A 10 to 20 week home study online course by James Blacker
From the age of 16 I had a seemingly inherent interest in wisdom.
In fact, from the age of about five I was aware of the issue of my own consciousness not being enough to help me with the challenges which life was presenting at that time – it’s weird but it’s true.
A combination of natural curiosity with the nature of this reality, and a very real need to address some psychological issues generated by the people around me, drove me to find both answers and solutions.
This inquiry took me through a lot of philosophies, some of them rather too laced with magical thinking, and eventually I found that the conclusions I was making were also held by what’s known as an ‘integral’ (all inclusive) worldview, and in 2006 I became an Integral Philosopher.
Through this work I found out what wisdom actually is, and many other things besides.
This also left me with the ability to function as a spiritual teacher if I so wished, but not just that, an Integral spiritual teacher, which brings greater perspectives and makes sense of a lot of areas where other teachings get fluffy and tangled up.
Most importantly of all, it provides an understanding of the difference between spiritual practice and Shadow work.
Between 2006 and 2008 I applied this wisdom to each area of life, from psychology to the physical body to relationships to prosperity, and wrote up the results.
Then I added every single life wisdom insight of value that I’d ever gained into the mix, categorised all that content and created ‘Wisdom, The Course’, an epic 20 module online course.
And in 2013 I created 29 hours of audio material recorded from a class with a real life student; on average over an hour of audio to accompany each module.
Where does your story come in to all this?
Quite likely there are things you’d welcome more insight and clarity on, and almost certainly you’ll have a sense inside you that there’s more you can get out of this life, and out of yourself, and that more is possible.
Here is a brief outline of the course, so you can see if it might be for you.
In this first Module of Wisdom, The Course, we explore and define the very perimeters of ourselves and the main elements of being that any one person has. Imagine yourself as a plot of land that you have just bought. You might well want to walk around the edges of your land to find out exactly what it is that you have got. You might then also be curious to find out what the potentials are for you to live and build upon it, cultivate and develop it. And so it is as we explore and define the person and their reationship to both their own personhood, and to the Universe itself.
With our new-found understanding and insights into our true nature, wisdom and The Authentic Self, we see the two sides of the coin; wisdom and The Ego. We can begin to see how identifying with The Ego, in the spiritual sense, causes us to give our power away to other people or other things as we put both our happiness and our sense of self in their hands.
This, it turns out, has many, indeed total practical implications for the way we can live our lives, and so this Module gets straight to the heart of the task of identifying and releasing The Ego, and the temptation to identfy with various things rather than identifying as the experiencer of them, but from a position of mind that is essentially free of binding, limiting constrictions or self-constraints which are the expression and experience of egoic self-sense fear; the difference between Heaven and Hell – if we understand Hell as an Egoic consciousness rather than a physical location.
In the same way that enlightenment is most effectively explained by two dimensions, love, one of the most fundamental and important resources that we have, is also best explained by at least two, three, or perhaps even more different types or definitions. Indeed, the two main different concepts of love that we shall discuss here correlate very closely to Horizontal and Vertical Enlightenment respectively, because love, like enlightenment, is also about consciousness. They’re not quite identical but they’re very close.
By discussing them additionally as concepts of love, though, we’ll also have the opportunity to strengthen and sharpen those areas of our current thinking which might not otherwise occur by thinking of the attributes of our consciousness and positive thinking only in terms of enlightenment, or wisdom. When we can think in terms of love consciousness power – and in each and every moment – with that understanding we can really begin to take control of our consciousness, and of each aspect of our lives.
In the first Module we began the exercise of identifying and defining all of the areas and dimensions of ourselves that we have, and in this fourth Module we largely finish that particular process, but not so much by defining what we are or where we’re going, but by looking at where we started and where we’ve been; what has caused us to be where and how we are at this stage in our lives, both as an individual, and even within the human race and history. How did self-sense fear take hold? What is it that caused us to forget our Authentic Self, or stopped us living entirely as our best, fearless, loving selves, knowing exactly what we want and how we want to be?
This investigation really allows us to consciously make sense of everything, perhaps for the first time, and to put it all into some kind of overall context, and this Module will expand and explain all of this as we address the notion of adulteration, and introduce the hugely important concept of The Shadow.
What is any one human being capable of? And are we engaging our own potential passionately, or sitting on the internal gifts that we have? This Module explains two very important concepts to full self-expression, fulfillment and achievement; the essentially unlimited nature of our own human potential, and the life-giving value of re-kindling our real relationship to True Education.
