Tosia H Zraikat

Representing and reconciling Life's Oppositions

I drew this mandala in response to a dream that I had which I interpreted as coming from my animus (the masculine aspect of Self). Thinking about this dream, I knew that it was not just about about my fear and mistrust of masculine energy. It gave me a way that I might develop a more balanced perspective on maleness so that I do not feel that I need protect myself from it. At the same time, I've been reading a couple of books  that illustrated the extraordinary clarity of thought, ethical and spiritual conviction and courage that can be part of being and thinking male.

The male-female opposition is just one manifestation of our paradigmatic separation of spirit and matter. For in separating these in our thinking, and according to our dominant paradigms, dismissing the reality of spirit altogether, we have blinded ourselves to the fundamental basis of all being, all experience and all apparent oppositions: the knowing that everything is spirit, and that spirit contains everything.

Yet beneath our concepts of separateness and our earthly experience of opposites - of light and dark, conscious and unconscious mind, male and female, spirit and matter - is a ubiquitous Luminous Radiance, the primary essence. We cannot see it or understand it, but something in us knows that it from that radiance that we and all that we know and can imagine spring. It is the darkness in which all light exists and all known light has its source.

I took my title for this mandala, "Luminous Radiance of the Divine Night", from a wonderful little book on the thought of Henry Corbin, called Green Man, Nature Angel.

The two half coloured faces, male and female, represent them as oppositions between the light side of consciousness and the dark side wherein lies the anima or animus. I have represented them as manifestations of the much deeper Self, the fundamental Spirit Self which in neither male nor female, this or that, and Knows itself One with the All.  The pale blue outlines I have used to depict the spiritual realty seem seem to suggest emptiness, but actually represent inexpressible fullness, symbolised by the blackness of unknowability.

Yet out of this unknowable fullness that can sometimes be partially experienced comes everything, represented by the outpouring of energy, colour, vibration. At the top of the mandala is a suggestion of ocean, representing the mysteries of reality  represented in Nature, symbolized by the sea. A few barely discernible birds represent the continual messages and guidance that comes to us in hunches, dreams, intuition etc, but that, like the birds, are hardly noticed.

Death, Near death, and the Afterlife

No, I'm not being morbid. I have always been intrigued by death - what it really is, and what happens when we die - and have recently had some intense experiences with long-dead relatives.

By now, I've heard and read enough near death accounts to have a rough idea of what death is - the stage of transition from one state of being (in a physical body) to another state (not in a physical body, but most likely in an astral or energy body, at least at first). And I know that the soul continues as a conscious entity after death.

            (Soul hovering over Body, by William Blake)

I also know from the Near Death experiences (NDEs) of close family members that there may be certain variations in the death process. A soul might either be turned back from the realm of the dead because it has unfinished business here on earth, or that it can ask to be returned for a particular purpose. My mother 'died' when I was ten, and asked to be allowed to return to see me turn 21. She died shortly after my twenty-first birthday.

Our underlying beliefs have a profound influence on how we think about the world, ourselves, life and death, so even if you never think about death, you can be sure that deep down, you have certain attitudes towards it, and those attitudes affect how you choose to live. Death is, whether you are aware of it or not, part of your personal mythology, that collection of core beliefs and values that unconsciously direct your attitudes and behaviour.

One question you might ask yourself is how you really feel about death, not on the surface or with your logical mind, but in your gut, your heart and body. If you find that the idea of death makes you uncomfortable, ask your inner self why. Is it an underlying belief that with death, you end? Or a belief in punishment or hell? Is it fear of melting back into some cosmic consciousness and losing your individuality?

Fear of death is not something to be ashamed of. It is, in fact, quite natural ... fear of the unknown; the body's own fear of annihilation; fear of being without those we love. But given the inevitability of death, wouldn't it make sense to make friends with it now? After all, we lose consciousness and are often out of our bodies at night when we dream, a kind of small death. And the French sometimes refer to the rapture of sexual orgasm which can take us out of ourselves as a petit mort, a little death.

Would it be too unnerving to tell ourselves whenever someone we know dies, or we see a dead animal, "I too will die one day?" Or more challenging still, to do what the Buddhists practice to resolve their fear of death: imagine ourselves dead?

Since I was raised in a household that spoke openly of death and the otherworld, and in fact, attended some of my parents' seances, and often dreamed of death, I was surprised to discover how few people consciously think about death - and how even fewer have any interest in imagining it. I thought about death a lot, too much at times, but even though I knew that life continues after death, imagining myself dead left me a bit queasy.

