Power of Healing Prayer

Heeding the Wake-Up Call of Terrorism
“There can be no sides in a round world.”

When the horror of September 11th smashed into most of our consciousness I had the good fortune to be shielded from its impact because I was miles deep and miles high in the Yosemite Sierra on my yearly quest for vision retreat. I was on my first day of fasting and solitude when the planes crashed. The huge granite mountains surrounding me formed a protective circle in which I saw and heard only the magnificent beauty of rock, sky, and wild, clear blue sky, bubbling brooks and the swish of birds swooping past my head. The last blossoming wild flowers of the summer season were resting in the warm Sierra sunshine and the cold winds of winter were still just over the next ridge. It was a serene setting of peaceful calm immersed in nature’s wondrous creativity in whatever direction my eye would rest.

That Tuesday night I had a dream in which I saw young people meeting in circles around the United States singing a prayer song about peace. They found strength for their mission by first going on pilgrimage to places of power in nature, such as the one I was in, and participating in rituals based on Native American spirituality, especially the Hopi, the people of peace. At the end of their prayer song, they would take tobacco out of a leather bag attached to their waists by a thong, say a prayer of thanks-giving to the Great Spirit, the Great Mystery for the gift of life and the gift of peace, then throw the tobacco out in front of them as a blessing to the people present and to all people all over the world. The song they were singing stayed in my mind and kept singing through me most of the night, even after the dream ended.

We are praying, we are praying, we are praying
– Peace in the World.
We are praying, we are praying, we are praying
– Peace in Our Hearts.
We are praying, we are praying, we are praying
Peace for All  People, Peace for All People.

At dawn the next day the peace chant started singing through me again as soon as I sat up to greet the rising sun. Four days later the four other questors and I came out of our mountain sojourn, got in our cars and drove about 45 minutes to a gas station to fuel up. I went in to the little general store to pay for my gas and asked the cashier if by chance he knew the score of last Sundays 49′er game. He looked at my like I was crazy but told me the score. Then he said, “Didn’t you hear the news?” “What news?” I replied, “I’ve been in the mountains for a week and you are the first person I have spoken to besides my companions since I came back out.” “Didn’t you hear about the terrorists?” he blurted. “The ones who blew up the World Trade Center in New York and attacked the Pentagon?!”

Needless to say, we were all stunned we caught up on all the details on the radio on the five hour drive back to the San Francisco Bay area. Before our re-entry back to civilization our last prayer together was giving thanks for the beauty, peace and teachings we had all received during our solo time, and for strength to integrate these teachings as we returned to our lives back home. Little did we know at that time that the ante had been raised or of the challenges that awaited us.

Since returning I have carefully observed my own reactions as well as those around me. I have also followed the mainstream and alternative media, and the huge array of email interchange that has flooded the internet. I grieve for all those good people who lost their lives and I grieve for their families who now must go on living without them. I grieve for the little children on those flights. What brings someone to such a point that they can drive the lives of innocent children straight into a horrendous, terrifying, violent nightmarish end? What happened to short out the instinct to keep danger from a child? What happened to short out that instinct in Nazi soldiers who herded mothers and children into the gas chambers? What happened to short out the American cavalry when in the dead of winter they pushed the Cherokee onto what came to be called the “Trail of Tears”? What short-circuited Harry Truman when he looked past the fact that hundreds of thousand of women, children and old people would be vaporized if he dropped the Atom Bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima? What is there in each of us that can over-ride love and justify violence toward others?

Most certainly every one of the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center must be brought to justice. Their acts are a crime against humanity and they must be held accountable for it and punished for their deeds. But this will not bring peace, or security to our shores. And that is what I want, more than anything. I want security for us to be able to go on with our lives without having to worry about being blown up, poisoned, gassed, or whatever else terrorists can dream up to gain their revenge. I have a grandchild due to be born in a few weeks and I want that child to be able to grow up and fulfill their purpose in taking birth. I believe the best bet to have that kind of security is to create a world in which there are no longer conditions affecting people that drive them to commit such horrendous acts. In other words, we need to create a world that is a win-win for everyone, or else we will never be free of the violence that envelopes the planet that enveloped our society before the planes crashed into the World Trade Center.

Martin Luther King put it right on the line when he said–We are all “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly…In the struggle for human dignity….We must not succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives “.  King adds that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.”

In marshalling our stand Dr. King reminds us that “love is mankind’s most potent weapon for personal and social transformation “. He goes on to say that ” the law of revenge solves no social problems ” and that “only goodness can drive out evil and only love can conquer hate “. For “returning hate for hate only multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that…Forces that threaten to negate life must be challenged by courage. Courage is an inner resolution to go forward in spite of obstacles and frightening situations…This requires the exercise of a creative will that enables us to hew out a stone of hope from a mountain of fear.” Dr. King affirms that “hate is rooted in fear and the only cure for fear-hate is love”, because “hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.”

The acts of the terrorists constitute a wake-up call for us as a nation to begin to address the conditions that lead the people of so many countries to despise us. I think the vast majority of US citizens have been living in ignorance and denial of the role our foreign policy has played since the end of World War II. I think we need to educate ourselves about those policies and the violent impact and suffering they have caused for people, innocent people just like the ones in the World Trade Center–in Chile, in Columbia, in Guatemala, in Iraq, in Palestine, and the list goes on. If we really want healing, if we really want a peaceful world, then we need to break through our own denial and face, as well, our historical shadow and the truths of our creation as a nation. While the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights represent a noble philosophy and deserve our full support for their democratic ideals and affirmation of freedom, individual liberty and justice for all, we have in fact been living in a kind of schizophrenic trance since the very beginning.

“The acts of the terrorists constitute a wake-up call for us as a nation to begin to address the conditions that lead the people of so many countries to despise us.”

To wake up, we need to listen to wisdom elders like Martin Luther King and the Dali Lama who says–”instead of just blaming, we need to look for causes and seek understanding”. We need to practice “compassionate listening”, especially to the “other”– those who are angry with us, so we can learn about the pain under their anger and where it comes from. We need to listen to Black Americans, and to Native Peoples of the Americas, we need to listen to the people of Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, the Puerto Ricans and Hawaiians whose islands we are using for test bombing. We need to listen to the “collateral damage” of 500,000 women and children of Iraq being killed by the indiscriminate bombing and economic boycott of ten years by our country.

We need to listen to the children in the third world who work for a few dollars per day making fancy athletic shoes so we can be “weekend warriors” and corporate executives can pocket millions. We need to listen to the mother’s of the “disappeared” in Argentina whose lost their husbands, sons and fathers to a government we supported that herded thousands of people into a stadium to be brutalized, tortured, murdered and then disposed of — as many as ’0,000 unaccounted for. As acts of terror now come home to our shores we react with justifiable horror as Islamic fanatics murder “our” innocents. Where was the sense of horror when it was being committed on foreign shores? What’s different? Our capital investments were at stake in those other countries so our policy was to ignore that terror since it served our economic interests. What kind of morality is that?

We need to listen to the truth that while our nation was forged with high ideals it was also forged in violence, racism, genocide, and theft of the grandest order–both of land from the indigenous peoples and of the freedom of millions of Black Africans enslaved to our yoke for the purpose of making money through their unrewarded labor. The effects of these acts are still with us today and until we own up to it we will never have peace and security in this land. Add to this mix the fact that we use 60% of the world’s resources but are only 6% of the world’s population which we use to our advantage while the rest of the world suffers, i.e., millions of children die yearly of starvation while we continue to spend millions of dollars on the latest model car, hair product, cereal, clothing, etc., not to mention the millions of dollars advertising spends yearly to get us to buy these things we don’t really need. Do we not see our country, since its inception, has murdered the innocent, here and abroad, but when someone from the outside turns that same murderous disregard on our innocent ones, we condemn them as evil incarnate, never facing or owning up to our own dark shadow? No wonder so many people in other countries see us as the bad guy, the oppressor, yes, even the terrorist.

We are urged by our leaders in Washington to “get on with our lives”, “get back to normal”, start flying again, traveling, buying, spending. Whoa, is it just me thinking that what we consider “normal” is part of the problem in the first place? Normal got blown apart on September 11th and the deaths of the 6,000 innocent people cry out not just for revenge, not even just for justice, but instead to create the kind of a world where something like that never happens again, to any body, anywhere. I agree with the politician who said, “Instead of making things normal again, we need to make things better!”. Now is the time to come forward with what this “better” would look like.

And who would it be better for?  Just people in the United States?  Just my grandchild?   Or would it include all people, all grandchildren all, over the globe? The only way we are going to have a better world of peace and security is if everyone is included in a more equitable distribution of its’ resources. If we leave anyone out, then it is precisely those left out who, given today’s technology, have the ability to use that technology for destructive purposes becoming tomorrow’s terrorists.

So now is our chance, our opportunity to honor the memory of all, by working together to create a world that comes forth from “the projection of the ethic of love to the center of our lives ” as Dr. King put it so beautifully. For this to happen requires some major shifts in our thinking, attitudes and consciousness. It calls for us to be more than anti something — be it anti-terrorist, anti-violence, or even anti war, or anti-racism. We need to come forth with what we are for! What is our highest vision, our grandest dream of what this world could be like using our creativity, imagination, inspiration and “ethic of love”?. No, this is not the time to go back to “normal”, but to create a new way of being and living that is not based on “me-ism “, but that is instead based on “we-ism ” — the recognition that all humanity is interwoven in a web of connectedness in which any node that is touched vibrates out into all the other nodes effecting us all — “the web of mutuality “!

So where do we begin? First off, by healing the perception that we are separate–separate from one another, from the environment, from people far away that we can’t see and who dress different from us and talk a different language and worship in ways that we consider strange. We need to re-connect to the reality that our ancestors knew intimately through humanity’s “ur” religion — animism — the understanding that all creation is alive, conscious and interwoven in an inescapable circle of relationship. As the Lakota prayer says so eloquently, “O Mitakuye Oyasin “- all my relations”, meaning–”We are all related”.

