“Learn to let your intuition—gut instinct—tell you when the food, the relationship, the job isn’t good for you (and conversely, when what you’re doing is just right).”~ Oprah Winfrey
Today, The Secret guru James Arthur Ray was arrested on charges of manslaughter for the deaths of three of his students during a vision quest sweat lodge last year. For those interested in the full story, please see the link below:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100204/ap_en_ot/us_sweat_lodge_deaths
Three people died because someone they trusted told them that, in order to be a spiritual warrior, they needed to push through their limitations; he “chided” those in the group who wanted to leave the sweat lodge.
This isn’t an unusual tactic – my guess is that at one time or another, each and every one of us has been subjected to something similar, whether it was in a classroom, on the sports field, or part of some boundary pushing experience.
But this time, things went badly wrong.
How the legal case will come down is anyone’s guess, but this case shines light on a deeper, systemic problem.
For the past several thousand years, we have been telling people not to listen to their inner truth, but to the voice of authority instead. If we read the Greek myth of Pandora, the lesson we learn is that by following our own instincts instead of the will of the gods we invite disaster not only for ourselves but for everyone we hold near and dear.
“Big deal,” you might say, “it’s a story.” …. but listen to the news. The number of times “Pandora’s Box” is mentioned is shocking. What’s more astonishing is that we all know exactly what the newscasters mean when they say it. This millenniums old story is part of our social consciousness; it affects us culturally every day.
We have stopped teaching critical thinking in our schools; we have stopped questioning the information that is fed to us by the media in all its forms. We have stopped hearing our inner wisdom; we have lost faith in our discernment.
Is it really any surprise that we are willing to ignore the signals of our bodies, and put our trust in the words of an authority figure?
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”~ Steve Jobs
When you remove something from someone it should be replaced with something equal to or greater than. Sometimes people have trouble decided what is the right path. They need guidance and assistance in their plight. There are times when a ritual structured practice with a well intentioned ritual leader is essential. Perhaps the true message was distorted but it doesn’t necessitate extirpating the structure of informed thought out of our system. Belief systems have an anthropological basis. Some of this is etched into our archetypal coding. Myth is powerful;however, religion has a function in our socialized location as well. I think we can assist people in numerous ways in their quest for a better understanding of other worldliness. Just my thoughts.
Kurt ~
I’m definitely not arguing that ritual isn’t necessary – particularly so in our ever-more spirit hungry existence…
However, I will point out that the point of it all is to help participants ground themselves in the All-That-Is and clear whatever stands between them and hearing their own inner voice… ritual ought to empower people to take ownership of their lives…
Unfortunately, we live in a Domination System which insists on a power structure in which one person has authority over another – and even ritual leaders can fall prey to its powers… it takes a very strong and grounded person to reject authority over others when they themselves are the ones holding the authority.
We can assist; we can hold space; we can challenge people… but ultimately, the choice and the power over their lives belongs to them alone.
Just my thoughts!
Having two kids in high school, I can definitely verify that critical thinking/thinking for oneself is frowned upon in the schools. I am so glad that my kids learned at an early age to question what they didn’t understand, or felt wasn’t right. Sometimes, my daughter’s incessant questions test my patience and sanity, but I feel like I’ll be able to rest easy when they both go out into the world…that they will be less likely to fall prey to unreasonable requests or demands. I’ve dealt with this in my own pursuit of learning energy healing. I earned the respect of a couple of teachers, but became the target of lies and rumors at the hands(or mouth) of the woman who ran the free healing clinic at a local New Age shop. Sometimes I just don’t understand what motivates people to do the things they do.