The Trap of the Intellectual: a stumbling block on the way to psychic development and spiritual enlightenment

Knowledge is sexy. We live in a world where a great deal of people believe that learning and information can get you far in life. Some individuals think that in order to be a great tarot reader, spiritual leader or psychic you need to read a lot of books and put a lot of time studying in order to advance. 

But this isn’t always the case…

Books are great, but sometimes we use them as an excuse and get stuck in a certain energy zone with our ego telling us that in order to be really great at something we need to study it intensely and learn everything about it. In reality, this is just our ego talking. 

Yes, you can read a lot about a subject but you aren’t going to make many advances unless you actually experience that subject matter.

Let’s take tarot for example. I am in the camp of tarot readers that actually believes you only need one book to start you off on the journey (and of course The Only Tarot Book You’ll Ever Need is a good choice). There are other readers out there that say you must study years from various authors to gain a deeper perspective into tarot and truly be a great reader…but I just don’t feel that way. 

What I believe is that what you need is experience – time and practice actually throwing cards and reading them for yourself and other people. Through this experience you may develop your own definitions and systems for the cards…and those may be different to what the “standard” definition of a card is. It may be a definition that does not exist in any book on tarot. 

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with buying bunches and bunches of tarot books (or books on whatever occult subject you are interested in) but those are only going to get you so far and might actually inhibit your true and natural ability. 

In terms of seeking enlightenment, this idea of knowledge and learning from different sources is actually an energy point that a lot of people get stuck at. It is a very high vibration in itself, but just a little further up the scale becomes a point in which you release the need to know everything and instead just go by experience. 

One of my favorite modern channels is Paul Selig – in interviews people will ask him what his opinion is on other individuals predictions or insights, but he doesn’t have an opinion because he doesn’t know what they are. Instead of reading what other great spiritual leaders are saying, he trusts and pays attention to the information he receives – he trusts the experience and does not require extra knowledge. 

In our modern society education and knowledge is looked upon highly. And it does traverse into a high level energy potential, but it is not the end all be all of everything. There is a point of energy above this level where you find yourself not in need of knowledge but a seeker of experience and true wisdom. 

While education and learning new techniques in any topic is great, it isn’t exactly necessary.