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Hello Earth
With this song, she is welcoming back her life. She has chosen life, and needs to find her way back to her body. She finds herself in astral travel, above the Earth.
The descent into the Underworld has brought her to a place of new awareness – a recognition of the tinyness of her life, her planet:
“With just one hand, held up high, I can blot you out – out of sight”
In returning to Earth, she realizes how vast and unknowable the world is, and this Mystery is what keeps her alive, keeps her present.
The Male Chorus in the middle is a beautiful Georgian folk song (a little bawdy), called “Tsintskharo.”
“Get out of the wind, get out of the water.” The time has come for her to return to the situation that threw her into the Shamanic Death, or the Near Death Experience.
The danger that started the crisis is still there – but she has seen the Earth as a tiny thing, and she has faced her Darkness, integrated her Shadow, and she can now face the danger – and get help. “Why did I go?”
The music becomes serene, as she drifts to the surface, returning to her body.
She whispers (in German): “Tiefer, tiefer, irgendwo in der tiefe. Gibt es ein licht?” which means: “Deeper, deeper, somewhere deep. Is there a light?”
She has been deeper, she has seen the darkness, and it is this knowledge, this awakening which enables her to follow the Light.
No, Watts walked away from psychedelics, Leary continued with them. I couldn’t say which of the two is “deeper,” however. Watts – is more erudite, more multicultural, tying Advaida Vedanta, Buddhism, and the Awakening to the Self in a nice package that the Western Mind can absorb – and be entertained by. Leary was more inward, more of a psychonaut, exploring the inner space and cataloguing it to the best of his ability.
Kesey just went wild, thus teaching the lesson of where the line of survival is.
Just my perception – I’ve only read bits of both of them.
So I was looking at this Sentence of Sextus:
The tyrant cannot take away prosperity.
It fits with Stoicism.
From an article on Ghandi in Aeon
In Discourse, the Stoic Epictetus presents personal freedom as a kind of invulnerability gained by setting your heart, or rather your will (prohairesis), only on what it is in your power to have. Then the tyrant cannot do anything to you. What is in your power does not include your body, its parts, your faculties, your possessions, your reputation, offices, honours, children, brothers, friends, farm, slaves, clothes, house or horses. For thinkers, in case they felt safe, he added ‘your books’.
Epictetus describes the exercises by which he makes his students set aside any consideration that is not under the control of their wills. To a tyrant who threatens: ‘I will put you in chains,’ they are to imagine themselves replying: ‘What did you say, man? Put me in chains? My leg you will put in chains, but my will not even God can conquer.’ The students are to learn to be free by reducing themselves to their wills – that is, to their rightly directed wills.
While I’m not sure how “will” links to “prosperity,” I think that is what the text is getting at. Perhaps it’s a twist in translation.
Stoicism predates the Nag Hammadi by about 600 years, so this kind of thought and training would have been well established by the time the Nag Hammadi community was around.
When I was first studying Nag Hammadi in 1985, I wrote out these Sentences of Sextus in my journal – at least – the ones I could figure out from the fragments. There are a few more. These are very dualistic, which is probably why I wasn’t attracted to them in 1985:
Part Three (out of sequence)
An evil soul flees from GodEverything bad is the enemy of God
Where your thought is, there is your goodness.
Do not seek goodness in flesh.
A godly heart produces a blessed life.
There is again this sentence. The members of the body are a burden to those who do not use them.
If you take on the guardianship of orphans, you will be the father of many children since you are beloved of God.
It is better to die than to darken the soul because of the immoderation of the belly.
Say with your mind that the body is the garment of your soul; keep it, therefore, pure, since it is innocent.
Whatever the soul will do while she is in the body, she has as witnesses when she goes into judgement.
Unclean demons do lay claim to a polluted soul. The evil demons will not be able to lay hold of a soul which is faithful and good in the way of God.
It is not a small danger for us to speak the Truth about God; do not say anything about God or what is taught by god.
Do not speak with a godless person about God; if you (espouse?) impure works, do not speak about God.
The true word about God is the Word of God.
Speak concerning the word about God as if you were saying it in the Presence of God.
If your mind is persuaded first that you have been god-loving, then speak to whomever you wish about God.
Do not wish to speak with a crowd about God.
It is better to dispose of a soul than to discard at random a word about God.
You conceive the body of the god-loving man, but you will not be able to rule over his speech.
If a tyrant threatens you, then, especially, remember God.
It is better for you to be silent about the word of God than to speak recklessly.
He who speaks lies about God is lying to God. A man who does not have anything truthful to say about God is abandoned by God.
