THE COSMIC MYSTERY - THE POWER OF STORY

The Ancestors

So lets look at Genesis again through another story a basic archetype which has existed since the beginning of tie and plays out in our culture and most popular movies.

This is my "story" -  biased by what I believe and have learned. 

or

Why not make your own story?

Big Bang - maybe 13 billion or so years ago

Big Gap

Paleoanthropology 

Australopithecus 2-3 million years

Homo habilis and erectus - less than that

(Big gap but not as big)

GENESIS 

The earth was unformed and void (maybe after the Big Bang and Paleo humans) and darkness was upon the face of the waters and the spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God said let there be light. # 1.

Let the firmament (interstellar space or heaven) divide the waters from the waters - the waters above from the waters below. 

(No biblical scholar is sure what the waters above means but commonly its attributed to clouds and rain.) # 2.

He then gathered the waters and there was dry land, the earth and the Growing Beings. # 3.

Then placed the moon and the stars by night for the seasons. # 4.

 He created the Wild Beings of the ocean and the air (birds in the beginning were actually dinosaurs.) # 5.

Then followed the Wild Beings of the earth, and Adam and Eve who were given dominion. 

i.e. Homo sapiens & consciousness.  # 6.

He rested on day 7, the Sabbath, and we are required to do so too (maybe to ponder the mystery with awe which in itself is spiritual practice.)

This awe is manifested in David's psalms and the writings of the Sufi poets.

The six days of creation could also have been 

Six Epochs. 

Science and the bible compliment each other. We are given free will to choose whether to believe in one - the other - or both. There is no reason not to choose both. Paradox must become part of our way of thinking to find the truth. Quantum physics is paradoxical and uncertain as in Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

No-one knows when we developed human consciousness which is vastly different to the consciousness of Wild, Growing and Still Beings who have their own vibration and consciousness.

This is the essence of the Genesis story which is timeless. Its a story about consciousness. Humans were given free will to chooses between good and evil in the Garden of Eden. Ancient wisdom and now neuroscience with functional M.R.I. studies confirm that we have a Higher or Spacious mind or Buddha mind in the prefrontal lobe and a Narrow or Monkey mind - our survival response (which is also what animals have) - in the more primitive areas of our brains. Ancient wisdom adds that Spacious mind (our higher notions,) Narrow mind (our primitive impulses) and Ego form a triad that is always in flux. If we subordinate 

our evil inclination to our good inclination,

 and ego and Narrow mind to Spacious mind 

we develop a higher, Buddha or Christ consciousness. If the reverse occurs, we have the opposite. 

 There was also a Tree of Life in the Garden, a key archetype for regaining Eden and accessing Spacious mind and being admitted back into paradise, the pure land in Buddhism, the Causal realm in Yoga. However, the Creator appointed the Cherubim with the flaming swords to guard the way back into the Garden. No-one can reenter unless they are worthy.  The key to controlling Monkey mind and ego and subordinating them to Spacious or Big mind is spiritual practice combined with the power of spiritual knowledge, understanding and wisdom.

Science omits MEANING in creation and to be science, has to do so.

 The San Bushmen have been carefully studied as a possible remote link between us as hunter gatherers and early homo sapiens. When one visits with the San they appear to be very sophisticated spiritually. They seem to have developed a harmonious and happy cooperative society in spite of the punishing and unforgiving Kalahari desert where water is a luxury. On my any visits to them especially the early ones in 1987 when they were living mostly as hunter-gatherers they appeared to be non judgmental, humble, egalitarian (they had no leader,) with an unconditional love for children and an unconditional positive regard for each other. It was all for one - one for all where scant provisions and water were always generously shared. 
Sadly the more contact they have with us the more they realize how much "stuff" they do not have. 
Like most indigenous cultures who have lost their spiritual heritage and habitat they replace it with a different form of "spirit." The San Bushmen trance dance is a highly sophisticated form of out of body travel, practiced today where they connect with the spirit world for non local information that helps the clan. Rock art in the Apollo cave in Namibia shows they were doing this nearly 27,000 years ago (video of a dance in 2000 on my web site at davidcumes.com).  Maybe the the Garden of Eden is also a metaphor for the San's journey which began some time prior to 30,000 years ago. They have only recently been kicked out of their garden. 

