—Getting Out of This Life Alive—A Shamans Guide to the Afterlife
Death is sitting over everyone’s left shoulder, a witness mocking our every act. The shaman reconciles himself with death, befriends it, turns it into his ally. Until that day, he has to fill every instant of his life with petty tasks that offer a...
—The Nature of Reality
When I traveled to Peru for the first time, I was overwhelmed by the poverty and the beggars who would gather around me in the streets. I was so moved by the misery I saw that I would give away all the change I had on me, and at times even some of...
—THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX—KEY TO ENLIGHTENMENT
In the 17th century, the Irish Anglican Archbishop James Ussher published a treatise that identified the date on which God created the world: the evening preceding Sunday, October 23, 4OO4 BCE on the Julian calendar. His chronology was based on the...
—The Nature of Thoughts
Thoughts are different from ideas: An idea is when it occurs to you to go to the store or attend a yoga class, while a thought is the incessant brain chatter that’s turned on the minute you wake up. Thoughts are often long-winded: If I go to the...
—THE FOUR INSIGHTS: THE WAY OF THE SAGE
The Four Insights are wisdom teachings long protected by secret societies of Earthkeepers—the medicine men and women of the Americas. The ancients used their mastery of the insights to heal disease, eliminate emotional suffering, and grow new...
—The “New” Brain
Last week we introduced the triune brain model, devised in the 1950s by Dr. Paul Maclean to help explain the evolution of the human brain. Maclean identified three evolutionarily distinct neurocomputers: the reptilian brain, the limbic system and...
—SHAPING THE WORKINGS OF THE HUMAN BRAIN
In the mid-1950s, American neuroscientist Paul D. Maclean proposed a model to help explain the evolution of the human brain. Maclean’s model became known as the triune brain, and it describes how we have three evolutionarily distinct...
—What It Means to Collectively Dream
The sages believed that nothing exists in the world until there is someone present to witness it, to tease it out of the web of infinite possibilities, in the same way that Michelangelo teased the David out of a block of marble. Without you and all...
—How to Break Away from Fate
Imagine that your life is a solid cord of light extending backward into the past for many lifetimes. In the now, today, this cord separates into countless threads from which you weave the future. Each thread represents a possible future, one of...
—The Rite of the Great Crossing—Humility Conquering Pride
Shamans in traditional societies believe that to conquer the fear of death, one must experience it mythically. In some cultures, an initiate might be buried in the sand for several days with only a straw in his mouth to breathe through. In the...