A man who is worthy of God, he is God among men, and he is the son of God.
Both the great one exists and he who is next to the great one exists.
It is better for man to be without anything than to have many things while not giving to the needy; so also you, if you pray to God, he will not give to you.
If you, from your whole heart, give your bread to the hungry, the gift is small, but the willingness is great with God.
Know who God is, and know who is the one who thinks in you; a good man is the good work of God.
END
Nag Hammadi Library – Sentences of Sextus – Part 2
Strive eagerly to be victorious over every man in prudence; maintain self-sufficiency.
You cannot receive understanding except you know first that you possess nothing.
It is better to serve others than to make others serve you.
Not only do not hold an opinion which does not benefit the needy, but also do not listen to it.
He who gives something without respect commits an outrage.
He whom you server because of honour, you have served for a wage.
If you give to him who will pay you respect, you have given not to man, but you gave for your own pleasure.
Do not provoke the anger of a mob; know then, what is fitting for the prosperous man to do.
Do not give the Word of God to everyone.
For those who are corrupted by glory, it is not assuring to hear about God.
May your pious works precede every word about God.
Be more sparing with a word about God than about a Soul.
He who speaks the Word of God to those for whom it is not lawful, he is the betrayer of God.
It is not possible to know God when you do not worship Him.
A man who does evil to someone will not be able to worship God.
The love of man is the beginning of Godliness.
He who takes care of men while praying for all of them – this is the Truth of God
It is God’s business to save whom he wants; it is the business of the God-loving man to beseech God to save everyone.
He who thinks that no one is in the Presence of God, he is not humble towards God.
He who makes his mind like unto God according to his Power, he is the one who honours God greatly.
God does not need anything, but He rejoices over those who give to the needy.
The faithful do not speak many words, but their works are numerous.
It is a faithful person fond of learning who is the worker of the Truth.
If you do not do evil to anyone, you will not be afraid of anyone.
The tyrant cannot take away prosperity.
What it is right to do, do it willingly.
What it is not right to do, don’t do it in any way.
Promise everything rather than say, “I am wise.”
What you do well, say with your mind that it is God who does it.
Guard yourself from lying; there is he who deceives and there is he who is deceived.
Death will not be able to destroy…
* * *
These are the verses I found compelling in 1985 and copied into my journal.
There are a few more in the Nag Hammadi tract, and I will put a few of them in the next post.
Nag Hammadi Library – Sentences of Sextus – Part 2
Strive eagerly to be victorious over every man in prudence; maintain self-sufficiency.
You cannot receive understanding except you know first that you possess nothing.
It is better to serve others than to make others serve you.
Not only do not hold an opinion which does not benefit the needy, but also do not listen to it.
He who gives something without respect commits an outrage.
He whom you server because of honour, you have served for a wage.
If you give to him who will pay you respect, you have given not to man, but you gave for your own pleasure.
Do not provoke the anger of a mob; know then, what is fitting for the prosperous man to do.
Do not give the Word of God to everyone.
For those who are corrupted by glory, it is not assuring to hear about God.
May your pious works precede every word about God.
Be more sparing with a word about God than about a Soul.
He who speaks the Word of God to those for whom it is not lawful, he is the betrayer of God.
It is not possible to know God when you do not worship Him.
A man who does evil to someone will not be able to worship God.
The love of man is the beginning of Godliness.
He who takes care of men while praying for all of them – this is the Truth of God
It is God’s business to save whom he wants; it is the business of the God-loving man to beseech God to save everyone.
He who thinks that no one is in the Presence of God, he is not humble towards God.
He who makes his mind like unto God according to his Power, he is the one who honours God greatly.
God does not need anything, but He rejoices over those who give to the needy.
The faithful do not speak many words, but their works are numerous.
It is a faithful person fond of learning who is the worker of the Truth.
If you do not do evil to anyone, you will not be afraid of anyone.
The tyrant cannot take away prosperity.
What it is right to do, do it willingly.
What it is not right to do, don’t do it in any way.
Promise everything rather than say, “I am wise.”
What you do well, say with your mind that it is God who does it.
Guard yourself from lying; there is he who deceives and there is he who is deceived.
Death will not be able to destroy…
* * *
These are the verses I found compelling in 1985 and copied into my journal.
There are a few more in the Nag Hammadi tract, and I will put a few of them in the next post.
Nag Hammadi Library – Sentences of Sextus
These were found manuscripts, stored in leather containers, in Egypt in 1945. The various texts (there are hundreds of fragments) have different dates. They are evidence of early practice of Christianity (Coptic). This one, the “Sentences of Sextus” is found in other collections, and is not the newest or oldest version. But it is the first version which came to me.