True Education is a self-affirming gem to consider because it expands and perhaps even breaks down the psychological barriers to growth, becoming and discovery that may have been embedded and deep-seated by our conventional understanding of education as simply being about academic study, qualifications and school. Indeed, many people do not even like to think about their school days, learning and such like, and this itself is testament to the falsely conditioned relationship to our own inner potential and naturally curious nature that our current culture has. So if we are to embrace our potential then we need a better, truer, fuller and more user-friendly definition of ‘education’ – one that doesn’t turn most people off before they’ve begun.
The sixth Module is all about knowing and getting to know our ‘Inner World’. We are all very familiar with our Outer World – what we usually simply refer to as ‘the world’, but we are perhaps not so conscious of the inner. This Module is all about getting an awareness of the Inner World that is as strong and clear as the Outer World awareness is, and getting a good, even balance with that between the two.
In acquiring this considerable interior awareness we will consider a full range of internal activities. The first of these is an examination of Behaviour, Perception and Interpretation, as we look at behaviour in relation to designing our lives, perception in terms of some of the functions that determine what we actually notice, and interpretation in terms of how we interpret life and events according to the ‘lens’ of our beliefs systems.
Most people, and society itself, generally seem to accept that positive thinking is the key to success, and that negative thinking is generally what keeps people down, yet this is neither approached with any great clear conviction of focus and understanding, nor given the supreme importance that its phenomenon warrants. Beliefs, and psychology as their collective, are the first starting point for success in any field.
Continuing on the theme of mastering the ‘Inner World’, this classical Module is all about defining the various areas of beliefs that we can have about ourselves, about the world, about other people, about our bodies, and so on, and making sure that they are in alignment with what is natural and positive, real and true.
The body hasn’t always been respected in some traditional circles, with many thinking that it is second best to enlightenment – with the result, as pointed out in this Module on Body Wisdom, that many previous supposed ‘masters’ suffered crippling diseases and painful deaths. However, that view is now dying out in the modern age, and, if you look at any well-known modern spiritual teacher, for example, you will see a physical health programme or practice that sits alongside respect for the mind. According to this Course, good health is indeed ’spiritual’, so as part of a fully comprehensive course of wisdom we’re going to see how we can harness it.
The ninth is another classical subject Module of Wisdom, this time on emotions.
At the centre of everything in our lives is the emotional context that goes with everything we do – or don’t do. Our ability to tame and control our emotions is therefore pivotal to achieving and fulfillment, and this Module addresses that with a whole overview approach, to make sure that we understand a) that we can control and indeed are the maker of all of our own emotions, and b) that we realise that every perceived negative emotion is actually a diamond in the rough – it contains a positive gift for us – always.
In order for a person to have this ability or skills for facing emotions, there also needs to be the basis of inner strength from which to approach the activity of looking at uncomfortable emotions – and this is why the first few earlier Modules of Wisdom The Course are placed before this Module on emotions, because they lay the foundations for the wisdom and strength of self which is necessary and required to make sense of otherwise threatening emotions.
As well as being honest with others, being honest with oneself is also an incredibly important attribute for success. Confidence, also, is often confused with skill – competence, so this phenomenon can also be understood much better. Throw in the ability for Faith, which becomes relevant when one wishes to go beyond The Ego, and you have a whole raft of areas in which we can benefit from developing and sustaining our powers of self-knowledge and self-honesty, all ultimately leading to an integrally enlightened experience in which, with practice, we are in total accord with ourselves – and it is this which leads to deep and genuine fulfillment.
We also call it ‘integrally enlightened’ because we wish to be healed and true to ourselves in relative terms, as well as having that authentic relationship or understanding of the absolute. There are many enlightened people who’s lives ‘on the ground’, as it were, are a mess with regard to such things as money, sex, relationships and health, and really this serves no-one. So an integrated approach is to manage all of these areas of truth.
The syllabus for Modules Eleven and Twelve comprehensively address a definition of success, what True Success is, and the mastery of one’s desires moment to moment. Modules Eleven and Twelve are effectively one double-sized Module, and they build on the content of the previous Modules to make full sense of this area of life. As the central crux and thrust of most people’s lives, to achieve their desires and goals, this is often the subject that most people want to get the best possible handle on. It’s important to note then that these Modules work effectively as powerful understandings because of the build-up work that has gone on before them, and, indeed, also thanks to the next lessons in the upcoming Modules. Emotions, body, career, interactions with others, forgiveness, harnessing genius, mastery of one’s use of time – it’s ALL part of the same picture.