Information is not to be equated with knowledge
Knowledge is not to be equated with understanding
Understanding is not to be equated with wisdom and knowing
And wisdom is not to be equated with virtue

The Ancestors

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THE COSMIC MYSTERY - 2

Kabbalah describes 72 names or attributes to God but stresses that the Creator defies any description at all. All we can say is what the Creator is not.

The Zohar calls the direct experience of God realization Adam Kadmon but recognizes fully that this is only an anthropomorphic representation of the Divine.

"The form of man is the image of everything that is above [in heaven] and below [upon earth]; therefore did the Holy Ancient [God] select it for His own form." The Zohar

In other words - the Law of Correspondence - as above so below. We are microcosmic representations of the Divine and can only think of the Great Spirit in terms of an anthropomorphic representation of ourselves. We see this in religious art, best represented in Michelangelo's Sistine chapel.


The Ancestors

The realization of some form of "Adam Kadmon" may occur for some highly advanced trance healer Bushmen of the Kalahari who in their out of body trance states say they have seen a likeness of the Divine and 

"they make themselves very small in front of Him."

They may be akin to advanced Kabbalists who have been in awe of  seeing Adam Kadmon. The Bushman do not use mind altering  plants or entheogens in this remarkable out of body state where they travel to the spirit world to retrieve non local information vital to the healing and survival of the clan. They only use dancing and chanting (those interested can view videos on my web site davidcumes.com.) They call the experience the Little Death.

People who have had Near Death Experiences also have an experience of this type of ecstasy after passing through a tunnel into a field of overwhelming love and light - so much so that they do not want to come back. The N.D.E, can completely overturn anyones' ideas of God and life after death regardless of their beliefs before the epic phenomenon. They almost all come back with a sense of purpose and wanting to do good in the world. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, is one of those who before his own experience believed the N.D.E. was just a chemical aberration in a brain starved of oxygen (his book is revealing.)

OTHER "STORIES" THAT MAY DISTRACT OR ENHANCE OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE MYSTERY AND THE UNFATHOMABLE

Cern scientists have been humbled by the fact that rather than completing the jig saw puzzle there are many other unexplained "pieces" or particles that have not been explained or even seen. 
The term "god particle" or Higgs boson was given by the physicist Leon Lederman who used it for the title of his book. Scientists and clerics alike objected to the name which came out of the frustration of trying to find and explain Higgs. He joked that its was so elusive he really wanted to call it the goddam particle. Higgs himself was worried it would offend people of faith especially in view of the first commandment and taking the Name in vain.

There are other examples by well meaning, like minded  researchers to glibly liken something they cannot explain to a god or worse - the Creator. 

Another attempt to describe the Great Spirit has been called the god molecule or spirit molecule or D.M.T.  Dimethyl tryptamine is found in the vision or ayahuasca vine of the Amazon rain forest. Seekers who have imbibed the brew or taken D.M.T. itself sometimes describe a feeling of experiencing the Divine or the Great Spirit or a profound sense of Spirit. Some scientists believe that in birth and in death the brain releases large quantities of D.M.T. 

 Richard Dawkins who wrote the God Delusion believes that anyone who believes in a Creator is an idiot as in; 

"When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion its called a religion." Robert Persig

He has a large following and has almost ironically become a god and religion of himself. He seems to confuse religion with spirituality and states that natural selection and science are superior to the god hypothesis and that through evolution and natural selection we developed empathy because it is advantageous. He shows very little understanding of consciousness, paranormal events, life after death, the law of karma and ancient wisdom which can take us much further than just the feeling of empathy.

He seems to be at odds with many quantum scientists who are more humble and admit they really do not know what is going on. Some may not have faith in a Creator God but do understand that there is a fundamental organizing principle or Infinite Intelligence at work here. Most agree as did Einstein that anyone who says they understand quantum physics really does not understand it. This seems more in line with the Zohar's teaching that all we can say is what God is not. 

Dawkins is a professor at Oxford and carries a lot of intellectual clout but seems to be disconnected completely from the reality of the mysterious and the fact that data and science are still seriously lacking in their understandings.  Moreover, that concepts that seem set in stone often become replaced with more advanced or even different concepts. Newton, though having taken us very far, is proving somewhat limited today. It seems we are going where language can no longer help us and we may well have to find wisdom in myths, fables, legends which are the basis of the universal truths of archetypes. Poetry also helps.

