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Chapter 14
The DeathwalkI needed to walk away from Mindell’s book for several weeks in order to be able to gather my thoughts and approach this chapter.
I had debated leaving the book altogether, as I feared this chapter just from the title.
But I’m so glad I returned because it wasn’t at all what I thought.
I’m still processing it, but here are some key concepts and quotes:
Mindell writes about how the shaman, the warrior, can return to “real life” after encountering the nagual and after surviving such experiences that leave him alienated from those around him.
Anyone who’s had such an experience can relate. I know I can and I’m sure anyone led to this website can relate, as well.
Mindell cautions anyone who returns to the “real world” to “follow the definitions of normal human behavior and repress perceptions that lie outside this definition.” p. 201.
Mindell takes the reader through the narrative of the individual and opens up into the collective, the micro-level to the macro-level.
He writes, “An enlightened jury would have to reason that if the town kills one of its citizens, it only succeeds in destroying his body. The voice and message carried by that warrior cannot be killed. New ideas and ways of living are more vast and more permanent than the people who speak them. The ideas will haunt the town in its dreams long after the warrior has died. In this way, the voices of the past continue today as roles in the present, parts that are needed for the sake of collective wholeness. This is why witchcraft, shamanism, and, I hope, indigenous life can never be completely destroyed.” p. 204
Mindell reminds us, “To survive the deathwalk, you must be both vulnerable and invisible.” p. 205
It is in our differences that give rise to allies. Mindell writes about unsung grassroots heroes who have passed in relative obscurity, or so it seems. Mindell writes, “Their allies have appeared as physical or social disabilities, homosexuality, color differences, forbidden loves, madness, and poetry. I think of single parents and of lonely artists trying to express the impossible. And others have lived their fates through to the moment of death without the support of anyone besides their own dreaming process. . . . But what would really honor the memory of these people would be our realization that those small changes that occurred because of their struggle touch everyone today, because they are preset everywhere, at all times, in the network of connections.” p. 207
This is a difficult chapter to process, but I like the way he moves from the micro-level to the macro-level and the tie-in with climate change and the need to form community as opposed to isolated individualism.
As Mindell writes, “The global viewpoint that you are everyone who has ever broken a rule may enable you to survive. The jury, which fights for the ways things have been, has also always been here. Moreover, not only are you on trial, but so is all of humanity that has broken environmental rules. You are living in a world that itself is on trial So remind your potential executioners that they, too, have run out of time. As human beings thrash about for solutions to the overwhelming and apparently unsolvable planetary problems they have created, nature is aiming at the human species, just as the jury aims at the warrior.” p. 204 – 205
In Mindell’s analogies, there are many kinds of deathwalks – childhood fights, teenage rebellion, forbidden love affairs, midlife crisis, being afraid of illness and death. All of these are a kind of deathwalk.
And finally, we have set nature on a course of a deathwalk with the planet. We need to be fluid, to let go of our own history without forgetting it’s hauntings, to learn from it and find ways to adapt to new realities, if we are to survive. And yes, we need to be vulnerable and alive, warriors at the individual level, but ultimately collective.
This reminds me of a Thich Nhat Hanh quote:
“It is probable that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the earth.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh (A Peaceful Way)
And this brings us to the final chapter of the book, which I hope to write about next weekend.
I was listening to Carolyn Myss the other night, and she said (paraphrased) That she never knew anyone who transformed without going through madness first. That madness is an essential step in growth (her degree so many decades ago was in the mystical experience of schizophrenia).
This is incredible. I think there’s so much truth to this. It’s unfortunate that those who do go mad are often locked up and drugged. It’s no wonder we’re only a few decades away from our own self-annihilation.
Yes! And, in fact, I am learning that “teaching” or “guiding” is an essential part of learning. I’m getting ready for a major Ceremony next month, and it is requiring me to dig into my depths of experience – I want to deliver with confidence. If I am informal in our monthly sessions at the yoga studio, I feel the need to be rock solid for this Ceremony, as it is a Gift to a dear friend, as well as a Prayer for Transformation & Growth for myself. (see madness quote above!)
I hope all went well with the ceremony.
As you let go of mind, as you go beyond thinking, thinking, your senses become more present and alert, and you can become aware of things which are behind you, or beyond a wall, or access insights that are intuitive leaps that your rational mind could not make, if you were stuck in thinking, thinking.
It’s like Middle World Travel without the journey – like Middle World Awareness.
Mindell’s story of finding the woman’s breast cancer is a crystal clear example of this type of awareness.
I found Dr. Mindell’s writings on how to “let go of personal history” to be crucial to learning how to stop the “thinking, thinking, thinking.”
I’ve had problems in the past with ruminating thoughts and obsessive worrying, but the techniques learned from Dr. Mindell on letting go of personal history really helped.
It was like laying down a sort of worry-burden. I just let it go . . . .
I hope that gives way, as I continue practicing and learning, to be able to access these types of awareness experiences that you and Dr. Mindell’s book explore.
As you learn more about your Soul, you learn to look forward to it, and “oh, I have to meditate,” or “I have to pray” or “I have to do yoga,” becomes, “I will dance with my soul in sitting meditation,” or “I will engage my Soul as I move my body,” and is a thing to look forward to, a place of bliss – even when it is challenging. For what a miraculous opportunity it is, to have this dance, this conversation, this engagement with G-d within yourself!
I like this, it’s like you turned the ordinary, work-themed into a dance of poetry.
I’ve read and re-read your review of Chapter 8, and I still don’t get “Battle with the Ally.” For me, the Ally, or Helper is a blissful supportive thing, not requiring surrender (other than to “the other realm, which is often a battle for ordinary consciousness at best, and surrender of judgement – acceptance), or battle. The Ally comes – like your own Helpers – in love and a desire to help you be your best self.
