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Encounters on
the Shaman's Path
with anthropologist Dr. Hank Wesselman, PhD.
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by Dr.Hank Wesselman, P.h.D. |
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The Seven Laws of the Great Spirit… and the Three Sacred Directives
With the beginning of the New Year, as well as the beginning of a new political administration in Washington, DC, I find myself being deluged by e-mails from my readers and friends who are filled with renewed hope and enthusiasm for our future. In response, I recall the words of Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson from their book ‘The Cultural Creatives’ (2000):
“We should take hope for we are traveling in the company of an enormous number of allies…”
Ray and Anderson revealed eight years ago the number of people in the Transformational Community then included between 50-70 million people in the US alone with another 90-100 million in Britain and Europe.
These are not small numbers and they have grown considerably.
A New Story for a New Time
Allow me to observe that I have not made any political proclamations during the time that I have been writing columns for this on-line magazine since the Autumn of 2004. Nor have I used this column as a platform for my own political (or non-political) leanings.
Yet I might observe (dispassionately) that the ‘Modernists’ among us are now coming to understand something that we as the ‘Transformationals’ have known for many years, even decades—namely that the time has come to create a new cultural mythos in which we the people must write a new story—one that will redefine who we are, who we can be, as well as who we wish to become.
This new cultural myth will also be about how we now perceive our society, our problems and our strengths, as well as what we want for our grandchildren… and for the next seven generations.
Every thought that we think, every word that we speak, each relationship that we engage in, and every action that we take must be considered in this light, for it is no news to anyone that we live in perilous times… and what we think, speak, feel and do is the first step to creating a new world… or not.
Shifting the Anchor
If I were to draw upon the observations of my great Hawaiian friend, the Kahuna Nui Hale Makua, who passed over into the company of his ancestors in 2004, this new time will be about where we, as individuals and as a culture, choose to sink our anchor.
Most of us have been thoroughly anchored in the negative polarity over the last several decades. The time has now come for us to lift anchor—both personally as well as culturally. We must lift it out of the negative polarity and re-sink it into the positive.
But what does it mean?
Well… from Makua’s perspective as a kahuna mystic, when love moves out, fear moves in… and in response to this, most of us over the last several decades have experienced the negative polarity at its best: economic bondage; political deception and coercion; mendacity from our leadership and from the media; personal and collective greed; misguided religious zeal and terrorist attacks; and tyranny from our leaders who have been controlling the populace through manipulation and fear.
Now… how would this all change if we as a culture were to shift our anchor into the positive polarity? And how would this affect the quality of our leadership at all levels… as well as the quality of our lives?
Our New Leadership
The primary job of our new leadership is to be of service to ALL of us—from our corporate and banking CEOs at one end of the scale, to our garbage collectors and all the others who are of service to us on a daily basis at the other end of the scale… and to their families as well.
It goes without saying that all of us, at all levels of society, and in every country, are entitled to be honored… and in this regard, all of our citizens deserve to have the same availability to and quality of healthcare as our senators and congressmen in Washington.
There is no longer any need to discuss these issues, nor is there any more time for debate. For the first time in more than 40 years, we in the United States now have a political leadership who seems authentic and ready to listen to what we have to say.
In thinking about this, I would like to reconsider a chunk of wisdom that comes to us from the indigenous peoples—specifically some thoughts from the Cherokee medicine man and shaman who was known to us as Rolling Thunder. I will include as well some words from Hale Makua, the Council Elder of the Hawaiian Spiritual Warrior Society—Na Ao Koa.
The Seven Laws of the Great Spirit… from Rolling Thunder
1. Respect for proper authority.
This sacred directive is not about doing what you’re told. It’s not about being coerced by some centralized authority system or family member or some political or religious leader, nor is it about being in fear of some supernatural god-father who lives in Heaven or Paradise and who has good days and bad days.