More than likely he is among the majority of scientists who totally disbelieve in paranormal phenomena or the neuroscientists who still think that consciousness resides in the brain.

It is difficult to imagine that this Humboldt lily came about as a random event and not some extraordinary imaginative enterprise comprising intent, order, aesthetics and love and that it lives, dies and recreates itself again and again each year much like we do - given a belief in reincarnation.

Of course there are others who dispute any existence of a Divine Being - the Buddha himself being one of them. 

"Gripped by fear men go to the sacred mountains, sacred groves, sacred trees and shrines."

He taught that the god concept was a response to fear and frustration

(rather than awe) 

 and that we should understand our fears, lessen our desires and replace irrational belief with rational understanding. He felt the concept of a Creator was unnecessary to explain the origin of the universe and that each human could and should purify the mind and develop love and compassion for all beings. He urged we shift our attention from the heavens to the heart (when in fact the two are not mutually exclusive.) Buddhism, however, does state they are not a religion but a tool and each seeker should also keep their own belief system.

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A GUIDE TO

 CREATION, 

THE BIG BANG AND 

OTHER CONUNDRUMS?
(Not really)

I am going to begin with a disclaimer and a repetition of the quotes used in last weeks blog. We need to be humble.

"Anyone who isn't confused here, really does not understand what is going on." Anonymous

"Our knowledge is the knowledge of children, we will know a little more than we know now but the real nature of things we will never know, never." Einstein

All I am going to do here is to give information I thought to be interesting and make no claim to understanding it, although I have tried to frame it with my own words and hence somewhat also my understandings. The Ancestors may take issue with its presentation but its meant to illustrate the mystery - both mystical and scientific, not to give an answer.

First a few ideas of Kabbalah and Quantum physics to both of which I am a neophyte but it might help us all to be in awe of the mystery. My apologies to anyone I offend with my simplicity.

The Zohar

Genesis tells us that in the beginning there was  "confusion and emptiness" - essentially chaos. 

Kabbalah teaches that the world could not have existed without God insinuating His/Her presence but also could not exist if He was fully present. 

Hence there was a 

CONTRACTION (TZIMTSUM) 

of the Divine Light 

sufficient for the creation but not enough for the total destruction of that same creation (Possibly as in God saying; "No-one shall see my face and live.")

This concept of Tzimtzum has been compared to the Big Bang (and even compared to the concept of White Hole - possibly a microcosmic representation of the Creator's Divine Light which began all of creation.) 

I could bore you with descriptions that I cannot fully fathom about Black and White Holes but I seem to be in good company with scientists who also do not understand these entities - although at a much deeper level of misunderstanding.

Black holes have been compared to and maybe be a tiny representation of Kabbalah's concept of Nothingness. Furthermore Kabbalah tells us it was the Hebrew letters (the Word,) with spaces of Nothingness amongst shapes of Somethingness that created Somethingness out of Nothingness i.e. the creation as actualized in the lowermost sephira of Kingdom which is earth and everything on it, in it and around it.

Kabbalah also teaches that the Creator created vessels in

 empty space into which the Divine Light was poured. However, these vessels were not strong enough to contain the power of this light and shattered. According to the Ari, these shattered vessels hold the Divine Light as holy sparks and our task as Talking Beings or Homo sapiens with our unique consciousness is to release them from the broken shards or vessels.

The Ari (Isaac Luria)

According to Kabbalah the only way to release the light contained in these shards is with love, light, laughter, joy and kindness to all beings.

Also ...

The Tree of Life and also of the Creation and 

Or Ein Sof or the Divine Light of infinity.

In the beginning there was Nothingness as opposed to Somethingness. Keter the crown sephira of the Tree of Life is Divine Will which created the universe i.e. with intention - "In the beginning was the Word." 

In Kabbalah there were four distinct phases to the creation; 

Emanation - The Word, Divine Will.

 Creation (as the sephira of Wisdom) - the blueprint or plan as evolved in the imagination of Divine Will. (Einstein wanted to understand the mind of God and realized this idea resided in his ability to fantasize and imagine.)

Formation - the coming together of all the elements or four bodies of creation as in; 

"Fire gave birth to light, water to darkness, wind to spirit and earth to humanity." The Zohar. 
These in turn created the universe in six days (or epochs) which does not exclude the possibility of evolution.