I love it for its comparison to Havamal, or “The Sayings of the High One,” in Norse tradition.
- Sentences of Sextus:
Love the Truth, and the lie use like poison.
May the right time precede your words.
Speak when it is not proper to be silent, but speak concerning the things you know only when it is fitting.
The untimely word is evidence of an evil mind.
When it is proper to act, do not use a word.
Do not wish to speak first in the midst of a crowd.
While it is a skill to speak, it is also a skill to be silent.
It is better for you to be defeated while speaking the Truth, than to be victorious through deceit.
He who is victorious through deceit is defeated by the Truth.
Untrue words are the evidence of evil persons.
Do not deceive anyone, especially him who needs advice.
If you speak after many others, you will see more the advantage.
There is no kinsman of the Truth except wisdom.
It is not possible for a believing nature to become fond of lies.
A fearful and slavish nature will not be able to partake in faith.
When you are believing, what it is fitting to say is not more worthy than the hearing.
When you are with believing persons, desire to listen rather than to speak.
The sins of those who are ignorant are the shame of those who have taught them.
A wise man is a doer of good works after God.
May your life confirm your words before those who hear.
What is it not right to do, do not even consider doing it.
What you do not want to happen to you, do not do it yourself, either.
After God, no one is as free as the wise man.
Everything God possesses, the wise man has also.
The wise man shares in the Kingdom of God; an evil man does not want the foreknowledge of God to come to pass.
To make the body of your soul a burden is pride, but to be able to restrain it gently when it is necessary is blessedness.
Do not become guilty of your own death. Do not be angry at him who will take you out of the body and kill you.
If someone brings the wise man out of the body wickedly, he rather does what is good for him, for he has been released from his bonds.
The fear of death grieves man because of the ignorance of the soul.
Someone who says, “I believe,” even if he spends a long time pretending, he will not prevail, but he will fall; as your heart is, so will be your life.
Let not an ungrateful man cause you to cease to do good.
Persuade a senseless brother not to be senseless; if he is mad, protect him.
…to be continued…
Chapter 6 – Deeper with the Datura
- Preface:
I recently found a strain of Datura growing in a garden in my neighborhood!
White Angel Trumpet:
It shocks me that this potentially dangerous plant is growing right there – where children and teenagers can get to it. When I checked on the shaman sites, it was not recommended by anyone, and if you were particularly adventurous and wanted to try it, they recommended no more than one flower, and to have a Watcher to take care of your body. It was reported that you might forget about your body and walk into the streets. There were stories of people who rearranged their entire apartment while under the influence of just one flower (made into tea), and woke up not understanding what had happened. There were stories of tribal use of this plant as punishment. Someone who had been caught doing wrong would be held and fed this plant as the price for their crime. This would double the danger of the plant, if you believed it to be punishment. For this, it might be flower or leaf. Only the most powerful sorcerers ever had any use for the very dangerous root and stem.My own experiences with the plant were back in the late 1980’s. I had obtained some dried plant to smoke (leaf). I failed in a number of things. I failed to consecrate the herb. I failed to seal my space in a Medicine Wheel. I failed to make offerings to the spirit of the plant, or ask for aid from my own Guardian spirits. What happened was a nightmare. With only a few small puffs of this foul tasting weed, I perceived that a dark, shadowy demonic creature opened the window, invaded my apartment and stabbed me 10 times. Like this Tarot card:
I felt it with my body, and I saw it with my mind. I could open my eyes and realise that it hadn’t happened, but it was a horrible vision. Now – looking back, I can see that the plant was trying to teach me. The 10 of Swords is the inevitable end result of taking up the Sword of Violence – pain, ruin, sorrow. It may have been a warning about the relationship I had started with my first husband. But the teaching from the plant was harsh and difficult – I pursue a path of learning which is much gentler now. And it spooked me from ever trying the “devil weed” again.
I can’t emphasize enough that – the direction Castaneda is headed – is a dangerous one.
In this chapter, Don Juan wants Castaneda to go deeper into his “devil’s weed.”
He wanted him to do the sorcery of the lizard (remember that was a cruel practice), and he asked him to go harvest from his own crop, as he was ready for the next level of Datura sorcery. Don Juan defines the sorcerer’s crop as that which grows between the central plant and following the water flow in the rain to the furthest plant. All the plants in between belong to the sorcerer.
