THE FORCE OF THE PRIMAL # 5

LESSONS FOR US

FINDING PRIMAL MIND IN NATURE

  

How can we become more primal in Nature? This requires a shift in receptivity as well as an inner intention  with the focus on fully experiencing all of Her polarities. By keeping as close as possible to the hunter gatherer or minimalistic model the magic can occur.  This means having as little as possible separating us from the power of wild things. Five days is ideal if feasible. With time we become more intuitive and our dreams can be profound as we can tap into the primal polarities more deeply as transformation and also as medicine.   Attend to only our basic needs. These are; being safe, climatically comfortable, adequately fed and hydrated.   Knowing something about wilderness psychology, the hunter gatherer model and ancient wisdoms can enhance the journey. These can help to inform us where we have been, what is important now and where we still need to go. The journey can become our own vision quest especially if we use the three stages of the Hero/ine's journey as a template:  Separation - Threshold (the primal experience itself) - Incorporation (on the return.)  This inner journey can create spiritual epiphanies that I  have called wilderness rapture which are similar to Maslow’s Peak  Experiences and other inner empowerments or “oneness” experiences described in yoga texts.   The following is a summary of some of their manifestations.       Being or feeling more like one’s true Self.     An appreciation of awe, oneness, wonder, transcendence - peak or oneness experience (unity consciousness.)    Humility, ego subordination and a realization that any control one thinks one has over nature is an illusion.     Becoming more pleasant and affable with fellow travelers.    A connection with, and a sense of comfort in wilderness.     A sense of renewal, and aliveness, feeling less cluttered, more  mindful and focused.    An appreciation of alone time, for many being the most powerful.     Major life style changes on the return.  Release from habits and addictions of the past from minor to major.     Before one ventures into the wild outdoors there may be a sense of  uneasiness which creates the need for much preparation.  Often a sense of duality is apparent. To nature bound peoples there was no such duality. We, however, often feel that we are “here” and  wilderness is out “there.” Finally, on the journey, we enter and  imperceptibly become part of the wilderness and a sense of balance and harmony supervenes.    These experience can sometime lead to the phenomenon of  “Re-entry Depression”  which can be considered a manifestation of how potent the inner effect of the journey has been. Some will encounter a sense of loss when they come home. Paradoxically, this depression occurs in the face of a demonstrable restorative effect. The re-entry depression seems to be a result of having been in an altered state of consciousness and upon the return there is a dramatic shift as one is propelled back into a normal state of awareness. The severity of the depression is directly related to the inner intensity and effect of the journey coupled with the resignation that one now has returned to the frustrations of ordinary life. Often the harder the home and work circumstances, the greater the depression. Intensifying one's spiritual practice combined with patience is effective and the depression usually resolves spontaneously after about three weeks.    If we analyze the mystical effect of the wilderness we see similar  principles described by Eastern philosophies, such as; being in the  present moment, an unconditional positive regard for one another,  suspending judgment of others, coming closer to one’s  true sense of Self and being less egocentric and more humble.  The ultimate goal of these philosophies is to leave the duality of  everyday existence behind and reach for the more profound state of  “oneness” or non-duality, if only to have a sense of it. Even without any esoteric practices it is easy to appreciate a sense of the interconnectedness of all beings and things when one has been out in nature for some time. When we subordinate ego to the Self, these changes can occur.    The following principles can enhance the inner aspect of the  wilderness journey.   Sleep on the earth around a fire, feel the elements, immerse oneself in the Soft Fascinations. Nature being feminine helps us to embrace the more internal, intuitive and creative parts of our psyches.  Avoid time restraints, survival situations and goals (bagging peaks, running rivers.) Cameras, alcohol and similar conditionings should be minimized.  Allow time for inner practices even beyond the more common Eastern meditations like drumming, sketching, singing, chanting, meditative slow walking and ritual.  Transcendent and Peak Experiences “Wilderness Rapture"  What greatly differs is the vastness of the territory, variety of the forces, purity of the pristine and magnitude of the drama and majesty. The more splendid and awesome the less need for a teacher other than itself and you. The Ancestors “Wilderness rapture” is a way of being, a way of experiencing which can be sought wherever one is. We can hear it in the sound of rain, feel it in a fallen feather and see it in a spider's web. There are everyday wild wonders that are unheard and overlooked which seem far remote from wilderness until we realize how perception of the smallest bit of wild can connect to our higher Self.  Nature reveals, inspires, encourages and shows the way. The Ancestors  To achieve is to be externally oriented but to attain deeper effects we need to let go of the attachment to accomplish anything. Goal orientation and rapture are mutually exclusive in the present moment. We begin with a purpose but once the intention is set we need to disengage our craving for an explicit outcome. This is the crux between balancing the inner and the outer. Balance is achieved by harmonizing polarities. Dualities come into harmony by negotiating a third or middle path, a path not of assimilation but a path of coexistence.  The Ancestors Here are some poetic descriptions of the oneness experience, peak experience, wilderness rapture or whatever one chooses to call it where the Knower - The Known - the Process of Knowing all fuse into one thing. “Haze hung over the valley, light as gossamer and clouds partially dimmed the higher cliffs and mountains. This obscurity of vision but increased the awe with which I beheld it and as I looked a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to fill my whole being and I found my eyes in tears with emotion.”  L. Bunnell when first entering Yosemite with the first white settlers ever to see it. "And then it was as if all the chains of a type of slavery dropped from me with such a rush that they tinkled and rattled in my imagination… a great rush of emotion swept over me that was impossible to describe, except that all its urges and manifestations met in a wordless cry; 'I have come home'!”  L. Van der Post after returning from the Second World War and having being interned in a Japanese concentration camp with all of its malignant implications. He believed this experience cured him of much of his suffering.