On the other hand, for a while in my youth, wanting to experience the afterlife with its promise of greater awareness, I wished for death, until one night when I was around twelve, I dreamed that I was rising out of my body, and eagerly moved 'towards the light' (yes, that's how I experienced it) when a being (call it an angel without wings) raised its hand before me, saying, "You cannot go forward. Stop trying. You have work to do here." End of my death wish. But not of my interest, and fortunately, some departed souls, seeking to set minds at rest, have returned to communicate with the living, so I kept reading their accounts.

I am no longer impatient to die, nor do I fear it. Though life is very precious to me, I understand enough about death and the afterlife to be at peace with it.

With all the information now available about near-death and after -death experiences, there is no reason for us to remain ignorant.

So, where to start? Start with 'what if?' What if I do have a soul, and that soul does not die when my body does? You don't have to seek answers in religion, though you could go that path if it appeals to you.

You could read some research and reports on near-death experiences:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140903-near-death-experiences-bachrach-neurology-booktalk/

The 'International Association for Near-Death Studies' (IANDS) has a wealth of information about near death experiences, including a free short course that can (I think for a fee) also be taken by health and medical professionals for professional development credits. See their website at: http://www.near-death.com/ See Course info: https://www.iands.org/education/online-nde-course.html

What about life after death?

People and groups have been communicating with the dead, who have a lot to say about life in the otherworld, and about the importance of being a decent person in this life.

Mark Macy has been part of these explorations for several decades, and in addition to his blog about past messages from the otherworld and his own researches, has uploaded years of reports from international researchers on his afterlife website at: http://macyafterlife.com/

Much of Mark's material was gathered by the World ITC which communicates with the dead and higher being through instrumental transcommunication. "Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC) means that the messages coming from beyond will be received and/or stored by use of technical means." Their site contains recorded voice messages (sometimes difficult to understand on non-specialist equipment) and images of the dead as well. Their website is at http://www.worlditc.org/

(I didn't find it the ITC site easy to navigate, but I'm a tech. dummy).

Lawyer Victor Zammit also issues a weekly newsletter to subscribers (free) with interesting articles and videos for those interested in learning more. You can sign on at http://victorzammit.com

The great American psychic, Edgar Cayce, had a lot to say about death and the afterlife. He emphasised the importance of finding and living your life purpose, and soul growth through compassion, cooperation, self-knowing and service to others. You can explore Cayce's teachings on the afterlife (and many other subjects including human prehistory and Atlantis) at the IANDS website (http://www.near-death.com/cayce.html) or via the Cayce organization at http://www.edgarcayce.org/

Reports from medical professionals

More and more medical professionals are 'coming out' now about their experiences with patients who have 'died' or almost died, and returned to tell what happened. Here are two videos from highly credible medical professionals.

Famous Cardiac Surgeon's Stories of Near Death Experiences in Surgery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL1oDuvQR08

Deathbed Visions - Hospice Nurses Share Their Stories. https://www.youtube.co/watch?v=nMr_sapd-qY

Ascent of the Blessed, by Hiernymous Bosch

 

How we live matters

What we do now makes a big difference to our experience. It's not a matter of 'being spiritual' or following any religion. What make the difference is how we treat each other.

If you want to know how the life you live affects your afterdeath experience, consider the NDE stories of hell and encounters with nasties. Religionists might interpret these as signs of damnation, but what experiencers  who came back tell us (and ancient teachings as well) is that we face ourselves after death, and what we carry in our hearts and souls can be very scary.

Some videos for the brave. (Ignore the religious aspects if you like; the message is not about religion but the state of one's soul).

21 Days in Hell  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAF5afjV99c

Aethiest college professor dies.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLimoqZUWgw

Such experiences force us to recognise the harm we have done and from which we will be released once the lessons are learned. People who have such experiences often return to life completely transformed, not by fear but by genuine empathy and compassion for others and themselves.

I hope you will find something of interest here, and perhaps reflect a bit on the way you are living, and how you might want to live to feel more connected  to your Higher Self.

 

First experiences with Shamanic practice

Since I started studying shamanism I’ve had experiences that I never would have imagined, and learned to trust my intuition in ways that I would never had dared to before, and my perspective on spirituality has taken a giant leap forward. 

