The Wisdom of the Shamans Read online

  This tendency is more common than many people realize and was expressed succinctly by master teacher and author Marianne Williamson in her book A Return to Love, where she wrote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”

  But just as the god of the rain did for the little snake, life will create situations that make us uncomfortable and push us outside of the prison walls we have built for ourselves. It's these situations in life, when things don't go as we planned, that cause much of our suffering. Life's purpose in these situations, however, is not to hurt us but rather to help us.

  It's at these moments that our suffering does have value to us, because it is then that our suffering can show us what beliefs we have about love and life that are no longer true for us. When we are suffering, we know that we are holding on to a belief that needs to be either replaced or released.

  That is what transformation is all about. We are not born to suffer, and despite the mind's addiction to darkness, the nagual in you is always seeking the light. If you can't find it on your own, life will create situations that will push you into the light. Life does so because you and life are one.

  Yet even as we step into the light, there will be those who will tell us that we aren't good enough, we don't have power, or we should give up because it's too hard. While these voices may come from others around us, many times that story also comes from within.

  In the Toltec tradition we call this voice, the one that spreads negativity in your mind, the parasite. The parasite is the voice in your mind that says you are not enough, you don't have the power, or you should stay in your cave and not even try to fly among the beautiful birds.

  Think for a moment about any areas of your life where you have told yourself that you are “not enough.” Where do you sell yourself short? Where are you afraid to pursue your dreams? Where do you say you are not good enough? That's the voice of your parasite speaking, not the nagual in you.

  One lesson the story of Quetzalcoatl teaches is the importance of becoming aware of the parasite in your mind and the poisonous stories it spins. If we listen to the parasite and believe its lies without question, we will stay in our cave and never realize our potential, or we will remain snakes and never allow ourselves to fly among the birds. When Quetzalcoatl looks into the pool of water and sees his own reflection, he remembers the secret tools to make his life a work of art because they were within him all along.

  The Power of Creation

  In the Toltec tradition, it was the shamans who first realized that humans were dreaming all the time, and it was the shamans who used the power of their awakening to create the dreams that they chose.

  As dream masters, the shamans taught that two of the most powerful tools in the dream weren't things like physical strength or mental cunning, but rather imagination and creativity. These are the tools of the artist, and consciously using them is the first step in creating the dream that you want.

  We all have the power of imagination within ourselves, but many of us have forgotten about it. When we were children, we used our imaginations all the time, but as we got older, others told us to stop daydreaming or to “grow up and live in the real world.” Some people told us that our dreams and creations were not good, and we believed them. If we believed them long enough, then the parasite adopted those voices and masqueraded as our own.

  But when we put imagination and creativity aside, we can often feel like our lives are beginning to stagnate. Many of us experience this in our late twenties or early thirties, when life starts to feel repetitive, like there is nothing new or different coming to or happening for us. There's a feeling that something is missing, that life has lost its “spark.” What's missing is the opportunity to invest in your creativity, and imagination is the spark that lights the creative fire.

  When I speak of creativity and imagination here, I don't just mean in the traditional artistic sense, but rather an overall mind-set that influences how we live our lives. Certainly the arts of drawing, painting, making music, writing, and other ways of creating art are wonderful, but it's the mind-set of creativity and imagination that accompanies those artistic acts that we want to capture and cultivate within ourselves.

  Anytime you are feeling stuck or unfulfilled, taking creative action can bring you back to your center. Trying something new or different, that is outside of our usual patterns, can radically change the way we feel. The key is to engage in creation without succumbing to the voice of your inner judge, the one that says “this is no good,” or “this is a waste of time.”

  If we forget the importance of being powerful conscious creators, it's simply a matter of time before we begin to feel stagnant or stuck, and the longer we live in this cave of “stuckness,” the more difficult it becomes to leave. Consciously creating is what makes us feel alive. Creativity is a wonderful way to help break the mind's habit of suffering, because they are opposite pursuits.

  Sometimes we can feel so disconnected from our imagination and creativity that we don't think we can create anything at all. This is when the power of inspiration can get us back on track. Like the birds in this story energizing the little snake, inspiration can lift our spirits when we find ourselves in the dark of the cave and open our eyes to the new limitless possibilities that have always been inside of us. Inspiration is what the artist uses to fuel imagination, and that is why it is important to surround ourselves with people, ideas, and objects that inspire us.

  Who inspires you? Where do you feel at the height of your creative power? Are there any objects that inspire you? I have a writer friend who likes to go to an art museum for inspiration, even though he is not a painter or sculptor. He says that the energy he feels just by being around objects that were brought into the world through the power of conscious creation inspires him in his own work. Whether you are a writer, a painter, a sculptor, or not a traditional “artist” at all, my point is that when you are feeling stuck or unfulfilled, consciously looking for inspiration can lead you back to your center.

