The Role of An Intuitive Consultant

Master’s Thesis, Atlantic University

Advisor: Dr. Henry Reed

Summary

This study identifies the value that an intuitive consultant can bring to the decision making process of the business manager/leader. The student, who is an intuitive consultant by vocation, presents the findings of: (1.) original research conducted with four business managers, (2.) interviews with nine intuitive consultants who work in an advisory capacity to business managers/leaders, (3.) a correlation between transpersonal concepts and the role of the intuitive consultant, and (4.) a summarized study that recognizes an emerging social stratus, identified as "cultural creatives", that philosophically embraces the role of the intuitive consultant.

The student/intuitive consultant documented a sixteen-month relationship between the student/intuitive consultant and three types of business enterprises: an entrepreneur, a partnership, and a major corporation. The student/intuitive consultant discovered four common factors that surfaced during the research: (1.) the educational process needed on behalf of both the client as well as the consultant, (2.) the necessity of trust, discretion, and confidentiality, (3.) the need to create resourceful documentation, and (4.) the recognition of a transformation of consciousness on behalf of the manager as well as on behalf of the student/intuitive consultant.

Nine intuitive consultants share their views on their role, their vision, ideal or purpose for working with business, and the potential evolution of this vocation.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this thesis is to educate the reader on the value that an intuitive consultant may bring to the business manager/leader. In order to do that, the student, who is an intuitive consultant by vocation, conducted original research with the cooperation of four business managers who were working in three separate business organizations: a restaurant (entrepreneur), a financial consulting group (partnership), and a major corporation. This investigation chronicled the consulting process, the information provided, and the evaluations offered by the participating business managers. The role of the intuitive consultant is identified by the student/intuitive consultant, by the participating managers, and by a total of thirteen intuitive consultants who were interviewed. The intuitive consultants shared how they view the role of an intuitive consultant, expressed their vision, ideal, or purpose for using their intuitive skills to assist business leaders, and offered evolutionary possibilities of this profession.

As this study falls within the realm of transpersonal studies, transpersonal concepts will be presented with consideration given to the correspondence between transpersonal psychology and the role of an intuitive consultant.

Sociologist, Paul H. Ray, recently identified an emerging cultural stratus, the "Integral Culture". This Integral Culture philosophically embraces the values and principles of the intuitive consultant. This thesis includes summarized material from Ray's extensive research.

Chapter One

Structure of Original Research Project

Intention of Research

In order to investigate the stated subject, the student/intuitive consultant established consulting relationships with four business managers from three separate business enterprises: an entrepreneur, a partnership, and a major corporation. Each person was either a friend, associate, or previous co-worker of the student. With respect to confidentiality issues, the managers will be identified as Manager "A" and "AA" who were two of five partners in a financial consulting group. Manager "B" is an independent restaurant owner/entrepreneur. Manager "C" is a manager with a major corporation.

Basic Procedures Implemented and Letter of Agreement Provisions

The managers signed a "Project Proposal Agreement" which included information on Atlantic University and the philosophy of the transpersonal studies master's degree program. The agreement contained the following provisions:

• The manager agreed to meet for a period of at least one year on at least a

quarterly basis.

•The student/intuitive consultant agreed to provide the manager with an enhanced ability to excel in their businesses for the betterment of the individual, the company, and the community.

•The student/intuitive consultant agreed to tape record the sessions with the manager, and the manager would receive a transcribed report from all sessions.

•The managers agreed to review and verify transcribed information presented in a report format.

•The student/intuitive consultant agreed to keep the managers' names and the company names confidential. The corporate manager wrote an addendum explicitly to protect their identification and association with this project.

During initial sessions, the student/intuitive consultant obtained an overview of the functions of the businesses, their immediate and long-range goals and concerns, and evaluated personal profiles of the managers and of their co-workers. All sessions were tape recorded. Generally, the student/intuitive consultant offered immediate advice, with any additional information retrieval done at the consultant's office.

The reports, initially, were transcribed verbatim from the taped meetings, but shortly thereafter, the reports were abbreviated to accentuate highlights and forego wordy conversations.

Profiles of Participating Business Managers

Manager "A" was approximately thirty-one years old and college educated with an MBA degree. He had approximately ten year's experience working in the business world when, due to a layoff situation, he and Manager "AA" collaborated on the concept and formation of a financial consulting group which included three other individuals. He is a martial artist who studies Aikido, enjoys golfing, and assists the church community.

Manager "AA" was approximately forty-six years old and college educated. He had approximately twenty-three years of experience in the business world and was laid off from a vice-presidential position with a major corporation. He spearheaded the formation of the start-up financial consulting group. Manager "AA" in his earlier years studied at a seminary. He has an interest in computers, physics, metaphysics, and occasionally consults the I-Ching.

Manager "B" was approximately fifty-eight years old, and an independent, restaurant owner and community leader of eighteen years. He was college educated and served in the "secret services" prior to his foray into business in the areas of advertising, marketing, and realty organizations. He is a no-nonsense, straight-forward, yet considerate and thoughtful individual. Intuitively, he often follows his "gut instinct" and his "hunches" in business.

Manager "C" was approximately forty-seven years old and college educated. She has worked for a major corporation for twenty-five years. Through her natural leadership skills, integrity, compassion, and wisdom she has earned and maintained a managerial status within the corporate ranks. She is naturally intuitive and, oftentimes, relies upon her instincts. She is a martial artist who has studied Aikido for five years. She has also studied yoga, and tai chi and is currently teaching tai chi. She uses the pendulum, on occasion, as a method of divination for personal guidance.

Chapter Two

Definition of an Intuitive Consultant

. . . According to the Student/Intuitive Consultant

An intuitive consultant is an individual who provides professional advice to individuals, business managers, and leaders by utilizing intuitive resources. An intuitive consultant counsels and offers advice while providing temenos, a sacred precinct, which is conducive to individual and organizational transformation.

This definition may pose some questions. What does "intuitive" mean? How is an "intuitive consultant" different from any other type of consultant? What does a "sacred precinct" mean? What is transformation from a business perspective? Is it good or bad?

"Intuitive" Defined

The word "intuition" comes from the Latin verb "intueri", meaning "looking", or "knowing from within". (Emery, 1994, p.17) To the business person, this may be understood as a hunch, gut instinct, my sniffer tells me, or a knowing without knowing how you know that you know. Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist identified intuition as,

the primary function of intuition, however, is simply to transmit images, or perceptions, of relations between things, which could not be transmitted by the other functions or only in a round about way. These images have the value of specific insights which have a decisive influence on action whenever intuition is given priority. (1971, p.221)

The intuitive consultant, thereby, works from a predominantly intuitive basis for information retrieval. The language of intuition communicates through personal interpretation of: (1.) symbols and images, (2) feelings and emotions, and (3.) physical sensations. The translated message is delivered by the consultant to the client which reveals: (1.) the ground, or higher, truth of the situation, and (2.) the big picture and/or details as needed.

Intuitive Consultant vs. Intuition Consultant

One difference noted by the student/intuitive consultant during this inquiry was the use of titles to describe this vocation. The intuition consultant tended to be the trainer/educator of intuitive skills, while the intuitive consultant worked primarily on an advisory basis. The student/intuitive consultant also wishes to note the purposeful avoidance of the use of the word "psychic". Basically, the word can evoke unnecessary resistance and fear and is, therefore, avoided in the business community.