I strongly sense that Mindell is mixing his metaphors – his Shamanism and Psychology. When he says Ally – I say Shadow or Daimon. It is true, when you Integrate the Shadow or befriend the Daimon, you gain great power, and you do shed the ego and surrender to That Which is Greater than Yourself. This is Jacob battling the Angel, after which point he is Blessed (father of many Nations) and cursed (physically lamed).
I’m still struggling with these concepts and I don’t know nearly enough to really understand a lot of this, but the next chapter, chapter 14, goes into deeper meaning for the Allies and I’ll explore that when I type of what I’ve written for that chapter tonight.
The Allies, from Mindell’s perspective can be helpers even if they are foes in certain ways. It’s the gain from the struggle that forms the Ally.
If you shatter a mirror into a million pieces, it is all still One – and each mirror reflects back to you a piece of that. Every person you meet is another reflection of the One, and another reflection of yourSelf.
Every life-form holds a solution in equal part to the wholeness. We need each other, even when we don’t like each other. Maybe especially when we don’t like each other, as opposites are needed to re-form the whole.
I LOVE the metaphor of the mirror. So beautiful. It makes it so much easier to understand. Thanks so much for writing it out.
But these secrets are sources of power, and to face them and integrate them is necessary to become a whole Human Being.
I like the concept of secrets as power.
I think it’s the experience, not the shadow itself, that matters. It’s the process.
When you heed your Shadows, they do not get in your way or trip you up. Instead they support you, and you become more fearless, more open to new challenges. Because if your own Shadows are integrated, you no longer fear them.
This made me flash on RD Laing. In the book Going Crazy: The Radical Therapy of RD Laing and Others, the concept of schizophrenia being a “metanoiac voyage” – literally a “mind-changing” experience – is explored.
It’s madness (shadow) as gift and prophecy and transformation. I think Jung and Laing and Mosher and others of their kind were definitely onto something.
Chapter 12
Phantoms and Real People
For this chapter, I’m going to start at the ending and work backwards. Mindell ends this chapter with:
“Tomorrow, phantomhood, which ignores the spirit and is possessed by it, will be seen as an epidemic disease with a high mortality rate.” (p. 193)
This carries with it a kind of prophecy.
JC recently shared with me some teachings of Carolyn Myss on “Heritage and Ancestry” in which she speaks of polio and of AIDS as being “collective” illnesses, illnesses of society. And I saw connections of polio and FDR (who had polio) and who came up with a very progressive policy that helped heal a nation of predatory capitalism at the time – the New Deal.
And so connections and healing, on an epic and epidemic scale.
All of this was swimming inside my head as I read this chapter where Mindell is very autobiographical in his renderings of stories as he tells us about his experience with a healer who had traveled to many places hearing the voice of Jesus. Her name was Joan and she prophesied Mindell’s work as a writer of many books.
In ways, Mindell thinks of her as a teacher due to nothing but her energy and enthusiasm and encouragement that he was “more” than he thought he was.
He meets her a decade later, as she travels to find him again, only this time, guided by an eagle. At this point, her encouragement was too forced. He writes:
“But perhaps, like some shamans, her talents lay in listening to the spirits and not in listening to people. It seemed to me that when I did not follow or comprehend her spirit’s messages, she – not her spirit- tried to force me to obey.” (p. 184).
Because of this, she become “ordinary” in Mindell’s eyes. She became what he calls a “phantom”.
In the section on “Gurus”, Mindell tells the story of visiting Swamiji, a guru in India. When Mindell told the guru about his need for courage in his work, “He responded that service, not meditation, was the fastest way to illumination. Here was someone who lived in a state of meditative detachment from the world, but who recommended service to others.” (p. 185)
But again, Mindell felt uncomfortable with the forcefulness of this guru. He explains:
“Gurus try to awaken your spiritual potential, yet their personal behavior, under the guise of tradition, sometimes violates your trust. If a teacher takes herself too seriously, she becomes a phantom, telling others what to do. But perhaps just such phantom teachers are the best teachers, reminding us that the truth must be discovered again and again, every moment” (p. 186).
This is similar, I think, to the concept of learning from our mistakes and just as importantly, learning from others’ mistakes.
In the next section, Mindell tells us about his visit to Kenyan Healers. Here Mindell accounts an experience where the shaman goes too far into a trance and loses contact with reality. Her husband and son are playing music to accompany her in her journey and they change the music to get her back on track.
When she comes back, she acknowledges her mistake and takes responsibility not only for her mood, but for the impact it has on the community that surrounds her. As Mindell writes, “In large gatherings and in general, your viewpoint only partially belongs to you. A view-point is also a spirit in the field, which, taken together will all the other spirits, makes the world whole. My definition of being a real person is being awake to the spirits that go through you and taking responsibility for their effects on others” (p. 191).
And now, to tie in the ending that I started with, the “epidemic disease with a high mortality rate” (p. 193) with the concept of a mood that impacts us at an epidemic rate – depression.
This book was written in 1993 and is basically prophesying what is about to happen – depression is about to become the number one reason for disability in the first world countries.
So much insight with Carolyn Myss and with Mindell’s epidemic of phantom mood . . . . .
We need a New Deal. A push-back on what is causing so much emotional pain right now.
Perhaps we will find one. We really have no choice if we wish to save ourselves and our planet.
Chapter 11
Dreaming TogetherThe chapter is about community and community involvement in dreams and the collective dreamingbody.
I am reminded of a much more recent book by Johann Hari:
Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions
We are profoundly disconnected.