So what is proper authority? We will know it when we see it… and we will offer our respect for that authority, as well as our support, only when it reveals itself as coming from a place of authenticity and from a foundation based in the positive polarity devoted to the greater good of all.
2. Preserve and promote the beauties of Nature
This sacred guideline of living and thriving in the beauty of Nature was embraced and practiced by the traditional peoples everywhere before Western civilization happened to them.
If we were to consider the native Aboriginal peoples of Australia, for example, they have built no great monuments, nor have they produced any glittering new gadgets to distract and delight us (although they have created great art.) Rather they have lived in balance and harmony with their land as well as with its flora and fauna for more than 40,000 years. And during this time, they have destroyed no land nor diminished its spirit.
In the end, this may be all that really matters, for their indigenous lifeways and perceptions have kept them and their societies alive and well and thriving for 38,000 years longer than Western Civilization has existed.
3. Judge with kindness and wisdom
I remember hearing the religious scholar and author Huston Smith say at a conference in Victoria BC in August 2001: “If I were to leave a last thought with all of you, it would be this: ‘Try to be a little kinder to each other…’”
4. Moderation in all things
Dr. Benjamin Franklin—one of the architects of the newly forming United Sates of America 200 years ago—proclaimed himself ‘An extreme moderate.’ As a result, he emerged as one of the most interesting and balanced of the many founding fathers of the US… and one of the most successful as a human being.
If we were to consider the moderates in our own time in a spiritual perspective, we might describe them as secular humanists who perceive an immanent and omnipresent creative force or principle found within everything and everyone, whose sole expression is love… a perspective that is now being embraced by increasing numbers of well-informed and well-educated people, most of whom hold the belief in some form of universal god-like being or consciousness of which we are all manifested aspects.
These highly-evolved folks are not god-fearing, they are god-loving; and as awakened citizens of the world, they know that the spiritual patriarchs—Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, as well as Lao Tzu, Krishna, and the Buddha—are all important spiritual teachers whether or not we as spiritual seekers are psychologically Jewish or Christian, Muslim or Hindu, Taoist or Buddhist.
In other words, the time has come for all those religious extremists and fundamentalists anchored in the negative polarity to reconsider what their beliefs have brought them, especially that doctrine that has come down to them from the Dark Ages—that this world is going to be their god’s kingdom… or nothing.
There is a new spiritual complex coming into being in our time, one that is life-affirming and life-sustaining, one that is providing all of us with an opportunity to achieve a level of spiritual freedom and growth that has not been experienced in the Western world for 2000 years.
5. Play fair in the game of life
The further we progress along the path of power, the more vulnerable we become to the flaws in our own character. And this is where most of our leaders—political, economic, social, military, and religious—have stumbled.
To acquire and wield great power comes with great responsibility, a fact that implies that power must always be used with integrity, with fairness and with honor.
6. A person’s word of honor is sacred
As Liam Neeson said to his young son in the film Rob Roy:
‘Honor is a gift that a man gives to himself. No one can give it to you and no one can take it away from you.’
7. Respect for differences
I have noted before that most of the transformationals who attend my mystical seminars and workshops tend to express a strong sense of social justice, and they seem to be deeply concerned about the quality of human life at all levels of society. They feel strong support for women's issues as well as those of minorities. They are concerned for the safety and well being of both children and the elderly, and human relationships are clearly seen as more important than material gain.
Social and religious tolerance, personal individualism, and spiritual freedom are highly valued ideals. The reweaving of the social fabric through the rebuilding of families, neighborhoods, and communities are major areas of concern.
I personally find these values to be deeply reassuring for it quickly becomes apparent that they have little to do with being a liberal or a conservative, a Christian or a Jew, a Hindu or a Muslim, or even a patriot. Yet they have everything to do with being a humanist in the evolved sense of the word.
Although the Western world continues to be driven by greed and fueled by denial, motivated by fear and dominated by competition, members of the transformational community are oriented toward democratic, humanistic ideals, and they tend to favor cooperative endeavors that benefit the many.
