Even if we've been on a serious spiritual journey for decades, we may still periodically realize that we still harbor outrage against, what our "ordinary mind" (survivalist brain, small self, separate self, ego, left hemisphere) perceives as, cruel injustices to ourselves, loved ones, the world in general. Others will recognize our outrage (even when we ourselves rationalize it), when we have an violently angry reaction to any contradiction of our cruel, unjust universe belief (or any other dogma).
Most of us know, intellectually, that arguing, resisting & trying to change things that cannot be changed is not just a useless waste of energy, but creates unnecessary suffering. Roughly 95% of all suffering is this self-created unnecessary suffering.
Actually practicing "radical acceptance" of even the harshest unchangable things we encounter CAN spectacularly prevent & alleviate suffering, anxiety, cynicism, meaninglessness & depression!
Unfortunately, though we all consider ourselves "open minded," as soon as we're triggered by one of our taboos, we instantly shut down & run the other way. This reflexive avoidance prevents us from curiosity & learning, and keeps us stunted in the prison of our own (our our "tribe's") echo-chamber. "Radical acceptance" INCLUDES topics which our secular taboos consider "impossible, can't happen," our religious taboos consider "heretical" & off-limits. But the most basic of all, is the Homer Simpson taboo by which we're triggered when we encounter anyone or anything "different," and we instantly feel, "I don't like him/her/it!" We find this animation funny because we recognize this tendency in others.
It's helpful to remember how common it is to hear young children conclusively declare, "I'll never be able to ride a bike, swim, read, etc, etc!" As long as that rigid mindset remains in place, even the simplest of tasks remain impossible.
THIS is how "radical acceptance" can be practiced, by Claude Poncelet PhD, physicist and shaman, exemplifying "grace under pressure."
Instead of shutting down & running at the sight of "shaman," if you can smile at your inner Homer, don't take him so seriously, and you might learn a great deal!:
“What has become clear to me is that one’s attitude, one’s behavior, are essential crucial elements of self-healing.
What I will offer in terms of shamanism and self-healing is based on my own personal experience. This follows a diagnosis, almost 4 years ago now, of stage 4 lung cancer, metastasized to the brain & several vertebrae.
Now in exploring shamanism and self-healing, I will not focus on shamanic healings themselves, although such healings have been an important part of my overall self-healing, including work with a shaman and medicine man from the Safara tribe in the Northern Amazon. In this presentation, what I want to do is focus on my own work with spirits, and what I learned about self-healing from the shamanic worldview.
Well for me, the preface “there is only self-healing” means in a sense that the body, the mind, the ego, heal with the help of healers, doctors, treatments, etc. And this has been reinforced throughout my 4 years of living with cancer. Hence, shamanic healers, and for that matter, energy & other spiritual healers who understand the breadth & depths of self-healing approaches, can help their patients in the awesome responsibility of self-healing.
Now I know that each journey with cancer, and for that matter, each journey with any illness, is unique & individual, and so is one’s way with self-healing. Self-healing is unique and individual. I can only share my own experience and hope it will stimulate among my listeners a deeper understanding of self-healing for each of you in your own ways.
My learning has been continuous since the early cancer diagnosis 4 years ago, and it continues today. I am thankful to the cancer for the deep learning I have received. Now while my learning has been deepened over time, it has come over time. I will offer my thoughts in this presentation not chronologically, but according to what for me are major aspects of the shamanic worldview, or the shamanic practice if you wish.
As a physicist I admit that I still need a structure and a framework for my knowing and teachings. So the 3 major aspects of the shamanic worldview that I will use in making my presentation are:
One – everything is sacred, everything has a spiritual dimension, everything has spirit.
Two – everything is interconnected. There is no separation.
Three – there are 2 worlds we live in: the physical world and the spiritual world. We have full responsibility for our thoughts & actions in both worlds.
I’ve been engaged in a multifaceted approach to self-healing that I label ‘partnering with cancer.’ What has become clear to me, as you will see in my presentation, is that one’s attitude, one’s behavior, are essential, crucial elements of self-healing.
Let me start with my first category, ‘everything is sacred, everything is spirit, spirits are everywhere.’ Since my first cancer diagnosis 4 years ago, I’ve been communicating daily, & several times a day, with my spirit helpers, spirit guides, and teachers, asking for help, protection & guidance. As I have, since the very start of my shamanic practice, I never ask for a specific outcome. What I ask for is the most appropriate outcome, in light of the welfare of the whole, now & into the future. I know that spirits know better than I do. I also journey regularly to spirits of nature and of the cosmos, asking for guidance.
