This post continues the slightly amplified transcription of my presentation at the 2015 IANDS conference in San Antonio. If you missed the previous post, you might want to read that first and then come pick up here with Part #2.
Comparative valuations
The purpose of traditional initiation rituals was understood not only as being the source of a “basic change in existential condition,” as Mircea Eliade claimed, but as an entry point to maturity and competence. The rite of passage would be a formal challenge, a test of the newcomer’s fitness for an advanced social role. In spiritual terms, it was expected that the ordeal might give access to altered states of consciousness that could provide a glimpse of other realms, a bit of secret wisdom. In some cultures, obtaining such a vision was (and sometimes is) an essential aspect of the trial.
To see how Western societies understand the purpose of such an experience, we have only to contrast those traditional views with the public’s understanding of distressing NDEs, which are still routinely interpreted as punishment or the ‘wages of sin’ (hell); spiritual incompetence (God-rejecting, unspiritual); a sign of bad character or psychological status (mean, unloving, controling, depressed, guilty, cold, hostile, etc.); and lack of positive thinking (negative).
Making it successfully through a traditional ordeal would be understood as a developmental triumph, a sign of maturity and a source of pride (“You did it! Good job!”). Our Western positions see a distressing experience as a sign of sinfulness, of negativity, as a black mark on one’s character. It is not surprising that a prominent researcher has written about unpleasant NDEs as the slums of a city, created by the “nature of their minds,” through which the experiencers of light-filled NDEs travel as though carried in subway tunnels to avoid contamination.
The degree of difference in these ways of thinking should alarm us.
It is easy to understand that joy, with or without angels, is more appealing than existential terror. But as accounts throughout history demonstrate, a darkness of our souls and psyches is also a natural and recurring aspect of human experience, not by its nature necessarily an indication of evil. If we do not examine it intelligently, we permit only half the known universe into our consciousness; then, when challenged, we go uninformed and unprotected into those territories.
Why our extreme resistance? Why such stubborn refusal of so many otherwise spiritually interested individuals to look at distressing NDEs with honest curiosity and intelligence ? When it comes to these NDEs which present as ordeals, even IANDS has not had a campaign to understand or deal with this attitude; we turn away.
Have we learned nothing from more than a century of psychology, and from three millenia of spiritual writings? Where we resist most strongly, that is where we need to be looking.
Why we think the way we do
Wherever a rite occurs, it will be governed by cultural assumptions. And whenever a crisis comes, it will be culture that determines what kind and how to deal with it. The West, Richard Tarnas points out in Cosmos and Psyche, “has played the central role in bringing about a subtly growing and seemingly inexorable crisis—one of multidimensional complexity, affecting all aspects of life…To say that our global civilization is becoming dysfunctional scarcely conveys the gravity of the situation.” (p. 11)
He continues, saying that of many major debates in the current atmosphere:
…looming behind them [are] two fundamental paradigms, two great myths, diametrically opposite in character, concerning human history and the evolution of human consciousness…[The paradigms represent] those enduring archetypal structures of meaning that so profoundly inform our cultural psyche and shape our beliefs that they constitute the very means through which we construe something as fact. They invisibly constellate our vision. They filter and reveal our data, structure our imagination, permeate our ways of knowing and acting.
We think the way we do, says Tarnas, because of these myths.
The first of the paradigms, he says, “…describes an epic narrative of human progress from a primitive world of dark ignorance, suffering, and limitation to a bright modern world of ever-increasing knowledge, freedom, and well-being.” Based on human reason and the emergence of the modern mind, seeing history as onward and upward, its apex the rise of modern science and democratic individualism, this is the paradigm leading to a metaphysical faith in the light, in abundance, in the quest for happiness.
The second paradigm is darker. In this understanding,
human history and the evolution of human consciousness are seen as a predominantly problematic, even tragic narrative of humanity’s gradual but radical fall and separation from an original state of oneness with nature and an encompassing spiritual dimension of being. From profound sacred unity and interconnectedness, the influence of the Western mind brought about a deep schism and desacralization of the world.…In this perspective, both humanity and nature are seen as having suffered grievously under a long exploitative, dualistic vision of the world, with the worst consequences being produced by the oppressive hegemony of modern industrial societies empowered by Western science and technology.
This is the paradigm that recognizes shadow and suffering.
In Tarnas’s summary:
They represent two basic antithetical myths of historical self-understanding: the myth of Progress and what in its earlier incarnations was called the myth of the Fall. They underlie and influence virtually all discussions, and constitute the underlying argument of our time…Is history ultimately a narrative of progress or of tragedy?
Both views, he concludes, are fully valid and yet they are intensely partial views of a larger frame of reference which makes a complex, integrated whole. Because both are valid, it is urgent that we maintain the tension of opposites.
Wisdom, like compassion, often seems to require of us that we hold multiple realities in our consciousness at once. This may be the task we must begin to engage if we wish to gain a deeper understanding of the evolution of human consciousness—to see that long intellectual and spiritual journey moving through stages of increasing differentiation and complexity, as having brought about both a progressive ascent to autonomy and a tragic fall from unity—and perhaps, as having prepared the way for a synthesis on a new level.
This is where we are now, at the time for that new level which is not yet clear to us. It is the dualism of the Greeks and classic philosophy that tells us reasoning must be binary—progress/fall, good/bad, light/dark/ bliss/abyss. That mode of thought carried us from the beginning of the Common Era to the Renaissance and the scientific revolution that is the Enlightenment. But now we see the Enlightenment vision beginning to encounter its own shadow. Recognition that both paradigms are true, Progress and Fall, leads to the unfolding of a new and more comprehensive understanding.