We in the west have lost our awareness that all life lives within a circle of relationship, what some indigenous peoples call “The Sacred Hoop”. Our very language, English, reflects this breaking of the Hoop. Most of English vocabulary consists of nouns and adjectives–words about things and their qualities. And since language structures our perceptions of reality and what we consider most important, it is instructive to realize that our very language conditions us to perceive reality as composed of separate and distinct objects — things — and that these “things” are what is most important in life. Most indigenous languages have a different emphasis — verbs — words which tell about relationships–how the various life forces are doing in their interactions with one another. Indigenous spirituality emphasizes the value of living in harmony and balance with all of life instead of the pursuit and accumulation of” things”.

Our societal emphasis on materialism — things– along with the impact of the Protestant work ethic which values doing over being, a capitalistic economic system that puts profits over people and serves as a breeding ground for greed, arrogance, insensitivity, competition and violence against people and the environment, along with fear and guilt-based, patriarchal religions, all add up to a very powerful mixture that results in a society that exploits nature, people and countries for the purpose of a continuously improving bottom line on next quarter’s corporate returns.

“To get the security we all desire and to sustain a world at peace, we must create a new ‘normal’, one that recognizes and lives in harmony with the Sacred Hoop…”

This kind of myopic bottom line based on financial profit is what gets us into the predicaments we face with terrorists attacking us as we sip our morning coffee. Make no mistake about it, we are not in the Middle East or anywhere else defending democracy but because of our economic interests which we are dependent upon to keep our “way of life” going in its “normal” fashion. What price does the rest of the world pay so we can live our normal lives? I don’t think we have to go very far today to get an answer to that question. We must Heal the Sacred Hoop and Develop a New Bottom Line–one that is not based on greed, capital gain, consumerism, or materialism. We must construct a new bottom line based on love, kindness, caring, sharing, economic and social justice for all the world’s citizenry, education, health care, and support systems that recognize every human being is sacred and deserving of nurturance and support to realize their fullest creative potentials.

We are fortunate in these challenging times to have available the wisdom teachings of indigenous spirituality, which contain laws of right relationship. Found in the their creation stories, they shed light on one way to re-enter the Sacred Hoop with an intention to heal, respect and celebrate the gift of life in all its diversity and wonder. These “laws” aren’t man-made. They come from the creative force of the universe- Great Spirit, Great Mystery, as mirrored in nature. These “laws” have to do with the hierarchy of creation. In this evolutionary hierarchy Earth came first. Then came the plants which are dependent upon the Earth. Then came the animals who are dependent upon the plants. Then came humanity which is dependent upon them all. The earth, the plants, the animals don’t need us. We need them. So in the scheme of things we humans are the most dependent and therefore we have the biggest responsibility–to learn how to live harmoniously with those forces our lives are dependent upon.

We are also “determiners”. The plants, animals and earth live in basic harmony with each other. We on the other hand, have the power to destroy the whole lot of them. We are the ones who have developed the technology whose usage determines what the fate of the planet will be. Therefore it is imperative that we re-learn how to live in harmony and balance with the earth, the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom. This starts with the recognition that we are dependent upon them for the very continuation of our lives and thus we must recognize the sacredness of reciprocity–I.e., we must no longer just take, take, take. We must also learn how to share and give back–with respect, love, caring and generosity.

Native People did this through their elaborate ceremonies and rituals which helped them stay in right relationship with all of life for tens of thousands of years. Yet many of these same Native societies also have prophecies predicting the challenges of the times we are now living in and these prophecies go back before the coming of the European invasion force. They speak about people no longer living in right relationship with Mother Earth and the forces of nature they called ” Spirits, Gods or Goddesses”. They speak about people violating and desecrating the sacred places of power and forgetting their spiritual obligations to give back to the sources from which they drew their lives. For this is our responsibility as “determiners”– we need to feed the creative forces of nature–the spirits, so to speak– in exchange for their feeding us. For ultimately life is about relationship and the quality of relationship, not about things. Even within the sub atomic structure underlying the physical world, there is the complementary relationship of the electrons, the protons, the neutrons, all working together in cooperation and harmony. Without this harmony of right relationship there is “nada”, nothing.

All of life is about relationship. We desperately need a new bottom line that recognizes this and honors it in the way we go about living and meeting our needs. To get the security we all desire and to sustain a world at peace, we must create a new “normal”, one that recognizes and lives in harmony with the Sacred Hoop which includes all peoples, all countries, all nations, all parts of the creation. One that eradicates poverty, racism and discrimination, one that involves participatory democracy for all the world’s citizens, one that supports sustainable living conditions through environmental protection, restoration and integrity, and one that truly supports “liberty and justice for all”. May it be so!

With prayers for peace in the world, peace in our hearts and peace for all peoples.

The Revolution Has Begun – “The Shift Hits the Fan”

The Bottleneck. The Great Disruption. Peak Everything. The Great Turning. Whatever you call it, it’s the big enchilada.
In the words of filmmaker Tom Shadyac, “The shift is hitting the fan.” We’re 
experiencing the dawn of a revolutionary transformation. This awkward ‘tween
state marks the end of pre-history – the sunset of an ecologically
illiterate civilization. Like a baby being born, a new world is crowning.

The revolution has begun. But in fits and starts. The challenge is it’s one
minute to midnight – too late to avoid large-scale destruction. We have to
fan the shift to eco-literate societies at sufficient scale and speed to
dodge irretrievable cataclysm.

From breakdown to breakthrough, it’s a revolution from the heart of nature
and the human heart. It leads with a basic shift in our relationship with
nature from resource and object to mentor, model and partner. Game-changing
breakthroughs in science, technology and design such as bio-mimicry are
revolutionizing our very ways of knowing. The Rights of Nature movement is
recognizing the inalienable rights of the non-human world of ecosystems and
critters, widening our circle of compassion and kinship. Greater
 decentralization and localization are building resilience from the ground up
- shaped by ancient indigenous wisdom of becoming native to our place.

The digital communications revolution is primed to spread solutions without
borders at texting speed. Historic demographic shifts are fertilizing the
landscape – from the ascendancy of women’s leadership to the worldbeat of
cultural and racial pluralism. Empires and dynasties are waning and waxing
with sudden shifts in the balance of global power.

When a chrysalis turns into a butterfly, the caterpillar’s immune system
attacks the very first of the butterfly’s cells as invaders. The pushback
will be equally fierce, casting shadows of widespread destruction and
violence, mass migrations, virulent ideologies, and ethnic strife. Yet in
the end, the big, hairy caterpillar audaciously becomes a beautiful
butterfly. What does the revolution look like on the ground?

As climate shocks rock the planet, renewable energy is reaching a tipping
point and going mainstream. For the past two years, the U.S. and Europe have
both added more power capacity from renewables than from coal, gas and
nuclear combined. Worldwide, renewables accounted for a third of new
generating capacity, and now provide a quarter of global power capacity and
18 percent of electricity supply. Germany is aiming for a carbon-neutral
grid while maintaining its highly industrialized status – without
significant changes in consumption patterns and lifestyles.

Renewable energy investment topped $150 billion worldwide in 2009,
attracting many of the world’s largest companies. Government policies are
largely responsible. Over 70 national and state governments have put
incentives in place.
Europe has the leading position globally in great part because of government
policy. EU business leadership sees green products as its future Silicon
Valley. The EU is aiming for 25% of global green market share by 2020.

China has leapfrogged the world in pursuit of a low-carbon economy. It’s now
the largest manufacturer of wind turbines, solar panels, and the most
efficient grids and coal plants. It has created a national energy
“superministry,” and the President has stated China must “seize preemptive
 opportunities in the new round of the global energy revolution.” The expansion of wind power is moving to industrial scale. Electric cars are
heading for the mass market worldwide. Massachusetts and California lead the
U.S. with efficiency standards expected to generate billions in savings to
customers and tens of thousands of new jobs. An estimated 23 percent of U.S.
emissions can be cut by 2020 just through energy efficiency.

Job creation and new businesses are key drivers of renewables. Germany now
employs more almost as many people in clean energy as in its largest 
manufacturing sector of automobiles. The spread of renewables is starting to reduce CO2 emissions. Germany has
reduced its emissions by nearly 30 percent since 1990. Sweden has vowed to
eliminate fossil fuels for electricity by 2020 and gasoline-powered cars by
2030. Sweden also commissioned research that shows the country could cut its
emissions by 25-50 percent by changing the national diet. A new national
 food policy puts emissions labeling on foods and restaurant menus.
The 
principal Scandinavian organic certification program will require low-carbon
farming methods. Sweden’s dietary recommendations are now circulating
throughout the EU. An estimated 25% of emissions produced by people in
industrialized nations are linked with the foods they eat.

Greatly heightened investment from banks is advancing these trends,
especially in Europe, China and Latin America. Germany’s Deutsche Bank is
redirecting much of its $700 billion in assets to address global warming,
including a $7 billion climate investment fund. National green
infrastructure banks are on the horizon.

A sea change in thinking has propelled the banking industry and economists
to team up with mathematical biologists to study natural ecosystems for
lessons about resilience. The Bank of England says the banking industry will
be fundamentally reshaped to treat global finance as a “complex adaptive
system” like a living ecosystem.

A parallel epiphany is bubbling up in engineering, led by giant firms such
as CH2M Hill that have embraced climate adaptation. Instead of
steel-and-concrete, they’re recommending “soft infrastructure” – flexible
ecological systems like wetlands, oyster beds and barrier islands, as well
as water retention, wastewater recycling and water efficiency. The bywords
are reliability, local self-sufficiency and decentralization. FEMA and the
Army Corps of Engineers are close behind.

In the absence of a national clean energy policy in the U.S., the action is
coming mainly from cities and states. Mayors and governors are developing
ambitious climate strategies and policies, while creating jobs, businesses
and living laboratories for low-carbon development. L.A.’s Mayor
Villaraigosa vowed to “permanently break our addiction to coal” by 2020. The
Pacific Coast states are working to jettison coal within a decade.