Typically, someone who is a consultant offers knowledge and wisdom from his/her particular area of expertise. In the intuitive consultant's case, the area of specialization is intuitively-based resource retrieval without the need to be an expert in the particular subject of the business manager's inquiry.

Sacred Precinct

A "sacred precinct" is created whenever there is a willingness to ask significant and pertinent questions and to openly, respectfully, and with discernment, receive the responses offered. It is not necessarily a physical location, but can be, such as the business office or the intuitive's office. It can also be a personal mind space, or state of being, that is created personally within the individual or between a group of individuals. It is, foremost, a safe haven in which to explore solutions and find harmony amidst chaotic thoughts, feelings, and situations. It is the place where one goes to find peacefulness, right thinking, and truth. Within this mental or physical space, the intuitive consultant inspires and encourages the recipient to act responsibly and with integrity. It is the recipient's responsibility to make ultimate decisions and to act, or not to act, upon those decisions.

Transformation

Transformation means change. Change is beneficial when it promotes growth. Changes can occur within a corporation, or within an individual, however, that do not promote growth, but rather continue to promote unhealthy patterns that reflect only greed and self-aggrandizement.

Transformation seen in a positive light focusses on ideals and values such as honesty, fairness, conscientiousness, accepting diversity, recognizing

common unity--community, and well-being. Therefore, transformation, geared to attain the welfare of all concerned, is the intent of the intuitive consultant. Sometimes that transformation at an individual level means having to let go of the business, one's position, or one's financial status, without it indicating a total failure, but merely accepting the change as a transition or a process. This is transformation without judgment, but rather with discernment, in the best interest of the individual and of the community.

For example, transformation occurred in the five-member financial consulting partnership. From the big picture aspect, the student/intuitive consultant could foresee only three partners remaining with the group. The startup and at least temporary continuance of this five-team group, however, enabled each individual to re-establish hopefulness, faith, and encouragement in a new venture. It allowed each individual to spread his wings. It provided an opportunity to re-examine motives, missions, goals, and ideals. Because a genuine, common mission, or purpose was not established, and due to the disharmony of motives, a separation of the partners was inevitable. Was this good or bad? Neither. It is simply a part of transitions during creation, maintenance, and eventual dismantling processes, which occur daily in the business world, in one's life, and in all of nature.

Maynard, Jr. and Mehrtens in their book The Fourth Wave, identify the typical corporate mind set which they place in evolutionary categories of the Second, Third, and Fourth Waves. The corporate worldview can be epitomized as:

Second Wave--We are separate and must compete.

Third Wave-We are connected and must cooperate.

Fourth Wave--We are one and choose to co-create.

A Second Wave corporate question is, "Are we making money?" The Third Wave question is, "Are we creating value?" The Second Wave corporate asks, "Are we beating the competition?" The Third Wave corporate asks, "Do we understand the need?" The Second Wave corporate asks, "Are we gaining market share?" The Third Wave corporate asks, "Are we providing the right level and kind of service?" The Third Wave mode requires a basic shift of consciousness away from fear toward trust, away from the need for control toward giving up control, and away from rigidity toward a learning culture. In the Forth Wave, a corporation will focus on it's role as one of stewardship for the whole in addition to providing goods and services to a particular customer base." (1994, p.8) The intuitive consultant can help bridge the gaps during these times of rapid, evolutionary transitions from the Second to the Third and into the Fourth Wave.

Chapter Three

The Role of An Intuitive Consultant

. . . According to The Student/Consultant

The student/intuitive consultant views the role of the intuitive consultant as a facilitator, a confidante, and advisor who uses an intuitive/psychological/spiritual (transpersonal) approach to problem solving and decision making which takes into consideration the function and role of the business manager/leader as well as the community that will be affected by the decisions implemented.

In the intuitive consultant's role, identifying intentions and ideals are of utmost importance. Clearly defined, correct intention sets the course of action. An ideal must be firmly established by the intuitive consultant, at a personal level, such as "to be a clear and perfect channel of blessings to others." It is most beneficial when an intention and ideal is defined also by the individual with whom the consultant is working.

The next focus may be on the questions asked or concerns expressed by the business manager. The information provided by the intuitive consultant, however, may respond to a more pressing issue or "bigger-picture perspective" as needed for guidance or strategic planning purposes. The information that is most needed will surface in a way that will be understood with ease by the business manager. Oftentimes, the participating business managers responded that although the information supplied was accurate, it wasn't what they thought they wanted to hear.

The intuitive consultant may provide the client with:

1.Information that confirms what the client already senses, feels, has a hunch about or intuits.

2.An opportunity for a transformation of consciousness which may be exclusive of the success or failure of the organization.

3. A safe harbor in which to think aloud, conjecture, verify, or release fears and concerns.

4. A concept of the truth without preconceived motives or judgments.

5. A metaphorical mirror in which the client may review past, present, and future trends, decisions, goals, and/or actions.

6. A mental resolution or peace of mind.

7.Information to improve interpersonal relationships with customers, employees, and stockholders.

8.Information that encourages the manager to take responsibility in creating one's environment, personally and communally.

9.Assurance that the intuitive consultant is being of service for the betterment of all humanity as the intuitive consultant becomes totally absorbed, beyond personal ego, in the process at hand.

10.Information which is objective and discerning, absent of judgment or fear.

11.An opportunity to view people as people, as a whole and not in a "role".

12.Information that promotes independence, (even if the business manager may be viewed as different or unpopular) right thinking, right motivations, and right action versus co-dependence or being subjected to other people's attempts to control or to manipulate.

13.Information that confirms an attitude of "allowing things to happen" versus making them happen.

14.Guidance on how to live an ordinary life in an extraordinary way.

15.Perspectives on working with the concept of diversity and commonality.

In most cases, communication worked best when both parties were speaking the same language. The business manager felt most at home when the student/intuitive consultant used such terms as: strategic planning, trend detecting, future forecasting, employee profiles, selection criteria, downsizing, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, deal analysis, project analysis, product selection, time management and project prioritization, and investments strategies.

According to the Participating Managers

Manager "A" offered this comprehensive response on the project:

"I believe that until the intuitive consultants are more readily accepted by society, they will be limited in their role in business. However, I do believe that they can be very helpful to the right type of business and/or person now. Most corporate entities are driven by quantitative results (i.e. profits, revenue growth, market share, etc.), with any capital expended requiring a quantifiable return on investment (ROI). This ROI is very difficult to quantitatively measure when dealing with intuitive consultants. The insight the consultant provides is many times not measurable, but invaluable, as it provides the individual decision maker with insight about themselves and helps them grow as a person. This, in many instances, improves their interpersonal relationships with customers, employees, and other stakeholders in the business which ultimately will improve the company. This type of insight is qualitative and leads individuals who make decisions down the ‘right path' as far as ‘doing the right thing', versus what can be measured in dollars. The actual insight gained about business events and decisions should not be overlooked, since, as in my case, it also proved to be very accurate. Therefore, until businesses accept a more ‘caring' attitude toward their employees, customers, suppliers, etc., then the qualitative advantages will continue to be underestimated."

Manager "A" continues, "The smaller businesses are moving faster than larger corporations towards focusing, holistically, on people and they are more conducive and accepting of the insight that intuitive consultants provide. As such, the consultant's role would be very helpful to smaller, privately-held enterprises."

"The project was one that I originally approached as a skeptic. As I previously indicated, I believe that for the most part, today's business environment continues to be very short-sighted and results-oriented. Therefore, the use of a consultant in this manner would not be accepted. However, over time I became aware of the advantages of this type of consultant. These include:

·Providing me with the additional insight that may be necessary to make a decision and understanding that the projection comes from an ‘altruistic' perspective as opposed to one of ego, greed or other negative motive.