According to Mindell, “Shamans’ stories are filled with lessons about how warrior clans develop. Such groups are organized by a common interest in awareness, a drive that operates decisively but mysteriously in the background of relationships.” (p. 166)
There is a void of disconnection that our technology simply connect fill. As Johann Hari writes in his book Lost Connections, this void – this disconnection – is the root of our growing depression and anxiety. So this is a concept that is gaining traction in western psychology, which all too often embraces depression at the individual level. Concepts such as the chemical imbalance theory keep us separate and alone. Concepts such as individualism keeps us separate and alone. Is it any wonder that the western world is so full of depression?
In this chapter of The Shaman’s Body, Mindell tells stories of the indigenous tribes he’s visited all over the world and how the sense of “connection” filled him with gratitude and happiness.
What strikes me most about these stories is Mindell’s analysis that “the most healing thing was their worldview, which placed the uncanny in the center of community life.” (p. 169.
Indeed, it is this worldview that each individual person’s suffering is an important and interrelated part of the whole community.
A New View of Your Home Town
Mindell writes about the modern city, the unkempt and the cruel city, the dangerous and the criminal city, as if it is a wild animal. And if one group is failing in a conflict zone, it effects everyone – “no one succeeds unless everyone does” (p. 170).
Mindell tells the story of a conference held in the US (in Oregon) on conflict resolution. There was a problem because the organizers had advertised some events that fell through. But the conflict dragged on.
And then someone, an African American, stood up and called for his “forty acres and a mule.” (p. 171). At which point, everything stopped.
The entire group suddenly turned their second attention on something all at once – racial repression and inequality. This happened a year before the demonstrations in LA that would play out as a result of inequality and racism. As Mindell writes, “A futurist or a witch doctor might say that the African American had followed his shaman’s body, putting us all where we needed to be, in the pain and trauma of racial inequality and injustice.” (p. 171)
The man continued speaking: “Many of you have suffered at the hands of your parents and are still complaining about that today. No? Then don’t expect an abused person whose race has been oppressed for centuries to stop complaining” (p. 171)
This brought up some very healthy and healing dialogues within the conflict resolution seminar. There were discussions brought up involving the Holocaust, discussions about LGBTQ inequalities, etc.
As Mindell writes, “. . . you unconsciously want conflict; you know it is present, and that is why war has been so central to many cultures for thousands of years. It is one of the few things left in which everyone moves in a trance, together.” (p. 172)
Or, as Chris Hedges writes, “War is a force that gives us meaning” in his book of that title in which he describes his experiences as a war correspondent in our current state of permanent war.
It is only when we take responsibility and acknowledge our role and our society’s role in the brutalities of our experiences that we come together in second attention. To ignore these facts and not explore and mend our past is disastrous for our future.
As Mindell puts it, if we don’t do this, we are surrounded by the disembodied ghosts of our past.
Part 2
Dreaming in The City
Chapter 10
Death or SorceryIn the chapter, Mindell introduces us to the absurdness of our lives and the necessity to explore this aspect, especially as we near death (Mindell has spent decades working with the terminally ill and has witnessed and participated in many, many states of altered experiences in this realm of human experience).
As he explores this aspect, he takes us through concepts of Western psychology and through concepts of the Shaman.
Therapy and Sorcery
One of the main differences between Western therapy and Shamanism is Western medicines individualization process. Shamanism, however, takes a more community connectedness view.
As Mindell writes, “Many therapies were developed to work with the middle classes. They support the normative values of dominant cultures: family work, education, knowledge, health, sanity, and everyday life. They stress insight and personal growth, life and happiness. Yet they seem to ignore prejudice, economic disparity, and violent racial conflicts.” (p. 156)
In contrast, “The shaman worried about the sustainability of her community and cared for it by dealing with spirits in the air. If the life of an individual is the implicit goal of therapy, then death, the mystery of darkness, and community renewal are the realm of the sorcerer.” (p. 156)
Death
If we stay in tune with ourselves as shamans, we are aware of our death. In shaman cultures, you don’t run from death, just like the Buddhist who meditates upon their death in order to reach enlightenment.
Western culture makes us fear death in powerful ways. Although Mindell doesn’t write about this, in my opinion, sadly, at times, it seems it’s to satisfy the corporations such as the pharmaceutical companies and doctors who benefit from the cost that people will take to extend their lives, even if it’s only for a few weeks. But our for-profit culture drives us in that direction. We don’t understand our own absurdities.
As Alan Watts and others remind us, why fear death anymore than you fear before you were born?
As Mindell writes, “Only the sense of imminent death shakes you loose from your momentary attachments and fears, from your interest in the programs you have set up. And so the sorcerer welcomes death as the end to a lifestyle that has long since run out of steam. The shaman finds transformation and ecstasy – not tragedy or failure -in death.” (p. 157)
Mindell doesn’t go into this, but I think that because we are culturally geared toward individualism and isolation, our deaths are much more solitary than in other cultures. We simply don’t have the connections that would remind us of the absurdities and the excitements of our exits.
Controlled Abandon
Controlled abandon is about grabbing onto second attention but still being grounded into ordinary reality. This is very important because it’s vital to learn to navigate your altered states without “getting caught” (i.e. being locked up as a mental patient).
In an interesting example of using second attention mindfully and with purpose, Mindell tells the story of a doctor who had a dream of an animal slowly eating another animal to death.
He was concerned that this was a premonition of his own death. So Mindell and this doctor used their second attention. They stood facing each other, ready to engage the dreamingbody.
But the doctor’s heart started pounding wildly and irregularly. So Mindell told him to use “controlled abandon”. He let his body flow with the movement that was in synch with the unusual heart beat and he begin stomping around the room in a military marching rhythm. He proclaimed, “The military is at war with responsibility! It hates responsibility and refuses to be eaten alive by it! The war is with responsibility!” (p. 159)
With that, the doctor was assured he wasn’t going to die, but he did need to change his life – he needed to let go of some of his responsibilities and follow his heart.