Sounds great, right? But of course, there’s more to the story. The current
gains are tenuous, vulnerable to the vagaries of politics and economic
oscillations. And we’re still losing ground anyway. Global emissions will
rise by 40% by 2030, more than half of which will come from China and the
balance from developing countries.

As Groucho Marx put it, “Why should we bother about the next generation?
They have never done anything for us!”
In truth, the world is reaching “peak everything,” in Richard Heinberg’s
words. A global economy built on unlimited growth and massive resource use
is heading for inevitable contraction.

A major barrier in the U.S. is the annual military budget of over a trillion
dollars. Although the Defense Department has embraced climate change as a
top national security issue, national sustainability must move front and
center. As David Orr observes, “The concept of sustainability should be the
new organizing principle for both domestic and foreign policy.
Sustainability is the core of a national development strategy designed to
enhance our security, build prosperity from the ground up, and reduce
ecological damage, risks of climate destabilization and the necessity of
fighting endless wars over dwindling resources.”

What’s needed is the national and global equivalent of a wartime
mobilization with sustainability as magnetic north. Many say only
catastrophe will precipitate such a shift and are readying plans for that
turning point. Paul Gilding’s One Degree War Plan forecasts a “Coalition of
the Cooling” anchored by the U.S., China and the EU, who produce 50 percent
of emissions – and who could then engage Russia, India, Japan and Brazil to
hit 67 percent.

But for now, the U.S. is being left behind. As a leader at Germany’s
Deutsche Bank stated, “They’re asleep at the wheel on climate change, asleep
at the wheel on job growth, asleep at the wheel on this industrial
revolution taking place in the energy industry.” Rather than catastrophe,
business competitiveness may ultimately prove the more compelling driver.

Yet as Einstein said, we cannot solve the problem with the same mentality
that created it. Brother, can you spare a paradigm? The supreme challenge of
global interdependence is to foster meta-cooperation in a full world. Our collective fate likely hangs from the cliff by three intertwining ropes:
systems, power, and story.

Shifting the mindscape starts with systems thinking. Complex systems by
nature are unpredictable, nonlinear and cannot be controlled. The key to
building resilience is to foster the system’s capacity to adapt to dramatic
change. As Dana Meadows observed, “A diverse system with multiple pathways
and redundancies is more stable and less vulnerable to external shock than a
uniform system with little diversity.”

A paradigm is the hardest thing to change in a system, but it can happen
fast. As Meadows advised, “Keep pointing at anomalies and failures in the
old paradigm. Keep speaking loudly and with assurance, from the new one.
Insert people with the new paradigm in places of public visibility and
power. Don’t waste time with reactionaries; work with active change agents,
and the vast middle ground of open people.” At the core is the transformation to a restoration economy.

Europe’s model of “social capitalism” may be the most important innovation
in the world economy since the rise of the corporation. Among its structural
innovations are two policies: Works Councils and co-determination. Works councils give employees significant input and decision-making or veto
power on substantive issues. They contribute to efficiency by improving the
quality of decisions and worker buy-in.

Co-determination, where workers are elected to company supervisory boards,
has fostered a culture of consultation and cooperation, benefited business,
and distributed wealth more broadly. Most EU nations use the practice. The
27-nation European Union, the world’s largest economy, has a higher per
capita growth rate and slightly lower unemployment than the U.S. The vibrant
small business sector produces two thirds of EU jobs. Ironically, the EU
social capitalism model arose following World War II to punish postwar
Germany with economic democracy and curtail corporate power.

What’s afoot globally today are the re-envisioning of the economy and the
redesign of the corporation into diverse structures of business ownership
and governance – such as large-scale cooperatives, mission-controlled social
businesses and foundation-owned social profit companies. Bill Gates calls it
“creative capitalism.” It works. Employee-owned firms modestly outperform
their peers. Foundation-owned, values-driven companies perform at least as
well or better. In Europe, coops comprise 12 percent of GDP and engage 60
percent of the population. Marjorie Kelly terms them “emergent new
organizational species” designed like living systems to deliver human and
ecological benefits as well as profits.

Another seismic meta-trend transforming the economy and society at large is
the ascendancy of women’s leadership. As writer Hanna Rosin points out in
“The End of Men,” “Those societies that take advantage of the talents of all
of their adults, not just half of them, have pulled away from the rest.” One
study measuring the economic and political power of women in 162 countries
found with few exceptions that the greater the power of women, the greater
the nation’s economic success. As David Gergen wrote, “Women are knocking on
the door of leadership at the very moment when their talents are especially
well matched with the requirements of the day.”

Natural systems have their own operating instructions, as biomimicry master
Janine Benyus describes. Nature runs on current sunlight. Nature banks on
diversity. Nature rewards cooperation. Nature builds from the bottom up.
Nature recycles everything. And Earth’s mission statement: Life creates
conditions conducive to life.  Given that the most important element in systems is purpose and goals, the
big question is: What’s the economy for? If the goal is building resilience,
the priority flips from growth and expansion to sufficiency and a
sustainable prosperity. Resilience also favors economic re-localization,
which in turn produces greater energy and food security. How then do we set about redesigning human systems? And who has
decision-making power?

In practice, our current system design concentrates wealth and distributes
poverty. The super-rich .01 percent of the population – about 13,000 people
- earn as much as the bottom 120 million. U.S. unemployment is the highest
since the Great Depression. Forty-four million Americans live in poverty.
Joblessness underemployment and low wages are the new normal.

Washington D.C. has 11,195 corporate lobbyists who in 2009 spent six times
all spending combined by environmental, consumer, labor and other
non-corporate entities. The biggest lobbying and campaign spender is the
financial services sector, with banks being the most powerful. As Senator
Dick Durbin commented, “Frankly they own the place.” It’s no wonder. The
estimated lobbying return on investment is a hundred to one. Remember that
$13 trillion in public bailout funds to the banks? That’s the public option. No wonder there’s a Tea Party. Call me traditional, but the Tea Party needs
to get back to its roots. The Boston Tea Party was as a rebellion against a
government-backed corporate monopoly.

As author Thom Hartmann recounts, Britain’s East India corporation staked
its claim on parts of North America under military protection from its
biggest investor, the British Crown. Already hugely powerful in India and
China, the corporation had gained control over almost all international
commerce to and from North America. But it was bedeviled by colonial small
businessmen and entrepreneurs who dared to run their own ships and buy tea
wholesale from Dutch trading companies. The East India corporation obtained
laws to eliminate the competition – backed by the death penalty. As Hartmann points out, “‘Taxation without representation’ meant hitting the
average person and small business with taxes, while letting the richest and
most powerful corporation in the world off the hook for its taxes.”

The Boston Tea Party precipitated the American Revolution and guided the
first American century of highly resrtictive corporate governance and law.
That revolutionary tradition is resurfacing today in the growing movement to
challenge and revoke corporate constitutional rights.

The story of today’s battle is above all the battle of the story. As human
beings, we’re hard-wired for story. When our story conflicts with the facts,
we stick with the story. As scholar Richard Tarnas observes, “Worldviews
create worlds.”The ruling story according to Western Civilization took hold about 500 years
ago with the birth of the Scientific Revolution and exaltation of human
reason. When the Copernican revolution showed the Earth revolves around the
sun, science redefined humanity’s place in the natural order and the cosmos.

Perhaps the defining characteristic of the modern mind is the belief in a
radical separation between the human self and the external world. According
to the modern mind, Tarnas observes, “Apart from the human being, the cosmos
is seen as entirely impersonal and unconscious… mere matter in motion,
mechanistic and purposeless, ruled by chance and necessity. It is altogether
indifferent to human consciousness and values. The world outside the human
being lacks conscious intelligence, it lacks interiority, and it lacks
intrinsic meaning and purpose… For the modern mind, the only source of
meaning in the universe is human consciousness.”

The modern mind stands in radical contrast with the primal worldview,
exemplified by indigenous cultures. As Tarnas continues, “Primal experience
takes place within a world soul, an anima mundi, a living matrix of embodied
meaning. Because the world is understood as speaking a symbolic language,
direct communication of meaning and purpose from world to human can occur.”
The linear, mechanistic, reductionist worldview has yielded as science has
radically evolved into a vastly more complex view of interdependence and
other ways of knowing. From complexity and chaos theory to the Gaia
Hypothesis, a new cosmology is unfolding. In this scientific revolution, the
Earth does not revolve around us. Tarnas frames the battle of the cosmic story in this way.

“Imagine for a moment that you are the universe. But for the purposes of
this thought experiment – that you are not the disenchanted, mechanistic
universe of conventional modern cosmology – but rather a deep-souled, subtly
mysterious cosmos of great spiritual beauty and creative intelligence. And
imagine that you are approached by two different epistemologies – two
suitors, as it were – who seek to know you. To whom would you open your
deepest secrets? To which approach would you be most likely to reveal your
authentic nature?

“Would you open most deeply to the suitor – the way of knowing – who
approached you as though you were essentially lacking in intelligence or
purpose – as though you had no interior dimension to speak of – no spiritual
capacity or value; who thus saw you as fundamentally inferior to himself
(let us give the two suitors, not entirely arbitrarily, the traditional
masculine gender); who related to you as though your existence were valuable
primarily to the extent that he could develop and exploit your resources, to
satisfy his various needs; and whose motivation for knowing you was
ultimately driven by a desire for increased intellectual mastery, predictive
certainty, and efficient control over you for his own self-enhancement?

