THE HERO/INE’S JOURNEY #3

THRESHOLD

Just a recap on the three phases of the Hero's journey's 

Separation (last week)

Threshold

Incorporation

Threshold

The Hero/ine now enters the Sacred Space of the Threshold.

 

“The meeting of oneself is, at first, the meeting of one's Shadow.” C.J. Jung

 

Here we usually will encounter the dark night of the soul where we have to confront our physical, psychological, social and spiritual fears.

The “grail” is given by grace or less dramatically one comes back with an enlightened idea or an aha as how to better proceed with one’s life. For this reason, there are many hero’s journeys, some profound and some more subtle as we slowly fine tune our paths.

Some years ago I founded a small organization called Inward Bound. The mission was to take like-minded folks into wild places and simulate as much as possible the San Bushman hunter-gatherer lifestyle. We would "hunt and gather" all that was needed for the journey but nothing else unnecessary. 

I had spent significant periods of time with these amazing people after a seminal visit in 1987 when I experience the primal power inherent in this extremely austere lifestyle. I also felt like I had dropped into a "spiritual community" where judgment and ego were put aside, there was an unconditional positive regard for each other and an unconditional love for the children. Also to survive, it was one for all and all for one.  Amazing spiritual powers seemed to be a natural byproduct of their hunter-gatherer experience. In order to survive in the Kalahari they had to exist beyond the five senses that limit so many of us. I learnt from these amazing people that there was tremendous power inherent in having as little between one and nature as possible. 

The force of the primal manifest as love, is the glory of the Creator.

That was the model I tried to replicate on the Inward Bound journeys and we followed the three phases of the hero's journey using nature and the four directions as a catalyst. It worked! The story is outlined in the book Inner Passages Outer Journeys and also in one of the very earliest of these blogs.

Here are the general recommendation that I recommend now for anyone attempting such a journey. One does not have to be in pure wilderness but nature is a powerful catalyst.

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.

Nature is an ideal place to balance polarities and find harmony and equanimity... 

"The fundamental notion of equilibrating the opposites is omnipresent in all beliefs. This universal truth is crucial to our understanding of how we, heal, transform and “Become.” 

"To achieve is to be externally oriented but to attain deeper effects we need to let go of the attachment to accomplish anything..."

"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." 

Dave Cumes Inner Passages Outer Journeys

Find your own means of access, the sacred space that will work for you. 

Set an inner intention but let go of specific goals- allow what comes to arise on its own.

 Do it all for its own sake, not for reason of outcome other than to allow change to happen. 

Keep it simple; do not let “stuff” like a camera, books or paraphernalia get in the way of the experience. 

Attend to needs not wants. Provide the basic necessities only. Allow for alone time or even go alone. 

Tune in to the “Soft Fascinations;” the sun and moonsets and their risings, the scenes, the scents and aromas, the sounds or mantra of the bush, the daily and even the monthly cycles.

Use any form of spiritual practice to support and balance you. Inner techniques can include drumming, journaling any peak event or dream so as to retain the details of any "aha." 

Avoid performance behavior and time restraints (if possible.) Stay inward not outward.

Avoid the “Need to Know” the cognitive things in order to allow the inner experience to emerge..

 

“We do not go into the desert to escape people but to learn how to find them: we do not leave them in order to have nothing more to do with them but to find out the way to do them the most good.” Thomas Merton

Reentry

“We return to our places these kingdoms, no longer at ease here in the same dispensation, with an alien people clutching their gods.” Journey of the Magi

As one emerges out of sacred space one may have a reentry depression which can last a few weeks. This state is a testament to the power of the journey as well as the insights both profound and subtle that have occurred. It may be aggravated by the fact that one now has to return to the frustrations of ordinary life. Often the harder the home and work circumstances, the greater the depression. 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 alfa relaxed vibration one has been in on the journey often gives way to sensory overload on return.  Intensifying one's spiritual practice will help to manage these fluxes. The depression is temporary and "normal," lasting about three weeks.

Inner Effects

Being or feeling more like one’s true self.  

An appreciation of awe, oneness, wonder, transcendence - peak or oneness experience (unity consciousness.) 

Humility and a realization that any control one thinks one has over nature or life is an illusion. 

You cannot control result only your actions. You cannot predict outcomes only your choices.

Becoming more pleasant and affable with others. 

Feelings of connection and comfort in nature. 

A sense of renewal, and aliveness, feeling less cluttered, more mindful and focused. 

An appreciation of alone time.

Experiencing major life style changes on returning. Release from addictions of the past from minor to major. 

Previously there may have been a greater sense of duality and on the return this duality is lessened especially if spiritual practice is maintained.

Click, play and ponder

 01_Let_the_Days_Go_By.mp3