The Wisdom of the Shamans Read online

  Yet it was the vision of his beloved that helped him find his way back to truth, and the key to doing so was forgiveness and unconditional love. Embracing both of these allowed him to let go of the emotional poison he was carrying inside himself and align with the cycles of life. The result was he found his own personal freedom.

  The same is true in our own lives. When we forgive others, we free ourselves from the burden of negativity and resentment. When we step into the river of unconditional love, we are now going with the flow of life rather than swimming against the current. In the Toltec tradition we have a very powerful tool, the Toltec Inventory and Recapitulation, to help us forgive and release any emotional poison we are carrying from past experiences. I have included an exercise on these powerful practices at the end of this chapter.

  Think about the tragedies you have experienced in life. After some time has passed, are you able to look back and see them as part of the cycles of life? Were there also gifts that came to you as a result of those tragedies? Recognizing the gifts that grow from a tragedy doesn't mean you would have chosen this event, but it shows you now have a deeper understanding of the cycles of love and life. When a dream we have collapses, as all dreams ultimately do, the best thing we can do for ourselves and the world is to step into the river of unconditional love and go with the flow of life.

  No one said the path of the shaman would be easy, and aligning with life, even in the face of tragedy, often takes all the courage we can muster. This doesn't mean we won't experience the normal feelings of sadness and grief, we share them as much as we need to, but at some point after the event, we can choose to let go of these events rather than allowing them to consume us and keep us in a personal hell of suffering.

  Attachment and the Addiction to Suffering

  The Mayan priests and the other conquistadores also have a lesson for us: be wary of your attachment to beliefs and ideas. The Mayans sacrificed the Riverman's beloved out of superstition and religious fanaticism, thinking they were doing the will of their gods. The conquistadores killed the Mayans in their pursuit of material possessions, another form of fanaticism.

  In both cases, these groups took actions that produced great suffering, but here is the important part: both were convinced that their ideas and beliefs were the correct ones. Just as the Mayan priests killed the Riverman's beloved, the conquistadores pillaged the Mayan villages and killed many people—both of which were due to fanatical thinking, the madness of extremism in their beliefs.

  In my brother don Miguel Ruiz Jr.'s first book, The Five Levels of Attachment, he uses the wisdom of our family's tradition to explain the dangers of corrupting your own personal dream through attachment. Many people are wary of becoming too attached to money or material possessions, but these are all secondary attachments. The primary attachments we have are to our own beliefs and ideas, and they become potentially dangerous when we make them a part of our identity. When this happens, you can no longer see your belief as simply a belief, but as “the way things really are.” If you become this attached to a belief and that belief is threatened, you can become fanatical about it.

  The truth is that beliefs and ideas only exist in one place: the human mind. They are not “out there” in the world, but rather the filter by which everything we perceive gets sorted. If left unchecked, they are how we can corrupt the world.

  Are there any areas of your life where you want to inflict your own beliefs on others? Do you try and control others? For instance, do you think the path of the shaman is the way for everyone? It isn't. Other people are on their own paths and moving through life in their own time and at their own pace.

  Attachment is a way in which the mind feeds its addiction to suffering. Both the Mayans and the conquistadores, through their own attachment and fanaticism, produced only suffering. The Riverman, once his beloved was taken from him, chose suffering over peace for a long time, until the spirit of his beloved helped him to see another way to live. The Mayans who tortured the Good Conquistador were also trapped in the cycle of suffering. In the quest of what the mind believes is “right,” it will justify any action it needs to, no matter how much suffering it causes in the process.

  This addiction to suffering is part of the current Dream of the Planet. Until humans recognize the connection between attachment and addiction to suffering, we will continue to see the negativity that it produces. Terrorist attacks, mass shootings, wars, etc., are all examples of this, and until we as a species recognize the addiction to suffering, these situations will continue to resurface. That being said, it is still possible for us to see the beauty that coexists in the world, even at the same time that great suffering is present.

  In summary, when we try and fight the cyclical nature of life, we suffer. When we pull ourselves into alignment with life as it is happening, then we can move forward in love. Without awareness of our own beliefs, we can become lost in fanaticism, a product of fear and hate. When we hold on to our resentments and pain against others, we are the ones who suffer, because we have moved away from the peace of unconditional love.

  Exercises

  Notice Your Own Addiction

  Most people cannot handle living in peace for very long. Instead, they look to create drama or problems in their lives. This isn't personal; it's just a condition of the human mind. The goal of the shaman is to see this tendency within because awareness is the first step to change.

  Think about the recent events in your life and your relationships with others—this could be any type of relationship, from one with a significant other to a friend or family member—and write down an instance when you chose suffering instead of peace. Where did you choose to engage in drama with another rather than see things from love? The purpose of this is not to beat yourself up, but to simply notice the mind's addiction to suffering. After taking some time to reflect, on the same page try to write down how you could have done things differently, in a way that would ease or negate the suffering and drama.