“Or would you, the cosmos, open yourself most deeply to that suitor who
viewed you as being at least as intelligent and noble – as worthy a being -
as permeated with mind and soul – as imbued with moral aspiration and
purpose – as endowed with spiritual depths and mystery, as he? This suitor
seeks to know you not that he might better exploit you but rather to unite
with you and thereby bring forth something new – a creative synthesis
emerging from both of your depths. He desires to liberate that which has
been hidden by the separation between knower and known. His ultimate goal of
knowledge is a more richly responsive and empowered participation in a
co-creative unfolding of new realities. He seeks an intellectual fulfillment
that is intimately linked with imaginative vision, moral transformation,
empathic understanding, aesthetic delight. His act of knowledge is
essentially an act of love and intelligence combined – of wonder as well as
discernment – of opening to a process of mutual discovery. To whom would you
be more likely to reveal your deepest truths?” Which suitor shall we choose? Which suitor do you choose?

La Primavera – Springtime is upon us. The Great Turning of the Cosmic Medicine Wheel leaves Winter behind as we move into the wisdom cycle of spring, From the dark depths of the winter season – cold, bleak, and wet comes forth a little bud on branch, the opening petals of the daffodil, the pink and white blossoms on the fruit tree opening gently in the sunlight. A traditional time of rejoicing in the Northern Hemisphere – new life is abloom in the world. Being alive we get to witness, enjoy, partake and celebrate in the miraculous regeneration of new life. The shamanic Huichol People of Mexico say the springtime season is the work of “Tacutsi Nakaway”, Great Grandmother Growth. She takes what falls to the earth in death during the autumn season, brings it down into her womb where she does her invisible alchemy over the course of the winter season, then opens the doorway sharing her gifts of new beginnings, new expressions of her power, wisdom and generosity which is now! La Vida, Life!

On an energy level its a huge power vortex that has been turned on pouring up into and through the plants, the trees, the bushes, the animals bringing the power to fertilize new life. The fact that we have made it through the dark time to the Spring Equinox where there is equal amount of daylight and darkness and from now on for the next three months will bring us increasing sunshine, light and warmth, presents us with an amazing opportunity. Not only do we get to celebrate the arrival of spring, not only do we get to experience its gifts, we can also make use of the new power flowing up from the earth to plant manifestation seeds in the garden of our minds!

We get to think about what we want to have come in to our lives, what we want to grow. Metaphorically its thinking about what crops you want to reap from your life garden. If you want corn, you have to plant corn seed. If you want tomatoes, you have to plant tomato plants. The power comes, its here. May we use it consciously, skillfully and honorably. Reflect on what you want, plant the seed in your mind’s eye and step into the future seeing your self already enjoying the harvest to come. Give thanks for it. Give thanks to the creative powers of nature that grow the garden. Give thanks to the invisible power(s) that underly what we see with our eyes. Call it what you will, God, Goddess, Tao, Shekinah, Yahway, Ultimate Cosmic Reality, Mother Nature, Great Grandmother Growth, bottom line is that it is the creative powers of the universe that are doing the growth work. Yes its our job to choose the seeds (how great is freedom of choice!), water, fertilize, pull weeds but we don’t do the growing. So plant your mind and heart and soul seeds for what you want in the garden of your consciousness and in your life. Give thanks for the wondrous wisdom cycle of the seasons in a way that is meaningful to you. Step into being with the growth power and opportunity of this springtime to go for your greatest dreams.

While you are at it, howz bout along with your personal seeds you plant and nurture some for the waking up of humanity’s awareness to our essential interconnectedness with each other, with the Earth and with all of creation. We can indeed, no matter what the challenge in these challenging times, shape shift and transform a destructive way of being to a constructive one creating a win-win world for all. It starts with what we hold in our consciousness, our dreams, the seeds we plant. This springtime with its blast of growth power invites us all into the work of showing up and doing our part to make it be so. May it be so!

HAPPY SPRINGTIME BLESSINGS TO YOU AND ALL YOU HOLD DEAR!

“There are two ways to be fooled: one is to believe what isn’t so, the other is to refuse to believe what is so.”

“Not obeying the rules handed down from the beginning of time by the ancestors 
can bring sickness.” –Kierkegaard

The Sacred p. 129

Long before there was a United States there was Turtle Island. It  was perceived as feminine by the diverse groups of indigenous people occupying her territory. These first inhabitants of Turtle Island treated her with respect, attuning their lives to the rhythms of her being. Daily interactions with the natural world were made sacred in appreciation of Turtle Island’s gifts of food, shelter, clothing, medicine and beauty.

Today, many years later, the majority of the land’s current inhabitants no longer walk with respect upon her body. Modern Americans are not attuned to the natural forces dwelling within their own bodies, nor with those beneath them in the larger body they live upon. Increasing mechanization and stress characterize 20th century society. Prevailing attitudes emphasizing the supremacy of material reality and of human life over animal life and non-material realities,  perpetuate alienation from the world of nature within and around us. Increasing incidence of stress-related illness and environmental pollution are manifestation of disharmony between our bodies, minds, feelings, spirit and physical world. We suffer from a perspective lacking effective methodologies with which to bring these seemingly disparate realities into a balanced whole. We focus well on separate bits and pieces of life, but too often miss the synergistic workings of the “whole show.”

Yet the “whole show of evolution” moves on, whether we attune to it or not. Advances in physics, genetics and medical technology bring new perspectives at an accelerated rate. The proliferating nuclear threat and its extension into outer space necessitates attitudinal and geopolitical change to counterbalance the threat of misused technology. One harbinger of hope is the increasing clinical and research data in the fields of psychosomatic medicine, biofeedback work, pscho-immunotherapy and scientific explorations in consciousness studies which indicate cultural acceptance of a radical underestimation of our power to impact our inner physiological being, as well as the physical world around us. We desperately need survival paradigms that teach us to work wisely and harmoniously with the issues of power facing us at this time in history. Thomas W Wilson, in his paper, ‘Changing Perceptions of National Security” presents the challenge clearly: “in the real world today the national interests of the separate states converge in the need to defend and sustain the living systems of planet earth and that includes us.”

One model for defending and sustaining the “living systems of planet earth “can be found in the “old ways” of the first inhabitants of Turtle Island. “Rules for living” were passed on by the elders of Native American tribal groups throughout the Americas. They affirmed that all the manifestations and forces of creation are inter-dependent with one another in an integrated whole. There was a recognition of life as power, as a mysterious, ubiquitous, concentrated form of non-material energy, of something loose about the world and contained in a more or less condensed degree by every object.” Native American beliefs emphasized pragmatic knowledge with which to live in harmony and balance with this “non-material energy, and with the great mystery underlying it all. “Wakan Tanka”, translated from the Oglala Sioux language means literally, sacred, or Great Mystery.

The shaman and medicine man/woman helped tribal members maintain, or restore when needed, this sacred balance through their healing rituals, rites and ceremonies. Vital to this process was the relationship to the land they lived on, For Native people there was no concept of ownership or possession of land. They believed their role was caretaker: they were to live on Turtle Island with love, respect and appreciation for her generous gifts without which they could not survive. This perception of their role as caretakers produced behavioral patterns congruent with this belief. They were to care for their “mother” who in turn was the bearer of life itself. There was no word for religion; there was simply living out their beliefs in their daily lives. A primary dynamic of their caring role, was reciprocal interaction with the land and all her creatures. Reciprocity was sacred because it maintained the balance between giving and taking, the “good medicine” responsible for health and well-being. Failure to act within the dictates of reciprocity could lead to illness, misfortune and even death.

Vision Quest, the seeking of direct contact with the Great Mystery to obtain guidance and medicine power for one’s life, was a dynamic rite of passage for many Native American people. The quest consisted of time spent alone in nature praying for a vision. The questor would neither eat nor drink and in some cases would stay awake at night as well. It might go on longer, but two to four days and nights was a frequent duration. The fasting, isolation and solitude, sleep deprivation and emotionally charged prayer rituals accompanying the sacred quest, acted in synergistic fashion to produce an alteration of consciousness.

Similar to psychedelic experience precipitated by psychoactive drugs, psychological set and setting were important determinants in the results of this altered state. The setting for the quest was constant; a wilderness environment, usually atop a mountain or high butte. The set, or cognitive repertoire of attitudes, beliefs, feelings and philosophy, inculcated into the Native youth since early childhood, emphasized the presence of the Great Mystery in all of creation. If the questors sufficiently prepared themselves through the rites of fasting and purification, and if they truly humbled themselves before the Mystery and waited in patience, their prayers would usually be answered. This was the expectation and in a self-fulfilling manner, frequently resulted in a peak experience of mystical union and oneness between creator, creation and perceiving self. The quest experience encouraged and empowered what philosopher Jacob Needleman refers to as a “first-hand sense of identity.” The expansion of awareness, shifted the identity focus from ego to the transpersonal. The quest experientially validated the cultural belief in the interconnectedness and interdependence of all life, thereby reinforcing the importance of reciprocal interactions with every manifestation of the Great Mystery.

The returning youth was typically welcomed back into the tribe with elaborate rites of incorporation. Often a new name was bestowed, based on their visions, which in turn reinforced the spiritual nature of their identity. Their clothing, dwelling, personal belongings, songs and prayers from this point on, and for the duration of their lives, were physical embodiment of their guiding vision from adolescence, the foundation for their medicine power. A strong sense of purpose and commitment to act as a “warrior” and integrate their vision into their lives characterized the post-quest experience.

In my doctoral dissertation, published by Free Person Press as A Quest For Vision, I describe my own quest for vision and subsequent development of a successful adaptation for treating heroin addiction in the early 1970′s. Since that time I have offered this program through workshops and classes to people in all walks of life throughout the country. Participants discover helpful guidance, insight and empowerment to challenge unresolved difficulties impairing their current existence. Might there be a linkage of some sort between the “old ways” of the aboriginals of Turtle Island, ways that helped them obtain the survival wisdom necessary for their times, and our need today for “survival wisdom” on the same land? Rupert Sheldrake speculates that there might be “a subtle but pervasive property of nature which organizes and stores information just as the gravitational field organizes matter and stores energy.” “Morphic resonance” is the flow of information between elements of the field. Does Turtle Island still speak to modern questors through this “morphic resonance”, as it has for millennia to those who would listen?