The first task is to define what desire actually is and explain the nature of it, which is actually very basic and very simple. We call this discovery a ‘Eureka!’ moment, when one begins to understand the order of things and the automatic and natural way that self-fulfillment comes about when one’s pre-conceived obstructions are out of the way. There is nothing magical about this though. It’s not magical thinking. It is simply all about getting one’s consciousness aligned with being true to self in the relevant ways that one can; with regard to Ego and with regard to one’s Shadow.
Continuing on from the previous one, this Module develops the ideas of True Success and The Mastery of Desire further with deeper detailed explorations of such concepts as The example of a ‘Desire-Fear Alloy’, Good compromise and bad compromise, ‘Purifying’ one’s thinking, one’s Consciousness, What’s the Reflection?: Clear mind, clear pool and Weeding out Self-Seeking Desires.
The main essence or thrust of this is to do with a deeper understanding of The Feedback System, and enabling ourselves to work with it in the most effective of ways. We’ll look at this in detail, noting a couple of ways of approaching it, and also noting some of the pitfalls that people’s thinking can fall into in the act of such things as ‘Conscious Creation’ and The Law of Attraction. This Module explains what The Law of Attraction is, and, equally as importantly, what it isn’t.
We finish this considerable piece of work on True Success: The Mastery of Desire by listing twelve of the main principles of good creative action towards achieving desires.
The first Part of Wisdom The Course (Modules 1 to 12) covers the individual’s relationship to his or her own self. However, we also live in a world of other people, and so this second Part of Wisdom shows the way to success in that department.
Our experiences with other people can indeed be Heaven, or they can be Hell, depending on whether we approach them with our Authentic Self’s agenda, or our Ego’s agenda. If our relationships with other people are often strained and unpleasant, this is a sure-fire sign that we are trying to get out of them some False Self sense of emotional or psychological reward to satisfy our nagging Ego, either directly, or indirectly. This is a main area where, for better or for worse, our Intent manifests into our Karma, and we will cover both in this Module, and throughout the whole of Part Two.
Communication is the basis of all inter-personal relationship and success, and as such it is something that we cover here in great detail in this Module Fourteen, both in a conventional sense, and in a wisdom-informed way. Both are important.
Understanding wisdom, as is covered in the first Modules of the Course, sheds new light on communications and gives us a new perspective on them which empowers us to not be bound or constricted by the need for them to go a certain way. This frees us up to communicate effectively, and defines an Ego-aware approach to communication. As part of this we shall also introduce the concept of ‘Divine Schizophrenia’.
Furthermore, combining this with an understanding of wisdom and Karma and Intention (as covered in the previous Module) allows us to see all communications, both verbal and non-verbal, in a way that is easy to deal with and manage, as simple expressions of our consciousness.
The syllabus for Module Fifteen covers Relationship Wisdom, and with our understanding of communication and Karma and Intent from the previous two Modules, we have the basis for addressing what we might think of as ‘Marriages made in Heaven’. Whether those be literal, conventional marriages, or simply great natural and uncontrived or unmanufactured connections, we have built our understanding of Ego-aware communication and interaction from previous Modules so that we have a basis here for insight as to what relationships, or a ‘match made in Heaven’ may actually be. And because the same principles apply to all kinds of relationships, including social and business as well as personal, we can see how all of our relationships of all kinds can be fruitful and fulfilling with the same quality of harmony and success.
The great philosopher and scholar, Socrates, first explained that when we refuse forgiveness we punish ourselves, and that we are actually the ones we continue to hurt. If we honour and pay attention to this truth wherever it is relevant to us we can see the ways in which we can give full expression to our own capacity for love – self-love and self-honouring, as much as anything – by releasing the blocks to effective forgiveness.
This Module looks at the ways in which we can work with our understanding of those things which we think we cannot forgive so that we can return the power back to ourselves, and also return to the point of power of the present moment. We cannot do anything about the past, but the relevance of not forgiving is about what is going on with us ourselves, and in the now moment, with our thinking. And so it is this that is the current issue, and because it relates to us, now, it is something which we can do something about.
