Now is the time for a perceptual shift
Originally Published in the Awakened Soul Newsletter sent March 25, 2024
Shaman and teacher Jose Luis Herrera (Andean Research Institute) has been encouraging us to engage in perceptual shifts about the nature of our relationships, particularly related to the living earth. As he says, “Come on folks, this planet is the only home we have! We need to see that how we live and treat others directly impacts our home.”
Another perceptual shift he encourages is the idea that we need to come back to an awareness of our essential selves, the Self that knows it’s connection to the Oneness of the Universe. The perceptual shifts suggested by the perspective of Incan Cosmology is that all of Creation is alive with Divine Consciousness. This perspective in other traditions may be considered panentheism.
That is, God in everything, and everything is in God.
I have been reading a book related to this perspective entitled, How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere. It is an anthology with essays written by a variety of spiritual teachers and from different spiritual traditions (See picture below). In it, Matthew Fox writes that experience of God precedes concepts, and the experiential dimension of interactions between humanity and Divinity must be guarded.
Shamanism has been an unusual attraction for me as I was raised in a conventional Calvinistic religious household and community. However, it was early mystical experiences in nature that were the bedrock of my belief in and love of God. When I encountered the direct experience of mystical connection through shamanism, it woke my sleeping heart and started a fire of inquiry and passion. It is not necessary to give up the religious homes of our youth in order to follow a shamanic path. It is necessary to make perceptual shifts along the way. It can be startling at times to realize that we live in an environment that sees and experiences us, and we are invited to see and experience it.
Once again referencing Matthew Fox, he calls prayer swimming in the field of Divine presence. This is what it feels like when walking among the giants of a redwood forest, swimming in a pool of living water, or putting prayer bundles into a sacred fire. We remember that we do live in the garden of Eden and that we are called to recognize the kingdom of heaven here and now by the choices we make. Rabbi Jesus showed us a way to do this with a life of radical love and compassion.
The invitation is for all of us, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious upbringing, nationality or ways we identify ourselves, to recognize our part and place in the Oneness of Being and as citizens of Mother Earth.
It is time for humanity to wake up to this perceptual shift with the grace, opportunity and the responsibility it holds.