This is where we are now, with our foundations crumbling.
We are headed for a cliff of our own making. There’s too many of us on the planet, and the resources to sustain us have been, and are being squandered. Material affluence breeds separation from the whole, that being disconnection and lack of regard for the welfare of all life. This has been historical. The difference now is that we are no longer going to be able to get away with it. The looming lesson for all mankind, after our self created catastrophe takes place, is to cherish nature. which is the ongoing visible manifestation of God. We used to be a part of it. “GOD” is he, she, and it, and yet we’ve created our own construct of God??, for personal gain. Still, on this plane, there’s no way to truly win by material standards. Even when you think you’ve won, you can’t take it with you. The end result and evaluation of this rite of passage is how much have you evolved spiritually? Focusing on this reality will get you through it. This in turn comes down to how deeply are you in touch with yourself while you’re here.
Thanks, Dave. More Poughkeepsie wisdom, always welcome.
I think the work of Wilhelm Reich has a place here. He was a pioneer in the discovery of life force in living organisms. He called it Orgone Energy. It flows within us like a loop. up the back into the head and down the front. The head is at the forward point of locomotion, and the crotch is the sharpest point of deflection for the energy which is why the sexual organs are located there. This is also why it’s so sensitive there.
How freely the energy flow moves has a lot to do with the physical and emotional health of the of the individual. Reich was a disciple of Freud, the psychiatry field considers his book Character Analysis one of the greatest ever written. I went through three years of Orgone Therapy with Victor Sobe who was personally trained by Reich. We come here through those who came before us, and they, through those who came before them, and almost all of us are emotionally damaged in the process. My mother was born in 1894, and my father in 1896. this was the tail end of the Victorian era. He was born with no left hand. A deformity like my fathers was thought to be from V.D. in the family. and there were relatives who wanted to have him done away with because he was a family embarrassment. This damaged him so badly that he was a hopeless alcoholic all of his life. The Victorian attitude on sexuality didn’t help either. My Victorian mother used to say to me,”keep your mind above your belt”. I’d say ” but Ma,you keep telling me my brains are in my feet”. My father was afraid to have kids of his own. My brother John was an accident, and born OK, and I then, was the planned for child. I was sick a lot and got most of the attention. John hated me for that, and did everything he could to make my life as miserable and lonely as possible, discouraging any other kids who wanted to play with me. Those who I thought were friends were turned on me. This makes my point on being damage on the way in, and I’m leaving the description here. The eyes are windows into the soul, and we are emotionally vulnerable through them, Tightening the muscles around the eyes is a defense of you’re feelings Clenching your jaw in anger to avoid retaliation while being verbally abused is another. Stiffening your diaphragm to stifle crying, all of these become built in chronic defenses. The life energy stays static and immobile to maintain the stasis. The free energy you have left has to flow around them as if they were rocks in a stream. After awhile you don’t even realize they’re there anymore. To you, you’re normal…but you’re not. When encountering situations similar to those that created the damage you react irrationally. Anger is sequestered within you. As therapy progresses, and these energy blockages are released and come flooding out, you remember and relive the circumstances that created them. Anyway, I could elaborate further, but this gives you the idea. It’s quite possible that a distressing NDE can be influenced by these energy blockages being released at the point of death, or near death. I’ll always have the scars created by the emotional damage I took coming in. The difference is now I know their there. Before, I didn’t. Now, I can see pain in others that they themselves don’t see. Reich’s emphasis on sexuality was not acceptable to the society if the time. It landed him in prison on a stupid technicality. They wanted to get rid of him, and he died in there. Christ was crucified on a cross. Reich was crucified in a prison cell.
Dave, you have such boundless contributions! Thanks once again. Your thought about those energy blockages is really interesting. I wonder if anyopne has done investigating there
Reich wrote a lot of books. He’s not an easy read. One book is the cancer biopathy. When the Energy flow in the body gets too low it’s like a dying stream. stagnant pools develop and “things” start growing in them. Reich invented the Orgone accumulator. This pulled the Orgone energy out of the atmosphere and concentrated it in a cabinet a patient could sit in. As the energy level increased the cancer started receding. The FDA called this device a fraud, and banned it. An associate shipped one across a state line, and Reich was arrested and thrown in prison where he died. The cancer biopathy is a good book to read. On the net, there’s a lady who continues to make Reich’s Orgone accumulators and also Orgone blankets you can lay under research This on the net.
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_reich10.htm
To anyone interested here is an interesting, to the point, essay on Wilhelm Reich and his work.
Thanks, Dave.
Folks on this blog know the most interesting stuff! Thank you again, Dave.
One of the main problems with the Shamanic Ritual is that while it’s happening, it doesn’t make a lick of sense. Hindsight gives value to the process, but that’s not much comfort while one is suffering.
Blissful transcendent experiences may not make much sense while they’re happening either, but due to the pleasurable circumstances, full comprehension isn’t a priority. When God is present and all is right with the world, no changes need to be made. The problem is, this has the potential to turn ‘Heaven’ into a place where nothing ever happens.
Change. Creation. Weaving The Light into The Dark is what it’s all about.
RD,that is an entire course worth of knowledge, right there! Absolutely on the nail. I love it!
And without the darkness, we could not find the light. This could mean that both are necessary for the process of spiritual evolution.