative events of our histories. This is the only thing that can truly satisfy us. Within us still lies our wholeness replete with potent knowledge, divine energies and aspects of ourselves that are deeply empowering. By touching our depths, we can enjoy the journey of life rather than just awaiting the destination.
The ancient Greeks talked about Hyponoia, or the underneath sense of being. They found that in our consciousness there is a bipolarity or two levels of awareness. The upper level includes all the thoughts and ideas of the social milieu, the things that society taught us. It is where the rational mind exists. This part of the mind says, “I need more and more to be happy.” The lower layer or “underneath sense” is where our wholeness, inspiration, spiritual wisdom and our profound innate knowledge is found. It lies just below reason and our rational conscious thinking. The Greeks felt all knowledge appears there and we gain access to that part of our mind by lowering our consciousness and going deeper into ourselves. The emptiness or inner void we sense is the space between society’s superficial values and our deeper Self. It is the gap that allows the fullness of our underneath sense to emerge.
Our psyches have not changed since the ancient Greeks. We are psychologically structured to experience the void and, although painful at times, it is meant to be filled by our inner spirit, not by things. Therefore, no matter how often our acculturated expectations are met, we will still suffer from a new feeling of void until we reach the wisdom within us.
True fulfillment comes from within and that the sense of emptiness and longing we often experience is a product of interacting with the superficiality of the world in which we live. We continuously fall victim to the overt and subliminal messages of our culture that give us false values and distorted impressions of reality. We hear that when we make over a certain amount of money we will be valued by others, or when we have the perfect relationship we'll be okay, or if our kids don’t get A’s they are not worth anything, and, for that matter, neither are we. Rarely are we told to march to our own drummer or to push against the crowd, to hear and follow the messages from our inner self. This false sense of self ruins us because it pollutes our minds with false images of worth, and taints the connection to our own inner being, where the wonderful gifts of spirit reside within us.
One client I worked with described the void feeling this way, “When I started college I thought, gosh, if I can just get a college degree, everything will be fine. I’ll be special. After I earned a degree, I looked around and everybody else had one, so I thought if I got a graduate degree I won’t feel so empty. Three years later I had a doctorate and discovered that almost everyone I associated with had a doctorate, and it was no big deal! Next I thought if I can just practice as a professional and make a lot of money, have a fancy car and a big house, and then a few years later I parked my fancy car in front of my big house and thought, wow, if I could just...”
Ultimately, none of the outer material things or worldly achievements will ultimately fill our emptiness. What will fill the void is an inner sense that arises from within and shifts our consciousness from emptiness to fullness in the present.
That tainted upper layer of our minds is always with us, but we can go underneath to our inner sense, find our real selves and fill our voids.
Dr. Akhter Ahsen developed Eidetic Imaging, a form of psychotherapy in the field of consciousness psychology. His mental imagery methods facilitate entry into our psyches to bring forth images full of information from our deep underneath sense to our conscious awareness. The ancient Greeks knew the inner sense was very powerful, even sacred, and that when we are separated from it, it is waiting there for us to enter, like doors of a temple waiting to be discovered inside of us. Acknowledging the concepts developed by the ancient Greeks, the image instruction found below, which Dr. Ahsen developed called the “Eidola,” facilitates access to the fullness and wisdom or our deepest being.
The Eidola brings a special futuristic message from our underneath sense, which addresses our past, present and future and fills the voids we feel in the present. Since our minds are goal-oriented and futuristic (always thinking of what will happen, what we are going to do, worry about how things will work out), the present is typically experienced as unfulfilled. By going down into ourselves we bring forward an image that fills the void. What emerges fulfills and beckons us to move forward futuristically into our greater self. In seeing the image, one can discover their unique wisdom, power, radiance and purpose with which to move forward.
It is said the wisdom of archangels and prophets living within the person speak and come forward through this image.
Here are the responses of a 16-year-old girl who was in the process of applying to colleges. She was obsessed with texting, video chatting and her social life rather than her grades. Now that college loomed on the horizon, she worried about her future abilities, getting into schools and her self worth. When she did the Eidola image she discovered amazing things about herself, which left her feeling empowered wiser and confident.
Describing her void she said, “It is painful not knowing what is going to happen in the next step of my life. I think I could be this really amazing person, but school could be really awful too.”
When she saw the Eidola image, she described, “It is kind of an older woman who is beautiful and old with wrinkles. She has this wise knowing. She is connected to everything around her. She has a smiling face, seems gentle and present and really aware. As I sense her awesomeness, energy comes over me and I feel empowered and it lifts me up. I feel like a bigger person and get in a good state of mind and with a clarity to do, know and see things in a more open way.”
The message she received form her Eidola was, “Even if you do not feel that you can do much because you are a young adult, do what you know you are good and strong at and then you can accomplish much. Knowing what you can do, you will create it into something bigger, succeed and it will take you somewhere.”
As she proceeded following the instructions, she said: “She made me feel more powerful and strong. I feel like I am my own person and that I am who I am for a reason. There is no one else like me. I hear, ‘Be yourself, be unique, empower yourself. Don’t live for other people.’ That is how I can enjoy life. I feel important and amazing. As I experience her energy, I feel good about myself despite the stress of everyday life and of people putting me down. It brings out all my best qualities and lets everything surface and come to life like my love of painting, children and old people. I see that I can bring out all the goodness and happiness and the best that is in me. Wow, who could have thought that I could be like this? I can be inspiring and a better person every day. It is like shedding an oppressive kind of dirty skin and discovering what it is to be the real me. I am living in the moment, going with the flow and not freaking out. I feel more alive. I see that if I deal with myself right now and work on making myself a better person even for five minutes, I am changing what I think about myself and how I think about other people. I do it for myself and for the world.”
EIDOLA IMAGE:
1. There is a past, present and the future.
2. The past is way back, and appears remote and covered over.
3. The present has a lack, a void. It is a void, an emptiness.
4. This lack is a painful lack.
5. Something from the future is needed to fill this void.
6. See an image of lights or a Being who is a visitor in this void.
7. It is beautiful, awesome, with an omen; any one of these or all of these and it has a special power.
8. This is a visitation, which is futuristic.
9. This is Eidola. This is a futuristic visitor.
10. See this image, this Eidola that you see.
11. Now feel its awesomeness.
12. There is a feeling of a message there, in the image. What is the message? Experience vibrations from the Eidola.
13. How does it change you when you look at the Eidola?
14. Let the futuristic message from the Eidola pass through your mind and transform you.
15. Do not resist; become like the Eidola. Experience the vibrations.
16. Become yourself vibrant like the Eidola.
17. Now experience these in your whole being.
18. There are intimations of the future in your body.
19. Experience the vibrations of actions in your being.
20. Let the actions flow. Let yourself become futuristic.
Akhter Ahsen. 1992. New Surrealism: The liberation of images in consciousness. New York: Brandon House, Inc.