The model I use in teaching the quest for vision consists of four stages. The initial one is of preparation Native youth had the entire web of their culture preparing them for their outing. Ongoing validation for the importance of vision motivated them to seek their own when the timing was right and to do so in a sacred way with the helpful guidance of knowledgeable elders. Today’s prevailing paradigm of reality emphasizing the material world, and rationality and logic as the dominant means to ‘know the world”, lacks positive models of encouragement and instruction for those seeking vision on different levels of awareness. Thus modern questors need supportive preparation to develop both a conceptual framework and physical and self-regulatory awareness skills with which to capitalize on the potential of the quest experience. Preparation focuses on exploring the dynamics of sacredness in reciprocity, the meaning and source of medicine power, and how to open and attune to “mystery” within and around us for guidance and direction. We work with dreams, myth and symbols using guided fantasy, movement, sound and music. We attune to feelings and intuition and utilize centering exercises, meditation and prayer to quiet our rational ego-centered minds. We strive to enhance awareness and sensitivity to the deeper psyche and to the animals, trees, rocks, weather, etc., of the natural world around us. Dreams are an especially important focus, bridging the personal unconscious with the collective unconscious, the waking st-ate to the altered state during sleep, and the rational to the “wilderness” of the deeper mind. Attunement to intuition and feelings in addressing problematic situations that come up in preparation, helps balance overdependence on rational modes of problem solving which western education teaches us to rely on. Emphasis is on introspection, entering the “looks-within place” to listen for guidance from the “mystery” within.

The intent of these exercises is not to have participants try to-’become Indians. I myself am not of Native American descent. I have, however, spent the past fifteen years exploring Native American and shamanistic belief systems, rituals and ceremonies through direct experience with shamans and medicine people; through seeking my own visions and through attempting to integrate the findings of these explorations into my clinical work as a psychologist, a consultant and teacher. My intent is to use these “old wisdom ways” as a vehicle to expand perceptual models on the nature of reality. The “old ways” open the doors of perception to a larger vista of awareness in which the wisdom of relationships based on reciprocity, harmony and balance become self-evident as survival necessities.

The second stage, Purification begins as we ready ourselves for time on the land. We seek cleansing of our physical bodies, our minds and our spirits so as to “empty” ourselves for our quest. Each questor begins to fast. This helps clean out the body and open awareness and communicative capacities previously unavailable due to digestive and food-related activities. Fasting also helps the individual to clarify and focus on their goals for the quest. A sweat-lodge ceremony deepens this process.

The sweat-lodge is a dome shaped structure of branches with tarps and blankets thrown over it to completely seal out all light. Rocks are heated in an open fire-pit and then brought into the lodge when red-hot and placed in a hole at the center. Participants enter the lodge and form a circle , seated on the ground around the glowing rocks. Water is poured onto the rocks and hot steam blasts throughout the lodge cleansing all within.

Native American people view the sweat-lodge ceremony as a healing process, complete in itself, as well as part and parcel of other sacred rites such as the Vision Quest. They view the lodge as Jews and Christians would revere their synagogue or church. The sweat-lodge ceremony was a symbolic return to the womb of creation. Every act within this sacred setting of earth, air, fire and water held significance. Prayers were offered as bodies and spirits, minds and emotions opened and were cleansed. Many healings took place in the lodge. It is one of the most ancient of the old ways and considered very sacred and powerful. Disrespect or misuse can result in serious difficulty.

Modern questors find the sweat-lodge to be a powerful experience for them as well, expanding their understanding of purification to a psycho-spiritual level as well as the physical. A “Give-Away Ceremony” takes place after the sweat, with each member sharing with the group something of import to their quest. Afterwards we sleep next to one another in a circle, which symbolizes wholeness and the spiritual knowledge we seek from the teaching wheels of the universe.

We rise at dawn to greet the birthing new day in a Sunrise Ceremony, and to review dreams from the previous night. Then we say our goodbyes and each person walks off to an already designated “place of Power” to spend one to three days alone (depending on the length of the outing.)

This period of solitude and isolation in the natural world comprises the third stage of the quest. Modern seekers also experience an alteration of consciousness induced by the fasting, ceremony and ritual. Disassociation from their normal reality structure enhances this alteration as they explore their own nature in the midst of nature. Openness, attentiveness, appreciation and humility, attitudes stressed in the earlier preparation sessions, enable participants to go deeper into their experience. Solitude, especially in the darkness of a wilderness setting, activate fears and anxieties that ego defenses have successfully held in check in the person’s normal environment. Questions of “who am I?”, “where did I come from?”, “why am I here?”, “where am I going” are also activated and explored as each person enacts his/her quest. The cyclic, rhythmic forces of nature pulse in and around them, offering their wisdom-teachings to the perceptive and attentive student.

The group reunites at a central location upon completion of the agreed-upon time of solitude. A celebration of survival and togetherness initiates the fourth stage of the quest incorporation We reassemble our circle to hear each member’s experience. Each person is recognized as both teacher and student, a sacred Medicine Wheel or mirror, as they relate their story. This sharing serves as a rite of integration back into the social world from which we have ventured forth and to which we now return. A prayer of thanksgiving concludes our time in the wilderness. A final meeting one week later focuses on the significance of our quest discoveries for our post-quest lives.

“I found what I was looking for and it was me,” reports John B., an administrative executive from San Francisco, 44 years old. TI1 had no great mystery opened to me no spiritual visitor. My vision is that I’ve found my own spirit, the real me beneath my physical and psychological being. I see now that the rules I’ve lived by have kept me from the natural spirit that is within me. I’ve been an active churchgoer since college. I know the Christian concept of the soul, but I’ve always associated it with life after death, not as part of my present existence. The concept of spirit as a part of me never really fell into place. To me, my being was made up of my body and my mind. The idea of a third part of my being, a spirit, never really occurred to me. The rules of society and logic have kept me blinded. My search for my spot was a part of my vision. I learned to trust my feelings even though logic said otherwise.”

“The sweat-bath continued the vision. My rules said nudity was bad. But when it came time to decide whether to go into the bath it felt right to do it. So, I ignored the rule.”

“Our giveaway was a part of my vision. I learned that simple giving from the heart, not the size or the fineness of the gift, was what mattered. Joe’s gift was the greatest for me. My rules said it was not right for one man to embrace another. I found that Joe’s embrace was good and right.”

“As I thought of these things this morning, I realized these same rules were keeping me from Nature. Nature was willing and open but I kept myself out. My reasoning said I must fear Nature, that I must protect myself from it, So I kept the shield that separated me from it.”

“I know that I can’t cast aside all my rules but I know now that they’re there for me to cast aside when the time is right. I think I can hug my son when I feel it is right and not be guilty -thanks to Joe. I think I can be nude and not be ashamed when the time is right. Finally, I can go to the land and be a part of it, accepting its beauty, its signs, its being.”

“After I thought of these things I began to cry. It felt good to cry so I let the tears flow. I cried, I think, in happiness and thankfulness for my vision. Now that I’ve found my spirit, now that I know it is there, I can seek it out. I know the way.”

John’s account reflects a broader understanding of himself and greater flexibility in the options he now chooses for his life.

For Native people, as with John and other modern questors, lack of awareness in understanding the consequences of their actions, can lead to disharmony and imbalance. Illness and accidents can be a manifestation of this disharmony which might be internal, or interactional with their social, natural or spiritual environment, illness or misfortune were perceived by Native Americans as signs of disharmony. Intervention through physical means was one component of treatment. The more significant intervention was the realignment of the patient back into harmonious relationships with themselves and their environment, the basis of a true and lasting healing.

Modern questors return from the wilderness more perceptive of the disharmony and imbalance in their lives, and a clearer sense of the role they play in bringing this about. In touch with enhanced personal power, they can now act constructively on their insights to initiate positive transformation in their areas of distress. By spending time alone in the natural world, questors directly and intimately experience the cyclic, energy forces of nature and their interconnectedness to them. The medicine power of the shaman was directly related to their own intimate relationship with these forces. Anthropologist Michael Harner points out that the shamanistic system is in fact a “system of consciousness alteration with which to enter alternative realities which modern physics describes as existing all around us. The absence of medicine as we know it today, with its dependence on physical intervention, forced people to “develop the utmost potential of their minds in order to deal with critical matters that cannot be dealt with on a material basis. The shaman,” Harner continues, utilized intentional altered states of consciousness to accomplish a specific mission. “Their voyages into altered states, helped them to explore and develop mind potentials not usually addressed in current educational models.” Quest participants, through their own ASC utilize expanded vision to explore their own deeper mind states and potentials for being.

Numerous modern quest participants report transcendence of ordinary ego boundaries while in their altered state. Native American beliefs emphasize that Turtle Island and all who dwell upon her are conscious, living beings. For them, transpersonal relationships with non-human entities is an accepted part of life. It is assumed that each two-legged person has a specific totem animal/spirit that can help them in their lives and the Vision Quest is an opportunity to initiate this relationship if it has not already begun. Modern questors have powerful learning experiences both with physically present animals as well as with archetypal ones through dreams and visions. New perceptions and avenues of discovery not available in ordinary states of awareness, serve as rites of passage into deeper knowledge of self, which in turn provides information with which to walk in balance on the life path. This is the ancient empowerment heritage so badly needed today, passed on by generations of Turtle Island elders.

Ancient Hopi prophecy accurately predicts current conditions of pollution and nuclear threat. They state that we are at an important crossroad. Our actions now determine the severity of purification needed to heal our earth’s wounded body.

Perhaps we already experience this purification in the dramatic changes in weather patterns around the world and the havoc they have wrought. Solutions must begin within, for pollution begins in our pathological mis-perceptions of identity and relationship emphasizing myopic vision of separateness and short-term gain. There is, as ecologist Barry Commoner tell-s us, ‘no free lunch.”

