Wisdom of the Ancients

Q:"The ancients had grand knowledge, but our knowledge has evolved quite far since those days."

A: "How so?"

Q: "Well, we have gone through ten thousand years of evolution- the evolution of ideas, attitudes, beliefs and ever expanding knowledge. Consciousness itself has evolved."

A: "This is true- - though I think there is yet to be something learned from them, the ancients."

Q: "Eco-stability, yes, and perhaps tidbits of wisdom- but they are not the noble savage. They had their own forms of hostility, their own issues and their own atrocities. They were just as human as we are."

A: "For sure. Yet, there is some wisdom in their shamans, and in their mystics. There is some value in returning to the pristine energy of the forest, of reconnecting, resettling into our roots. We can't return to being seedlings, if that makes sense as a metaphor, but we can see where our roots lie, and maybe understand ourselves better through that- we can evolve, not regress."

Q: "I agree. But certainly civilization hasn't had its taste of new forms of knowledge, valuable at that. Knowledge that will allow us to transcend both the past and the grim present, into "now-ness" so to speak."

A: "Of course- but that truth is -being-, regardless of who recognizes it and when. Perhaps as a culture we can evolve to harmonize with that timeless understanding- and that is the purpose of evolution and development. The shamans a thousand years ago, or two-thousand, could be insightful for basic human psychology. They were at the beginning of our fears- still within nature itself! And not yet psychologically divided. Their lessons are our lessons, even though we have gone so far."

Q: "True- and what lessons do you think we could take from their own trials and tribulations?"

A: "That to build a society as a means of subsistence is fine, but that they need to see how it is also meets a psychological demand for security."

Q: "We seek safety, and find it in the village, the culture, the city-state,"

A: "-And the shaman, even."

Q: "Yes, even the shaman. Or priest, or rabbi or leader."

A: "And we've been doing this dance- of yearning for safety and unity, but it was there from the start."

Q: "Being is always there, before the words, before the actions themselves. Before our fears, there is presence. All people of all times could recognize this- but the human race seems to evolve collectively, slowly, gradually as time goes on. This is perhaps just because we are living in the dimension of time and space, and so we are evolving through that too- to reach what they often call a 'quantum' or fourth dimension, one beyond time."

A: "But how would that be possible?"

Q: "We'd have to delve deeply into the science of understanding our own mind-- consciousness, physics and existence. Most importantly, we must step outside of our thoughts, or at least see that we already do- and have bare-attention with ourselves. Being, presence and simplicity are so vital, if we are to truly see if it is possible for consciousness to evolve beyond this construct of reality- we must first start with the basics. Just -be-, between the words, behind the thoughts. This is where we can start, and perhaps this has the greatest insight of all."

Forest Spirits

A bit of fiction that I have attempted to write. It's a little rusty. I haven't written fiction in ages, but I hope to get back into it. Here's to tales around the shaman's camp fire . . . To the smoke in which the spirit is woven,

In the quiet of the night, a boy stood up from the side of a river. The air was frigid, and a breeze carried his breath into the moonlight like glowing smoke. Utter silence filled the forest. The animals did not stir, nor did the people who were encamped a few yards away. The sky was frosty and clear – as cold as the abyss of the stars and just as equally expansive. The boy made his way down the riverside, his hands chapped dry by the air. His focused on his breath as he approached a clearing from the brush. “This,” he said in his native tongue, “this was it.”

He took a first step into the clearing which was illuminated by the full moon. From his pouch, he removed a tiny pouch, pulling out three stones and gripping them in his hand.

“Spirits!” He requested, tossing the three stones into the air. They knocked about a rotted log and scattered on a patch of frozen moss.

“Spirits!” he shouted again.

The forest remained silent, as before.

Suddenly, the sound of cracked twig shot through the forest. The boy turned around quickly, his heart pounding in anticipation.

Silence resumed.

“Do you test me?” He inquired boastingly as his hands trembled.

The Spirits did not respond. He sighed, regaining composure and tracing his steps back to the path. He dared not speak another word.

There was the low sound of breathing about the trees, and the boy looked around again. He began to suspect he was being hunted.

The breathing stopped short. “It’s time to run!” He thought to himself. Just as he began to jog in the general direction of his camp, a voice called out to him from the clearing behind. It made no discernable words, at least, nothing the boy could understand. He turned quickly, only to witness a massive creature, as tall as, yes! Two men! With massive shoulders, as if it had wings. It had no discernable face, but it moved! Toward him, floating through the air.

Needless to say, the boy was already running – and never turned around until he made it back to the flames of the camp.

Spirit Dance

I wrote this during english class in senior year of high school. Our teacher gave us a simple worksheet with a number of creative writing topics. I chose, "The birth of the sun." Not sure why or how, but this is what stream-of-consciousness poured through. Now that I'm older and probably not wiser, it makes all the more sense and seems to confirm things I have learned.

The spirit danced in its conscious sleep, tossing and turning in one long dream, giving birth to the gods, who too were spun into the fabric of a false solidity. The gods moved the dreams, the dreams moved the gods - because they were one in the same. Soon, in the loose and serpentine illusion of time, ideas were born, creating the stars and the planets of an infinite heaven, and soon we too were born into them, and with our minds, and dreams within the dream we gave birth to all things: Night and day, blue and starry skies, moon and sun. We danced in its light, its gift of life, unaware that we too were but the dreams of a sleeping God.