Journey to The Unseen: The Desert Within and Beyond

“We walk through the desert, not realizing we are the desert itself. We search for understanding, only to realize that understanding is not found in the vastness outside, but in the vastness within.”

The Unseen Desert

When Carl Jung stepped into the pages of The Red Book, he echoed the sentiment many seekers feel.

We’re all walking through our personal deserts. My own journey has taken me through the stark vastness of this spiritual landscape, where I once believed myself alone. But, as Jung so aptly points out, there are things in the desert, invisible and potent.

Egersund, 2019. The desert sun blazes down, unforgiving and relentless.

Every step feels like a challenge, and the sand below seems to be a shifting maze.

The arid expanse symbolizes the barrenness I once felt inside — a reflection of my old atheist beliefs, where life seemed void of greater meaning. But what are these shapes? Shadows? Moving just at the edge of vision, they’re like wraiths, dancing in the heatwaves.

These beings, invisible to most, hold the keys to understanding this inner desert.

Becoming the Desert

One might say, as Jung wrote in The Red Book, “To journey to Hell means to become Hell oneself.”

But I posit that to journey through your desert means to become the desert yourself. Every grain of sand is a challenge faced, a belief questioned, a misconception debunked. Every step is a realization, a layer of the old self shed. I recall an old army training routine. It’s 1998, and there I am, a Sergeant, pushing through the recon exercises. The terrain, harsh and challenging. The air, thick with determination.

Eighty push-ups in, holding my breath, my physical self screams for release. But it’s in this very challenge, this suffocation, this pushing past the self-imposed boundaries that I truly see the desert for what it is.

The desert isn’t just the challenges; it’s the growth that comes from overcoming them.

The Oasis of Realization

October 16th, 2019. A moment that now seems like a mirage but was as real as the sand beneath my feet.

The sudden enlightenment, the kundalini experiences — these weren’t just stops along the way. They were the oases. The cool, refreshing water in the middle of my desert, reminding me of the timeless identity that exists within. The desert’s invisible beings? They are the lessons learned from each meditation, the insights gained from self-inquiry, and the healing experienced through shadow work.

They are the non-dualism teachings, the moments of transcendence and self-realization. The desert, in all its vastness, represents the spiritual growth journey we all undertake.

But we aren’t merely travelers; we are the path, the journey, and the destination.

Find Your Desert, Become Your Oasis

Remember, as you traverse your personal desert, every grain of sand, every challenge, is an opportunity.

Dive deep within, question your beliefs, face your shadows, and you will find that the desert, once a place of desolation, transforms into a space of profound growth and enlightenment.

It’s not about reaching the end, but about embracing every step along the way.