And finally Actualization in the lowermost sephira of Kingdom - us on earth and - Somethingness.

The Zohar also states that creation took place - something out of nothing and 
there is an ongoing, continuous and sustaining flow of Divine life force without which everything would return to nothing.

Research at Cern's Hadron proton collider in Switzerland was designed to create a mini Big Bang and simulate the energy and light that were released eons ago. It is a search for the primordial matter created at the time of this event which is very different to what we have now. Tremendous energy was release as it is now in the Hadron collider. Visible matter, scientists say, is only 4% of the yet poorly understood matter of the universe. The rest is called dark matter and dark energy. 

Cern scientists confirm the presence of matter and 
anti-matter 
 and are perplexed at the fact that something mysterious is preventing anti-matter from annihilating matter.  No-one knows where anti-matter went!

 The reality is that no one really understands what is going on. They have discovered the Higgs boson particle but cannot see it - only traces of what it has left behind travelling at almost the speed of light.

They acknowledge there are other particles coming out of the collider that they know nothing about.

It continues to be an ever evolving mystery and conundrum - nevertheless an exciting one. The scientist are so dedicated and fascinated by the project that they have spent years focused on the project at the expense of their social and family lives.

Im sure Einstein would agree with the Ancestors in his attempt to understand the mind of God ...

This also does not discount the importance of science.

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THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF, 
GRAPPLING WITH

THE COSMIC MYSTERY 
& THE POWER OF STORY

Many cultures have their own creation story. It may be best if skeptics thought of these as stories, metaphors, archetypes and universal truths. There should be no conflict between story and science. Both are equally valid. The bible says the earth was created in six days and on the seventh the Creator rested. Six "days" could just as easily have been six epochs. If Genesis would have begun with "once upon a time" many non believers in a Creator and the bible's creation story would be more comfortable. The Garden of Eden archetype is a story of truth since the beginning of time, of the play of light and dark and of our consciousness as Homo sapiens. 
Two Trees in the Garden, one of Knowledge (of acquisitiveness, ego and shadow) and one of Life or enlightenment. When we got kicked out of the Garden for eating of the fruit of knowledge we lost our birth right. We can regain Eden by "climbing" up the Tree of Life, subordinating ego, monkey mind and shadow to the higher Self and becoming perfected beings. The challenge is not easy.

Kabbalistic rendition of the Tree of Life showing the serpent wound around the central trunk of the Tree which must be subordinated to the higher Self in order to reach Keter - the Crown and regain Eden

The conundrum is that at some stage of evolution, we became conscious humans and this is the puzzle of the story. It should create awe and not conflict.
Why?
When?
How?

 The problem is not the story but the fundamentalism of each school's "story." Many scientists believe that only they have the truth as do many religions. There can be no duality - there has to be only one truth! This way of thinking is insinuating itself now into almost every aspect of our lives. Dean Radin, the physicist for Noetic Sciences, states that less than one percent of scientists believe in paranormal phenomena in spite of reproduceable evidence to the contrary. Dogma continues to be pervasive even in the new millennium.
The bible doesn't pretend to begin with Australopithecus or the southern bipedal ape three million years ago or more. This ape was much like our primates of today who though highly intelligent, we believe, did not have our consciousness. 
The more advanced Wild Beings have their own awarenesses and social behavior. Elephants have been shown to honor their dead and walk in a procession passing the bone of a deceased elephant with their trunks to the one behind. They visit burial sites. They have incredible memories and a phenomenal ability to love and show distress at loss of family members. Dolphins are highly evolved mammals who every now and then rescue humans in distress. However, they are not the same as us - as the Ancestors say of all the Beings - all one though not the same.
Above all the consciousness of Wild Beings is one of survival which is also embedded in our primitive monkey or narrow minds. 
We, the Talking Beings, have other polarities with which to contend
which require we balance the light and the dark. The other three Beings are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing - only we stray because of free will and the allure of the material. They do not know anything about evil or good and are just carrying out their respective tasks assigned to them. They are not plagued with concepts like the law of Cause and Effect or Karma.  They do not have monkey minds chattering messages of delusion or a higher or Buddha mind telling them to modulate the monkey on their shoulder with meditative techniques. They do not need to wrestle with the possibilities of reincarnation and the ever turning wheel of samsara. 

