"Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we have been waiting for." — Hopi elders
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Evolver Spores: Rites of Passage
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February 16, 2011 - 7:00pm
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Evolver Spores: Rites of Passage
Wed, February 16
In traditional societies, rites of passage play a crucial role in the continuity of culture and the life of the individual. Initiatory rituals, like the walkabouts of the Australian Aboriginals or the Sun Dance of the Lakota, weave deep levels of meaning into the stages of life and death, introduce candidates to the spiritual realms that exist beyond the world we know, and mark the transition into adulthood. Many initiatory rituals involve intense suffering and privation, or the ingestion of psychoactive plants in ceremony. Rites of passage end with a community celebration and a collective witnessing of the initiate's return.
Modern civilization did away with rites of passage, leaving most people with no way to access deeper dimensions of spiritual wisdom with the sanction of our community. Our current educational and cultural system tends to indoctrinate people into a particular cultural program and set of disempowering beliefs, leaving them dependent on authority structures, rather than shepherding them through an initiatory process that brings them to a state of self-knowledge and personal responsibility. This lack of initiatory knowledge feeds the widespread depression, divisiveness, and cynical disregard of the environment we find across the planet today.
How can we address this loss of ritual in today's culture? Can we create new rites of passage that mesh with our contemporary sensibilities? Does the rising interest in Eastern spiritual disciplines, shamanic ceremonies, neo-tribal festivals like Burning Man, and mystery schools reveal a reemergence of this arcane awareness around the world? Could civilization itself be acting out a hero’s journey, embarking on a quest of separation, initiation, and reunion? If so, how do we participate in this cultural shift?
This month the Evolver Social Movement invites you to join 40+ Evolver Spores as we explore how we can reintroduce rites of passage into our modern consciousness to create authentic experience, self-knowledge, and harmony amongst ourselves, our communities, and the world. Click on a link below to connect with your local Spore, or email remi((at))evolver((dot))net to start your own.
(Special thanks to the documentary film "Vine of the Soul: Encounters with Ayahuasca" for sponsoring this month's Spore).
AUSTRALIA
CANADA
EUROPE
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH AMERICA
USA
Image: “Blessed” by n0nick on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing.
Comments
http://www.evolver.net/user/a
— Feb 09, 2011
http://www.evolver.net/user/absalom/blog/right_self_determination_rite_p...
"Seek not abroad, turn back into thyself, for in the inner man dwells the truth..."
Seminal book recommendation
— Feb 13, 2011
I can't recommend "Madness at the gates of the city" by Barry Spector enough, especially as it relates to initiation and rites of passage, and not just personal ones but regarding collective identities also. It is so rare to encounter a book of such original perspective, that coherently ties together so many prescient thoughts into an integral whole. Powerful.
All the best,
Eric
Conscious Music for Personal Evolution
www.ericgeoffrey.com
Thank you eric
— Mar 10, 2011
Feel free to friend me. I will only except friend requests not put them out there.
Thanks man
Feel the music it always helps
Me
This is the Mother of All Rites of Passage!
— Feb 14, 2011
On the topic of rites of passage:
"When we think of creating new rites of passage, we must remember that we are in the midst of the greatest rite of passage of all time, and we are in urgent danger of failing to pass. Failure will mean the end of life, as we know it, on Planet Earth. Of course, so will success."
Read the full essay:
http://www.satyogainstitute.org/dharma-teachings/transformational-essays...
YA YA
— Mar 10, 2011
Some Say Springboard - Some say tailspin - Whatever ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I dig it all --- I say LIFE.
Rasta,
Me
Much Luv and Respect
Havin fun yo
U guys Rok!
Sure we all got alot to do ---------------------------------Right?
Now Im Hearing ya
— Mar 10, 2011
Do you guys like this band called the Phish??????
I think they rock -----------------I have been seeing them since 1995 -
seen many show
I Luv It
Breath in Breath out and let the music feel u as u feel it.
Much Love and Respect,
Rasta Me
And I will read it - Read me?
Nice Luv u guys---------------
u rock once again.
Rasta
Me
Great
— Oct 04, 2011
psychoactive plants now so popular most of the people prefer to consume it for pleasure or medicinal purposes. Psychoactive Plants
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