Inner Experience vs Intellect

I was accepted into the Philosophy of Education doctoral program at Indiana University and offered a  graduate assistanceship in 1982. I had only taken one philosophy course in my academic career the prior semester - The Philosophy of Aesthetics followed by a couple others that I don't recall right now. Nor had I ever read a book on philosophy other than one titled This Is Reality, recommended by a yoga teacher a few years prior and one that I often carried tucked under my arm Philosophy of Freedom by Rudolf Steiner while living in a yoga ashram in Bloomington at that time.

During that class I had written about Consciousness, never having read about it, but having gone through a Kundalini crisis that had catapulted me into an expanded, altered state of consciousness that I was quite unprepared for. The professor was both impressed by my writings and fascinated by my life style so went all out to get me approved in her program. I remember the night I had driven back to Bloomington from New York to give her my decision. Encircled by the signs of the zodiac embedded in the floor of the Department of Education building waiting for Dr Steiner (no relative of Rudolf, but in researching for books written by her, had discovered his) while the skies heralded my crossroads with a thunderous orchestration of light and sound and the first rains in weeks, I came to a decision.

I had the option of joining academic life or involving myself in several spiritual traditions while helping to develop a spiritual retreat center.  Did I want to develop my intellectual mind -- or my inner experience? Even though I had tested with a high IQ, my experience of God and Universal Consciousness far outweighed any other aspect of life. I chose to dedicate my life to Inner Experience, Energy and Consciouness.