With almost all of our studies done, we can now get into the nuts and bolts of how to apply oneself to maximum effect in one’s life and work in a way that applies wisdom to achieve prosperity and fulfillment. This is an area that many struggle with, thinking that money isn’t spiritual, or avoiding the economic reality altogether. Again, though, we’re simply applying simple wisdom principles; being true to self, understanding and removing the negative impact of the self-seeking and attaching Ego and other artificial blocks, integrating with others with integrity and communicating oneself accurately, finding and making the most of one’s natural, innate talents, expanding and embracing one’s human potential, maximising prosperity through unity and co-operation, and listening to one’s voice from within for guidance, compelling purpose and clarity of action. All this results in deep fulfillment and the most effective person we can be.
Sensory Acuity is a rather wonderful name given to the degree to which an individual is in touch with those factors of their own self, and around them in their exterior world, to which they can respond appropriately, pursue their chosen outcomes, influence their experiences and design their life. It is about how well attuned you are to yourself.
The process of information coming into you, being processed, and you responding to it, is one that is going on all the time, constanly acting to shape and define our lives, interacting with our thoughts, actions, behaviours, beliefs, determining the quality of our communications with others and with ourselves, and so on. Therefore, the extent to which we can harness this activity, and get a hold of it – and then continually maximise it – is the maker of your relationship to your own ‘Inner Compass’ to life, health, happiness and true success. This Inner Compass goes all the way back to the source of The Authentic Self’s Wisdom itself; your most awake and best you.
Module Nineteen is all about a very natural, yet very rarely talked about and even more rarely used human attribute; Genius.
In this Module we consider what Genius is, and what it isn’t. We discuss why it is not as widespread and commonly used as it can be, and how we can access it’s constant and bountiful gifts. Everyone can harness Genius, and this Module will tell you how, and why.
There is no downside to Genius. It is totally free, extremely beneficial, and can bring an extra element of creativity, invention, opportunity and light to any life. By the end of your reading this Module, your sense of self and of your own potential for Genius will have been prompted so sufficiently for you to begin to develop and cultivate your own relationship to it.
The final Module of Wisdom The Course, Module Twenty, The Mastery of Time, focusses fully on a variety of issues and wisdoms relating to this most mysterious and enigmatic of subjects. In this final presentation is both the enigmatic side of time, and the practical, everyday, functional aspects of time. This includes an address of the capacity for living in the moment, and the freedom from time that comes from awareness of that part of us that is aware of time – and is therefore also free of time, to The Mastery of Timing, and the practical side of our life’s experience of time, from increasing free time by removing ‘Egoic time’ and ‘False Self time’, managing our time better, The Mastery of Patience through Right Action, free time by design, and even, finally, thoughts on the length of time of our life, as we challenge our pre-exisiting notions of life being our ‘three score years and ten’, and even what we can do with that time.
Wisdom The Course now comes with a special offer of 20 Bonus Audio MP3s – one to accompany each Module.
These audios were created in 2013 by recording ‘in-class’ course modules with an online student, and are included with the Course.
Audio MP3 to accompany Module One (visual representation)
The Online Wisdom Course also comes with a series of Further Features, including;
You can print these off from the PDF files provided and do at your leisure.
Optional written exercises are outlined at the end of each Module as part of the course. These subjects and activities are specially selected to get right at the heart of all of the crucial aspects and areas of life and of one’s own thinking.
If you are working with a printer you can print off Exercise Sheets for each of these from the PDF files provided, either from the exercise page itself, or via the ‘Exercise, Test Yourself & Journal Sheets’ option from the Main Menu.
Even if you aren’t working with a printer, you can still do the exercises on a piece of plain paper, as the instruction paragraphs for each exercise are given on the relevant pages.
In addition to the specific exercises, more general journaling can be done through the use of three additional Journal Sheets provided.
Journaling is an excellent way to get at one’s thoughts more effectively, and the clarity of thoughts derived from this practice can be used to create more desirable daily outcomes.
The first two are for basic journaling at the end of a day, or following a dream after sleeping, and the third is available for use as a targeted focus for anything which you think or feel may be of use to you.
Again, these can also be done on plain paper if you don’t have a printer, as the ‘lead in’ sentences or prompts are provided.
A further PDF of a spare lined page which can be used for extra space when doing both exercises and journals is also provided.
As well as the general thought processes that will naturally take place during your time away from these pages, additional optional awareness exercises are planned at the end of each Module, identifying the most useful key insights which can be focussed on between reading or writing sessions.
