Spirit Camp 2 2012

This opening of the higher self to the lower self applies to the dancers of the ceremony too. Without discipline the chattering monkey of the lower self holds sway. It is thought, a continual stream of self-importance that must be followed like the orders of a Sergeant Major. In order to maintain who I (think) I am these things must be done. “I am keen, strong, resolute, skilful, wise and capable” along with the clutter of roles we or others have assigned our self; to be a good father or mother, a breadwinner, a star, an alcoholic etc. Because our lower self continually confirms all this in its internal dialogue we become fixed, we fail to see outside the box we have created for our self. There are many ways to break this box, meditation, mundane stressful endurance or constantly attempting different unexpected things driven by perverse curiosity. The dance is the second of these. It works because it uses the strengths of the lower self against itself until it breaks down. Those who dance and are not stressed to this breaking point miss the point, like the woman who apparently sat in the arbour, didn’t dance much and complained about everything. I find that beautifully amusing. Why did she come? Why didn’t she stay at home and have sex with the window cleaner? The difficulty with this approach, the woman being an extreme example, is that the lower self can learn to cope with the dance. It can come back year after year assuming being there will in itself contribute to raising the shamanic energy of human existence in some airy fairy way. No! that is the chatter of our individual monkey. We are not individuals; we are not ‘special’ humans though we have a particular part to play in the continuum. This is the realm of the higher self, hearing the flow of the continuum and giving life to our role in it. There is no more to magic than this. To the lower self the higher self will appear a mad thing, a clown, a ruin-er of dreams, a breaker of the plans you have made for yourself, and ultimately the destroyer of the self you cherish so much. To choose it is madness or wisdom; be careful. But it can be the end of misery also.