And I see the sacred in everything. Since the start, I’ve journeyed to the spirit of cancer. I do this daily. And the spirit of cancer has become one of my major teachers, particularly on how to approach my illness. I have learned early that my cancer is not a random happening, but that it is, in a way, an initiation. And I am grateful for what I have learned, not only about self-healing, but also about myself, my life, and my role in this world.
As I became aware early in my shamanic practice, and I talk about this in my book, all man-made objects have a spirit, have a spiritual dimension, are sacred. Nature creates forms, such as rocks, mountains, lakes, rivers, that have a spiritual dimension, have a spirit. Everything we humans create such as buildings, computers, cell phones, cars, medication, is made from material coming from the Sacred Mother Earth. We humans are a part of nature, we are not separate, we are nature, we are a part of nature. Forms we create therefore are sacred, have a spirit, if only we are willing to acknowledge this, become aware of it.
The Safara shaman, from the Northern Amazon, with whom I work, prepares for me a sacred liquid plant medicine consisting of 5 plants (doesn’t include Ayahuasca), and I take this sacred medicine three times a day. I contact daily, when I take the medicine, the spirit of the plant medicine. I’ve been on chemotherapy in the form of daily pills since the start, 4 years ago. Daily, when I take my chemotherapy pill, I journey to the spirit of my chemotherapy. The chemotherapy for me is a sacred medicine. That is part of my self-healing. I’ve been on a second type of chemo for 2 years, after the first type became less effective, and the spirit of the second chemo has become a major teacher for me. As I take my plant medicine and my chemotherapy daily, I carry out rituals to honor the spirits, and to ask for the most appropriate outcome in the light of universal welfare. And I ask that my healing be shared with all beings. The spirit of my chemo, which is called Tagrisso – it’s important to have a name – has been the main guide in creating this ritual, which the spirit of my chemo modifies every now and then.
Let me give you more examples of the kind of spirits in our journey to self-healing. I undergo regular medical tests and procedures, and I work with the various spirits involved in these procedures. Every 2 or 3 months, I have CT scans and MRIs. And I always contact, when I go for these procedures, the spirit of the hospital, the spirit of the room where the machine is located, the spirit of the CT scan machine, the spirit of the MRI machine. By the way, when I’m contacting the spirit of the MRI machine, I also ask if the spirit would help those patients who are claustrophobic in the MRI machine (which fortunately I am not).
Now let me give you a specific example in some detail. After the first cancer diagnosis 4 years ago, I had a radiation treatment for my brain tumors – all 26 of them. This is an advanced medical procedure called gamma knife, which uses high-energy gamma radiation that is focused specifically on the tumors, and hence, has no effect on healthy neurons. Because of the number of tumors, the procedure took nearly 5 hours, as I lay immobile, for about 90 minutes at a time, under the radiation dome. In preparation for the treatment procedure, I had done several shamanic journeys to various spirits, such as the spirit of the hospital, the spirit of the radiation dome, the spirit of gamma radiation, to honor them, bless them, thank them and ask for the most appropriate outcome, in accordance with the greater harmony of the whole. When the procedure started, and I was under the radiation dome, I started again journeying to the spirit of gamma radiation. While in earlier journeys I could not quite distinguish the spirit’s form or how it presented itself, this time the spirit clearly showed itself as an elder woman. I asked for guidance as I underwent the procedure. The spirit reminded me – and remember I’m a physicist – that right after the Big Bang at the birth of our Universe, the very first manifestation of matter or energy was in the form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation – and that is gamma rays. Also, some of these gamma rays, as described by Einstein’s equation e=mc2 – energy and matter can transform into one another. So some of these gamma rays were transformed very quickly into matter and anti-matter. The matter, which was quarks and electrons, became the building blocks of photons, neutrons, atoms, molecules, starts, planets, our own bodies. Now the spirit of gamma radiation told me, and I quote, ‘You are being healed by your Cosmic ancestors.’ We all came down from those primordial gamma rays – all the atoms in our bodies came from those gamma rays. Now hearing this, brought a fundamental change to the medical procedure I was undertaking. I was no longer being bombarded by radiation with all the scary aspects of this. My Cosmic ancestors were healing me. This was a sacred treatment. The 5 hours in the dome were filled with joy, wonder & gratitude. The 26 tumors, by the way, have all gone away, and have not reappeared since. I am grateful.”
Claude Poncelet Shares his Powerful Cancer Story: "Shamanism and
Self-Healing" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKKGQ3W4Pc8
You can easily practice shifting your perspective to a FAR WISER, more JOYFUL one, the next time you see your dentist or dental hygienist: http://www.johnlovas.com/2022/05/just-shift-of-perception-away.html
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