Awakening the New Human
by Hank Wesselman, Ph.D.
 My
work as an anthropologist over the past several decades has led me to suspect
that there are countless numbers of evolutionary sleepers out there in the
mainstream of humanity, each containing within themselves an extraordinary
biological-energetic program.
I've come to believe that this program is on our DNA, part of our genetic
"hard drive," so to speak, and it's been my personal experience that when this
program is "double-clicked," higher functions coded into the personal mind-body
matrix may be awakened.
Our conscious awareness may expand dramatically in response, allowing us to
have the direct, transpersonal connection with the sacred realms that defines
the mystic. Needless to say, this is an experience that has transformed me
utterly.
The inner fieldwork of the mystics suggests that "the program" is closely
associated with the ductless glands, the brain, and the heart; and that these
organs, in turn, are in relationship with the dense concentrations of energy
known as chakras, located in the core of our personal etheric matrix. When these
physical and energetic mission control centers are activated, the relationship
between them can dramatically affect the body and the brain, which may undergo
striking changes.
At the time of this writing, humankind has not, as a whole, experienced the
triggering of these higher functions, but those individuals who have could well
be prototypes for a new kind of human. To be specific, the program may reveal
who and what we may all become when we awaken from the consensual slumber of
culture at large and are drawn across an evolutionary threshold to become a new
species.
This is not fantasy, but a real phenomenon known to science as speciation.
When it happens rapidly, producing a sudden evolutionary jump, it's called
punctuated equilibrium.
After countless eons of time during which the human body and brain have taken
form in co-creative relationship with Nature and Spirit, we appear to be ready
to engage in a truly extraordinary adventure -- the evolution of consciousness.
In short, we're primed to experience the full expression of the human
spectrum that is latent within us.
Visionseekers
We live in interesting times. In addition to everything else going on in the
Western world, there's a spiritual awakening quietly taking place, and right at
its heart lies the discovery of that program within us -- a program that when
experienced directly, has the potential to precipitate undreamed-of levels of
personal transformation.
In response, increasing numbers of modern scholars and spiritual seekers
alike are reconsidering who we are as human beings and where we came from. And
in doing so, we're rediscovering the ancient, time-tested methods for expanding
consciousness that were pioneered tens of millennia ago by the shamans and
mystics of the traditional peoples -- techniques that are now known to be a form
of technology -- a technology of the sacred.
Technology of the Sacred
Traditional people in indigenous societies know their surrounding
environments in great detail. If there are psychotropic plants growing nearby,
the ritual use of hallucinogens derived from these "plant teachers" is sometimes
utilized for the purpose of expanding awareness and accessing the sacred realms.
Many investigators have even suggested that the discovery and use of
plant-derived psychedelics (meaning "mind-manifesting") may have been
responsible for the development of spiritual awareness in human beings in the
first place. By implication, hallucinogens may very well have served as the
causation for the genesis of religion. Accordingly, an alternate term for these
plant teachers is often used -- the word entheogen -- meaning "releasing the
deity within."
The growing literature on hallucinogens reveals striking cross-cultural
similarities in the reported effects of these natural substances on human
consciousness. These include the capacity to channel the energy of the universe,
to discover the most profound secrets of nature, and to acquire wisdom that may
he used for magical, medical, and religious purposes.
But equally powerful and far more widespread are the psychological and
physiological methods developed by the traditional peoples for altering
consciousness and repatterrning it in specific ways -- techniques such as
fasting, sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion, hyperventilation, or even the
experiencing of temperature extremes during rituals of purification such as the
sweat lodge.
It's also generally known that the intensely physical stimulus of monotonous
drumming and rattling, combined with culturally meaningful ritual and ceremony,
prayer and chant, and singing and dancing, can enable the shifting of
consciousness into visionary modes of perception. Not surprisingly, the use of
drums and rattles by sacred practitioners around the world is almost universal.
Until relatively recently, Westerners have tended to regard the whole issue
of altered-state experiences as mysterious, paranormal, and even pathological --
and some of us, in ignorance, still respond to the idea of expanded awareness
and connection with spirits with fear and rejection.
By contrast, in a traditional society, each girl and boy grows up in
relationship with elder ceremonial leaders and mystics who are able to access
expanded states intentionally for the benefit of themselves and for others, or
even for the entire community. The traditionals know that virtually everyone can
learn how to access sacred states of consciousness to some extent, and that each
of us is a potential holy person. They also know that some of us are real
naturals at it.
With the double-clicking of the program, we become aware of our ability to
perceive in an expanded way. And once activated, this ability improves and
deepens with practice, allowing us to ascend toward the luminous horizon of our
personal and collective destiny in a completely new way.
Today, this phenomenon can be partially understood in scientific terms. It's
known, for example, that the nature of the visionary experience can be
determined, to some extent, by our focused intentionality, by our belief
systems, and by the set and setting in which we find ourselves. These serve as "repatterning
forces" that can give new shapes to our mind-set, allowing the seeker to access
many varieties of experience, including connection with the numinous dimensions
of the spirit world ... if that is their intention.
The traditional people also know a great secret: Any human activity or
endeavor can be enormously enhanced through utilizing and eventually mastering
this sacred technology. Another secret: If we go back far enough, we're all
descended from indigenous tribal ancestors, Westerners and non-Westerners alike.
This
article was excerpted from:
 The Journey to the Sacred Garden
by
Hank Wesselman.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Hay House. ©2003. http://www.hayhouse.com
Info/Order this book.
About the Author
Anthropologist
Hank Wesselman, Ph.D., served in the U.S. Peace Corps and has taught for Kiriji
Memorial College and Adeola Odutola College in Nigeria; the University of
California at San Diego; the West Hawaii branch of the University of Hawaii at
Hilo; and California State University at Sacramento. He currently resides in
Northern California, where he teaches at American River College and Sierra
College and offers experiential workshops and presentations in core shamanism
worldwide. He is also the author of
Spiritwalker,
Medicinemaker, and
Visionseeker. Visit his
website at
www.sharedwisdom.com.
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