·The quarterly meetings provided a means of evaluating the progress of the intangible aspects of the business and promoted awareness of the qualitative business items versus the quantitative items I previously identified. Doing the right thing is more important than what is profitable, and this [intuitive consulting process] helps keep that focus.

·The professionalism with which the quarterly meetings were handled as well as the correspondence, promoted a sense of increased credibility and integrity.

·The shortcomings of the project were minimal in my opinion. The only areas that I can address are ones that are probably more biased by me than anything that is related to the project, and are not related to this particular consultant, but all intuitive consultants.

·The method of the client asking questions and seeking answers, in my mind, provides a difficult task for the consultant. Having them eliminate or balance their business experience and acumen with the insight provided via their gift, seems to be too difficult a task to bifurcate completely. As such, ‘Am I, the manager, receiving information that may be ‘confounded' by the consultant's perspective (business experience, personal bias', historical problems, etc.)?' This is why I believe that it is extremely important to know who the consultant is and what their background, experience, and character is about.

·How does the client know what to pay for a service like this since it does not appear to have a market price? As I previously indicated, the ROI can not be measured."

"Overall, the project was informative, fun, and a positive, professional, and personal experience."

Manager "AA" contributed his viewpoint on this project:

"In responding to this question, it requires a good deal of introspection and facing up to some personal shortcomings to give you an honest, useful answer, so here goes."

"I want to thank you for including me in your project. The project was very interesting and informative to me. I have always been sensitive to the life forces surrounding me and my environment, and I have generally suppressed the information I receive. I have done this for several reasons: Either to avoid ridicule as a child, or because I was warned by the church not to experiment with things that I do not understand and they could be very dangerous, or to be able to function in the material world of adults. All of these reasons are true, and over the course of my life, one of these reasons has been the dominant guide for some period of time, and then the other reason takes over. Be that as it may, I can tell you that no matter how you suppress it, the impressions are still there. I have always ‘known' things when I didn't learn them, and I have always felt things (emotionally) which I call ‘sensing' things, and I have always been able to feel things that other people are going through (if I let myself). I applaud you for your hard work and persistence in developing your abilities and talents, especially because I do not have the courage to be unconventional in my life. I worry too much about providing for everyone else in my life instead of developing my own abilities. I feel guilty about this because I have ‘sold out' my self for the sake of expediency and material comfort for myself and my family, and this hurts. Having been this chameleon, my perspective on this question may be of some benefit to you."

"My perspective on the strengths and shortcomings of this method of consultation and the value provided by it do not provide the basis for the answer to the question of whether I would pay to utilize the consultative services for my company. In other words, the usual things that drive a consumer to purchase a product or service such as quality, service, dependability, proven track record, etc. are not enough of a buying motivator to convince a consumer to buy. You also must cover the ‘skeptic factor', the ‘ridicule factor', and the fear that you are giving your competition a potential weapon to use against you in the market place. Also, in a very political organism like a corporation, you are making yourself personally vulnerable by suggesting to your manager in front of your peers that your company should try this new, useful consultative service based on (ha ha) extra-sensory perception. Can you hear the snide remarks? The only way you can sell your service to a business would be in a company where a single stockholder in a privately-held corporation is dominant enough to not be affected by political influence. If the use of a psychic consultant would be found out, he would still be labeled ‘eccentric.'

"Think of the adjectives which describe the typical business person. Here is a list which comes to my mind: hard driving, self confident, self reliant, tough negotiator, decisive, fair, motivated, fact based, unemotional, uncaring, scientific, unfeeling, well educated, rational, closed, control. Now think of the adjectives describing the relationship we enjoyed in our consulting sessions: Positive -- trusting, caring, emotional, friendship, win-win, self expression, comfort, exposed; Negative - vague, dependent, unknown. Unknown because we are tapping an unknown source of power for information. The extent of the dependability of the source is unknown, and the credibility of the information is unknown."

"A business person has been trained all of his [her] career and in school to be the way he [she] is. He [She] has been educated to weigh all of the facts, consider the potential consequences, and make an unemotional decision. Most business people operate in an environment of 80% rational thinking and 20% emotional thinking. You are asking the business person to neglect/ignore everything they have been taught all of their life, to give up control, and to open themselves up to potential misfortune or ruin based on feelings. This is a reversal of all learned systems and is very hard to do. On the other hand, when we are making life decisions, this is much easier to do because many people operate on an emotional level in their life."

"The answer is to start a business school based on psychic principles and to educate a new breed of business people for the new millennium, and in the interim, target working with individual business owners who have complete control of their business, and who have an interest in the emotional/feeling side of life."

"Personally speaking, as long as I am working for someone else, I cannot take the risk of using an intuitive consultant. If I am ever self employed, I would give it a try."

Regarding the role of an intuitive consultant, Manager "B" wrote:

"[The role of an intuitive consultant holds] Great value, especially if the advisor has a basic knowledge of a particular business." In citing his overall perspective on this project, Manager "B" stated, "Student's entire approach was totally professional, especially in areas where collateral material was integrated into personal discussions. This helped put everything together as kind of a ‘total package'. Project was entirely worthwhile. I personally learned quite a bit about this novel approach to decision making. For me this was a new experience. At times the project discussions were a bit broad as were the results. But, still by and large, they were on the money. This method of consultation could be improved, in my opinion, if they were a little more ‘scientific' in their approach."

Manager "C" responded regarding the value and the role of an intuitive consultant: "Personally, the value that I received [was that the information supplied by the student], clarified, validated, or totally discounted my [own] business decisions. [The information provided] helped to support my self-confidence with respect to decision making."

"In reality, a consultant would most likely work on a specific project for a steady, concentrated amount of time (i.e., two to three months). A good amount of time might be spent on understanding the present organization, the problems at hand, and possible best solutions. Many times, I already had a ‘plan of action' designed, or my own thoughts on outcomes . . . because of the span of time (three to four months) between interviews, I had already proceeded on my next course of action without ‘plugging into' the consultant . . . made the process a little clumsy for me."

"In my case, though, it met my needs of affirmation . . . but to others in business, they may want more black and white ‘solutions' to their business dilemmas--written executive summaries, business rationale, etc. My experience, overall, was a good one, however, because of the excellent rapport between me and the student. I totally trusted her integrity!"

. . . According to Eight Intuitive Consultants

The student/intuitive consultant initially spoke with over twenty people who were referred to the student/intuitive consultant by Jeffrey Mishlove. Mishlove is the Director of the Intuition Network which is affiliated with the Institute of Noetic Sciences. The Institute of Noetic Sciences is based in Sausilito, California and was founded by astronaut Edgar Mitchell.

Out of this grouping of twenty, the student/consultant interviewed a total of thirteen individuals with the title or function of "intuitive consultant." One individual asked to remain anonymous due to issues of confidentiality in protecting those individuals for whom she works. Some individuals work primarily in a training capacity, versus an advisory capacity, and, therefore, that interview information relating to training is not included in this paper. The responses, however, from the nine intuitive consultants on the subject of "the role of the intuitive consultant," as well as their vision, ideal, goals, or purposes for working in an intuitive capacity with business are as follows (alphabetically cited):

Anonymous: "An intuitive consultant is an ancillary tool that provides a highly qualified individual with confirmation of their best instincts or best intuitive judgment. I do strategic planning and future analysis for international corporations. I work at the highest levels of human resources with division presidents. I work with multi-billion dollar companies with the presidents and chairmen. People tend to grow intuitively around me. I work on the person as well as on the company or on the situation."