“Modern society critically needs to strengthen its understanding of human, ecological and spiritual values to balance its runaway technological prowess,” declared Willis Harmon of the Institute of Noetic Science. Fred Polack in Image of the Future further asserts that “bold visionary thinking is a prerequisite for effective social change.” We have much to learn in seeking vision for effective social change from the old ways of Turtle Island If the Turtle Island concepts appear alien to our Judeo-Christian background, listen to another elder, also part of the “old ways” as he encourages us to “Speak to the earth and it shall teach thee” It is Job in the Bible l2:7-10.

The job of seeking survival-based vision beckons us all. Our children’s children await our response.

Author: Tom Pinkson

For thirty two years I worked with the Center for Attitudinal Healing helping families and children, teenagers and adults facing life threatening illness.  Based on a question asked by an eight year just days before he died, i wrote a short book entitled – “Do They Celebrate Christmas in Heaven?: Spiritual Rite of Passage Teachings from Children with Life-threatening Illness” that shares a number of very powerful wisdom teachings from these youngsters were here for a short time but left very lasting messages.

Please download the book and share their wisdom.

A pilgrimage to a sacred place of power is really a ceremony of returning,  awakening and remembering ourselves back, as Australian Aboriginals say, “into human form”.   It is an archetypal opportunity to remember and sort out what matters most from that which too often in our lives takes priority–that which matters least.  As the Huichol People put it, the pilgrimage is a way to awaken and empower our “Iyari”- the heart memory of our indigenous mind.

The Huichols believe that long ago before time as we know it the divine entities  materialized their being in  physical form–places of power such as mountain tops, deserts, waterfalls, springs, etc, and that journeying to these places offers opportunity to commune with their wisdom.   With this in mind, a group of 16 of us met monthly for a year to prepare ourselves to make a pilgrimage over Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County.  For the local Pomo and Miwok People, the mountain was the home of Coyote who had a ceremonial round house inside its massive body.  Coyote is a Creator and trickster figure for the indigenous peoples of the San Francisco Bay Area and our group studied coyote stories as part of our preparation.  Little did we know what the tricky Coyote had up its sleeve for us!

We gathered for our pilgrimage at 9am Saturday night August 17th and after a brief check-in, we hoisted up our day packs and set out.  After a short hike down the trail we stopped to enter ceremonial space. We lit candles, purified with smudging, and offered prayers to the spirits of place, the ancestor spirits, to all our helping allies and to the Great Spirit.  Each person did a blessing for another group member. Blessings are like enzymes or chemical catalysts that in a world that is seriously under-blessed, increases the realization of more good to come to life.

Our goal was to open ourselves to the mountain spirit to learn what it wanted from us–people of Marin who see and use it daily for so many purposes–hiking, picnics, rock-climbing, watching plays, marriage ceremonies, scattering ashes of loved ones and friends, etc. Native People believe that we have the Earth to use but that we have to care for it through ceremonial duties–such as a pilgrimage to pay respect and to “feed” or “give back” to it in sacred reciprocity for all the gifts it feeds us with through its constant “give-away” of beauty, power, teachings, protection, food, shelter, etc.  Thus it will continue to “flower” and we, the people who live with her, will be able to enjoy her many gifts and help sustain its life, and thus also help sustain our lives as well. This constitutes the ”right-relationship” with the creative powers of the universe that sustains life, a cornerstone of indigenous spirituality throughout the world.

James 5:16–Pray for one another so that you may be healed”

The act of pilgrimage is characterized by mindfulness and prayer.  During the year of preparation group members prayed for each other and for the health of the mountain.  We also made Ceremonial Arrows. Our intention was to open our hearts, minds and bodies seeking to connect and commune with the mountain spirit using the arrows to help us in this process. The Huichols teach that the feathers at the top of the arrow transmit the prayers to the higher deities thereby soliciting their help in bringing the goals of the prayers into fruition.  On the mountain we infused the arrows with our prayers to spiritually magnetized them so they could gather up the power which lived at the site. The arrows also served as antenna, somewhat like transmission towers to send out prayers and love to those we were thinking about as we hiked over the 2,600 foot mountain.

During this time we wanted to be  “love givers” instead of “fault finders”.  In this way by sending love out into the world we simultaneously would experience it ourselves thus helping to heal our own  wounds of separation as we give to others.

Time on the pilgrimage is an opportunity for “boundary loosening” — for connecting with the presence of spirit as a living force expressed in nature as alive, conscious and seeking relationship with us as well as us with it.  Thus we tried to open our awareness to all the communication signs and signals that might come our way. This required sensitivity, humility, receptivity and respect for non-human intelligence and non-human means of communication.

To aid my own listening process the morning of the pilgrimage I consulted my Tarot deck (Voyager Tarot.)  I drew the cards of the Four of Cups–Anger, then the Sage of Crystals–the Knower, and finally, the Empress. This was very appropriate because inappropriate anger is one of the reactive forces that I have been seeking to transform for a long time in my life.  For many years I have sought to know, grow and use greater skillfulness in dealing with my anger reactivity and to replace it with the essence of the Empress–the one who guards, protects and preserves life.  The Tarot reading alerted me to reflect on what am I in conflict with when I become angry, as well as what needs to be healed.  To deepen my listening I decided to fast that day and before leaving from my new home in Truckee to meet the pilgrims, took a long run in the woods and mountains soaking in the beauty of the Sierra Nevada.

Driving down to Marin I looked forward to joining up with my fellow pilgrims and seeing their faces when we met filled me with eager anticipation for our shared adventure that lay ahead.   As we began hiking I felt a wonderful sense of appreciation for everyone and for the year we had shared together.  The night was warm, starlight guided our way and my spirit was high.  We hiked in silence and by agreement, used our night vision deciding that each person would use their head lamp only if needed.  I felt a strong connection with each person and we seemed to meld into one coordinated organism as we slowly made our way up the narrow mountain path through thick woods winding carefully around rocks, roots, bushes and various bumps in the trail.

All was well for the first several hours.  But then we hit a very dense fog bank that had come in from the Pacific and totally blanketed out the starlight.  Between the dense woods and thick fog, it got so dark that I could not literally see my hand held up in front of my eyes.  This of course slowed us down to a snail’s pace.  Without a word being spoken no one turned on their head lamps and we continued on–just very slowly.  I had to put my hand lightly on the pack of the person in front of me who seemed to be able to see through the darkness, something my vision was not able to do at all.  I felt a strange sense of peace in surrendering with trust to the person who I was not totally dependent upon and in this way we proceeded accordingly.   Our pace was slowed even more as we traversed steep embankments that a slip down could cause a broken leg or neck or worse.  So going real slow was the only way to go.

This was fine for me, and seemed to work for the others in the group until three or four hours  I hit the bottom of my energy tanks and realized that I had absolutely  no fuel left to draw on.  Between my fasting and earlier mountain run, I had used up my reserves and was now running on “nada”–nothing. I felt totally wasted, had no strength whatsoever, and my backpack was wearing down on me like a ton of bricks.  My experience now shifted from being enjoyable to being an ordeal.  Each step became a struggle and I wanted it to end already. I felt like a small kid on a family car trip who constantly wants to know how much further we have to go before we get there!

I wanted it to be over already.  I wasn’t enjoying myself and my old anger buttons started to get pushed–at myself for not giving myself enough fuel to meet the demands of the hike, and at others for doing anything that slowed us down.  I just wanted to get there and be done with this “glorious” pilgrimage.  Either that or just lie down and rest until morning when the sun came up.  I wanted to give up, to quit, and collapse into the earth and make everything go away.

I felt like a total failure and the antithesis of what I had hoped to be experiencing and doing–instead of giving thanks back to the mountain, opening to the spirits, sending out love, I was a cloud of doom darker than the fog which covered us in a dripping thick mass of its weighted mass.  I forgot all my best intentions and only wanted it all to end.  It was at this point that I began to notice that every time I thought the end of the trail was getting closer and that we didn’t have that much further to go, it seemed to mock me and retreat further and further away in the distance.  Time and time again when I thought we were at a landmark that proved we were getting really close, it turned out that I was wrong.  I could swear I heard the trickster coyote laughing his head off at me and what a poor, miserable wreck I was as I tried to put one foot after another and keep going.

That is when I had the thought that this is an elastic trail that keeps expanding every time we get to what I thought should have been the end.  My fatigued mind took off on its own –”I think we’ve entered the twilight zone and we are on a trail that will never end.  We are doomed to keep walking forever and never get there!”.  At first this triggered a panic reaction and I felt total despair.  But then gradually I heard a still small voice that held on to some connection with light offer up these words–”Remember your intention, see what you are in conflict with, notice what needs healing right now and get on with it, Maybe you are right.  Maybe you are on an elastic trail that the coyote keeps pushing backwards every time you approach its end.  Maybe it will never end and you will be hiking on its in the darkness for the rest of your days.  But even if this is the case, you have to find a way to make use of it to some positive outcome for yourself.  Get with it!  Ask the mountain spirit what it wants from you!!”

This message didn’t change any of the externals of the situation,  but it did begin to change my attitude.  It did begin to open my mind to my purpose in being here and so I said a prayer of thanksgiving to the mountain, even to the coyote and I asked what it wanted from me.  Only a few minutes later I got my answer.  It came as a soft voice that seemed to flow out of the fog itself – ””REMIND PEOPLE THAT I AM ALIVE ”.   “TELL PEOPLE NOT TO UNDERESTIMATE MY POWER!” “.

I took these messages in and thought about them as I struggled onward up and over the mountain.  Finally we began our descent and after many more hours we finally, at seven twenty in the morning, made it to the parking lot by the ocean where our van awaited. We made it. The soft light of sunrise through the fog felt like a much welcomed bath of soothing energy as we took off our packs and hugged one another in joyous exhaustion.   As we drove over to the house of one of our members that was right on the Bolinas Ridge overlooking the ocean, there to break fast and celebrate our meeting the sea, I thought back over the message from the mountain.