He harvests from male plants for one pouch, female plants for another. They pound roots and add weevils which grow naturally with the plant. It takes hours of pounding and leaching the root, and 2 days of preparation total, during which time Castaneda was told to fast.
When people ask me: does Plant Medicine Work? Do herbs really work? I say, “Yes, but it is more energy intensive than Western medicine. There is no ‘Take a pill’ – instead it is a process.” If nothing else, Castaneda has documented that the path of Plant medicine is to be done carefully and with great respect.
The resulting paste was divided into 5 parts, and the paste was applied to Castaneda’s left and right foot (sole), left and right leg (inner thigh), and genitals. Castaneda complained of the awful smell of the mixture.
He started his Journey with the Plant, and embraced the darkness of the night. He could see, he could move quickly – his body was elastic and it was like having 10 mile boots! When he came to, he was 1/2 mile away. He has “flown” there, according to Don Juan.
He questioned Don Juan – how did I get there? “You flew.”
He questioned, did you see me fly? If I had a friend here, would he see me fly? Like when you and I see a bird fly, and agree it is flying, did I fly?
Don Juan would not address the consensual reality of Castaneda’s flight, and would only confirm that he flew.
Castaneda tried again – “If you tied a rock to me, would it hold me down? Would I have flown just the same?”
Don Juan smiled, “If you tie yourself to a rock, I’m afraid you will have to fly holding the rock with it’s chain.”
Castaneda was frustrated with this answer.
This Journey apparently was over in a matter of hours.
Coda writes:
I couldn’t imagine you being in darkness.
Ah! I have the same darknesses that anyone has! I have anger, and violence, jealousy and selfishness.
If you look at the Carlos Castaneda thread, here:
Shaman Explorations – Carlos Casteneda Ch 3 – Plant Medicine AlliesYou will see that there are enemies to defeat. Some of them are fear (and anger may be a part of fear – do we not get angry at that which we do not understand?) or thoughts and knowledge (Don Juan calls this “clarity”) and power. If we defeat these, the next enemy is old age.
Don Juan claims that when you defeat these things, you need never go back, but I find it is cyclical. You defeat a little fear, and the next fear you must defeat is larger. Ultimately, you face the fear of death – and after that, the other fears seem small – but they aren’t nonexistent.
When I read Casteneda the first time, I was in pursuit of Power. I’m not sure I have defeated that enemy, but I do know my Darknesses, and strive to do 2 things with them:
1. Shine a light on them, and
2. Harness their energies for my own purpose.Darknesses are often instincts, developed for survival. Someone may push away relationship by being cold and haughty – or angry, bitter and nasty. This cold haughtiness or angry bitterness was developed as a survival instinct. It’s at the instinctual level – so very difficult to see in the mirror, and very difficult to redirect.
One of my Spiritual Awakenings was brought on by a movie (a Sandra Bullock comedy, “28 Days” of all things!). As I came out of the movie, my world collapsed around me as I saw myself in the mirror that Sandra Bullock held up – how selfish I’d been, and the wreckage I’d left behind me in my selfish desire to do as I pleased. I took responsibility from that point, for my words and deeds, and while – I am not always successful – strive to consider others and consequences in my choices.
This was part of my Peaceful Warrior process. It happens in the martial arts studio, too. Just because I know how to break someone’s arm, doesn’t mean that is always the wisest choice for a situation. The more advanced I get, the more I learn that there are better, subtler ways of obtaining peace from a situation. When I was Power Hungry, it was always about “destruction of the foe.” Now it is more about “stopping harm.”
When Socrates says:
“You say, Dan, when you resist what happens, your mind begins to race; the thoughts that assail you are actually created by you.”
This is very similar to a message you received from a Helper in the Middle World (I hope you don’t mind if I quote it here):
He says, “Don’t make your journey harder than it is.”
Coda writes:
And now I’m remember what Alan Watts said, “Once you get the message, you can hang up the phone”. And then you’ll spend the rest of your life working it out. So true of these types of awakenings and journeys.
Yes, but I’m learning something beyond this, which is relationship. In developing a relationship with “the phone,” then you integrate the teachings much more deeply – and you’re not left to your own mind, but instead, are in constant communication with the All That Is. Hanging up the phone ends the teaching. A relationship with the Teacher – whether that is a Helper, a Medicine Power, Plant Medicine, or another Person, even a Guru, – deepens the teaching with each conversation.
I think that Alan Watts was trying to distinguish himself from the psychedelic phenomenon happening at the time. Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey were blazing new trails into chaos and anarchy. By telling people to “hang up the (psychedelic) phone,” he was denying psychedelics as Teachers.