"My goal is to be of service to the universe, and however I can be of service to humanity is important. I decided, that by working with the top leaders of business, I could instill a certain type of corporate responsibility, and corporate ethic and corporate intention that would encompass more than just the bottom line. The bottom line could be realized abundantly if the correct intentions were inspired by the top leader."

"By working with government leaders, corporate presidents and chairmen, I have affected corporate culture and corporate ethics and corporate responsibility, not only individually within the corporation, but actually having inspired them with practical suggestions to create intercorporate societies that help monitor their ethics and intentions. This could be anything from rates of CD's to ecology, to helping women become part of a corporate culture where they are not in certain countries, and to having people recognize the equality or worthiness of each individual as opposed to using divisiveness. This is essential to a part of the vision that I have. I am not into feminism. I'm into peoplism."

Cynthia Black: "I listen, reflect, and problem solve. I get the picture about what's happening in this company with this or that individual. I get the language about how to discuss this in their language, and they always understand the message."

"Intuitive information comes as a whole. It comes complete, and it comes with direction. It is not obligatory on the consultant's part to make the company be successful. The problem isn't always about success of the company. Often, the lesson is for an individual or a small group. If the company needs to fail, it will, and there's nothing you can do about it. There are people who need to fail, and no matter what you do, they'll screw up. You give them the best instructions possible, and they will turn it upside down and inside out. It's not because they don't understand the instructions, it's because that's what they need to do."

"Being able to walk away from that, confidently, knowing that you did the work, is really hard because so much of our industry is based on worldly success measured by financial standards. I don't go into a company with any processes. I go into a company with a blank mind. I listen as they tell me what is wrong, and I feel the whole thing through. I use my skills to problem solve from their point of view. What I try to do is to work with the owner or work with the core people. I present possibilities to them that are already in their minds and guide them towards choosing what they can use or work with. I go for the "aha". Intuitive guidance shows me where the "aha" is."

"I'm really a facilitator. I imbue everything with the word ‘opportunity' versus ‘problem'. I include the owner or core people in the process so that they don't feel shut out. Nine times out of ten they have their own solutions. My belief about business is that it is an individual's foray into creativity. It empowers them. My vision is to be a facilitator for those who have chosen to express their creativity in the business world. It's a spiritual experience, and I think very few people understand that. Business is a divine discipline."

Cynthia Black is a consultant with Whole Life Business Resources located in Phoenix, AZ.

Willard Draison: "I work mostly with small companies and find an incredible connection between the person's personal life and the company. I am currently lending my expertise on a funding issue. I'm not sure that an intuitive consultant is any different from any other consultant. I lend my expertise to solving problems, and I provide a different perspective. I call all of this "energetic reality". What I'm doing is giving a view of the issue from an energetic reality view. The reason I picked the business community is because it is the most direct way of bringing this dimension of reality into a consciousness for people. My goal or passion is to make people aware of intuition and to bring that dimension into our reality."

Willard Draisin, M.A. is president of Multi Dimensional Consultants in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The company is composed of an astrologer, a tarot channelor, a crystal healer, and a psychic and was formed about two years ago in 1994.

Roger Frantz: "I can use my intuition to describe situations to business persons, and a lot of the information is of an interpersonal nature. If you give me the name of someone, I can hone in to them and give you that information. Business persons feel they can trust me for a good reason, because they work with me, and I give them

good information. The intuitive consultant is somebody they trust, a confidante, an advisor. Sometimes I'm just a verifier of their own intuition."

"What I hope for is to live in a world in which all the people of the world are accessing their intuition, in which intuition is being guided by benevolence, and that intuition being guided by benevolence, is helping to generate human transformation. The intuition conferences that I organize are really designed to give people confidence in trusting their own intuition and that intuition is real. They may not always be right, but nobody's always right all the time."

Roger Frantz, Ph.D., is a professor of Economics at San Diego State University, organizer of Intuition Conferences, co-editor of Intuition at Work, board member of the Intuition Network. He is founder of Profits and Sense, offering intuition-based consulting and coaching of intuition skills. He is the author of two academic books, and co-editor of the Journal of Socio-Economics. Roger is located in San Diego, CA.

Carol Ann Liaros: "We (Carol Ann and her two business partners) work on a contractual basis with CEO's of Fortune Five Hundred Corporations. At the workshops that we conduct, we state up front, ‘we don't know business, but we do know people and how to bond people quicker based on what we know about the brain. We've designed techniques for conflict resolution. We have a very fast conflict resolution tool. We can help you access the right side of your brain where your creativity and intuition is in order to get more information for your decision-making processes."

"The intuitive consultant's work is very exciting and it's breakthrough. If the approval and directives that support this work doesn't come from top down, the intuitive consultant can just be spinning her/his wheels and earning some money, but transformation throughout the organization just won't happen. If the intuitive consultant gets the bias from the top down, then the intuitive consultant can make an impact. Middle management is caught between a rock and a hard place. The higher up you go, the more adventuresome, the more chance-taking the people can become because of their position. When the intuitive consultant has the CEO in her/his corner, it makes life much easier."

"Even when the intuitive consultant works at the CEO level, the CEO still has to account to his board of directors and his stockholders. He can't just flamboyantly say, ‘Oh, guess what, I use a psychic or an intuitive.' We, as intuitive consultants, have to carefully word, carefully disguise for the comfort level of the rest of the people. In fact, using some of the words we use in our workshop participants ask, ‘Isn't that new age?' We have to say, ‘No. We're going back to old values.' If the message ever got out to this corporation's competitor that the CEO uses a psychic, the National Enquirer would pick that up, stockholders would run for cover, and he wouldn't be CEO anymore!"

"I would say the role of the intuitive consultant is similar to, in the day's of old, the king's advisor, where the CEO of today's world is the king. The CEO says to his advisors, ‘We're thinking of buying "X" company. Bring me a report on the figures, the history, the possibilities, the analysis, and all the data.' Then, he can turn to the intuitive consultant and say, ‘Now, what do you see about this? What is your sense about this?' The intuitive consultant can go to the hidden stuff, because we don't have to do all the facts and figures. Someone else can do that very easily. We can get the pieces that are missing in the puzzle. Facts and figures can, hypothetically, predict the future, but they're so unreliable for predicting the future. That has been proven over and over again. The role of an intuitive consultant, then would be as an advisor, working in an advisory capacity. The role would also include helping to remind people, or helping people to rediscover, their own intuitive abilities."

"It's amazing to me in this field that there are some consultants who can do the intuitive advising but not the teaching, or they can do the teaching but not the advising, and a only a handful of consultants who can do both functions very well."

"I look for the problems, what's behind the problems, and the solution to those problems. I, automatically, go to the down side, the challenges in the situation and say, ‘Here are the things that you're going to run into.' If the concern is about a person, I state the challenges and the flaws with this person that might not allow this person to fulfill their position as well as the manager would like. Even though the resume and the meeting went well, I present the "other pieces" to the manager to help the manager form the whole picture of the person. What does the manager usually have during an interviewing process? The resume, which is lovely and wonderful, and the person seated in front of them who is going to be on their absolute best behavior and saying the very best things about themselves. They're not going to sit there and say, ‘I'm chronically late.'"

"Whether the manager is considering buying another company or joint ventures, I present the downsides and how it looks as an overall picture. We [intuitive consultants] fill in the missing pieces, the hidden pieces. I call this trend detecting."