  Where Are You a Conquistador?

  We humans are so intelligent, and this can be such a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, we often use our intelligence to try and subjugate another person to our point of view. We can put a name to this need to conquer: being a conquistador. In my family's tradition, a conquistador is a person who invades other people's dreams because that person thinks others should always do things their way. This is how fanaticism is born.

  When we are caught in fanaticism, we have reached a point in our attachment to our beliefs where we think that our way is the only true way and anyone who believes differently is wrong. It's easy to point out where other people are fanatical, but the shaman's true journey is to look within to see your own fanaticism, acknowledge it, and work toward detaching from the belief that others must feel or act the same way. With that journey of self-discovery in mind, consider this: Where and in what circumstances do you act like a conquistador? What beliefs do you think everyone else should agree with you on? Politics? Spirituality? Dietary habits? Take some time to consider and notice where fanatical beliefs arise in your mind. Noticing and acknowledging them are the first step toward unraveling them.

  Forgiveness through Toltec Inventory and Recapitulation

  We all have someone we need to forgive. We forgive not because the other person needs it or even deserves it, but because the burden of carrying that negativity inside of us keeps us from moving forward.

  Holding on to negativity and resentment is an example of our addiction to suffering. You are taking poison and waiting for someone else to die. They remain unaffected. Even knowing this intellectually doesn't mean you will never hold a grudge again; that is the power of the mind's addiction to suffering. The purpose of this exercise is to help you embody forgiveness and realize that forgiveness is necessary for you to move forward; it has little to do with the other person.

  In my family's tradition we have two processes called the Toltec Inventory, which is a detailed review of the events of your
life, and Toltec Recapitulation, a breathing practice that allows you to release any negativity you find and reclaim your emotional power. Used together, these processes can help you bring forgiveness to the painful and traumatic events of your past.

  A full Toltec Inventory includes reviewing the events of your entire life, but for our purposes, we will focus it as a tool for forgiveness.

  To that aim, I want you to think about the most tragic or traumatic thing that has ever happened to you. Perhaps this was a time when you were physically, mentally, or emotionally abused. Perhaps it was the end of a marriage, the death of a loved one, or a major physical accident or illness. Choose the experience that you most often struggle with and would like to have peace with instead.

  Next, I want you to write a detailed account of that event. I know this will be difficult, but the point here is you have to be willing to look deeply at this experience to free yourself from any emotional pain and negativity that is still affecting you. Remember, this is for you only, your inner peace and your personal freedom. Write down everything you can remember about the event, including what happened, how you felt at the time, what your thoughts were, and anything else that you can remember.

  Once you have written out your account of the situation, it's time to move on to the recapitulation process. For this, find a quiet space where you can either sit comfortably or lie down undisturbed for several minutes.

  Recapitulation is how we reintegrate negative memories or events that we have been holding on to by taking away their teeth, so to speak. Here is where we will withdraw the emotional charge from these moments. When there is no emotional charge left to a memory, it is neutral and can no longer be used to generate suffering inside us. You are no longer a prisoner of this past event.

  Many spiritual traditions recognize the life-giving importance of our breath. Shamanism is no exception, and the recapitulation process uses the power of inhaling and exhaling to cleanse the negative emotions from your event, as you will use your inhalation to draw back the energies you have put into this memory and your exhalation to expel the negative energies that you have taken on from this event.

  After completing your inventory of the event, continue to reflect on it and inhale deeply. As you do so, focus on calling back all of the negative emotions you experienced during this event. Notice the connection between energy and emotions. Also consider the many times you have replayed this event in your mind, using the energy behind it to hurt yourself or others. Draw this energy back to yourself; it is yours, and you have the right to choose where you wish to place it. It does not have to be devoted to suffering.

  Now, still thinking on the event, exhale. With this exhalation, push out and release all the negativity you feel toward this event. Exhale your sadness, your shame, your fear, your guilt—any negativity that arises when you think on this event. It is in the past. It cannot hurt you any longer unless you give it that power, unless you allow your mind to create suffering around it.

  Keep breathing in this intentional way as you think about this situation or event until you feel that you have reclaimed all of your energy and expelled all the negativity. It may take several sessions to work through, but that's okay. Just do as much (or as little) as you feel capable of in this moment. Over time, you will be able to look back at this event without feeling an emotional charge, and when this happens, you will know that you have reclaimed your own power, because this event no longer exerts any power over you.

  CHAPTER 3

  THE BIRTH OF QUETZALCOATL

  Ignite Your Imagination and Creativity

  Quetzalcoatl is the legendary feathered serpent of ancient Mesoamerican origin. He was one of the most recognized figures of the ancient world, as he appeared under various names and manifestations in many tribes of North and Central America.