As Mindell writes, “To understand dreams, you need the shaman’s controlled abandon to let the river of dreams explain itself. The sorcerer in you seeks contact with the awesome and numinous, not with rational insight. The contact itself brings what Zen calls ‘satori,’ or sudden awakening from direct experience.” (p. 159)
Caretaker of the Absurd
Mindell writes about his experiences working with the terminally ill. This is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. He explores the concepts of acceptance and transformation, of living the dreamingbody and exploring our animal nature, of being absurdly and wildly human. Of being free. If only we could see THAT as what death is, we likely wouldn’t fear it.
In an example, he writes about Karen, a woman who is very close to dying. As she stands up weakly from her wheelchair, she turns into her animal self, an ape, in this case. She dropped her personal history and the seriousness about dying. Because she couldn’t stand up straight, her hunched over position gave her the idea and form of an ape, so that’s what she became.
She was an ape who she said was beginning a race. Mindell asked her where she was going and she just laughed and said she wasn’t going anywhere – she was just an ape having a good time!
She was transformed that day.Her fear turned into laughter and excitement.
As Mindall writes, “The ape was her ally, her gait of power. The ape was her double.” (p. 163)
Chapter 9
The DoubleThis chapter is about change. Or better yet, growth.
Mindell writes: “Gradual changes in your identity take place as you work on yourself patiently for years.” (p. 123)
At times, you may find yourself resembling your ally. Mindell cites an example in the Aztec myth of Tezcatlipoca, which means “smoking mirror”. This is a reflection of “the face that fights him” (p. 124).
First, you must meet your ally and become acquainted. This is less a formality and more of an honor to him/her/it.
And then, the double appears – “the picture of your eternal, whole self; the dreamingbody with your face.” (p. 124)
The concept of “the face that fights him” brings up thoughts and images of warriors. But these kinds of fixations were not common amongst shamans and indigenous cultures. In fact, as the book states, “The term ‘warrior’ does not even appear in the index of Shamanism, Eiade’s seminal work!” (p. 124).
We fixate on warriorship because we live in a very violent culture now. And it’s global. We have varying ethnicities and cultures coming into contact now and we haven’t learned to treat each other with kindness and learned how to embrace our differences.
It’s the external forces, as well as our internal forces. As Mindell writes, “You are inadvertently racist if you only accept one side of yourself . . . .These prejudices create splits, tensions, and fascinations in war and warriorship. As you grow wiser, you find yourself becoming more concerned with people whom you have repressed.” (p. 125)
I think this is a kind of community processwork. We need this desperately if we are to survive.
The Double and Double Signals
We dream in symbols that reflect our and our friends and colleagues’ unconscious. We see their secondary processes, we see the hidden powers. We may see animals or plants that make up our dreams.
How to assemble them? How to find a story, a narrative in these kinds of coded messages?
We have to develop our secondary skills. Mindell writes, “If you were hurt as a child, parts of your childlike nature are split off and appear only in dreams. . . . You may have put all of your animal nature away if the people who brought you up were afraid of their own instincts.” (p. 127)
These split-off pieces also appear in the body. Learn and understand them and then your dreams and your body will lead you back to yourself. You’ll find awareness of yourself and your world.
We need to understand the double and the double signals as they appear in dreams and in the body.
Fields and Projections
It’s possible that when we dream, we are projecting our own image. But Mindell speaks in the language of the “collective” here – “whereas projection is an idea coming mainly from individual psychology, the double is a field concept.” (p. 129) These field concepts are shared experiences.
Mindell wraps this around many ideas, but I like the concept of the scientific – “If shamans knew physics, they might say that you were yourself and yet also a part of a universal quantum field.” (p. 129)
If you wish to develop a double, you need to develop your secondary processes while you are dreaming. But Mindell warns, “Don’t wait until the night to dream; dream now, and dream constantly.” (p. 129)
And while you are dreaming, your body sensations will guide your behavior. Interestingly, Mindell embraces disconnection: “The less connected you are to yourself, the more you make teachers and gurus out of people who are connected to themselves.” (p. 129)
This has a definite “letting go” vibe to it and it also goes against the concept that the divided self is a bad thing and that altered states are bad.
Live your secondary processes and the double becomes real.
Stepping Out of TimeBecause warriors don’t consider themselves as objects, they are fluid and they don’t focus on ordinary time.
A warrior can actually be in two places at once – only an outsider would think differently. Mindell reminds us that according to the rules of physics, you can actually go back in time, although right now we don’t know how. Mindell does mention Richard Feynman who won a Nobel Prize for his work with antimatter.
According to Feynman, the outsider theory “states that when an electron enters a magnetic field, new parts of matter are temporarily created. A new electron and its antimatter double, a positron, appear. Next, all three particles – the old electron, together with the electron-positron couple – travel forward in time together until the positron, or double, eventually annihilate the original, old electron within the field. Meanwhile, the second, new electron continues on outside the magnetic field. No one notices, of course, that this electron is any different from the original one. These creations and annihilations are something like a story of being killed by your double and then being reincarnated.” (p. 131-132)
That is the outsider’s view. Feynman also has an insider’s viewpoint: “the first electron was fluid. Instead of getting annihilated by its ally, it could become a fluid warrior, notice trouble coming, and change. It could become its own double and travel backward in time. . . . The electron becomes temporarily paranormal, that is, free of time and space.” (p. 132)
What seems normal to the warrior does not seem normal to the outsider, who doesn’t see the dreamingbody, it appears as a feat of magic.
Mindell’s experience working with the terminally ill has led him to meet many people who are automatically exploring their dreamingbodies and traveling through space and time. This may be individual or it may be linked globally, since secondary processes are like dreams and may be linked to the world.
Dreaming the Self
While your ordinary self is what dreams the double, after that, the double can dream the self.
You go through your day identifying yourself with our primary processes. This allows you to hold onto your personal history and identity and keeps you locked in time with everyone else. It’s necessary.