Carol Ann comments on the vision, ideal, or purpose for working as an intuition consultant with business: "My business partner and I actually lay out our vision and ideal the very first night that we meet with these business people. My partner and I both have this grandiose idea and drive, that we have had since we were very young, of helping to bring peace to the planet. We worked in churches and health organizations and realized to whom the world really listens. The world really listens to the business community. If we can make an impact in the business community, that impact would contribute to getting closer to our real goal which is to work with United Nations. Who in the United Nations is going to work with us unless we have a track record in the hard-nosed business arena which has the money and the power to make a difference? When a business person makes a business decision it affects millions and millions of dollars and millions of people. Therefore, we are looking to make an impact in that arena."

"Although we're working with spiritual values, we wouldn't dare call it spiritual values. We call it ‘old values' in the business arena. We're also re-igniting, for some, the spiritual part of themselves, and opening their hearts. We encourage employees to bring the values they have in their personal life into the business arena with support and approval from upper management. People, then, are not cut off from their vitality. They don't have to stop at the door and say, ‘Now I'm a robot.' They can bring their values in, and of course, this is where a lot of people have conflict. The values, or lack thereof, that people have to conform to in the business community conflicts with their personal values. Now, they can bring their personal values with them to be the whole person that they are in their whole life."

"This transformation is happening now. In fact, people are so touched by the permission and the encouragement, as a result of our work with upper management, that upper management and their direct reports end up crying. I'm talking about some very hard-nosed, business people crying because they have felt this missing piece of themselves and have felt that they couldn't be who they are. It's very touching."

"We run our business based on all of these values. In our corporation, we make left brain decisions with right brain input."

Carol Ann Liaros has worked as an intuitive consultant for thirty-five years. She has worked in the medical arena with businesses and corporations, religious institutions, police, and with individual clients.

Helen Stewart: "I bring my ‘whole self' to the project and teach the corporate person to bring his/her ‘whole self' to work. If a business person has hunches, clues, or feels one way about something and is not sure about his or her own judgment, the process of working with me certainly gives them the understanding and the freedom to begin to trust themselves more. I bring information that I could not conventionally have about total strangers. I do readings for companies in much the same way that I would do readings for individuals. I lend advice on such things as whether or not the company should engage in an equity relationship with another company, mergers, downsizings, investments, and personnel matters. I work with the name of the company or the name of an individual. I offer who would be the best for a leadership position or any particular position that needs to be filled. I make suggestions on how to build a negotiating team, whether or not to accept an offer of a buyout from another company or institution, and whether or not somebody can be trusted. I have training as an organizational consultant, and I am a sociologist by training."

"I've worked with both private companies and in higher education for over thirty years, so it's not just my intuition that I bring to the process. There is already in me, in my being, a synthesis of cognitive and intuitive skills, and I know that it's not by chance that I've been specializing and working with businesses. I'm working with a group of scientists in Europe as I seem to have a particular gift for scientific information in the field of physics. I have no idea where it comes from. I didn't even take physics. This is fully explicable as an intuitive process because I had some training, and yet, I seem to grock this stuff. I don't know how. It is fully an intuitive process when I work with these physicists and engineers."

"When I work with corporations, I know I use a blend of cognitive and intuitive skills. I've done all the training programs, and I was with Provost City University until a few months ago. I worked for private companies and search firms throughout the course of my career. One could say, ‘well, you're just using your knowledge,' but when somebody says, ‘Tell me about Joe Blow and Wisa Hicken,' and I'm only given their name and I'm able to provide complete personality profiles and their motivational intentions, that is fully an intuitive process. I work with images that are usually metaphors."

"When I advise a CEO about organizational concerns, such as personnel issues, and I've been involved very much in personnel work for the last fifteen years, then that's much more of a synthesis of knowledge and intuition. I know about policy and procedures, so that is more of a blending. There is a continuum from intuitive to rational. The process of my advising executives, in any one relationship, probably hits every point on that continuum from the totally intuitive to the fully-learned administrative."

"My vision, or purpose, for working in an intuitive capacity with business is transformation. I think that business is really on the cutting edge of the synthesis of the intuitive and the rational because it is driven by success. People look for that competitive edge. They look for predictability. I think this type of intuitive consulting has been going on for thousands of years and just now is coming out of the closet. I think the goal is to acknowledge and weave the synthesis of rational and intuitive into the very fabric of our institutions and into our educational system. By working with entrepreneurs, the entrepreneur decides how to teach students. They say, ‘I need graduates to be able to do x, y and z.' Businesses are demanding these qualities, so universities are teaching these qualities."

Helen Stewart, Ph.D. has a Doctorate in Sociology from Brandeis and was a post-doctoral scholar at Harvard. She was a former provost, Rider University; former dean, Sonoma State, and associate dean, San Francisco State. Stewart is currently an intuitive consultant for CEO's and scientists worldwide, and founding president of the University for Metaphysical Studies with its International Library. In addition to being a certified mediator, higher education administrator and labor negotiator, she is certified by the American Association of Professional Psychics. Helen resides in Santa Fe, NM.

Joseph William McMoneagle: "I was recruited in 1977 to participate in a secret project which was put together to explore the use of psychics for governmental intelligence purposes. I was involved in that for eighteen years until November of 1995." "One of the primary reasons for using an intuitive consultant is to transcend all of the other indicators. For instance, a corporate person may make a suggestion based on a personal motive of wanting to be seen in a good light. The suggestion offered might be based primarily on a competitive focus between one company and another or between one individual and another, or the suggestion might be based primarily on cost analysis. The suggestions are usually based on something that is self generated. Intuitive input doesn't pay any attention to that. It pays attention to the specific goal in mind. You get to know the goal that the corporate person wants specifically, and you can see the problems that they might encounter going one way versus going another. Mostly, what I'm trying to do is to help educate people with the understanding that everyone has an intuitive nature, and that a lot of intuitiveness deals with some very subtle inputs that we are getting of which we may not be consciously aware. Intuitive, subtle inputs can be subconscious or they can be consciously, psychically tuned. Intuitive, subtle inputs have a great deal of bearing on the validity of what the individuals are trying to do or where they are trying to go in terms of an ultimate outcome. Using creativity in the front end and using the intuitive nature of man is part of what opens the possibilities, or reality, to other possibilities. One of the key elements is that intuition is a commonly known thing, but no one seems to pay any attention to it. By our very actions, we are assuming a future that has a certain finiteness to it or limit to it. If we are incapable of conjecturing or conceptualizing what we really want of the future, then we're kind of stuck within the limits that we've applied. The intuitive mind has a way of grasping unlimited, future possibilities better than the limited mind does."

Joseph William McMoneagle is president of Intuitive Intelligence Applications located in Nellysford, VA. He is a retired intelligence officer. He was recruited by the government to work on the recently-exposed secret project, "Stargate" where he used remote viewing to gather information. McMoneagle provides intuitive guidance to states attorney generals, the police, private investigators, geological studies, archaeologists, intelligence agencies, and business owners. He lectures at colleges, Unity churches, and for boards of directors. He also participated in research with S.R.I. Laboratories in Menlo Park, CA; Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC); and is currently a science associate with the Laboratories For Fundamental Research, Palo Alto, CA.

Alan Vaughan: "It's helpful to give people alternatives and sometimes specific clues to approaches that they may want to use. It's helpful to give people clues about other people with whom they might want to get in touch. In other words, the intuitive process brings in information that can be helpful to people by suggesting approaches that they otherwise would never have thought of. Sometimes I find myself confirming what they already believe. They like that. It saves time, and it saves money, very often."