Death

My first task was to do a meditation to awaken my awareness of death, a key element of shamanism. Hmm. I hesitated for almost a week before  deciding that it wasn’t as dangerous as I might think. After all, we die a little death every time our conscious minds go to sleep, and our atoms are not continuous, but flash in and out of existence (in this dimension, at least), which is a kind of death. So, I did the meditation, first firmly setting the intention to note any awareness of death (not to focus on death or imagine in, just to be aware of whatever resonances might arise).

In such a short meditation (20 mins), I did not expect to go deep enough to experience a kind of death, and I did not.  Yet I did experience something astonishing - a clear and steady sense of the body as dead matter that is continually being vitalized (enlivened) by spirit, partly through the vibrations of the breath.

Talk of gratitude!! I was overwhelmed by gratitude for this continual, loving, nano-second by nano-second gift of life that I must never take for granted. The breath IS life moving in and out. We die to this world and come alive at every moment, exactly how quantum physics says that subatomic particles do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Receiving the Breath of Life

Meeting my Power Animal

My second task was to use meditation to find my animal guide (or one of them. I have several). My first few attempts were not so good, no clear image, so I tried a guided meditation for the purpose on youtube and I must have been ready, for I saw (and I mean, clearly saw) a brown bear. She was not very big though she was certainly a lot taller than me when she stood on two legs, and rather lovely.

Bear said nothing, did nothing; just stood up, went back on all fours, looked at me kindly, then turned to go.  Somehow, I saw her fur close up, very clearly, how thick and healthy it was, how it ruffled in the breeze not like cat or dog fur but as though in layers, the top layers moving differently to those beneath. Close up (although I was standing away from her), I saw that individual hairs gleamed a rich coppery gold in the sunlight. She looked like a young bear to me, at the prime of life, and I got from her a strong sense of acceptance and good will. Friend Bear.

I did not expect that at all! A wolf, maybe, since I had often drawn wolves as a child, or a bird, since I have often dreamed of them, but not a bear, and certainly not one with reddish hair.

Shamanism - old and new

I have always been intrigued by the enormous creativity and ingenuity of humanity's search to know itself, and have explored many of the myriad paths to spiritual awakening. But until now, I have not explored Shamanism for two reasons: I have always thought of it as a gifted path (that is, shamanism is bestowed either by God or by those within a particular culture), and I have always associated it with the use of mind-altering substances, which I have never been inclined to use.

However, things change, and I have noticed over the past decades a shift from indigenous shamanism to shamanism as an alternative open to anyone . . .  and it does not require drugs.

So what is shamanism? It is a spiritual and healing practice in which a practitioner purposely enters into non-ordinary states of consciousness “in order to encounter and interact with the spirit world and channel these transcendental energies into this world” (wikipedia). Religious historian and philosopher, Mircea Eliade (1972) tentatively defined shamanism as the ‘the technique of religious ecstasy”, ecstasy used here in its traditional meaning of a state of transcendence or non-ordinary consciousness.

A shaman is one who uses shamanic techniques to gain healing or spiritual knowledge, who has the will and skill to move into an alternative state of awareness in order to consciously and intentionally gain wisdom or knowledge to help others. It takes discipline, commitment and practice, and also, like all spiritual practices, a willingness to put small self aside and surrender to spirit.

In traditional societies, a shaman is one whose skill, behaviour and helpfulness to that society is recognised, and the person comes to be called a shaman. In general, modern, western shamans are those who have, or believe they have, the relevant skills and intentions, and call themselves shamans, some deservedly so.

I used to be somewhat suspicious of self-named shamans who had not been chosen or recognised as shamans by their communities, but we live in a very different world where our ‘tribes’ and communities are dispersed and full of strangers, and that requires new thinking. If we are to learn from our traditional peoples and keep their valuable knowledge alive in the world, perhaps we must be prepared to make it relevant to our own times and our own cultures.

Modern western shamanism as practiced and taught by shamans and teachers such as Michael Harner is a new and unique reformulation of ancient practices and principles both honours and builds on them while walking untouched territory, but ability and practice alone do not make a real shaman. That requires the humility and generosity to put one's self aside and become a conduit for the healing energy and wisdom of a higher power.

"Many say that the shaman crosses the bridge between the worlds” says Shaman and teacher of shamanism, Steve Serr. “Though not untrue, it is only partially true. Actually, the shaman becomes the bridge itself" (http://www.shamanism-101.com). 

 

Shaman blowing cleansing smoke, a common healing practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eliade, M. Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Bollingen Series LXXVI, Princeton University 

 Russian Bear image from http://www.smh.com.au