We are on this planet for Relationship. It is why our species has such difficulty Relating. We are afraid of the Other, we want to believe in our Separateness, and yet – are dismayed at the Aloneness of that. The drive of Life is for us to come together and Teach and Learn from each other.
Socrates suggests a mindful exercise:
2. pay attention to how your mouth shapes the words you say
This is a new teaching for me! Thank you!
Coda posted:
Spirit Animal Totems – Golden Retriever
If Golden Retriever has come into your dreams;
To see a Golden Retriever in your dream represents your family ideals and your strong bonds with those around you. A barking Retriever may mean that you have overlooked some emotional issue with someone close to you. Perhaps you misheard them.
The dream may also be a pun on something that you need to “retrieve” or regain control of.
I’m not sure that fits, but I like the idea of a Goldie as a guide and helper along the way.
Your thoughts are like wild monkeys stung by a scorpion.
Wow, that’s much more intense than the traditional Buddhist “monkey mind!”
And then here – is the classic manifestation of the “Spiritual Emergency”:
And so Dan turns to studying and training like crazy to drown out his thoughts and feelings. He makes a fool of himself in front of his class. He isn’t eating, isn’t sleeping, and appears a bit crazed.
And he becomes very suicidal and ends up collapsed from exhaustion in the infirmary. He makes an appointment with a psychiatrist, but doesn’t keep it. What would he say? How would he explain Socrates?
It’s not an easy task to integrate a higher vibration, to reconcile the impossible with the real.
If he’d made that appointment with the psychiatrist, he might have “gotten caught” and none of the rest of the book would ever have happened.
If I recall correctly, the movie makes Joy out to be more of a love interest than she is. You are at about the same place that I am in the book – so your comments from here on out will be new to me.
I think this book – even though it’s not about shamanism – is a perfect place to start. Me, I started with Carlos Castaneda and suffered from decades of darkness. If I had started with Way of Peaceful Warrior – it might have been different. One of the delights of this book (as it is with Castaneda, too) is that it takes the form of a story.
Another one that I recommend highly, which also takes the form of a story, is James Redfield’s, “The Celestine Prophecy.”
Another sign that Castaneda’s cult was indeed a cult was that he insisted on total control of the lives of his devotees. He told them where to live, where to work, who to have sex with. He accepted or rejected someone on his own mercurial whims. His affection and attention was random – you never knew when you would be loved and accepted, or excoriated and rejected.
Castaneda would throw you out of the group if you became ill – illness was seen as a weakness that a sorcerer could not afford to have.
And yet he died of liver cancer (self-hatred, anger, deception).
But – from the Salon article, in conclusion:
Without a doubt, Castaneda opened the doors of perception for numerous readers, and many workshop attendees found the experience deeply meaningful. There are those who testify to the benefits of Tensegrity. And even some of those who are critical of Castaneda find his teachings useful. “He was a conduit. I wanted answers to the big questions. He helped me,” Geuter said. But for five of his closest companions, his teachings — and his insistence on their literal truth — may have cost them their lives.
if his books had been presented, as James Redfield’s “Celestine Prophecy” is, as allegorical fiction. But Castaneda always insisted he’d made nothing up. “If he hadn’t presented his stories as fact,” Wallace told me, “it’s unlikely the cult would exist. As nonfiction, it became impossibly more dangerous.
Now back to the “Teachings of Don Juan” foolishness with the Datura and the “little smoke….”
About the only thing I can personally relate to with Castaneda is “Sorcerers don’t allow their pictures to be taken!”
First there is the ancient native admonition that a piece of you goes with each “capture” on film.
Then there is the distinguishment that a Medicine Person does what they do to give to the tribe – but a Sorcerer does what they do for their own selfish advancement. This is a valid but difficult path, and part of the purity which is required would be to protect yourself from other Sorcerers.
Having an image of yourself leaves someone vulnerable to the workings of Darkness. If you are working in Darkness, hair, nail clippings, and photographs leave you vulnerable to other Dark Practitioners.
It is much easier to practice in Light and Beauty. The darkness is needed to define the light – but is not the purpose or goal. Illuminating Darkness is essential to Wholeness.
The Indian Yogic Gurus often offer a photo of themselves to devotees. This is given as a give of love, and to enable the devotee to practice bhakti yoga – the yoga of devotion and surrender. By having the photo of the Guru, watching over your daily Practice, and making offerings, surrender and respect to the Guru, you can receive the blessings of that Guru.
So photos contain power – they are not mere souvenirs of this life.