Most neuroscientists still believe that our consciousness is inside the brain whereas it is quantum and non local in time and space. They still consider the evidence for life after death - witnessed by those who have had Near Death Experiences - as chemical hallucinations in the brain due to lack of oxygen. 
Bipedal apes had an awareness similar to primates of today but they made tools and could walk upright some of the time like primates. 
Paleo-anthropologists theorize that it was the evolution of the upright posture that allowed early bipedal apes to free their hands and begin the making of tools and thats when humankind began to evolve. Terence Mckenna postulated that when primitive man started to eat psychedelic mushrooms, consciousness exploded but where was it to begin with?

So the real question isn't whether the bible story is literally true but when did Homo habilis and Homo erectus become Homo sapiens with our consciousness and even if that is what happened at all? The mysterious truth laid out in the Garden of Eden millennia ago may be telling us about the manifestation of our unique consciousness as Talking Beings. 
We know the first people were the Bushmen or Khoi San and that we all have their D.N.A. in our chromosomes. Science has shown that humankind began in Africa. San rock art in the Apollo cave in Namibia shows trance dancing - an advanced form of out of body travel and consciousness still being done by them today - happened  at least about 30,000 years ago. 
Subtle spiritual truths come in fables, myths, legends and parables which are also at the heart of the archetypes. They were not meant to be literal but to explain to less sophisticated minds the meaning, mystery and wonder of creation. In indigenous cultures these stories have a Creator - a singular omnipotent force who created order out of chaos. 
It would be useless to early humans if the creation story began with an exposition of quantum physics, the big bang, black and white holes, matter and anti-matter. Even quantum physicists admit that they do not know what is going on. Why did Jesus teach in parables rather than the laws of mathematics and physics. Poetry and legends, however, have the ability to be embedded with universal truths.
The indigenous mind has no difficulty with paradox and duality - you can have your story and I can have mine - they are both true. There is usually a profound message of truth and beauty in these stories. 

The Ancestors' message to us is to be in awe of the mystery and not necessarily to try and explain it or discount the stories that are there to teach us the lessons of creation rather than the exact details of how it came about. This does not discount the magic and mystery of science which depending on one's attitude, can serve to support spiritual concepts.
Niels Bohr the famous quantum physics, when entertaining one of his colleagues in his home was asked; "You surely don't believe that horseshoe hanging over the door brings luck do you?" Bohr replied; "of course I don't believe it but I know it works whether you believe it or not."
We are discovering that knowing more and more about less and less just opens another pandora's box of deeper mystery. Knowing more does not make it any less mysterious. We need to be extremely humble - science tends to be arrogant.
Einstein said that there were two ways to live one's life, one as if nothing is a miracle and the other that everything is. The latter we will find is much more rewarding and life fulfilling.

An anonymous writer once wrote; 
"anyone who isn't confused here, really does not understand what is going on."

and Einstein said; 

"Our knowledge is the knowledge of children, we will know a little more than we know now but the real nature of things we will never know, never."

The Ancestors

The San Bushman believe in a single creator God and clearly this story indicates that mantis and bee (powerful mystical archetypes in their culture) preceded creation of the first human as does the bible - Adam and Eve came LAST. Genesis does not discount there was a lot that happened before Adam and Eve and human consciousness.

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This song came in a dream and though stunning was impossible to produce in real time. We tried our best.

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NATURE - THE ELEMENTS - THE BEINGS &  WILDERNESS RAPTURE 
 AS SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION


Nature, when considered as sacred space is a preferred environment for the Hero/ine's journey. The Garden of Eden archetype holds all the polarities for finding the middle way and balancing the polarities; cold/hot, up/down, hungry/satisfied, thirsty/quenched, exhausted/rested, terrified/tranquil, night/day, sun/moon... Nature is a room with many doors and windows to spirit. It also offers possibilities for connecting with the elements, the "soft" fasciations and the non-talking beings for metaphoric messages and archetypes. This is the "yoga" of the "Eden" experience which can also occur walking in a garden, on the beach or in a park. Intention is the key. 
There is a story about two Buddhists monks who were always debating one another. One of them stood in the portal of a doorway and asked his friend; "am I going in or am I going out?" His friend replied; "that depends entirely on your intention."

