Letting Go

I was reading this terrific article over at EarthSpirit about chanting to raise energy and change consciousness, and bring about trance states and the writer said something that struck me funny. The statement wasn't really about chanting, but more regarding altered states in the modern versus the ancient world. It wasn't the purpose or basis of the article, just a little bit of commentary within it. It was an excellent article, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in these things.

In the ancient world those able to achieve profoundly altered states of consciousness were revered and looked to for answers. In the modern world these types of people are shunned at best, and often medicated into submission to the norm, hospitalized and/or imprisoned.

Sherry Gamble, the author, goes on to talk about pagan rituals with drumming, dancing, and chanting to raise energy for a purpose. The participants in these rituals, she suggests, never truly let go. They are too concerned with looking foolish, or watching the others, more concerned with appearances than with the real substance of their work.

It's a strange clinging to the identity that others give us that keeps the doors to Gnosis slammed shut. It's apparently a learned trait. Babies don't have this problem, they don't know they're supposed to be something other than as they are. Small children don't have as much of the identity clinging issue that adults do.

The really funny bit, in my opinion, is that you think you're controlling yourself via your "identity," but the opposite is true. You're grasping onto something that society has created for you, you don't own it. And the tighter you grip, the less control you have.

It's very hard to sort out what's you from what's social imprinting. Even when you've done years of work and think you know, you find an attic full of garbage you've collected without realizing it.

I feel this problem goes far beyond the group setting. The "appearances" policeman lives inside our head, patrolling around our psyche, protecting us from truly letting go and allowing ourselves to enter significantly altered states of consciousness even alone, in the privacy of our own minds.

Due to this policeman's considerable efforts many people require powerful drugs before they release their grip on their socially-manufactured identity and let their subconscious break through and talk to them. They seem to prefer the confining and claustrophobic illusion of order over the chaotic freedom of truth.

Granted, this policeman is also the guy who keeps your hand still when you'd like to slap the stupid out of someone, but you know you shouldn't. So he serves a good purpose. I just think he's been tasked with jobs that really shouldn't be his concern.

Putting this internal policeman back in his proper place is a prerequisite, I think, for being true to one's self. It's hard to get him under control, though, if you don't even realize he's there.