However, by spending more time focusing and learning the secondary processes, you can shed your normal identity and “the moment you do that, your dreamingbody becomes the base reality, which seems to dream up your ordinary world in order to realize itself.” (p. 135)
Mindell writes about Carl Jung’s encounter with the double just before his death. Jung explains that the dream showed a reversal in reality – that our unconscious existence is real and our waking reality an illusion. This seems logical, as we design our waking world to make sense of our personal histories, our traumas (personal and collective), and to navigate what we think we know as real.
I’ll leave this chapter with this passage from Jung’s autobiography:
“I had dreamed once before of the problem of the self (i.e., double) and the ego. In that earlier dream I was on a hiking trip. I was walking along a little road through a hilly landscape; the sun was shining and I had a wide view in all directions. Then I came to a small wayside chapel. The door was ajar, and I went in. To my surprise there was no image of the Virgin on the altar, and no crucifix either, but only a wonderful flower arrangement. But then I saw that on the floor in front of the alter, facing me, sat a yogi in lotus posture, in deep meditation. When I looked at him more closely, I realized that he had my face. I started in profound fright and woke with the thought: ‘Aha, so he is the one who is meditating me. He has a dream, and I am it’. I knew that when he awakened, I would no longer be.'”
So – originally a Daimon, now seen as a Demon can bring fear and suffering, and yet – at the heart of every Demon, is still the Daimon who helps, teaches, guides and even drives us to growth, learning, expansion, transcendence and liberation.
I like this. Sometimes fear and suffering are “teachers” and although they can bring tough life lessons, it’s necessary for growth.
As Billy Joel said, “You learn more from your mistakes than anything that you can ever learn in school.”
What we need to learn can come in many way and take many forms.
It’s terminology, I’m sure. All of these are Personal, but they dwell in the Collective, and bring you Power from there.
Yes! Even dreams are collective and that’s where the Power comes from.
Clear as mud?
Totally! Thank you 🙂
The one I was working with in the HeartMath experiment was visual. I was worried that pictures would take me into my mind – but – surprisingly, the images came more freely when I “cast” them from my heart.
It’s an interesting dichotomy. I’m guessing (more experimentation required) that using sound might be even more heart-based, and that words would be the most mind-based.
I’m glad to read you have a way of working in HeartMath that is so helpful. Yes, I find that sound, especially music, is more heart-based. It’s universal. It’s the Music of the Spheres. It’s where we all came from. 🙂
So listening when I “teach” (I prefer “facilitate,” because the real teachers are within you, not me at all.) is more important than explaining, talking.
I like the term “facilitate”.
Chapter 8 – I want to think about for awhile because I’m getting confused with his terminology for “ally” which in some places seems to be what I call “Shadow” and even “Collective Shadow,” and in other places seems to be “daimon,” or “helping spirit.”
Sorry, I may not be explaining very well.
At the beginning of the book, he has a list of Contents where he writes out what each chapter is about in a short summary. For the Chapter on Ally, he writes:
“The world of non-ordinary reality inevitably involves confronting the most complex, the darkest, and the most terrifying thing we have tried to avoid throughout our lives, the inexplicable spirit “ally”. But the very name of this spirit figure indicates that it contains potentially valuable secrets. I focus on ally stories and how the demon appears in body problems, in depression, and in our most special abilities and worst troubles. Exercises help you to connect your problems with your allies.” (p. xiii).
Does this help?
The Ally does have “collective” aspects, as well. I’m finding the concept of the collective dream to be the most mind blowing of them all.
Really awesome stuff in this book.
Chapter 8
The Ally’s SecretThere is a lot packed into this short chapter and I’m still processing it. Mindell goes back in time to the Aztecs and moves forward into his modern day experiences working with terminally ill patients. His personal experiences are powerful.
As JC and I were just noting from the previous chapter, the body has many lessons to teach us. As Mindell writes, “Moreover, body awareness is a basic element of living in the moment.” (p. 109).
And in this present moment, when all our senses come alive, you can seek out your Ally and find the secret. According to this chapter, you only have access to two or three senses at a time (seeing, hearing, and smelling). But through practice, you can attain the ability to sense movement and connect through your body’s intent and bring in more of your senses.
This is so different than in Western medicine which teaches us to pathologize and to view the body as sick and broken and without insight. But in Shamanic medicine, the body is trying to tell us something, so we best listen and learn.
Here is an example out of Mindell’s own work with one of his clients. He was sitting next to his client and felt the urge to touch her. This wasn’t appropriate because the urge was to touch her chest. But it was such a powerful feeling with urgency, that he told his client about the impulse out of concern for her welfare:
“She said that she trusted me and asked where my hand would go. Without knowing why, I told her where on her left breast I would touch her. She was open to experimenting, and I asked her to put her own hand there. To her surprise, she felt a lump, which she had not known was there. A subsequent biopsy proved that the tumor was malignant. She had the lump removed and made a complete recovery.” (p. 111).
This is a great example of Shamanic healing paired with Western healing. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. However, for Shamans, when it comes to dying, Westerners could learn a lot from the Shamanic experience – “Western thought so far has made death only as painless as possible, not as awesome as possible.” (p. 112).
There are some interesting examples of why this is so, as reaching out through the body near the time of death, if you have the right spiritual guide, can be a transformative experience. Mindell traces this through someone passing away after waking from a coma. He was able to sit up and talk and go through the Last Dance when the soul is still in the body right before death.
Also in this chapter, we travel back to the time of the Aztecs and Mindell describe’s Don Juan’s description of the battle with the ally in his story of Tezcatlipoca, a terrifying god. This part was not easy to read because it involved human sacrifice, the most handsomest prisoner, used to personify the god.