I saw quite clearly how I had in fact underestimated the power of the mountain and thus had not fully humbled myself to its aliveness.  As a result, I had been busted badly and had to face and be with some of my own shadow darkness, step by step, for the many long hours of our hike.  My struggles didn’t lessen as a result of hearing the voice.  I still had to persevere.  I had to work my “endurance muscles” and it made me think of all the people in history who had to travel by night for their very lives, not just for some voluntarily chosen hike over a mountain such as I was doing.  I thought of the Cherokee People who suffered through many long nights on the Trail of Tears as they were forced to move from their homeland in the southeast and travel through the winter cold on their feet to the new “home” in Oklahoma.  I thought of the Jews traveling by night to try and escape the Nazi’s hunting them down in Europe during WWll.  I thought of all the worlds suffering people trying to escape their war-torn homelands and being hunted down by soldiers, police, dogs, bombs, planes.

I also thought of a friend who had just died from a life-long illness and all the suffering she had been through, and her husband who had to undergo all his own suffering in watching his wife go through her ordeal that he was powerless to stop.  And so my pilgrimage became a vehicle to work with suffering – both self-imposed suffering along with the suffering that comes in life unasked for and unwanted.

Sometimes it seems that there is nothing to do but endure through it and try to find a way to make the passage not just tolerable, but to find a way to actually get something positive from it.  Yes, there is the suffering that doesn’t necessarily release or lessen, but there can also be a way to bring forth from its ravages something that furthers life and the felt quality of living it in the moment.  And so on the last stages of the hike I began to see beauty in the graceful sculpture of undulating tree branches, draw strength from the rocks, take solace in the dark blanket of dripping fog.  Perhaps, I thought to myself, this small suffering I am doing serves the purpose of strengthening the mind-muscles that I need to strengthen so I will be less quick to anger when under stress in the future.  Perhaps, like the mountain spirit said, this will help me to be more humble in the face of the power and aliveness of nature, and to work more skillfully with its moods and manifestations, both within me as well as without.

The next day my back was quite sore and two days later my lower back seized up in extreme pain.  It took several weeks for the pain to subside and as I listened to its message, I got that the mountain pilgrimage served as a doorway, an opening, for a vital piece of work that was very necessary for me to do at this time in my life.  My listening said the I needed to shape-shift some of the key foundation blocks of my being, my center–the opposite side of my body from where the pain was, and replace them with different blocks that made for a healthier foundation.   The building blocks I had to transform were fear, anger and the tendency to try and force things whenever I got my anger and fear buttons pushed.  My trek over Mt. Tamalpais opened the doorway of awareness to work more skillfully, at a foundation level, to replace fear with love, force with faith-filled flow, and anger with inner peace–even in the midst of struggle and suffering.

So that is the new mantra that I am working on now, every day, and when I am conscious, in every way –.I REPLACE FEAR WITH LOVE, FORCE WITH FAITH-FILLED LOVE AND ANGER WITH PEACE.   As I work this process, I am able to stay in better connection and attunement with the presence and power of Great Spirit’s love, be an instrument for its flow through me and into the world, and to better harmonize with the natural world–enjoying its beauty, its teachings and by giving back appreciation and love, walk in more balance with however the mystery of life shows up at any given moment.  I know I am not there yet.  I know this is a pilgrimage I will be walking the rest of my life.  But I walk a bit more awareness that everything is alive, that I am not alone, and that I always have the ability to create a response to whatever comes my way that helps me to find a way to enjoy the path and grow my potentials to their greatest fruition.

So thank you Sacred Mountain, thank you Coyote, thank you fellow Pilgrims, and thank you Wisdom Elders of Indigenous Medicine Ways that show us the value and power and significance of the Path of Pilgrimage for us modern folks and the challenges we face in today’s world. Long live the sacred places of power and long live the ancient wisdom-ways of right relationship to them so we can open to their teachings for how to live with them in respect, harmony and love. May it be so.

The shaman was thus concerned not just with individual gain or accomplishment, but with the health and welfare of the entire community–both human, ecological, and spiritual. When something was amiss on any of these levels, shamanic intervention might be called on to intervene thus helping to restore harmony and balance. In the modern world of today, especially in the west with its emphasis on materialism, individualism and an exploitive economic system, it is very easy for shamanic practitioners to loose sight of their broad-based shamanic roots, I.e., being aware, concerned and involved in the conditions of their surrounding environment–societal and bio-cosmic.

As users of shamanic psycho-spiritual technology, to be in integrity we need to be actively involved with what is going on around us. We need to be aware of people and planet being oppressed, marginalized, persecuted and discriminated against by prejudicial attitudes and exploitive behaviors. And, we need to be involved doing something about these conditions. It is important to honor the truth that when one group is singled out and treated in a prejudicial manner, any group can be so treated. In other words, no one is really free until all are free– the vow of the Bodhisattva in Buddhism, or “Tikkun Olam” in Hebrew–the responsibility to repair the world.

Modern practitioners need to know the history of the countries in which we live and travel, who has been exploited, when, by whom, and what is the impact of that today and what is being done about it to heal and rectify and promote justice, fairness and equality for all? What needs to be done? What are you doing? What can you be doing, you and your community? The following editorial from The Nation, speaks to one primary concern of healing the genocide perpetrated against the people from Africa abducted forcefully from their homes and then subjected to slavery, racism and discrimination here in the Americas. There is much to be done to dismantle the legacy and practice of racism still alive today. This article presents an important perspective addressing the need for healing and how to do it.

Thanks for listening.

NOTE: For an excellent article on this subject PLEASE follow the link and read Randall Robinson’s piece on this matter  America’s Debt to Blacks.

Imagine a World…
Where governments respect the human rights of all their citizens and settle disputes by the rule of law for the common good. Where all people have food, shelter and access to medical care, and children are born into and raised by healthy families and communities. Where literacy and education for all are accomplished facts. Where economic practices create well-being for all stakeholders, including communities and the environment. Where beauty, the arts, and media inspire the best in people. Where the benefits of science and technology enhance all circles of life.
Where tolerance and appreciation of diverse religious beliefs is the rule, spiritual practice is encouraged, and reverence for life fostered. Where the earth in all he natural beauty is treasured and its resources utilized sustain ably, for this and future generations. This is a world at PEACE…

May Peace Prevail on Earth
You Area a Pathway to Peace.

And what about this intuition stuff? What is it? Where does it come from? Is it inborn? Does it grow? Can it be developed? And what about that old measuring cup–why do some folks seem to have it as a life long partner and others can’t seem to even find the neighborhood where it lives? Is there a connection between intuition and creativity? Do intuitive people have more creativity than those who do not appear to be intuitive?

Many questions, answers to come  from you, if at all, for I am still pursuing questions. Years ago while a graduate student at UC Berkeley in the sixties, pursuing questions of course, I remember writing a poem for a class in psychology. In the poem I wrote that all people are artists and the canvas we create upon is our lives. The colors, figures and images are the choices we make and the actions we take, with their attendant results and outcomes producing “our art”. In this sense, we can not help but create, for in being alive we have to make choices, be they conscious or not. What to wear, what to eat, what to say, where to live, where to go, how, why. Questions again, they come with every breath. Unavoidable.

Some of us are born gifted with particular sensitivities, abilities, skills, a predilection you might say, for expression in one of the familiar forms of art we call music, painting, dance, theater, voice. Others of us don’t necessarily have a gift, just an interest and a desire to learn how to express ourselves in a particular media. Thus I enjoy singing, drawing, playing the guitar, harmonica, sculpting, though I do not believe I am particularly gifted in any of these expressions. Doesn’t matter to me, I enjoy doing them, for me. They aren’t intended to be judged as performances, only expressions of feelings, images, and ideas flowing through my mind, body and spirit.

The urge for this kind of expression comes from deep inside our humanity, and when it is not thwarted, even encouraged, who knows what the possibilities are. It is also important to remember creativity is not just about expressing through the arts, but in and through all our relationships and interactions. And what helps us to do this??

I suggest that we all have an innate, gyroscopic-like function at the center of our beings. It communicates always, but we, or, I should say, “I”, don’t always have the requisite attunement to hear what it is communicating. It speaks from a place of deep wisdom and integrity. It has survival-based instincts developed over billions of years, and it also has connection with our Higher Selves. This inner gyroscope provides guidance integral to maintaining, or restoring, balance and harmony within self, and between self and our environment–on all levels of being. I call this inner wisdom– intuition. It is within us all, but of course varying in degree, sharpness and strength, just as other qualities vary amongst individuals–one has a gift for public speaking, one has a gift for introspection, another for organization, another for writing poetry. But bottom line, we all have it and its sharpness can be developed and brought into our daily lives in a more frequent and skillful manner through respectful honoring its presence and acting on its guidance.

There is another aspect of creativity and intuition that is particularly up for me right now as labor to write this, with my left arm is in great pain from a bad fall on ice while snowboarding on the last day of the year. No broken bones, thankfully, but nevertheless the tendon, nerve, muscle and ligaments impacted by the fall and 20 seconds of excruciating shoulder pain due to a partial dislocation of bone smashed out of its socket, then miraculously going back in to place as I rolled in agony in the snow. I went for an MRI sonic imaging view of the damage and it showed inflamed nerves around a bulging disk in my neck. Doc prescribed steroids to reduce the inflammation and Tylenol and codeine to help provide pain relief. Then next week I see the neck specialist to see how I am doing.

Thankfully the pain relief is working and I am able to get some sleep at night. Mostly I am supposed to wear a neck collar and rest as much as I can to allow the body to do its amazing healing work over the time it needs to do the job. So I am left with a challenge to my creativity and intuition. What is this injury all about and how can I create a response to it that will grow me in the directions that I want to go?

Things work out best for those–who work best, with the way things turn out.

