To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. You wander far from the graves of your ancestors and seemingly without regret… Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors — the dreams of our old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our [chiefs], and is written in the hearts of our people.
Our Shamanic Heritage
Wherever we gaze, wherever we walk, we tread on the sacred ground of our ancestors, all the millions of people, like Chief Seattle, who have gone on before us, paving the way for today’s global society.
In North America, twenty million indigenous people occupied every state and territory long before the Europeans arrived. Today, only a couple of million in the continental United States still survive, and they easily represent 100 or more separate nations, their names left in landmarks around the country, such as Lake Huron.
The way of the Shaman for primal people, those who still live by hunting and gathering, is comparable to the role of the priest and prophet in the great religious traditions. Only the Shaman has no Bible but creation, itself, and sees the entire world as a natural revelation of the Great Spirit, with every plan and animal filled with divine spirit.
The Hero’s Journey
Joseph Campbell, with his classic, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and his series of interviews with Bill Moyers, Power of Myth, caught the imagination of an entire generation of young Americans, such as the filmmaker, George Lucas, disillusioned by the futility of the War in Vietnam. Campbell celebrated the hero across civilizations, with a very special love for Native Americans.
Campbell pointed out that we are all heroes in our own way, having survived the trauma of birth.
He went on to discuss the process of growing up, from helpless infancy to mature adult. He defined the hero as someone who leaves his community, and goes out into the wilderness to deal with the various elements and face his or her inner demons.
If successful, he will receive a boon, a revelation, a profound spiritual insight that he can bring back to share with his people.
This great teacher suggested that we all study the ancient myths, as well as the stories of traditional civilization. He showed, for example, how the lives of the Buddha and Jesus Christ ran in close parallel, with both of them leaving their comfort zone, going out into the wilderness, facing temptation, and triumphantly returning to their people as world teachers, spiritual masters who would have an incomparable impact on humanity down through the ages.
Related article: Why Your Journey In Life Matters
The Vision Quest
In this turbulent era of climate change and global warming, we all need renewed inspiration if we are to successfully meet the unprecedented challenge they present and continue to flourish as a species.
It is strange that, in our post-modern, information age, we need to go all the way back to the primal sensibilities of the early hunters and gatherers who first left the tropical forest, the Garden of Eden, to replenish the earth after the Ice Age and the Great Flood.
Native Americans had a rite-of-passage that helped boys become men, preparing themselves for the hunt. This entailed taking them out into the forest a day’s journey with knife, spear or bow and arrow, and leaving them there to fend for themselves.
After several days or a week, the father would come back to see how well his son had fended for himself. If he survived, the father would congratulate his son on becoming a man.
The tribal chief had a similar process, as described in Black Elk Speaks, of going on a Vision Quest to find the truth for his people.
Joseph Campbell vividly described his vision of seeing rainbow hoops, and how the Europeans would come into his land and change everything. Black Elk had the genius to know that his own sacred mountain, Harney Peak, was the center of his world, but that every mountain could be the center of another person’s world.
While the shamanic truth quest entails fasting and purification, and going out in the wilderness for days on end, asking the universe a single question, this process can be adapted to our own time, even in urban areas.
How to Find Your Own Truth
Each of us will face a moment in our life when we will need to find answers that aren’t in a textbook, perhaps not even in someone else’s religious or philosophic vocabulary.
Easy explanations won’t due.
Perhaps it is a sudden turn of career, resulting in the loss of the best job you ever had. Perhaps it is the sudden loss of a spouse, either by death, or by a series of intractable arguments that make no sense whatsoever looking back.
During such times, you need to get away and be by yourself. You need to get in tune with nature, and find God within in your own way.
You want the forest and the sea to speak intimately with you. You want to arrive at a heart-felt understanding of who you are as an individual, and of your ultimate destiny.
While it is possible to do something like the traditional Vision Quest with Native Americans in magical places like Sedona, Arizona, it is also possible to structure a much simpler process.
The key is to find a way to drop out of your daily routine and be alone with yourself, while receiving necessary outside support. You may not need to buy a shamanic drum, take hallucinogens and go to a sweat lodge.
- Outward Bound: This is an organization that supports people in taking wilderness trips to build their stamina and learn to trust themselves.
- Ecotourism: A whole new wave in creative holidays is now made possible, with places like Costa Rica and the island of Bali.
- Vipassana Retreats: This is a low-cost, low-risk alternative with maximum support. You just need a couple of weeks at your disposal to meditate in a cabin with food and supplies brought to you on a daily basis.
- A Day of Silence: Various gurus have recommended this as a fast way to realize the Self. You might make it a liquid fast and pass on TV, digital media and books. You might present a printed card to any friend who knocks on your door explaining what you are up to that day.
The most essential element in all this is that you WANT TO GET TO THE TRUTH and in the process, listen to your inner leader.
You are willing to do whatever is required. You want to discover your own mission, vision and message to the world. You are willing for your Creator to speak to you when and how He / She pleases.
Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
Vision Quest: The Truth At Any Price appeared first on http://consciousowl.com.
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