As Mindell writes:
“What is the meaning of this dreadful sacrifice of the most handsome prisoner bonded to the four goddesses (ignoring for the moment the repellent sexism in this and other myths)? The story must be trying to say that you need to serve your ally god and sacrifice our worldly good looks, your success. . . . Once you serve your ally, old parts of you die, as new parts connected to transpersonal experience begin to live” (p. 117).
I don’t judge the Aztecs because (this is me saying this, not Mindell) – we also sacrifice both animals (in labs) and even humans in research in the pursuit of the healing arts. I recently came across a chilling article about how Western medicine still isn’t abiding by the Nuremberg Code:
So even in modern times, we have our own sacrifice zones. We really haven’t evolved.
Back on topic, Mindell brings up yet again the concept of why alcoholism is a problem among indigenous peoples. This is a reoccurring theme in this book and with good reason.
“In my experience with such peoples, alcohol is a symptom of trying to find dreamtime in cosmopolitan reality; it is a symptom of a loss of rootedness in wholeness and dreaming, and of the depression and pain of oppression and disenfranchisement. Drugs are a means of getting around personal history and journeying to other realms to find the missing pieces of reality. But without carefulness, drugs become a destructive ally” (p. 114).
However, if you can root out the “secret” of the ally, you can solve the problem that has led to the addiction. You won’t need to use alcohol to get rid of personal history. But we do need to learn to connect to our dreamingbodies.
The last part I want to explore is how allies evolve over each person’s lifetime. There’s a developmental process:
“There are the crisis of your school days, when the ally makes you act more complicated than your school system or parents wish. Then there are the twenties, during which you tussle with choosing a profession; the ally is always convincing you to change professions or choose one that seems unrealistic. They ally is there again in the crisis of midlife, threatening to overturn your whole life, disturbing relationships, and throwing life into apparent confusion. Finally, in old age, the demon appears again, making you irritable and impossible, reducing your tolerance for worldly pursuits, and meddling in the affairs of friends and relatives” (p. 118).
And so we have opportunities throughout our lives to explore and battle and try to find the secret of the ally.
This is one of my favorite passages in this chapter because Mindell brings the concept from the micro to the macro:
“The ally is a neglected collective spirit. It is the outlaw, the shadow of your whole community, that aspect of culture that will not abide by the present system” (p. 119) and he also states, “The demon is everyone’s disorder, but also everyone’s potential future renewal” (p. 119).
Perhaps that should give us some hope.
I did an experiment with my biofeedback device: I “cast a Medicine Wheel” in great detail with it. Usually, this exercise is an effort of concentration, holding my mind and visualisations to put this sphere of protection around me. But this time – I did the visualisation, and fuelled it from my heart. I didn’t think I could do it – I thought that the very act of visualising and concentrating would take me back into my head – but I was able to take the heart energy and send it through my concentration and visualisation, and the resulting Medicine Wheel was sweet and soft and very safe. I will be trying to infuse this “heartfulness” into my visualisations and disciplines more often!
This is interesting. Do you think in pictures instead of words so you don’t go back into your head?
I discuss Don Juan’s “Man of Knowledge,” and the barriers to that Knowledge, here: Shaman Explorations – Carlos Casteneda – Plant Medicine Allies and the Man of Knowledge
Cool! Dr. Mindell quotes Casteneda periodically in this book, but since I know nothing of him, I get lost in those places. I’ll check out your thread.
I really like your writing on Curiosity, Conversation, Negotiation, and Integration. Great tie-in with Mindell’s writings and brings on a Wester medicine analogy to Mindell’s shamanism.
Sometimes I get discouraged, and feel “I am not enough,” and go in search of a Teacher, someone to help me to break through barriers and learn and grow, so that I can be more free, more open, of better service. But then I realise that my body is working very hard to teach me, and it – in concert with the whole of Nature – is enough. I don’t need a Teacher for me, but I am concerned that my learning is not enough to help others.
Do you ever find you learn more by teaching? When I’m explaining something to someone, I find that I reinforce my own education.
I like the concept of our bodies being teachers, as well. Mindell writes about that in the next chapter as we learn how the Ally has secrets.
Good stuff. Thanks for the feedback!
Chapter 7
The AlleyAs you develop in your ability to hunt and dream, typical barriers appear, inhibiting awareness. These barriers are classical edges going by many names. According to don Juan, they may be called clarity, fear, power, or old age. To attain any degree of self-knowledge and fluidity, you must confront these barriers. (p. 91)
Clarity
Clarity can block your awareness when things get too weird. Too much confusion, too many things happening outside of your cultural understanding or awareness. And so your clarity keeps you from seeing the irrational, the illogical, the strange. And we need to see these things. They are part of the human experience.
In order to get through this barrier, sometimes it’s necessary to simply let go and embrace mystery.
The solution to clarity – allow for a curious mind to follow the mystery. Be open to the experience.
Fear
Fear forms a barrier when you start to worry about security. There is a tie in with identity. You have to erase personal history and realize you are more than your identity. This is key because personal history and identity are really not the same thing. At some level, we are our experiences, but at another level, we can become The Observer of our experiences (to quote Mooji).
The solution to fear – become a participant in your own transformation by letting go, by losing yourself. As Mindell writes, “When you accept and respect your fears, you are no longer in danger of dying at the hands of the unknown; instead, you participate in your own transformation.” (p. 93).
Power
However, as you conquer clarity and fear, you may find yourself overly confident. This is especially true if you’ve had “big experiences”.
The solution to Power – laughter! This seems strange, but as Mindell writes, “Power is a dreadful enemy; it makes you lose your humor and become increasingly depressed, serious, and bossy” (p. 93). So laughter really is the best medicine for power. You never should take yourself too seriously because no one has any more power than anyone else – power comes in the context and in the moment. What is power one place, may not be power someplace else.
Keep your humor and your wits about you.