  The name Quetzalcoatl is a combination of two Nahuatl words, quetzal—a bird with large feathers—and coatl—the snake. In this story we are also introduced to Tlaloc, the god of the rain, who was instrumental in the birth of Quetzalcoatl.

  One particular day, a long time ago, Tlaloc, the god of the rain, was sitting above a cloud, providing life-giving water to the earth below. Tlaloc looked down and saw a beautiful cave, one that snakes came in and out of to receive the life-nurturing water. But he saw that there was one little snake that wouldn't come out. This snake was afraid of the light, it was afraid of life. It preferred to stay in the darkness and safety of this cave and was too scared to venture out.

  At first Tlaloc did nothing but observe. He could see the little snake's fear growing bigger and bigger. The god of the rain was moved; he felt love for the little snake. It was then that he said to himself, “I want to do everything in my power to help this little snake come out of the darkness and into the light.” So out of his love for the little snake, the god of the rain made it pour. He made it rain for days, and those days turned into weeks and months. With every inch of rainfall, more water came into the cave. It began to fill it up. The other snakes all simply went outside, but the little snake had to keep climbing higher and higher inside the dark cave to stay out of the rain. He was afraid, and while Tlaloc could see the little snake's fear, he knew that it was only this suffering that would give the little snake the courage to come out of the cave.

  Finally, after many months of rain and with no place left to go, the little snake had no other choice but to come out. Watching the little snake emerge from the cave, Tlaloc stopped the down-pour and parted the clouds, and as he did, the sun began to shine through on the earth below.

  The little snake was in awe, having never seen the light or the world outside of the little cave. He marveled at the world around him as he felt the warm heat of the sun. He looked up to the sky and saw the most amazing thing: beautiful, colorful birds, the quetzal birds, were flying all around him. He was mesmerized by their beauty and their ability to leave the earth and travel with such grace.

  But another snake slid next to the little snake and said, “You love the bird, don't you? You want to fly like the bird, don't you? You want to be as beautiful as the bird, don't you?”

  And the little snake nodded.

  The other snake hissed, “Forget it! You're just a snake! You'll always be a snake, you were born to crawl! You'll never fly or be beautiful like the quetzal birds!”

  The little snake's spirit felt broken.

  Tlaloc was watching this, and he blew away all the clouds. When he did, the sun shown more brightly than it had in two years. It was then that something very special happened. The little snake looked down into a pool of water left over from the rain, and through the power of the light of the sun he saw his own reflection. And for the first time, he saw his own eyes. It was at that very moment that he recognized his true power. With the blue sky reflecting behind his image in the water, the little snake said, “I may not have wings, but I have the power of imagination, and with this imagination I can fly with the beautiful quetzal birds! I have imagination, and with imagination I can break any barrier, I can make the impossible possible because I believe in me!”

  The god of the rain smiled at this because the little snake had finally understood his real power and was no longer afraid of the light. Moved by the little snake's journey into his own power, Tlaloc decided to help him more. He blew the little snake up into the air, and he continued to blow until the little snake was even higher than the birds. As the little snake flew, the snake felt more alive than he ever had before!

  The little snake was not even afraid when he flew close to the sun. He knew that the light of the sun was the same light that was inside his own self, which he used to be afraid of. Now that he was so high and close to the sun, the light from it was like a magnet, and the little snake flew right into the sun and they became one, and the moment produced a total eclipse!

  Then something came out of the sun, but this being that emerged was no longer a little snake afraid of life, but instead the great feathered serpent—Quetzalcoatl! He no l
onger needed the god of the rain to blow on him to make him fly; he had harnessed the power of his imagination and transformed himself into something greater than he was previously by using his imagination and believing in his own power.

  Quetzalcoatl emerged out of the sun and flew around the world, feeling the beauty, feeling the freedom of life and love. As he looked down, he saw the cave where he had spent his whole life and thought about the other beings in the world who were suffering like he once did. They did not know their true power, and he wanted to be of service to them.

  As he flew, he saw the great city of pyramids, Teotihuacán. He landed in what is known as the Plaza of Hell and said, “This is where I will build my temple, because I want to bring heaven to hell. I will take heaven with me to any of my brothers and sisters who find themselves in hell. That is who I am here to help.”

  Have you ever been in a situation where you knew you needed to change something but you were afraid to do so? Perhaps it was a job that just wasn't working or a relationship that had gotten unhealthy. Even though the situation was causing you great pain, you chose to stay because it was familiar. You might have even told yourself that you stayed because you didn't want to hurt or disappoint others or tried to convince yourself that things would get better if you just “hung in there.” You may also have felt trapped, unsure of what action to take to relieve your suffering.

  Most of us have been through something like this at some point in our lives. Like the little snake, our first tendency may be to stay hidden in the familiarity of darkness and let our fear deny us the experience of changing our lives for the better.