These are some of the self-awareness or general awareness exercises that anyone who wishes to take full control of their understanding of themselves and of life will do as a natural course.
These exercises can be effortless, by which I mean struggle-free, if you are inspired to do them by a passionate desire to know yourself and to become and discover more. You can even think of them as an integral part of the adventure of your own consciousness and self.
“What you measure, you can manage” – Chris Newton
Each Module of the course finishes with a short Test Yourself questions section, for which answers are also provided later on.
Even if you don’t think you understand everything, don’t worry about having a go at the Test Yourself questions.
This exercise is about developing and attaining understanding, which is actually enhanced by attempting the questions, whether correctly or incorrectly, so only good can come from trying them, and if you keep at it you will soon be able to answer them once you get used to them, and this will help you to learn, too.
To enable you to focus fully into the material itself, Wisdom The Course is designed for a full screen viewing experience.
Use The Full Screen Feature by Pressing F11
This enables you to see just the course when you are reading, rather than any browser buttons, browser application interfaces, or status bars.
Press F11 on your keyboard to toggle there and back between full screen viewing mode and normal screen. All the pages of the course are designed to work and look great in full screen mode.
To remove any status bars, etc., you can also uncheck these on your web browser’s View drop list before pressing F11. You can return to the normal screen view at any time by pressing F11. Some browsers may vary.
Wisdom has some 52 Key Message screens to reinforce many of the most important aspects and insights.
In alignment with the Full Screen experience, and to remove the need for any cluttering over the Key Message page displays, an ‘invisible’ navigation link system has been devised so that you can move to the previous page of a Key Message screen by clicking on the left half of its image, and move to the next page of the course by clicking on the right half of the screen.
If you have accessibility requirements you can still navigate, as text-based links will appear for any browsers that are set to disable style sheets (disabling style sheets is not recommended for general use).
You will be emailed automatically with a link to a web page for downloading the course and you’ll also be redirected to that same page after purchase.
You will have plenty of opportunities to download the course, so you can always come back to that email later if you wish.
There are 20 audio MP3 files to download and in addition to that are just two other files – a ReadMe.txt file and a file called WisdomTheCourse.exe.
Once you have downloaded the files simply double-click on WisdomTheCourse.exe (from e.g. Windows Explorer or Finder on a Mac) and it will ask you to choose (or create) a folder on your computer to store the files in.
When you’ve done that, to launch the course just click on the file called index.htm and the Wisdom course will open in your default web browser. It’s now offline on your machine so you don’t need to be connected to the internet to run the course.
You might also like to create a shortcut to the index.htm file on your desktop for convenience, as I have done.
If you require support you can always email me at james@kissingconsciousness.com.
Here’s a print screen of the download page:
In 2008 when this course was finished and produced, digital content was not built for mobile devices such as phones and tablets. Of course, that’s not ideal for 2022, and so the Wisdom course is about to be redesigned and rebuilt for those devices.
When it is, it will be priced somewhere around £400. Until such time though, the existing course is available at a greatly reduced price for PC and Mac desktop and laptop users.
To tailor everything to serve you I’m giving you a 90 day 100% money back satisfaction guarantee with your purchase of the Wisdom course.
If you’re not perfectly satisfied with the course within 90 days you can email me and I’ll refund you with no questions asked.
I want you to know that you’re perfectly comfortable with all Kissing Consciousness courses and I care about your investment in yourself.
(£160 value)
In 2013, I recorded over 29 hours of audio of a live class in which I taught the course to a student, Judith. This provided on average over an hour of audio MP3 accompaniment for each module of the Wisdom course.
Most of this audio is almost transcript read form the course, and some of it is questions, answers and discussion. As a result, it provides both an audio option to consuming the course, and some insights and coverage of typical questions and experiences of growth.
(£144 value)
As a further bonus to the course, you’ll also get the option of two 45 minute, one to one, personal support video calls with me.
During these calls you can ask questions or just chat informally about the topics which interest you the most, or which you’re interested in pursuing further.
If you wish, you can of course always make notes as you go about what questions you might like to ask.
I recommend that after the first four modules is a good point to take up the first call option, as these are the core teachings.
Currently my coaching sessions are charged at £120 for 75 minutes, and there are very few people who understand this comprehensive range of topics to this degree, so this is very considerable opportunity to get rare expert support with the areas of life that inspire you most.
Order The Wisdom Course Here