Altered States (Part II)

In the world of daily consensual reality, the term “altered state” seems threatening to many, a dangerous, unstable condition possibly induced by drugs or some untethered consciousness behind the frightening unpredictability of the mentally ill. This is the common usage, but it’s inaccurate or at best inadequate. If something is “altered,” we have to ask, “from what?” And if we are talking about the mind, consciousness, or forms of perception, an “altered” state must, by definition, be different from something we assume to be our “natural” state.

Does anyone really believe that what we accept as normal, daily reality is a natural state? Right now, fifty million people in the United States have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders, ninety million have been prescribed anti-depressants. Capitalism, greed, and overconsumption are driving us toward an environmental collapse; the country is in the middle of a runaway opioid epidemic. Racism and tribalism of all kinds are on the rise; basic norms of civility are ignored or cast away. At least a quarter of the population has experienced physical or sexual abuse, and a stockpile of weaponry large enough to destroy all life multiple times over is touted as bringing security. This is what has come to be accepted as normal. But it’s certainly not sane.

In a previous post I spoke about the viewpoint – common in almost every spiritual tradition – that we inhabit two worlds. This distinction or polarity – these “two worlds” – have been referred to as sacred and mundane (or profane), ordinary and non-ordinary, tonal and nagual, even left brain and right.

The first world makes up daily, consensual reality and our ego-centered point of view, and it’s a result of the downloaded roles and ways of thinking we’ve inherited from our culture. The second world, unfailingly reported as more expanded or “transcendent” (beyond the limitations of the ego), is more fluid, less separate or dualistic, and associated with states of awareness suffused with feelings of love, gratitude, and a sense of connection between all things.

This second form of awareness – reported and accessed by mystics, sages, shamans, and wise people through the millennia – is beyond our everyday rational thought and can’t neatly fit into the conceptual boxes and categories of our language. Because of this, it has been mostly depicted in metaphor… metaphors that describe a process of awakening – as if from sleep – or liberation – freed from the chains of imprisonment to find ourselves in a vast field or landscape outside the walls (the box) of whatever previously blocked our view.

Today’s normal, daily reality is an altered state! It is anything but natural. If it was, the countless shamans, sages, medicine people, and spiritual teachers throughout the millennia wouldn’t have invested all their time and attention developing tools and technologies for transcending its limitations and moving beyond it. These tools – meditation, shamanic and ritual processes, yoga, vision quests, and plant medicines among them – have the potential for providing a glimpse of what lies outside the box, a chance to encounter that broader field and a much larger story we can take our place in.

These tools – and the experiences that follow from them – are transformative. It’s not merely the “outer” world that expands. New landscapes require “new eyes” to see them, and this opening often brings renewed joy, feelings of greater connection, and an introduction to far-greater purposes and perspectives than are available in our “normal,” ego-centered and anxiety-driven condition. They offer the possibility of reintroducing us to our natural mind, a “mind” and way of being and perceiving that may be needed for us to survive.

I’ve now led vision quests and guided ritual and shamanic processes for over thirty years. I am used to hearing the reports, the glowing stories of how these experiences affect people – “the greatest choice I have ever made at a crossroad in my life… changed my life forever… an amazing, inspiring, heart-filling time… finding my wings and soaring… the most important dream I have ever dreamt… an inspiration… a rite of passage for me… what a gift…” Whether we call it natural or altered, those who’ve created and had an intentional and authentic experience outside of the disconnected and ego-driven reality of daily life are grateful they’ve done so. A window has been created in the wall; a door has been opened.

The challenge of our time – a challenge experienced by everyone who undertakes a vision quest or undergoes a transformational experience – is how to go back, how to bring this larger vision to daily life, where the altered state of ego-centric disconnection is the undiagnosed disease under all the other dysfunctions of the day. How can we find fertile soil for a new culture and new (but ultimately ancient) way of being? How can we personally and collectively face the challenge of going, or coming home?

I’ll come back to this next month.

~ Sparrow Hart… September 21, 2018