Old Age
Old Age can happen anytime. It’s more of a state of mind and an energy level. It’s exhaustion and the belief that you might not want to keep going on in this world. It’s a chronic depression.
The solution to Old Age – develop your beginner’s mind again. Mindell writes about his experiences working with people who are terminally ill and the insight he found. “Old age, it seems, is only an enemy when you need to die. Once you have died, you can go on living more fully than before” (p. 95).
The Ally
After you learn to deal with barriers to clarity, with fear, power, and old age, the next thing to do is become acquainted with your alley. And alley can come in the form of a dog, bull, colt, eagle, elk, or brown bear. Or it could be “the spirit of a dead shaman, or it may be a minor celestial spirit” (p. 95).
Basically, you’re looking for something symbolic, a way of seeing an altered state of consciousness. Or as Mindell writes, the alley is “a bridge between worlds. In shamanistic terms, becoming whole means finding your ally and asking it to help you find other lost of missing parts of your soul.” (p. 95).
I have one of these! The Teacher of the Soul comes to mind.
The alley is especially important because without developing a good relationship – a conscious relationship – with your alley, “all you can do is search for altered states of consciousness by addicting yourself to foods or drugs” (p. 96).
Mindell relates this to your favorite childhood teddybear. Your childhood imaginary friends.
Remember the concept of beginner’s mind? Ah, there it is!
Although there is a nostalgic childhood like innocence to this, Mindell writes that you will find your most valuable allies as an adult. He mentions that Jung wrote in his autobiography that the ancient and wise Philemon was his most helpful ally.
The Body As Ally
Your ally can show up literally in the feelings in your body as the dreambody. It can also show up when you’re awake – “This power can be found as the force behind spontaneous dance or movement, in the wise directions of given body sensations, or in the sense of awesomeness in the wilderness” (p. 104).
Or in shaman speak, “Following your body is like following the lost parts of your soul” (p. 106).
Mindell writes about an experience when working with a woman who had MS. He helped her exaggerate her movements, letting her bang on the floor. She began to curse a friend who was not being kind to her. And the more she let her anger out of her body, not only did she begin to feel better, she began to walk better!
Because we tend to only sense our bodies when we’re sick, we view our bodies negatively, even as an enemy. But we need to use our second attention and bring awareness to our bodies.
In the exercises at the end of the chapter, there are several involving working with the barriers mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. But I liked the last exercises on how to “connect with your allies” (p. 108). So I’m going to work with that this week.
Chapter 6
The WarrriorMindell writes:
“The dreamingbody can be a prison. It possesses you if you don’t use it consciously.” (p. 73)
Perhaps this ties into what JC posted recently about the discipline of ceremony and the need for ritual.
Three concepts stood out for me: Training, Phases of Development, and Metaskills.
Under the category of Training, Mindell writes about “doubt”, as doubt forces you to learn, so it can be a good thing.
“Only continuous contact with the unknown gives you the right feeling for the work; you are a student of change, not the changer.” (p. 74).
The concept of The Observer comes to mind.
Also, the concept of feeling inferior is good, as it also is essential for personal growth. Mindell connects these concepts:
“At every stage of development, you doubt and test yourself, not only because of the increasing complexity of the challenges, but because you need the sense of doubt to remain open to change and the spirit.” (p. 76).
The more humble and grateful we are, the more open we are, the more we Observe, the more we can experience all there is to experience.
This ties into another key concept – the Phases of Development. Mindell actually writes about this earlier in the book. As I quoted in my post on Chapter 3:
Mindell asks what I think is a rather odd question – “How does the body change in response to increasing wisdom? (33)
I really like the way Mindell brings in awareness of the constant state of change in relation to shamanic knowledge and experience.
One of the many problems with Western medicine is the belief that we are “stuck”. If you have depression as a teenager, you have a disease that’s lifelong. If you hear voices in your twenties, you have a disease that’s lifelong.
But no. We change. We grow, if allowed to and not stopped.
And finally, I’d like to write about what Mindell calls “Metaskills”:
“The most useful and special metaskill is a form of heartfulness; compassion for yourself and loving interest in the things you experience.” (p. 85).
I see ties-in with the mindfulness concept of The Observer, as well as a sense of humility and gratefulness.
I see concepts of Evolution and Growth.
I think metakills are a form of soft skills and we can learn and develop these.
As Mindell writes:
“This detached heartfulness is powerful in your dealing with the most seductive of all trance states: ordinary reality.” (p. 85)
Wow. I LOVE the way Mindell is able to go in and out of altered states and normalize the experience for the reader.
For those of us dealing with altered states on a daily basis, all I can say is:
Thank you, Dr. Mindell.
And thank you, JC, for this beautiful internet space.
Thanks for all of your insight and wisdom, JC. I’m still having some concentration problems, so I’ll only touch on a few things, but I appreciate all you have written.
I know after I finish reading the book and have a better “overall” concept of this, I’ll go back through this entire thread and get a lot more out of it, as it’s packed with so many beautiful writings and references.
In this talk, she said that Westerners have chosen Rational Mind, and in so doing have turned ourselves upside down. In Chinese Medicine, we are meant to have cool head, neutral heart and hot pelvis. But Westerners frequently have hot heads, hot hearts, and cold feet.
Yes, I see this. I’ve been damaged by this. We all have.
I liked the way, in the video with his wife – he slipped in and out of dreamlike states. He would lower his eyelids (not quite closed), and circle with his body, and drop into a light altered state. In that, too, he talked about how people worldwide abuse alcohol because this skill of dropping into dream while awake has been lost in our culture. I will be trying his technique to see if I can drop into trance just a little easier.
And worse, the punitive acts that Western medicine applies to people who do see visions, hear voices, and / or experience altered states.
