Back in my university days I logged a lot of time in the faculty of Geography, partially out of interest, but more out of survival. I was actually aiming to graduate with a Business degree, but a funny thing happened along the way. I discovered I was a natural at the creative side of business... aka, amazing in the art of bullshitting (marketers hate this label) but I was terrible at number crunching. Core courses like economics, statistics, calculus, finance and accounting were my kryptonite. To counteract my dismal grades produced from the number-crunching-hell-classes, I strategically took courses where I barely attended lectures, but still aced all the exams and assignments with minimal effort. Most of these easy rides were in Geography and, unintentionally, I took so many of them that I ended up with a double major in Geography and Business at the end of my five year academic sentence.
Geography fascinated me. I fell in love with the human geography side where the curriculum was focused on studying why humans lived where they lived. The human geography courses cross referenced with anthropology, since the study of human culture was a natural fit with the physical environment humans live in. One predominant theme that emerged from every culture was that the perception humans used to perceive their reality determined if they were able to successfully thrive in their environment. Sit quietly and digest this one slowly. I sat quietly for five years mulling on this different take on life and in my final year of Geography I eventually wrote an essay that took an entire semester to complete. Entitled "Survival Of The Fittest," my essay was eventually used in a masters and doctorate thesis as I had documented evidence on how Cree natives used their perception on healing to cure AIDS and cancer, yet modern medicine at the time defined these as "incurable diseases." In 1998, I wrote the following opening paragraph:
Several times throughout your human life, you will have had to confront the menacing presence of disease and illness regardless of who you are, where you are, and what cultural and environmental context you live by. These obstacles of the human species have always constantly challenged us to invent methods that would enable us to, at the highest level, prevent ailments, or at least control and end its threatening course. According to one medical anthropologist, David Landy, "there is an intimate and inexorable linkage between disease, medicine, and human culture." That is, cultures are the weapons or defense mechanism created my human groups in response to impediments caused by sickness and trauma. How successful these cultural weapons are against the inevitable adversaries will measure how each group has adapted in ones ever dynamic environment.
Flash forward 16 years and stress has become the modern day illness. En mass, people are not dying of actual micro-organisms that attack our systems, people are dying a slow death because they are essentially living a lie. The onset of technology has connected us, and through instant gratification we are all bombarded with messages of how green the grass is on the other side. Layer on the constant unsolicited judging and factor in the easy access to knowledge without the necessary expertise to wield such power and what we have is a pressure cooker set to self-destruct mode.
The key to survival of the fittest, regardless of the constructs of place and time, is how you perceive the situation. Does it really matter if unicorns don't exist? The truth is, the mental health benefit of a person believing in unicorns outweighs the Wikipedia version of what is real. The symbolism behind the magical creature represents an ideal of beauty and honesty which just so happens to bring immense happiness to the believer. This in turns, opens the gateway to gratitude which then naturally opens the door to love. For this person, believing in this perception will boost their immune system with extra "coping" juice for all the other experiences that bombard them throughout their day. Somewhere along the way many of us lost the courage to follow what feels right for us. Once we get out of our head, turn off the constant chatter of society, go within to find our heart, one will remember why we chose to reincarnate and walk this lifetime. Each of us have a mission. Each of us are connected. It is only when the majority of us embrace our own unique path will we finally release the binds that hold our evolution back. Currently the majority of us adopt ill fitting suits because we don't know any better. Some of us are forced to wear a toxic suit by people we perceive are more powerful than us. While others reluctantly wear a sheep suit because we fear the unknown. Anytime we don one of these suits, the stress of living a lie will eventually manifest itself in various illnesses. Every cell in your body knows your truth. When your behaviors and thoughts align with your true purpose, at a cellular level the energy freely flows and taps into the collective Universe's flow which is limitless. Miracles and magic occur when one has accessed this unlimited bounty of energy. Every time you are out of alignment of this truth your cells resist, which creates blockages which in turn cause sickness.
In my essay I argued how the Cree nation's approach on treating illness would eventually surpass modern medicine's ability to heal. Strongly ingrained in their culture is a fundamental understanding that the Spirit, mind and body needed to be in balance. Balance is not defined by calories or how big the square footage of your home is or what you do for a living, but rather that you are connected to the flow of the Universe. The true energy of the Universe is based on love. Today, most of us base our behaviors on fear. We fear we will have no money so we stay in a job we hate. We fear being alone so we stay in relationships that are abusive. We fear failure so we never try. We fear not being accepted so we never speak out. We fear the unknown so we resist change. We fear being ridiculed so we don't dare live our dreams. We fear we are unworthy so we don't accept love. This fear created a society that is depressed, anxious, stressed and ultimately unhappy. Modern science ignores the Spirit and mind factors and exclusively treats just the body which essentially is a band aid approach. The media reports the number one killer of first world nations is stress. Clearly this narrow view of treating just the body is ineffective as the illness always reoccurs into other forms. Filling prescriptions and labelling our various illnesses has not moved our world forward. Our most vulnerable population, our children, somehow have been conditioned that they can no longer cope with life, and happiness is manufactured only through consumption of goods. This unsustainable logic, of course, will create feelings of disconnection because "things" do not equate to happiness. Happiness is created by being in alignment of your true self, not how high you can rack up your Visa bill. Some where along the continuum of science and Spirit we went so far to one side that everything we do now is from the head and not from the heart. This current cultural perception was created by us, so if we so choose, we also have the power to dismantle this ill-fitting context and create something else.
The other night I had an intense dream. I was one of the directors of a school. The actual building of the oceanfront school was a hybrid of Hogwarts Castle and Xavier's X-Men's extended mansion. The "school yard" consisted of an expansive farm on one side, and unspoiled nature on the other side. Instead of metal play structures, the students played amongst the trees, the grasses, and or the beach. As I walked through the different faculties the children were fully engaged in their lessons and all the teachers were actual people that existed in my life. We had a large culinary faculty that collaborated with the agricultural faculty to show that the circle of life cannot be disconnected. The children were taught to show compassion if you chose to eat meat and there was an emphasis on respecting Mother Earth for her contributions. Life skills of hunting, harvesting, identifying medicinal qualities of plants, gardening and preparing foods were emphasized. In the arts area, children were encouraged to express themselves in all forms of creativity. In the Spirituality faculty, children were taught on community minded character developments. Focus was on connecting with each other and discovering your purpose. In the physical activity faculties, mental exercises such as meditation were intertwined with yoga and martial arts. Traditional subjects such as communications, math, technology, science and history rounded out the knowledge. The biggest difference in this school was an emphasis to flow in the energy of love and not in the energy of fear. Students were taught to follow their passion, trust in the Higher power which is actually themselves, worry less, enjoy the small moments and practice gratitude. The value that carried weight was not competition but rather community because at the end of the day, no one cares how bright you are but rather how your light ignited others.
The experienced Cree healer will tell you that illnesses are a reflection of a sick Spirit and mind. Treat these pillars and the body will heal itself. The cultures that apply this perception will essentially be the fittest to survive.
(PS... if this blog resonates with you, please do share the link. I was also told in my dream it was time to wake up the others.)
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