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strength, for a solution to our difficulties. Instead, we think that something in the outer environment, if possessed somehow, will give us what we want. The futility of this approach, however, should be obvious to us all. What person or thing could we possibly make our own so that this search for security might come to an end? Neither the most beautiful woman in the world, the most handsome man, the most fashionable clothes, the most precious jewel, nor the most ingenious new idea has the power to quench our desires as long as we remain incomplete inside. As long as we think that a refuge from life’s difficulties can be found outside ourselves, there is no way that we can experience true peace of mind. Certainly the possession of wealth and power is no solution. The high rate of alcoholism, divorce, and suicide in the so-called developed nations of the world shows that mere material possessions do not satisfy restlessness.
     
    Even if we turn away from material objects and toward some higher spiritual reality for a solution to our problems, our limiting self-conceptions can still severely restrict whatever benefits we may gain. It is common for people who take a religious path to feel that there is an unbridgeable gap between themselves, stranded down here in the mud, and some higher being way up in the sky somewhere. The lower our opinion of our own potential, the more pitiful are the prayers that we make. We may cry, “Please save me, God!”
    “Please help me, Buddha!” but as long as we remain wrapped in our own self-pity it is questionable how much benefit we can receive.
     
    TH E CH ALLENGE OF EX P LORI NG I NNER SP ACE
     
    The tantric technique of identifying ourselves as a deity is a direct opponent to this self-pitying attitude. The more we can identify ourselves as having a body and mind of pure clear light, the more we open ourselves up to the beneficial forces existing inside and outside ourselves. We have already mentioned how, through creative visualization, we can call upon inborn forces of healing and cure ourselves of even the most dreadful diseases. As this example shows, our body and mind are dependent upon one another and, of the two, it is our mind that is the primary shaper of our experience. If the mental image we have of ourselves is positive, then our actions are naturally filled with self-confidence, and the impression we make upon others is one of strength and vitality. On the other hand, if we have a low opinion of ourselves, we appear weak and ineffective, attract many problems and easily fall victim to accident and disease.
     
    Over and over again our experiences prove that it is our mental outlook that is fundamentally responsible for whether we are successful or unsuccessful, healthy or ill, attractive or ugly, happy or depressed. Nevertheless, when we face difficulties in our life we habitually look outside ourselves for a solution.
    Instead of dealing directly with our mind itself and developing an attitude that will transform our experiences for the better, we take a much more superficial approach and try to manipulate our outer circumstances in an attempt to solve our problems. But this never brings lasting satisfaction. It does not matter how many external aspects of our life we change; if these changes are not accompanied by a deep mental transformation, they can only be successful momentarily. Sooner or later our problems will reassert themselves and we will be as uncomfortable and dissatisfied as before.
     
    Although we all have a fundamentally pure nature, it is not easy to get in touch with it. The gross way our mind ordinarily functions drowns out this deeper, more subtle vibration to such an extent that we generally remain unaware of its existence. If we truly want to connect with this subtle essence, we need to quiet all distractions and loosen the hold our ordinary appearances and conceptions have on us. In other words we need to create space, space in which our