The importance of balance and harmony lies right at the core of their values, and in this respect, they, like the indigenous peoples, have grasped that humans must strive to live their lives in ways that contribute to the greater good rather than following lifestyles and pursuing goals that create its opposite.
Accordingly, the value of simple, natural living is seen as a high ideal, and the monumental waste being generated at every level of the world capitalist system is regarded with grave concern.
These are the values of those who have elected our new leadership.
The Three Sacred Directives… from Hale Makua
The path that we walk upon as spiritual seekers is a narrow one constrained by three sacred directives. Many of you may remember my account of Makua offering me the three ‘kapus’ on the rim of the active volcano Kilauea in Hawaii in 1996—the same day he gave me the ‘bowl of light.’ These directives were offered from his heart to mine, and so here they are once more, offered from my heart to yours:
1) Love all that you see with humility.
In Makua’s words: “When we come from the place of humility, we connect with the energy of compassion, and this allows us to experience the power of aloha.
2) Live all that you feel with reverence.
“When we practice acceptance and live what we feel, we are drawn inexorably toward reverence, an active respect for everyone and everything we encounter in life.” And as Makua so wisely observed, “’respect’ is the foundation stone of Indigenous Mind. Conversely, the foundation stone for Western Mind (the same as Colonial Mind) has been ‘dominion…’
3) Know all that you possess through discipline.
“It is through knowing what we possess—including all that possesses us—that we find our discipline. And in order to discover who we are as well as where we are, self-discipline is essential, because without it, we cannot progress. This goes double for those on the spiritual path.”
In Conclusion
Well… these are some thoughts that are coming to me as we begin a new year and embrace a new political administration. The time has come for all of us to rise to the occasion, to turn toward our higher nature, to shift our anchor from the negative polarity into the positive, and to go to work together with an enhanced sense of purpose to contribute to the greater good.
President-elect Senator Barack Obama is about to assume the role of leadership, both nationally and internationally. In doing so he will become what the Hawaiians call the Haku—a word that translates as the ‘captain’ (of a canoe) or the ‘lord or ruler’ (of a land division or island.) As Barak may know having been raised in Hawaii, the word ‘haku’ also means to braid or weave delicately, as in making a flower lei.
As the Haku of our nation, Barak Obama’s job will not be easy. Yet we must remember that it will not be his job to run the country—for that is the job of our council of chiefs, his cabinet ministers and our congressmen and senators.
President elect Obama’s job as the Haku will be to lead the country… to invite us to step up to a higher level and become more than we were… and to braid us all together into a sacred hoop, both nationally and internationally, through which we may all contribute to the greater good and to the creation of a new world.
Whether or not he succeeds depends on the support he receives from his (and our) council of chiefs. It also depends on the support he receives from us—the maka’ainana (in Hawaii)—the people who are the ‘eyes of the land.’
It is now time for us to respect our differences and acknowledge them… and then to pull together.
Or to use one more Hawaiian saying… ‘We are all in the canoe together… and if we keep paddling and we keep bailing, we’ll reach the island.’
My wife Jill and I are just about to embark on a spiritual voyage to Egypt in the great good company of 35 other pilgrims. I’m sure that we will have stories to share with you upon our return.
Until then, allow me to invoke the spirit of my great Hawaiian friend, the kahuna nui Hale Kealohalani Makua, and with his blessing, I extend to each of you the Light and the Love of the Ancestors, The Source of Life, rejoicing in the Power and the Peace, braided with the cords of Patience, revealing the Tapestry of the strongest force in the Universe… your Aloha.