Alan Vaughan's business card holds the title of intuitive consultant, but he is also a psychic researcher and teaches intuitive or psychic techniques and has been consulting and teaching for twenty-five years. Alan serves as an adjunct professor for Atlantic University in Virginia Beach. He has written six books and several hundred articles and resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Chapter Four

Transpersonal Concepts

Introduction

In the 1960's, great thinkers, such as Maslow, Sutich, and others, began to seriously explore states of consciousness that eastern and ancient cultures had discovered centuries ago. In order to integrate eastern and western spiritual and psychological principles, a new area of psychology emerged. This chapter presents several interpretations of the term "transpersonal" with input from professionals and researchers in this area of transpersonal studies. This information serves as a psychological/spiritual foundation for the role of an intuitive consultant. Transpersonal concepts seem to parallel with the general philosophy of the intuitive consultant. Therefore, a proceeding sub-section entitled, "Transpersonal Concepts and the Role of the Intuitive Consultant" outline some of the more significant correlations between the two.

This chapter includes a brief history of the evolution of the term "transpersonal" and how it came about through correspondence and interaction among such scholars as Sutich, Maslow, and Vich. The path to the transpersonal experience leads to greater understanding of humanity's purpose as individuals and as a society. Vaughan explains from a psychological perspective how the transpersonal process unfolds in individuals while working through transpersonal issues. Green and Green present an abbreviated metaphysical examination of the subject which include contributions from physicists, various eastern philosophers, and mystical Judeo-Christians.

Definitions of Transpersonal

Sutich, a noted psychologist, while exchanging views with Maslow, defined the transpersonal area of psychology as,

. . . specifically concerned with the study, understanding and responsible implementation with such states as . . . ultimate value, self-transcendence, unitive consciousness, peak experiences, ecstasy, mystical experience, transformation of the self . . . and related concepts, experiences and activities. (1976, p.13)

Vich, a professional associate of Sutich's, and later, editor of Sutich's "Journal of Transpersonal Psychology", explains the concept such that it places attention on the experiencing person, and he believed that transpersonal psychology provides a "life-long developmental model, which recognizes the stages in transformation of personality and consciousness." Vich also stated, "Transpersonal psychology serves as a unique bridge to other fields and disciplines. Perhaps most significantly, it is now an independent field of study with its own history, philosophy, principles, subject matter, unique phenomena, methods and practices." (1985, p.7)

According to Hastings (1979-80),

The transpersonal psychology paradigm says that there are experiences, states and actions that go beyond the usual boundaries of the ego personality--these include other states of consciousness such as transcendence and ecstasy, motives and altruism, love and compassion; psychic experiences that transcend space and time, spiritual experiences of enlightenment, deep self awareness, mysticism, for these are real, not pathological, and can be studied scientifically." (p.4)

As a result of psychological research, experience, and scientific documentation in this field, the following information reveals various dimensions of the transpersonal experience.

History of the Term "Transpersonal"

The history of this term, "transpersonal" began with Sutich and Maslow. Sutich's (1976) exploration of mysticism began in 1927. He read extensively about Yoga, Vedanta, Theosophy, Christian Science, Buddhism, and other Eastern and Western religious traditions. Through his association with Maslow, Sutich delightfully discovered that Maslow was also learned in these areas; however, both individuals expressed concern with the current language limitation in describing this emerging state of psychology. Concepts such as ultimate value, self-transcendence, unitive consciousness, as coined by Sutich (1976), expanded the scope and depth beyond the current term being used "self actualization." Sutich initially offered the term "humanisticism", combining humanistic and mysticism. Maslow politely steered Sutich to a term that Julian Huxley had already phrased, "trans-humanistic."

Sutich's growing enthusiasm with this subject inspired him to found a journal, the "Journal of Transhumanistic Psychology". As the foundation for this Journal, Sutich referenced the newly-emerging Fourth Force (transpersonal) psychology. Psychologists already recognized the First Force (Classical Psychoanalytical Theory), Second Force (Positivistic or Behavioristic Theory) and Third Force psychology (Humanistic Psychology). Fourth Force psychology integrated the previous three and expanded into areas not previously considered. In 1968, the term "transpersonal" surfaced in a correspondence from Maslow to Sutich wherein Maslow suggested the term "transpersonal" to replace the term "transhumanistic." Maslow believed that transpersonal suggested "beyond individuality, beyond the development of the individual person into something much more . . ." (Sutich, 1976, p.16) Maslow commented that although he had been using the term "transpersonal", he had also heard Stanislav Grof use it in a lecture Grof gave on September 21, 1967 in Berkeley. Hence, the growing popularity of the term. These individuals: Sutich, Maslow, Grof and Vich, achieved a breakthrough of the language barrier and helped establish a new foundation for the study of transpersonal psychology.

Psychological Perspective of Transpersonal

From a psychological perspective, according to Vaughan (1985), working through transpersonal issues leads one to the transpersonal experience. She refers to the individual as a "self-sense". This "self-sense" undergoes transformations with each stage of development from infancy to adulthood. The processes include differentiation, transcendence, and integration.

Vaughan (1985) explains that through the process of differentiation, an infant learns to identify itself as a separate physical body. The individual then moves forward identifying with its "verbal ego mind" and begins developing socialization skills. Later, transcendence from the "verbal ego mind" occurs, leading to the ego. Psychotherapy encourages a strong and healthy identification with the ego, however, if the individual moves no further in development of the Self, the individual's concept of Self remains as separate and alone in this world. Finally, integration occurs when the individual recognizes the ego's self-sense, thus, opening awareness to a broader understanding and recognition of the human experience. The human experience includes higher perceptions that integrate spiritual and intuitive awareness. (Vaughan, 1985) This integration allows the body mind connection to emerge.

Development through these stages includes dependence, independence, and interdependence. Each stage must be established, recognized and accepted before the Self is able to advance to elevated levels of understanding and experience. Hendlin in his article, "Pernicious Oneness", verifies this thought. Hendlin emphasizes the importance of gaining in ego strength. The strong ego risks going beyond itself to move to higher levels. (1983) As the individual works through these transpersonal stages, the individual learns what to continue to identify with and what to leave behind. The real Self relies on internal direction and integrity. This integrity functions as a whole when thoughts, words and actions exhibit consistency. The real Self develops a strong sense of self esteem, trust and reliance on internal referencing, versus reliance on others for approval or direction. (Vaughan, 1985)

Vaughan (1985) explains a concept that she refers to as an "open living system." As an open living system, the individual participates in creating one's environment. In working through transpersonal issues, the individual needs to release self-limiting perceptions and barriers that block one from seeing who one really is or what one can become. Within the flux of this open living system, old concepts dissolve. One grows to accept more of what one can become and expands the Self's capacity to share goals and ideas.

Components of the open living system include continual interaction, change, movement, the dying process and the emergence of the newly integrated Self. Continual interaction, change and movement lead to evolutionary development both psychologically and spiritually. Change, however, requires the individual to examine beliefs and values as beliefs and values shape one's experiences.

Conversely, one's experiences shape one's beliefs and values. If beliefs are self-limiting, the individual must redefine them in order to change patterns of behavior and open the door to new experiences. An individual initiates change easily and effectively when altering internal conditioning. An open living system, therefore, exhibits flexibility, yet maintains an internal degree of consistency but negates a focus on permanence. Permanence stunts the growth process causing the open living system to wither and die. A healthy Self continually grows and changes even after reaching physical maturity. Renewal continues biologically and psychologically, allowing further growth, change, and the death of former self-identification. In other words, continually reviewing one's beliefs and values creates new revitalizing approaches and experiences that awaken one's realization of the Self and of its potential.

