My message today is summarized by the famous Latin phrase for "out of the depths." I chose it because it is eminently applicable for the approach needed in so many of our most cherished enterprises: healing, career, spirituality, investment, romance, artistic accomplishment, and more. For the most important things in our lives usually make their appearance only "out of the depths," and many of us come to believe we are cursed by bad luck simply because we are unwilling to pursue our goals that far.

A few examples will illustrate my point...

Over the years, numerous sincere clients have requested ultra-potent, sure-fire methods of meditation, effective ways to focus their concentrative powers sufficiently to penetrate the illusions of mundane reality. When I question these petitioners at length, I often find they recount similar histories – and thus experience similar frustrations. Almost every one has appealed to one guru or spiritual advisor after another. Each client has received clear instructions, practiced them assiduously for a few weeks or months, grown bored, abandoned the disciplines they had initially embraced with so much energy, and then sought out yet another exciting teacher and method.

Each month, several clients request my help with chronic ailments that have ostensibly proved refractory to every known modality of treatment. In virtually all cases, after adopting promising healing regimens they have abruptly stopped, justifying their actions with various excuses or rationalizations. In not a few cases, distant healers who had proved their effectiveness were summarily discharged. Thus, these individuals resumed their suffering - along with their perennially futile quests for wellness.

In my practice, no calendar quarter is complete without petitions for romantic fulfillment. I can satisfy most of these with ease, but there are inevitably a few who find nothing but disappointment. Their profiles are remarkably alike: one promising partner after another has been tossed aside because of what would normally be considered insignificant defects or very human shortcomings. Even when seemingly perfect partners are located, the client suddenly becomes wary of long-term commitment or embarking upon a frightening voyage into the unknown. The sorrow experienced by such people is truly immense, since they are repeatedly torn apart by loneliness that is cosmically profound.

Getting what we desire can fruitfully be compared with digging a hundred-foot well. The wise experience success because, having reasonable assurance of water beneath, they drill a single hole straight down the full one hundred feet. However, the unsuccessful universally employ another, infinitely more dramatic, tactic: they will dig a hundred ten-foot holes. Thus, the latter group actually works ten times as hard as the former but - amazingly! - still finds itself coming up ninety percent short. Is it any wonder they are convinced that storm clouds of bad luck over shadow them everywhere? 

First, understand that what you are seeking probably lies in the depths. Then, take realistic measures to actually get it out!