Working within a shamanic framework I take the fall as a way the Mystery seeks to get my attention about new information for my life. Like the phone ringing, I need to pick it up and listen to what is coming through this new “opening” , or in Huichol, nierica. The fall was not my conscious plan, it was not part of my “first attention”. It came from the Nagual, the Mystery, the world of “second attention” with the news that my dreaming, the way I am living my life, is too small, and that I have to open to a new and bigger and better dream. So I must use the tool of my intuition to help me access the information that is for my greatest good, then use this information to create the necessary changes to move me forward in a positive way. Thus the purpose of the “injury” is fulfilled. The information is received, acted upon, and through this honoring of the process, new growth evolves, flowers blossom from the muck of pain and suffering.

I am still in the middle of my listening and investigations but some of what my intuition is telling me this is all about has to do with the process of regeneration. The healing comes from the magical miracle of returning to the open and loving heart as the source of it all:  the wisdom of the heart, opening to love – to receive it for myself and to be a channel for it to others. Finding the ways that I can close my heart in reactivity related to self – importance. Finding the ways I give my happiness and peace away due to things not going the way my ego wants them to go, on my schedule, my timing, my desired forms and outcomes. Finding my places of attachment based on fear, the ways I respond to situations that cause “inflammation” of my emotions and energy which affect my body, spirit and those around me.

Finding all this, facing and owning it, with compassion and love, not judgment, then deconstructing the patterns and what they are based on–such as the belief that the world is hostile and out to get me and thus I have to be always prepared to defend myself against attack, I.e., leading to a state of contraction, rigidity and tightness. Pretty hard for love energy to run through that system!

Creativity is required to build new programs, ones based on love instead of fear. Programs based on surrendering to Great Spirit’s loving presence working for the greatest good, albeit in mysterious ways, in everyone, everything, everywhere and all the time. Programs that are open to the living presence of Mystery, alive always and seeking to unfurl itself for those who are open to it. Quite a contrast to the program of trying to control outcomes thinking that I know what is for my greatest good. I can know what I desire, but what is truly for my greatest good, that I do not know. But Great Spirit knows, and along with Divine Timing and Divine Order, always delivers the goods.

So my intuition is telling me to open more to Mystery unfolding, with faith and trust, surrendering more to the flow of the Tao, The Way, and to be present, receptive and attentive to the wave of now, so I can get the information it provides about how to catch and ride it in a way that I can enjoy the experience and use the power of the Great Ocean to help me go forward in my life with more love, joy, peace and fulfillment. The essence of the information coming through the Nierica of my snowboard injury is a new relationship to power. Instead of power through physical effort, power through blending, through joining, with fluidity and flexibility, with the truth of what is in a manner that flows, like the river, like the clouds passing in the sky, like the wind whose song we hear but do not see. The dance of creativity, creating responses to the challenges of life that blossom flowers through honoring the wisdom voice of intuition. I’m working on it. Its working on me.

I am thankful for the opportunity to co-create with the Mystery the biggest opening possible to bring through more and more love, healing, wisdom, and joy. May your intuition and creativity help you with your gardening work as well.

Happy Blossoming!

And just what is a real life? Is it measured by accomplishments? by goals attained? By the amount of money or material goods amassed? by one’s position, status, power? How many books you have written, papers published, conferences spoken at? Initials after your name? No, I don’t believe so. I thing it has more to do with the individual’s feeling of heart and soul involvement in the choices of their life with a sensed- purpose meaningful to their guts and being. Jacob Needleman, philosopher and author addresses this notion of a real life versus an “unreal” life in his differentiation of what he terms a “first-hand sense of identity” from that of a “second-hand sense of identity”. The former is authentically ours while the latter is based on the values and dictates of others.

How do we get a meaningful, real life? What appears to be helpful in creating it? One source of guidance to these questions comes from people facing life-threatening illness. Let’s start with AIDS.  In my work as a clinical consultant at the Center for Attitudinal Healing in Sausalito, CA.I helped facilitate a support group for people with AIDS for three years. Members of the group were recently diagnosed with the HIV virus or already dealing with its’ effects on their lives, including seeing their loved ones and friends die weekly. Death was their regular companion. The diagnosis itself confronts them with the immediate reality that they do not have forever to live. The false sense of security-by-denial that most of us “live” by — the ” this could never happen to me, I’ll live to be an old codger”, fantasy is stripped away with great force. There is no place to hide. It’s inescapable. They are forced by the reality of their situation to deal with the truth of death that applies to us all but from which most of us run until we too, forced by circumstances beyond our control, must finally face.

Into group they came — fearful, shocked, numb, angry, panicky, depressed, frozen. The feelings were acknowledged, expressed, shared. It cut to the core. The suffering,  the pain, the loss, the devastation. With the precision a surgeon’s knife we were opened to deeper levels of our being, and to an exploration of what was true beneath the layers of persona, personality, of socially dictated roles and values — the “shoulds” of how and what to be, do and act. It became unavoidably clear to everyone in the room that now was the only time remaining between the present moment and death. This led to examination of how to spend it? What to do? What was important? What has meaning now under these conditions?

It was quite amazing to witness how out of this pit of darkness so often emerged an actual birthing of their real selves, their real lives! As much as how they hated the disease, they also spoke of how it brought them into a quality of living that was not present for them prior to their diagnosis. Authenticity, compassion, courage, inspiration and acts of loving -kindness seemed to grow up out of the muck like lotus flowers from the mud, blossoming an enhanced life-quality that animated and enlivened the time of their days. They spoke of lives enriched by facing death, not denying and running away from it, but instead going straight into it, facing it and staying present to find out who they were and what was most important to them. It is an extraordinarily difficult confrontation but one that produced consistent results — real lives of worth and quality. It’s a damn-hard-way to get there though. I believe it behooves us to get to this place earlier on in our lives, not just near the end when we might not have much physical energy to act on it.

I have a client in my private practice, a man in his fifties, really nice guy. He’s being eaten up by cancer. I’ve done some hypnosis work with him for pain control that seems to be helping. We’re also doing some communication work between he and his wife and one of the interesting dynamics emerging from it is a new ability for him to say “no”. This has been difficult for him to do in his life. As a result he has kept a great deal of feeling bottled up inside him for a long time. It eats away at him, sticks in his craw, his belly, and that’s where his cancer is. But now, as he looks into the face of his death and sees the short end of the stick, he feels empowered to come out with his deeper feelings. He is no longer willing to keep his deeper feelings stuffed down in his entrails. Now he is saying “no” when that is what is true for him. And I notice that he gets lighter when he does it. He notices it too. He’s regaining his self-respect which in turn helps him feel better about himself. He’s coming to life with more energy and more vitality in the midst of his disease.

I have seen a similar scenario repeatedly in my many years of clinical work with men, women and children facing life-threatening illness. Facing the inevitability of death, really facing it, with openness and receptivity while bearing fair witness to all that it brings up, can unlock a transformational power that births forth new life– a more authentic living of real life. For many it is for the first time of doing this. It is very ironic but true, that the kick-start for birthing a real life comes out of the experience of facing personal mortality. There is something about letting go that can open us up to getting more…

Physical birth itself requires a letting go in order that the birth continue on to completion. The relatively peaceful state of pregnancy and intrauterine life must be surrendered, a dying, if you will, of what has been. Birthing requires dying. You can’t have one without the other. On the other end of the cycle, isn’t physical death a surrendering, a releasing back into the universal energy dance from whence we came? Are we not dying from one state of being only to be “birthed back” into another, more expanded state? And isn’t this basic process actually taking place literally right under our noses all the time?

Watch your breathing for a few moments. The breath enters, moves through you and then leaves – over and over and over again. All our lives. Just like the waves of the ocean. Each new breath in is literally a rebirth of life. For without it there will be no life. Yet notice how there is no room for this new breath, this new life, if we do not release the old breath. The old has to die for the new to be born. The dying takes us into the birthing.

This basic cyclic truth of life is played out on whatever level one chooses to look. Soon it will be fall here in northern California and the leaves are already beginning to prepare for their demise. As the colder weather arrives the leaves will release from the branches and fall to the ground where the nutrients of their bodies will in turn nourish the earth. Then in the springtime new life will birth forth out of the bleak darkness of winter. In the resurrection story of Christianity, Christ is reborn only after his death, No death, no birth. No letting go of the old, no new.

To the extent that we do not consciously face and acknowledge the role of death in our lives, and that it can come at any time — to that extent we do not honor life. We put off, we postpone, we deny or run away from our deeper truths and why not, we can get to it later. Next week, next year, later, later, when the kids are grown up, when I retire, when I get the promotion. Only we may never get to it. Then should death come calling before we are ready, we are angry, we feel cheated, we bargain for more time so that we can start living our postponed lives! If only we could look earlier, if only we didn’t have to wait for illness or old age to open the door to finding and honoring our authentic lives. But this is not so easily done.

We may think about death at times, even obsess about it, talk about it, read the obits, but to turn our full attention to it and sit with it for awhile takes a lot of courage and is going against the grain of our cultural conditioning. It makes us feel uncomfortable and if there is anything our culture is about it is avoiding being uncomfortable. Look at the majority of adds on TV and in the magazines, look at the rising rates of drug abuse — all connected with avoiding the experience of feeling uncomfortable for one reason or another. Because we do not want to deal with the uncomfortable feelings that come from really looking into the face of our own mortality, we don’t do it. Thus we resign ourselves to dis-empowered lives lacking in quality, aliveness, joy and fulfillment.

“Life is a banquet” said Auntie Mame in the famous play of years ago, yet many of us are starving. While it is tragically true that many are starving physically because of greed and unjust economic systems for the distribution of wealth in the world, many of the well – fed are also starving, but on a soul level, a heart level, a level that drugs and materialism do not address. Nourishment for the heart and soul comes only when we go into our depths of our being to listen within for what is true, authentic and real from the guts of our very essence. It is from that kind of listening that we can create real lives, ones that satisfy our innate quest for meaning and purpose.In closing this examination of getting a real life, I offer the wisdom counsel of the late folk singer Kate Wolf who sang:

“Give yourself to love if love is what you’re after.
Open up your hearts  to the tears and laughter,
and give yourself to love. Just give your self to love.”