Another dimension of the open living system includes the dying process of previously defined concepts of Self. During this process, feelings of fear and anxiety surface. One must acknowledge these feelings in order to transcend self-limiting concepts. As old concepts of the Self die, a new organizing structure of the Self occurs that leads to higher states of understanding and awareness. As the individual views the Self as an opening living system composed of a continual flow of new births, and necessary deaths, the sense of fear and loss diminishes. This process creates the environment for internal evolutionary ascendence leading to transpersonal transformation.

Vaughan explains the transpersonal Self this way, "It partakes of infinite wisdom and compassion, understanding and forgiving all things without exception and without reservation." (p.26) The individual, having internalized the transpersonal Self, practices non-judgment and relaxes attempts to be defensive or to control events, behavior or environments. This awareness requires just a "quiet letting-be" approach. The transpersonal Self embodies the higher values such as compassion, love, peace and wisdom which benefit everyone.

An essential step in the psychological process of transpersonal transformation includes examination of the personal shadow. The personal shadow represents one's dark side and embodies such concepts as fear, hatred or disgust. Vaughan says, "At the personal level . . . we project our own unacceptable impulses onto others." (p.33) Anything seen in others reflects a projection of that within the individual. Externalizing projections enables one to confront and resolve these shadow characteristics within the Self. One must unmask the shadow Self in order to continue constructive integration. The individual works on this alone and with assistance from others.

The shadow also represents the unknown. The best recourse in resolving and understanding the shadow self remains simply to trust, have faith and surrender. Although the shadow lies within our subconscious, it remains within our ability to recognize and to understand. As the individual conquers this psychological hurdle, while continuing to function as an open living system, growth in self awareness and development with deeper understanding of Self and of others occurs.

Metaphysical Perspective of Transpersonal

Through the teachings and understandings of metaphysicists, another avenue exists that invites exploration to the pathway of the transpersonal Self. As viewed from the lens of modern physicists, (Green & Green, 1970) everything on this planet, came from one source of energy which manifested into physical substances. Occult physicists, however, elaborate on this concept of physical substance and move beyond physical substance to include emotional substance, mental substance and other rarified forms. The combination, or union, of these substances form not only the basis of this planet but also the basis of the human being.

The early Greeks symbolized these substances as water, air, earth, fire, and ether. Thus, as the Greek's postulated, the human being, in relation to his environment, represents the microcosm, and the external environment represents the macrocosm. From a spiritual perspective, the Judeo-Christians espouse a similar concept that God made man in his (God's) own image. As relayed by Yogi Sri Aurobindo, (1955) one can view our existence as spiritual, with matter as its densest form, or, one can think of the universe as matter with spirit as its most rarified form. (Green, Green 1970)

Consequently, whether viewed from modern or occult physics, there exists a connection between energy/substance and spirit/matter. This natural integration of multiple frequencies of energies provides the individual with the opportunity for transcendence. By transcendence, the metaphysicist refers to the experience of the individual at an energetic evolutionary level. Each individual possesses the opportunity by nature to tap into these currents in order to realize the transformation of the Self into higher states of consciousness.

Each culture identifies the pathway to transpersonal transformation utilizing its own unique methods and interpretations. In Yoga and Buddhism, the Kundalini energy manifests as man's physical energy through the Kundalini power center in the subtle body. Meditation and breathing techniques activate specific energy centers or etheric organs(chakras) which lead one to the tunnel referred to as Anlakrana in Indian or Tibetan. Christian mysticism refers to this tunnel through the energy centers as Jacob's Ladder. In China, the Tao indicates the Path or the Way. According to the Tibetan concept, "the Lotus nature rises from the earth (physical realm) through the water (emotional and mental levels combined) and blossoms into the air, revealing the jewel in its center." (Evans-Wentz, 1958) (Green, Green, 1970). The oriental teachers claim we are at all times integrated, but "are usually not aware of this until we voluntarily direct our personal energies inward." (Green, Green, 1970, p.9) These interpretations all describe the ascendence of the lower nature of the human being to a higher awareness with focus on control of the personality and attention on inner processes. These methods, when understood and practiced, ultimately lead or give guidance to the transpersonal experience.

As recognized by the metaphysicists, by focussing one's attention inward, the individual develops an awareness of intuitive or psychic abilities. Yogic explanation refers to these psychic abilities as Siddhis. The Siddhis develop from specific physical, emotional and mental faculties which stimulate or ignite psychic abilities. Psychic abilities may signal an emergence into etheric perception levels; however, just because one begins to become aware of the psychic experience does not necessarily mean transpersonal transformation is occurring. Hendlin (1983)

emphasizes that the goal for transpersonal transformation lies beyond attachments to astral travel, astrology, telepathy, precognition and I-Ching and that many aim for this psychic realm rather than aiming to get past it as soon as possible.

These metaphysical views merely touch upon the existence of different types of energies and methods used to evoke awakening and awareness of the transpersonal Self. Although psychic abilities may signal a heightened awareness of the Self and possibly awareness of identifying with the transpersonal Self, there exist many higher dimensions available to the seeker. Emphasis on the transpersonal experience as a continual unfoldment process appears again as was previously acknowledged by the psychologists.

In summary, the distinctions and separations of the disciplines of psychology, metaphysics, science and spirituality find congruence when approaching transpersonal theories. They converge by focusing on heightened awareness of the Self and of one's connectedness with the universe.

In my view, transpersonal means being able to experience the totality of one's physical, emotional, mental and spiritual existence. Transpersonal means seeking to acknowledge our individual and collective purpose and potentiality as human beings and, thereby, choosing to act based on guidance from the "Guru" within for highest purposes for the greater benefit of the Self and of others. We accomplish this by seeking knowledge of the Self through a fundamental questioning process of "Who am I" and "Why am I here?" This leads to the discovery of methods and processes that assist the seeker in acknowledging and responding to inner knowledge. Some methods such as introspection, meditation and possibly some form of discipline, such as yoga, assist in providing a fertile ground that encourages personal and transpersonal growth.

Transpersonal Psychology and the Role of the Intuitive Consultant

This section explores some of the more significant parallels between transpersonal concepts and the role of an intuitive consultant. The initials "TC" indicates "transpersonal concepts", and "IC" indicates "intuitive consultant".

1.TC:Transpersonal concepts encompass a wholisitic perspective. The prefix "trans" means "beyond, through, so as to change, on or to the other side of, across." "Personal" meaning "to affect a person; private; relating to the person or body; relating to an individual or his character, conduct, motives." "Persona" means, "an individual's social facade or front, that especially in the analytic psychology of C.G. Jung reflects the role in life the individual is playing." (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1977, pp.1239, 855) Transpersonal concepts, therefore, invite one to move beyond the single unit, perhaps separated state of being, to a more expansive possibility of union and community through change.

IC:The intuitive consultant's entire approach centers upon the "whole picture". During a business engagement, the consultant can detect the personal dimensions of the individual business manager, as well as their function within the company, their interaction among peers, employees, regional offices, competitors, community, government, and environment. The consultant can detect areas that are presently closed, blocked, or resistant to change and make suggestions as to how to gently implement change to keep the organization in an "open, living, system" mode as proposed by Vaughan. In the "wholeness" creating process, the consultant naturally encourages the business manager to take responsibility in the creation of one's environment, personally and communally.

