The art of inquiry describes an effective approach to finding answers using the pendulum as a tool to enhance access to unconscious resources. A common term for accessing information from the unconscious is intuition. There are three main types of intuition.
The Three Types of Intuition
A researcher, Rollin McCraty, has identified three types of intuition:
1. Implicit Knowledge – This type sources it’s information from past experiences. At an unconscious level patterns are stored and later matched to current circumstances. As a consequence, inferences can come into our awareness that we experience as intuition. We doe not consciously remember the past circumstance or what it implies. Experts often use this type of intuition. Another form of this type of intuition is called insight. We may be pondering a problem for some time before an unexpected solution pops into our mind. Unconscious processes are working to put together past experiences and finally come up with a resolution. This efficacy of this type of intuition is based on the accuracy of the past knowledge and whether it is appropriate to the current situation. In other words, this type of intuition may or may not be helpful.
2. Energetic Sensitivity – This type sources information through the nervous system, perceiving energetic signals from the environment. A common example is to sense someone is staring at you, then turn around to see someone staring at you. The human body generates electric and magnet fields, and those fields can carry such information as emotional state. We are capable of receiving and interpreting that information. The resulting experience can be an institutive feeling about the person. Another perception can be of the earths magnet field thus conferring the ability to sense earth quakes before they happen (something we have often seen in animals).
3. Non-local Intuition – This type sources information that does not fall in the previous two categories. It is not based on knowledge in memory or perception of energies in the surrounding environment. Non-local means both distant in terms of space as well as in time. Some typical examples are a mother knowing when their child is trouble at some distant location. Another is to suddenly think of someone you haven’t thought of in years, then have them call or show up out of the blue. Experiments have been made that prove people react to disturbing pictures before they are actually shown the pictures. The information is first received by the heart, then it sends a message to the brain, then the brain initiates the physiological response in the body. The key here is that it is heart that is the gateway to a fields of information that lie outside the bounds of space and time. This is sometimes called Heart Intelligence. It is good to note that the heart sends the brain much more information than the brain sends to the heart. The term “heart felt” refers to that experience of knowing that is most congruent and most sincere.
Targeting Sources
The first key to the art of inquiry is to determine what source you are calling on. Is it your implicit knowledge, energetic sensitivity, or to a non-local field accessed through the heart. For most people, they are implicitly seeking access to their answers through the heart, to gain access to knowledge beyond their own memories and sensory perceptions.
However, it is wise to realize that many possible fields of information exist in non-local reality. Most people, again implicitly, intend to access fields that are in alignment with their inner nature and the goals of their soul’s fulfillment. But it can be argued that is it better to be explicit than rely on blind hope that the proper source will come through.
For example, if you want your answers to come through your heart and be formed by your inner higher self, in alignment with your highest goals and destiny, you attach a name to that on invoke it prior to posing your question. Or you may want the agent of your answer to be the Spirit of the Everything. Or you may what advice from a spiritual leader or from a spiritual tradition. You may be seeking something needed by another person and you wish to call on their higher self for the answer. The key is in the forming of intent, start with naming the source your inquiry is targeted at.
Formulating Questions
Avoid Negatives
The way that we know something is to feel its presence in our psyche, then measure it. That can’t be done with the notion of something not being there. So for example instead of asking “should I stop jogging”, you could ask “should I keep jogging”.
Be specific
A good question anticipates how the literal unconscious mind might answer. For example you might ask “Is it beneficial for me to jog?” You get the answer Yes. In an attempt to verify the answer, you might rephrase and ask “Is jogging harmful for me?” You then also get the answer Yes. This would seem to be a contradiction but both answers can be correct to the literal unconscious mind. The right amount of jogging may be healthy, but jogging to long or too often may cause injury
To get a more precise answer the question needs to be more precise. “On a scale of 0 to 10 ten, how beneficial would it be for me to jog 20 minutes a day, 4 days a week?” “On a scale of 0 to 10 ten, how harmful would it be for me to jog 20 minutes a day, 4 days a week?” You now have a measure of the positive and negative aspects for a specific regime.
Try more than one way of askingWhen doing this, your imagination is tasked with looking at the situation from a different perspective. Coupled with the intent to be specific, one can explore various nuances of the situation.
For example if you are considering entering a relationship with someone and simply ask “should I…” and look for a yes/no/maybe answer, hopefully you will get a maybe answer. Because you have not brought any specific priorities or issues to bear on the question, how meaningful is the answer? In this case a series of questions, each focusing on an aspect of the potential relationship would be helpful.
Preparing for the Answers
Having confidence in the pendulum process is of course important. It removes the distraction of constantly questioning and judging the process as it proceeds. The more peaceful, neutral, and receptive the mind is, the clearer the channel is from the unconscious. Gaining this confidence is a combination of understanding the process and accumulating experience.
Key to having a receptive mind is establishing an effective relationship with the answers that emerge. For example, it is not wise to assume every answer is “true”. There is too much room for error, both in one’s interpretation and from the source of the information. It is therefore advised that one assume all answers are either true, false or incomplete. This creates a neutral space for any answer to emerge. Once an answer has emerged, you then have the space to judge its validity for you by drawing on all your resources.
Another way to prepare is to realize that answers may arise that you don’t want. You may for example ask a question then feel very uncomfortable or fearful and find that no clear answer is emerging. Or you recognize what answer might be emerging but feel you can not or do not want to accept it. This fear can stop the process even if the feared answer was not the actual answer. A useful strategy for this situation is to simply ‘try on’ the feared answer and experience all the feelings and consequences if you were to accept it as true. This may un-charge the question sufficiently to get things moving again.
Finally, keep in mind that there may be no answer. The question might be the wrong question to ask or be unanswerable. Or the issue may be one of timing. It could be too early to answer. Or the source simply might not have the answer. It is important to accommodate this possibility.
Evaluating Answers
There are many things you may want to take into account when evaluating an answer. Your first impression will typically be a felt sense in the body. Notice it. Does it feel like certainty? Does your whole body-mind feel congruent? Does it feel like your heart is on board? Or does it feel suspicious?
Suspicion can be explored by first verifying your source. Then perhaps ask questions that would help clarify the answer. Be more specific, or ask in a different way.
Next bring to bear all other resources you have to evaluate the information. You may know or discover certain facts that invalidate the answer. Scrutinize the pendulum answer as much as you would if it came from an anonymous source.