Dave Cumes

Wilderness rapture occurs when one goes into a nature (or on retreat) with as little between us and it, with an inner intention and for a more prolonged period (relative to the demands of life's demands.) Five days is ideal. This rapture occurs when we find equanimity and balance in a pristine environment and develop a more constant alfa brain rhythm or meditative state. One may only realize one has been in this state when one comes out of it and back to the real world when a reentry depression can occur. The sudden lack of the equanimity can be profound. This state also makes it easier to also connect with archetypes, including our own unique destiny archetype by awakening our day time insights and our dream time.

The Ancestors

When more intense this rapture may manifest as Maslow's "Peak Experience." This is in effect a mini samadhi or a state of Unity Consciousness or Oneness where the 
Observer (the initiate,) the Observed (say a sunset or power animal connection,) and the process of Observation all fuse into one thing. 
Immersed in nature we suddenly ascend up the hierarchy of chakras and elements and are immersed - even if momentarily - in bliss. This is an unforgettable experience but unfortunately our cognitive minds usually try to rationalize it (or even later trivialize it) which   takes us out of that precious moment.

Connecting with the elements and beings with chakra alignment. Ayin or Nothingness is the Oneness Experience

One cannot talk about the hero's journey without discussing some aspects of fear and stress. There are two kinds of stress; Eustress - good stress and the usual stress that causes distress. For some unique individuals challenges are eu-stressful rather than the opposite. Stress invokes a flight or fight reaction from our autonomic nervous system which also releases stress hormones from the adrenal gland. Adrenalin elevates our blood pressure and gives us the fear feeling - dilated pupils, dry mouth, racing pulse etc. Cortisone release in the long term can suppress our immune systems, our handling of insulin and glucose and can set us on the road to prediabetes if the stress goes unchecked. Sadly our modern  style of living leads to an unhealthy burden on our bodies which requires we take active measures to conter it or we will more easily suffer the consequences of hypertension, atherosclerosis and even immune dysfunction. This is why meditative techniques - especially yoga, have become so popular in the west - not for enlightenment but for survival and stress busting. 

The flight of flight reaction (which can also manifest as freezing or feigning death) is a primal, first chakra response that enables us to run away from a predator or invoke the other two "F's." Its not supposed to be part of our daily living. 

When encountered in the Separation and Theshold phases of the hero's journey it is tailored to the reason for which it was created -  self-mastery and personal growth. The army and other institutions use the response to good effect by manipulating; the time allowed for the exercise, increasing the danger and the consequences of failure, as well as keeping the participant ignorant of what is going to happen. 

The causes of fear have been described as; threat to life or limb, the dark, the deep, the steep, the unknown and religious or superstitious. Interestingly, the most profound fear in groups subjected to challenging experiences especially in wild places is the threat to one's ego - to shame, possible recrimination or condemnation by the group. 

If one is alone on the hero's journey the only one we are accountable to is ourselves so that a humbling and fearful experience can be profoundly helpful on the road to self transformation. One can take the journey without fearful encounters but some would say - no pain, no gain and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Others disagree.

However, there are other pathways to self-transformation and besides the archetypal hero's journey ...

Here there is a different fear paradigm the reversal of fearing the unknown but rather ...

 getting to fear the known 

which is holding us in a pattern of inertia, detachment, complacency and resignation. It also should involve the fear of the karmic implications of irresponsible and selfish patterns of living that our societies' mores seem more and more to embrace.

Often it takes a painful experience to alert us to this fear such as loss of a loved one, one's job or health. Getting through this can be abetted by nature but we can experience the hero/ine's journey outside of wild places, the elements and the other Beings besides ourselves.

 Spiritual transformation, by going transpersonal, though often  slower and less acutely focused, can be just as powerful though maybe not as dramatically noticeable. It is rather a gentle hero's journey with the same three principles of separation, threshold, incorporation that are subtle and often realized only in retrospect. Its a slow burn but has the potential to be longer lasting. Rather than going to the top of the mountain with the "helicopter" of a profound encounter and attaining the vision, it is a laborious sometimes painful walk to the top with many stumbles and backtracking along the path.  

One of the challenges of the Incorporation phase of the Hero's journey is the fall - where our vision "falls" by the wayside. This can also occur on the slower transpersonal journey so one must be diligent and disciplined by not deciding to back away from the climb. The archetypal hero's journey may be more interesting if told around a campfire. Both, however, are just as valuable to self growth and are not mutually exclusive. The basic tenet of both is ...

 

The Ancestors

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