Transcendence in Everyday Life
Oftentimes individuals believe that the ability to reach a state of transcendence is something that is unattainable in their everyday lives. They feel that this is a state of consciousness that is only available to spiritual adepts, saints, enlightened teachers, and indigenous healers. Transcendence is viewed in our culture as something that lies beyond the range of our ordinary perceptions, knowledge ,comprehension, or experience. One senses that transcendence is apart from the material universe and that it is beyond their experience and unknowable.
In my experience I have found this to be totally false and is a byproduct of the limitations that we have imposed upon ourselves by our disconnection with the natural world and the beauty of the universe. In my work as a Shamanic Healer and teacher for almost 20 years I have learned that the ability to reach a state of transcendence is available to everyone regardless of their spiritual experience or level of enlightenment. In Shamanic cosmology it is believed that there are two levels of reality: ordinary reality, and non-ordinary reality. Ordinary reality is the reality that we experience most commonly in our daily existence, doing our work, taking care of our families, taking care of the business of life.
Non-ordinary reality is just as real in our lives as the ordinary reality of our everyday existence, yet it is entered into by moving into a state of flow, a space of moving from the realms of this world and into the realms of the unseen.
The Shamanic Healer or Practitioner does this through the Shamanic Journey. The Shamanic Journey is a trance like state that is attained with the use of some type of monotonous sound by the practitioner. This can take the form of drumming, rattling, chanting, dancing, or any form of trance like music. The Shaman can navigate through 3 worlds. The upper world or the Hanaqpacha as we call it in the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition that I practice. The Lower World or the Ukhupacha, and our ordinary world know as the Kaypacha. The Hanaqpacha is a world that is filled with light and is very surreal; our spirit helpers there are highly evolved spiritual energies that exist only to be of service to mankind for guidance and healing. The Ukhupacha is a world very much like our world; only it is pristine and unspoiled. Its residents are our animal allies. They also serve us for healing and guidance, as well as to help integrate or release shadow elements from our being. These two worlds are mediators for the Kaypacha and are continually interpenetrating our ordinary reality to assist us in our personal healing, the distant healing of others, and access to information we cant call forth in our normal awareness.
Everyone is capable of accessing these unseen realms. They can be accessed through training and the guidance of a Shamanic Teacher of integrity and good heart, and oftentimes they can be accessed spontaneously when one is in a receptive state of flow, exhaustion, or awareness. Being in such a state of transcendence in journeywork is much like being in a dream while you are in a waking state. A state of transcendence in communing with a place of non ordinary reality can be experienced in forms other that a formal shamanic journey. It can come forth through periods of extreme exhaustion or over work at a place where your mind has moved aside and allowed you access to that spark of awareness to the unseen. It can occur through any kind of art where you are within the flow of the moment and have stepped outside of your ordinary awareness into a state of bliss. It can occur with tender moments with your children, grandchildren, or other beloveds in your life in the times where you feel the resonant heart connection of one soul to another. It can occur with the intimacy of a beloved in moments of sexual ecstasy. There are many ways that transcendence can occur spontaneously. What is most relevant is the synchronicity that existed to produce the state of transcendence. If one can recreate this experience it can lead to being able to access a transcendent state at will.
One of the issues that we as humans have imposed upon ourselves that acts as a block to experiencing transcendence is the belief that we are separate from the Divine.
Divinity exist in all things, believing that the universe exists in separate forms is simply an illusion. There is duality in our universe and everything in our universe depends on its opposite to be complete and balanced, that is how wholeness is achieved. We need to re – member source, the source that is within us. That everything in creation is part of that source of oneness and the I AM.
How can we re re-member our connection to all that is and the I AM? How can we regularly consciously call in transcendence into our everyday lives, rather than just have the brief moments of bliss that may occur randomly. We can follow the examples of our native indigenous peoples of the world. The interconnectedness of the natural world, the relationship to all that is there for us to see and experience if we just open our eyes to the great web of life and spirit that is all around us. The stones, the earth, the waters, the trees, the heavens, stars.. everything in the universe is part of us as we are part of Universe. Developing a deep connection and honoring of the natural world allows us to move into transcendence. Developing quiet time and stillness within our lives leads to transcendence. Practicing good self-care leads to transcendence. Learning ways that resonate personally to achieve an altered state whether that be the Shamanic Journey, Dance, Artistic Expression, Meditation Techniques, Mindfulness’ or many others can lead to transcendence.
Transcendence is a natural part of our being, as is our connection to source. Embrace your oneness to all that is and Transcendence in every day life.