  Inspiration, imagination, and creativity are the key ingredients to bringing all works of art into the world, and likewise, this is how the work of art that is your life comes into being as well. When you become aware of your ability to be inspired, to imagine, and to create, you have the main tools to craft your life into a work of art and move beyond any barriers you have built for yourself. This is the story of Quetzalcoatl, because through inspiration, imagination, and creativity he transformed his own personal hell into a beautiful heaven.

  As you have likely already noticed, the story of Quetzalcoatl is also a metaphor for the shaman's awakening. The little snake who was afraid of life and didn't recognize his own power is transformed into a master. As with many of the stories in my family's tradition, the sun represents Life, the nagual, or the life force energy that makes up and is contained in all things. When Quetzalcoatl merged with the sun, he harnessed the power of life and was able to recreate the story of his life to reflect his true potential.

  After his transformation, Quetzalcoatl committed himself to the life of a messenger. As my father often points out, the word angel means “messenger,” and Quetzalcoatl became an angel and brought his message of heaven—the truth that you can create heaven even in the midst of hell. This is the message that he, and all shamans, chose to share as a way of helping fellow beings to find their way out of the darkness of the cave. In this way, we share the love inside our hearts with others.

  Exercises

  Imagination and Inspiration

  What dreams do you want to make come true in your life right now? Make a list. Don't worry about “being practical,” just write down what feels true to your heart. It's important to actually put this list on paper instead of keeping it in your mind.

  Once you have your list written down, think about who or what inspires you to achieve those goals. Make a list of these inspira
tions alongside your life list of dreams.

  When you feel yourself wanting to go back into the cave, to give up, or when you hear the parasite encouraging you to beat yourself up, come back to your two lists and think of the people or things that inspire you and look at the dreams that you want for your life. By focusing on your dreams and your inspirations, you let your muses lift you out of the darkness and into the light once again.

  Creative Action

  The most important thing about creative action is taking it. You can sit and think for days, weeks, or years about the perfect way to paint or play the piano, but until you sit down at an easel or piano, all you've done is think.

  Pick a creative action to take this week. It can be painting, drawing, quilting, dancing, singing—anything which gives you a feeling of creating something. Perhaps the creative action you choose will be something you have been meaning to do or learn “forever,” and now is the time to take action on it.

  Please note: you do not have to be “good” at this hobby; in fact, it can be very fun to watch yourself progress in an endeavor you've never experimented with before. After you have taken this creative action a few times (at least weekly if not more often), check in to see how you feel about it. Did you enjoy it? If yes, then keep it going! If no, or you ever decide this activity isn't for you after all, or you just want a break, pick a new activity and give it a try for a few weeks.

  What's important is that you cultivate creativity within yourself regularly. You'll find that doing so can change your whole outlook on life, and as you begin to use your creativity more often, you will wonder why you ever stopped.

  Bring a Creative Spirit into Your Existing Activities

  Once you've rediscovered your creativity, I want you to bring this creative spirit into your everyday work in the world. Whether you work at home or in an office, ask yourself how you can add creativity to your existing activities.

  For example, a dear friend of mine likes to say, “No one in the world sweeps the floor like I do,” as he would dance and make creative strokes with the broom as he swept the floor. The truth is that no one does anything like you do, and whatever you do is an opportunity to create a masterpiece of art.

  CHAPTER 4

  THE JUNGLE

  A Lesson in Awareness

  Divinity is everywhere, and that's why the shaman knows the importance of nature and has respect for everything.

  A young Aztec boy, the son of a shaman, was visiting the deserted Mayan pyramids with his father. He marveled at their size and stature and wondered if it was possible that these people were able to build such impressive structures by themselves. He had heard rumors that the gods had descended from the sky to help the Mayans, and he wanted to know the secret. He kept asking his father until the man finally replied, “You will find out when you go to sleep tonight, my son.”

  That night, the boy fell asleep and had a dream. He dreamed that he was standing in the middle of the jungle, but he experienced the jungle in a way he never had before. He heard every movement of the trees, the heartbeats of the animals, every leaf blowing in the wind. He sensed the incredible aliveness around him. He felt the connection to the earth. He realized that he was one with nature, with silence, stillness, and emptiness, because these are the source from which all things come. He saw that there was no separation between material and spiritual. Everything is spiritual. Everything is God, all around us.