I would like to emphasise the discipline of ceremony. Of cleansing, of calling to the Medicine Wheel, of formally honouring and respecting the Spirits, your Guides, and the Spirits of place.
Putting the discipline of this around the altered state makes the state special, and helps to steer the experience.
So as you and I have spoken of – curiosity is vital, but the insights are more likely to be available to you within the context of ritual, of discipline, of gratitude and of ceremony. Of Practice.
In the same way that the Drum has a specific pattern to guide the journey – and you always return, the ceremony puts boundaries, steering and navigation controls – and – the ability to return (which is often missing from spontaneous altered states).
Due to an illness, I’m unable to be as ritualistic and to practice as much as I’d like.
I do think I’m learning from this illness. But in ways, I’m limited.
And in other ways, a lot of what Mindell writes about is expanding the limitations.
It is in stillness that we can truly learn. Stillness, says Black Elk, is the very voice of G-d.
I believe this.
Key points:
Ritual / Ceremony / Discipline / Practice
Mindfulness / Objectivity
Silence
and
Gratitude.I like how you pulled all of that out of this and gave this order and space.
Thank you. 🙂
Thank you for your comments, JC. So much insight.
I’ve been sick off and on the past couple of weeks, so I haven’t posted in awhile. I’m feeling better and hope to be back on track next weekend for the next chapter.
But I feel up to exploring the wonderful comments you made.
According to Mindell, it also includes altered states and dreaming. But is it attention when those altered states overwhelm you from the Shadow? That thing which is called psychosis? Or – recreational drugs? It is an awareness, but I reckon second attention is more deliberate, more crafted. Paying attention while in the altered states, the psychosis, or while on the mind altering drugs, instead of being overwhelmed by it, or riding it for fun.
Yes, I think you’re right – second attention is very deliberate. I look at it as a kind of “curious observer” state of mind. Like a scientist exploring the altered state without fear.
RD Laing referred to psychosis as “metanoiac voyage”. Loren Mosher described it as a state of consciousness in response to a crisis and it held the door open for major growth and insight. Of course, in western cultures, that is not acceptable and people are generally medicated for these experiences.
Mindell describes more here. I believe this is something you sent me awhile back and it was my introduction to Mindell.
Physics, Dreaming and Extreme States: Arnold Mindell
What he is calling the “Shamanic River,” is close to what I call “Unconscious” or even “Subconscious.” I define these two as processes which are below the surface of our awareness, a pre-verbal place where the Truth is waiting, but it is waiting in symbol and sound, vision and picture. The Unconscious is often more collective – involving others and archetypes, while the Subconscious is more personal, involving teachings which are more immanent in the personality.
This guy is making me go really deep in order to reach for his concepts!
Thank you for this! I hadn’t thought of the Shamanic River as being the unconscious or the subconscious but it does make sense to put it in that perspective.
Yes, he does go deep, doesn’t he?
Mindell asks what I think is a rather odd question – “How does the body change in response to increasing wisdom?
I was listening to a talk by Andrew Harvey about the yoga bodies – I think it was this one: Andrew Harvey – Evolutionary Mysticism and I have heard this asserted elsewhere, too: that, as we evolve, and become more aware of our Light body (even deeper, more profound than the subtle body) – it transforms all the other bodies (subtle and gross) into a wisdom and joy which lights the body from within.
This has been observed in Saints – and represented in Western Art as paintings.
I have bookmarked this talk to come back to when I’m more well. I look forward to exploring the concept of evolutionary mysticism.
This ties into what I’ve been reading by John Perkins, “The World Is As You Dream It.” I promise to review that book here when I’ve finished writing about Casteneda.
Wonderful! Please do write about it. I’ve looked at the Casteneda thread and hope to read more as I’m able.
Mindell goes onto explore the concept of “personal history” – meaning you need to detach yourself and not view yourself as the center of the universe. He speaks in the language of how you define yourself and the pressures of the outside world to define yourself for you. By removing your personal history, you take power.
This fits with a lot of Zen teachings, too, and concepts in Buddhism and Advaita (like Mooji). When you let go of the story – “I came from this, this was done to me, I did this,” and allow yourself to be the experience of the story, “This is the source of beginning, this happened, this was done through my body and being,” then you are one step closer to liberation.
This freedom is a step towards enlightenment, and the story no longer has power over you. The trauma did happen to the body which you personally experience, but the trauma itself is not personal. This means that – when someone attacks you for example – you can realise that their attack really has nothing to do with you. Instead, you see that it is a perfect mirror to them, and you are able to act out of compassion: respond instead of react to the story.
Yes, it is a lifestyle!
This is such a perfect example of how shamanism and mindfulness heals not only our trauma, but heals us in ways that keep us from traumatizing others, even if we don’t mean to, but as you say, we need to “respond instead of react”.
I do think that every dedicated shaman must experience the Dark Night of the Soul, or the Shamanic Death – not everyone who participates in shamanism needs to travel that road, and the benefits of Collective Unconscious, or Dreamtime, or the Dreamingbody – are available to all.
I think this may be why Mindell writes in ways that are speaking in an academic sense, as you mentioned in an earlier post, to make it more accessible.
I find, however, the Dark Night of the Soul to be something that doesn’t always have a past tense, so understanding the Evolutionary concept mentioned earlier is really important.
Processwork does not focus on who you are or might become but on what you notice.
Mindfulness! Attention is everything. Yesterday I saw black cockatoos flying over the river. If I’d not paid attention, I would’ve just seen crows – but I did pay attention, and it turned out to be 6 black cockatoos. I watched a butterfly flutter at a tree – and I wondered what she was worried about. Turns out her mate was inside the bush, and the two of them flew off together. Attention brought that lesson to me. Watching clouds, observing insects, birds, breezes. It is the same in ordinary reality as it is in non ordinary reality.
Beautiful visuals. Thanks!