With warm thoughts—Dr Hank
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Dr. Hank Wesselman, P.h.D
Anthropologist, Shamanic Teacher, Healer, & Author
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Dr Hank Wesselman PhD., holds advanced degrees in anthropology and zoology from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Since 1971, he's conducted research with an international group of scientists, exploring eastern Africa's Great Rift Valley in search of answers to the mystery of human origins--fieldwork that has allowed him to spend much of his life living and working with traditional peoples, rarely, if ever, visited by outsiders.
During this time, he has worked with many notables including Prof F. Clark Howell, Dr Don Johanson, "Lucy's" discoverer, as well as members of the famous Leakey family.
He is currently engaged in fieldwork in northern Ethiopia with the Middle Awash Research Project headed by Prof Tim White, where he is reconstructing the paleoenvironments of sites dated between four and six million years old that have yielded the fossilized remains of humanity's earliest ancestors.
Dr Wesselman has taught anthropology for the University of California at San Diego; the University of Hawai'i at Hilo's West Hawai'i campus at Kealakekua; California State University at Sacramento; American River College and Sierra College in northern California; and Kiriji Memorial College and Adeola Odutola College in Western Nigeria, where he first became interested in indigenous spiritual traditions while living among people of the Yoruba Tribe as a US Peace Corps Volunteer during the 1960s.
Dr Hank (as his students call him) is also a shaman in training, now in the 23rd year of his apprenticeship. His autobiographical trilogy Spiritwalker, Medicinemaker, and Visionseeker describes an ongoing continuum of visionary experiences that began spontaneously out in the bush of southern Ethiopia in the 1970s, resumed in Hawai'i in the 1980s, and continue to the present day.
Combining the sober objectivity of a trained scientist with a mystic's passionate search for deeper understanding, Hank's books and teachings contain revelations about the nature of reality, the self, as well as the shaman's spiritual worlds.
Since 1994, he has offered seminars and training workshops at many internationally-recognized centers such as the Esalen Institute in California, the Omega Institute near New York, and the New Millennium Institute in Hawai'i.
Hank's newest books include the Journey to the Sacred Garden: A Guide to Traveling in the Spiritual Realms, and Spirit Medicine: Healing in the Sacred Realms (co-authored with transpersonal medical practitioner and soul retrieval specialist Jill Kuykendall).
He currently serves on the advisory board of the Society for Shamanic Practitioners, is a member of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, the American Anthropological Association, the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness, and is featured in Traveling Between the Worlds: Conversations with Contemporary Shamans by Hillary S Webb.
In addition to his scientific publications, he is at work on a book about his expeditionary field experiences in Africa.
He has also written a small book for children: Little Ruth Reddingford and the Wolf.
Contact info and workshop schedule:
www.sharedwisdom.
com
email:
hw@sharedwisdom.com
Notes & Updates
from Dr.Hank
Descriptions of the workshops and presentations offered by Hank Wesselman and his wife Jill Kuykendall, as well as the website links to the centers where they will be held in 2007, are now taking form on their web site:
www.sharedwisdom.
com
Soul Catchers
I discovered, quite by accident almost 15 years ago, that I am married to a great soul catcher. My wife Jill Kuykendall was trained in the Western medical paradigm and has worked as a physiotherapist in acute care rehabilitation in hospital as well as home health settings for more than 25 years.
Today, Jill works primarily in transpersonal medicine and has a private practice devoted to soul retrieval. Clients come to her from all over the country, as well as from abroad and she is usually booked up months in advance.
Interestingly, the transpersonal nature of this work means that it is “nonlocal’ and is just as effective when done long-distance, revealing that Jill can still do the work on behalf of those who cannot travel to meet with her in her office.
Jill is the co-author with me of Spirit Medicine and wrote the chapters on soul loss, soul retrieval and more. As you may be aware, we have a website <www.sharedwisdom.
com> where Jill has a page describing the nature of her work in soul retrieval.
For those interested, there are also two hour-long interviews with me posted on the Broadband Learning Channel <www.bblc.tv>, one of which is focused upon health, illness and healing the soul in the indigenous perspective.
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