2.TC:Transpersonal concepts acknowledge and respect the broader dimension and potentials of human experience which include the ability to transcend space and time and to honor mystical experience. Transpersonal psychology acknowledges higher perception abilities and the innate opportunities human beings possess to integrate body and mind. Maslow's terms "transcendence" and "peak experience" apply to the term transpersonal. Peak experience ". . . is what you feel and perhaps 'know' when you gain authentic elevation as a human being. We don't know how the peak experience is achieved; it has no simple one-to-one authentic relation with any deliberated procedure; we know only that it is somehow earned." (p.vxi) He outlined thirty-five "various meanings" of transcendence which correspond with the transpersonal experience. A few of the commonly outstanding meanings of transcendence are:

A transcendent experience involves becoming totally absorbed in something or someone "outside of one's own psyche." (Maslow, 1976, p.259) This experience is not limited to the mystics, the professional religious person, artist or intellectuals. The experience is available as well to the businessmen, educators, and politicians who may also experience transpersonal existences.

Transcendence involves moving beyond the selfishness and ego-centering attitudes to move gracefully in the flowing natural world and psychic world. It involves "being in harmony with nature" and living in a receptive, yielding mode which accepts without judgement or fear.

Transcendence invokes being able to remove oneself objectively and detach from other's behaviors which are evil, ignorant, or immature.

Transcendence means developing the ability to be a person and not just a "role". This means taking responsibility for being viewed as different or unpopular and not yielding to others' attempted manipulations or seductions. These characteristics emphasize independence and responsibility over co-dependence, following, or irresponsibility.

Transcendent experience evokes the desire to accept one's destiny and to allow each chapter of life to unfold naturally. One may forego the compulsion to take charge and control persons, events, and environments. This requires the attitude of "having rather than not having; having arrived, rather than moving toward; letting things happen versus making them happen." (p.266) One, therefore, lacks nothing and more easily moves into a state of happiness and gratuitous grace. In other words, individuals already have everything they need.

Once an insight or illuminating experience occurs, one cannot be "naive or innocent or ignorant again in the same way. . ." (p.265) One cannot "un-see". (p265) Once awakened, however, an individual may continue to live casually, or live the ordinary life in an extraordinary way.

Maslow stated the following regarding individual differences: "The highest attitude toward individual differences is to be aware of them, to accept them, but also to enjoy them and finally to be profoundly grateful for them as a beautiful instance of the ingenuity of the cosmos. . ." (p.267) The recognition of commonalities, the sense of belonging, and true humanity prevails overall in transcendence.

Frankl stated that in order to transcend, the individual must be "directed toward someone or something other than oneself . . . the more one forgets himself--by giving himself to a cause, to serve another, or to love--the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself." (1959, p.133)

IC:The intuitive consultant incorporates all of these conditions of transcendence into the responsible implementation of his/her service.

3.TC: Transpersonal concepts acknowledge and respect the "shadow". As Vaughn mentioned, the personal shadow represents one's dark side and embodies such concepts as fear, hatred, or disgust. "At the personal level . . . we project our own unacceptable impulses onto others." Anything seen in others reflects a projection of that from within the individual. Externalizing projections enables one to confront and resolve these shadow characteristics within the Self. One must unmask the shadow Self in order to promote continuous, constructive integration. The individual works on this alone and with assistance from others The shadow also represents the unknown. The best recourse in resolving and understanding the shadow self remains simply to trust, have faith and surrender. Although the shadow lies within our subconscious, it remains within our ability to recognize and to understand it.

IC:The intuitive consultant helps guide the business manager to view the light as well as the dark or shadow aspect. The intuitive consultant may bring to light previously unrecognized shadow areas with the manager at a personal level or with the company and may include such issues as greed and selfishness, misuse of power, unscrupulous control and manipulation, and unbalanced desire for material possessions versus the welfare of the employees and the community. In the path to wholeness, this is a necessary and essential part of the process that helps ensure the manager's, as well as the company's integrity and honor. Consistency among thoughts, clearly-defined intentions, and appropriate, right action guarantees transformation and possible success. The intuitive consultant is a promoter of transformation.

4.TC: Maslow recognized that there must be a ". . . change in our attitude toward the human being and toward his relationship to the world." (p.56) Human beings must be able to adapt easily and readily to the acceleration of life and its changes. He recommended developing a creative attitude and offered fourteen suggestions to help transform one's attitude:

Living in the present - digesting and assimilating the past and foregoing apprehensiveness about the future;

Functioning with innocence - releasing the "shoulds" and "oughts";

Expanding consciousness/awareness - being aware of one's ties to others, freeing oneself from the need to influence, appease or impress;

Losing self-consciousness - foregoing over-analysis, criticizing, judging, evaluating experiences;

Exhibiting constructive discipline - experiencing, without carrying out action, stunts creative work and inspiration;

Focusing on courage, confidence, and strength versus fear, weakness, anxiety, depression, worries, conflict and physical pain - "Absorption casts out fear"(p.64);

Choosing a positive attitude and acceptance through receptivity, non-interference and humility - foregoing judging, rejecting, improving, evaluating;

Trusting versus controlling - practicing relaxation, waiting, receiving without straining, striving or efforting;

Receptiveness - permitting, loving, caring, approving of the nature and style of the matter-at-hand;

Integration of the whole self - unconscious and conscious;

Savoring aesthetic perception versus abstracting by dissecting to find reality - the "map" is not the territory;

Functioning spontaneously - "letting capacities flow forth easily without conscious volition or control";

Fully expressing - involves uniqueness, honesty, naturalness, truthfulness; and lastly,

"Fusing with the world" (p.319) - being in the world but not of it.

IC: These attributes and attitudes cited by Maslow are the attributes and attitudes that the intuitive consultant carries within, or holds as the ideal. Resonating with these qualities would be a must considering the degree of responsibility, integrity, and benevolent intent that the intuitive consultant promotes.

Chapter Five

Business Managers' Responses From Questionnaire

The student/consultant created a questionnaire to capture the responses from the business managers who participated in this research project. The following information reveals why the managers chose to participate, how they feel they benefited, what value the intuitive consultant contributes, timing factors, accuracy, confidentiality, the need for an efficient report format, and the strengths and weaknesses of the intuitive consulting process.

All four managers said they would not have agreed, or would have hesitated to agree, to participate in this research if they had not already known the student/consultant. Manager "AA" mentioned that this was due to the ‘unusual nature' of the study, the time commitment involved, and the inability from the onset to weigh the cost [of services provided by an intuitive consultant] versus potential value.

What factors were the most important in establishing their relationship with the student/intuitive consultant? A list of seven choices were given: previous acquaintance, interest in subject of intuition in business, trust, professionalism, integrity, honesty, academic student. Manager "A" said, "Honesty, trust, integrity, and professionalism" were the most important. Manager "AA" said that "trust is there already because of a previous acquaintance," therefore, one may presume that the issue of "trust" was this manager's most important factor. Manager "B" stated that the most important factor was his interest in the subject of "intuition in business." Manager "C's" responses included, "previous acquaintance [with student], trust, professionalism, integrity, and honesty."

In response to what drew their attention the most, Manager "AA" expressed a curiosity about the impact of applying transpersonal


Current Update as of August 16, 2003 Inspired by The Edgar Cayce Institute for Intuitive Studies Edited by HENRY REED, Ph.D.