  Suddenly he felt his attention focus on a colony of ants and the colossal mound that they had built. In his mind's eye, the creation of the mound appeared like a movie. First he saw an empty patch of earth, and then a few ants began moving earth and building the mound, and then a few more, and then it was as if he was transformed into an ant in the ant colony. He was one of them and together they moved the soil with incredible precision, and he marveled at the mound they had built from nothing. Before they began building, there was nothing, and now a colossal mound stood a thousand times bigger than any individual ant.

  When he woke the next morning, his father was sitting by his bed. Before he could say anything, his father said to him, “The ants can build a mound so much bigger than themselves, and humans are much greater than ants. Don't let the voices of your mind fill you with doubt.”

  Have you ever noticed what happens when you travel to an exotic place for the first time? Everything you see is new and fresh, and you marvel at it because your mind has no past memory or experience of that place.

  But on the third or fourth time you visit, you likely noticed that this exotic destination did not have the same exhilarating effect on you. One reason for this is that once the mind has experienced a place, it has a tendency to think it “knows” it, and as a result the mind relies on the memory of that experience rather than being present for it again. This doesn't just happen with exotic destinations: wherever you are right now is a beautiful and majestic place if only you will look at it with new eyes.

  Your mind does something similar when it comes to objects, as here too it relies on past recollections rather than present moment experience. For instance, stop reading for a moment and glance around at your surroundings, taking note of what you see. Depending on where you are, it's likely your mind produced a variety of labels such as chair, table, bed, or, if you are outside, grass, trees, water, etc.

  In this way, the mind sees things and labels them, associating them with memory and past experience. Notice how your mind doesn't really “look” at many of these objects anymore, because it already “knows” what they are. But are its labels an accurate description of reality? Or is their true beauty and mystery beyond anything that can be contained or described in a label?

  Next think of the people in your life: your family, friends, those you see on a regular basis. When you look at them, do you think you “know” who they are too? Your mind may believe so, but the truth is that every time you see someone, they are not the same person you saw before, even if you just saw them yesterday. We are all changing all the time, but the mind clouds our current experience with the projections of past memories. When we do this to other people, we don't allow them to change, instead we only see our image of them. They may be completely different from who they were yesterday, or ten years ago, but we won't know it if we rely on our image of them instead of looking at them anew in the moment.

  All of these are examples of how we can live under the conditioning of our minds rather than in the world that is happening right now.

  Of course, the mind doesn't stop here, as it then takes those labels, projections, memories, and everything else it “knows” and builds stories out of what it perceives. Often these stories have little basis in reality.

  For example, let's say a person you do not know walks into the room. The mind may subtly draw conclusions about that person, based on how they are dressed, the color of their skin, their physical appearance, etc. In this way, the mind is projecting its expectations on this person in front of you based on its memories of past experiences, including any ideas we have been domesticated to believe. The truth is you have never seen this person before, and you can't possibly know anything more about them.

  Sometimes the memories the mind uses to create these projections aren't even conscious choices. For instance, let's say the person who walked into the room looks similar to someone who mistreated you years earlier. While you may not have an immediate conscious association between the past memory and your present projection, without realizing it you may decide that this particular person looks “unfriendly.”

  If I asked you why you thought that about them, you might not even be able to give me an answer. Now here's the issue: the person standing in front of you may be very friendly, but you may never find that out. Many of us have experienced something like this in our own lives, such as when you got to know someone well who was previously just an acquaintance, and you said something like “You are not how I expected you to be.”

  Understanding the difference between what is hap
pening in the world and what is happening only in your mind is key to finding your own personal freedom. Until you know the difference, your mind can continue to create stories based on your doubts, fears, and domestications, all of which feed its addiction to suffering.

  This type of story building isn't just confined to our experiences with others. The mind will often tell you, even subtly, that you can't do something or you aren't enough. In the story of the jungle, the boy's mind had doubted that the Mayans could build the pyramids without super-natural help, and because he too is a human like the Mayans, this belief was also a subtle manifestation of his own self-doubt.

  Other times the mind acts in a way that isn't subtle, using harsh language to berate us, and it is this language that can get stuck on repeat in our heads. This is the parasite once again rearing its head, and it will hook your attention if you let it. Dealing with the parasite, especially as a voice of self-doubt and self-judgment, is a recurring theme in many shaman stories, because releasing these self-limiting ideas is one of the most necessary and important steps on the shamanic path.

  I love the story of the jungle, because it offers us another powerful tool to see through the mind's mischief in labels, stories, and especially the voices of doubt, and that tool is awareness.

  The Mastery of Awareness

  The word awareness is deceptively simple. In the modern world it is applied in a variety of ways to describe things like being conscious, knowledgeable, informed, or even sophisticated, but none of these uses of the word captures the awareness that is intrinsic to the Toltec tradition. For the Toltecs, the word awareness describes a practice that goes much deeper.