Blue Fox Shaman

When your way eventually leads you to the border of that country, of non-ordinary reality, you should know what to expect, and what is expected of you, if you intend to cross. But before I describe what will take place, please know that everything I say is a lie. We’ll, not a lie exactly, but a story, something made up, a magic lantern show with characters who act out their roles, before they vanish into thin air. But reality itself is like that, with an emphasis on “like”. Reality is is a myth we tell ourselves in which nothing is true but everything works in exactly that way.

Enough preliminaries. When you get there, to cross the border, you will have to die.

What did I just say? No, just before that. Right! Don’t imagine you can just play-act an extravagant story in which your body is torn apart and reconstituted to become a shaman. And don’t think I’m talking about self-harm either. And as scary as this movie might be, and as common as this metaphor is among shamans, we want you to actually get somewhere, metaphorically speaking. And we want you to come back with real Fairy Gold, even if it does immediately turn to dead leaves, seemingly, on your return.

Let’s back up a second. Before you consider making this crossing, we recommend that you have a pretty good grip on this side of reality. If you’re not high functioning in the shared reality in which you are reading this blog post, please get yourself strong, then come back again later. Everything will still be here when you return.

Of course, what I mean by your “life” is that which you think you are, everything that you hold dear, the web of desires and relationships that defines who you are, and those things which you currently find undefinable. All these will change, unrecognizably, unalterably. If that doesn’t scare you, it should! And putting you back together again is the tricky part; it doesn’t always go well. And you will have to keep working on that for the rest of your life. And you won’t be bullet-proof, magically or otherwise. Nonetheless, it will be the most amazing thing you ever do. Do you think you are ready? Good! Read on…

There is one bit of good news in all this–there is no real you anyway. You too are a lie, a lie of the best kind. You are a pattern made on the sand by the waves, changing moment by moment as the water advances and subsides. The idea of an unchanging essence that is you is an illusion. So who is it that is weaving this illusion, and who is in its thrall? No, I won’t give you the answer. What do you think you’re travelling for, anyway?

Was that a yawn? Good. Alright, then. No, no, I wasn’t saying anything. Nothing important. I was just talking to myself. Go back to sleep.

…

You’re still reading?! Can’t sleep now, can you! I’m sorry. Well, now that that abyss has opened at your feet, why not consider taking this opportunity to leap into it. It’s a long way down, and you will build your wings along the way.

After the Guardian takes your life, they will ask you if you have an acceptable set of ethics about you, to guide your reconstitution. After all, we don’t want any cancer cells growing unchecked in the corporate body of humanity. Lord knows we have enough narcissists, and those with narcissistic tendencies. Oh, right, that’s practically everybody–individual human units acting without regard for humanity as a whole. And may I remind you that being a narcissist, or not, is not a state but a process. Hey, just like you!

Fox taught me the following ethical system before she took my life. (She is both my initiator and my guide. Sometimes the spirits divvy up those functions differently among themselves. Your mileage may vary.) We offer it as a model, in case it might help. It’s not a list of commandments, but a set of principles, that is, a set of heuristics, a methodology. (Oh dear, here’s where we need a method of dialoguing with the spirits again. I must post about that soon, but having a set of ethics is so important, such a neccessity for all travellers, that we thought we’d introduce it first.)

Let these 8 principles guide you:

• Righteousness
• Wholeness
• Knowledge
• Understanding
• Justice
• Humility
• Beauty
• Love

We need to explain these, at least a little bit, because although they hew pretty close to the everyday usage of the words, there are some subtle differences in our system.

Righteousness is putting the needs of others (with whom you are in an established relationship, at the very least) first. It’s the old “love your neighbor as yourself” principle. I told you this was not going to be easy, but please do your best!

Wholeness is putting your own needs in balance with the needs of others, the requirements of your self, and the limitations of your physical reality.

Knowledge is the unflinching, untiring acquisition of as many “facts” as possible, in order to make the best decisions. Facts must be distilled out of the ferment of preconceived notions. This is one big part of the Scientific Method and so, fortunately, it’s pretty well documented elsewhere.

Understanding is the art of determining causal relationships and ordering actions to achieve desired results. It’s another big part of Science: make up some hypotheses with all those facts, predict the results of your actions, test it, gather some more data, lather, rinse, repeat.

Most folks have a good notion of justice, if they can just stop angling for their own just desserts for a moment and stand in someone else’s soggy shoes. We’d just like to add that justice is based in a bizarre tendency of the Universe to construct more complex systems. (This doesn’t actually violate the second law of thermodynamics because complex systems optimize their energy requirements. Yet to adapt, evolve, or even to merely continue, requires that the needs of each part of the system be met. Said another way, maintenance of complex, self-replicating systems requires a fairly precise regulation of the equilibrium of all its parts. That’s justice.)

Humility is the recognition that you, and all you hold dear, and everyone that holds you dear, is an infinitesimal part of something much greater. Whereas justice implies the equilibrium of the parts, humility implies the equilibrium of the entity within the milieu from which it arises. You may be self-made, but do you have any idea who the Self is that made you? Once you stop thinking of yourself as the reason it all exists, wait for a sense of wonder to arise.

Wonder is at the heart of the sense of beauty. To see beauty is to recognize the value of a thing for its own sake and its fitness within the context of its relationships. The Universe is constantly producing things of beauty, contrary to all our expectations or any sense of propriety. And so, too, should we. If you’re not on the bandwagon, may we suggest you get on it, now.

Love is saying yes to beauty. It is the active cultivation of the other seven principles. It is a pursuit, not a feeling. The feelings that may come through love are many and varied, but joy and happiness don’t come without it.

Fox would like to leave you with a koan: “you are the burden, and you are the wing that takes flight.”

ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ :: KNOW YOURSELF

ΜΗΔΕΝ ΑΓΑΝ :: NOTHING TO EXCESS