What the world of spirit presents is a serious problem in the application of language. After all the word log nicely describe a trunk of any species of tree, while saying nothing about the roots and the branches. Yet we can actually see all that.
Now the spirit world cannot be seen at all unless you undertake a long difficult training and even then vision is often fuzzy. Yet that same spirit world is physically real and part of the ocean of Dark Matter we swim through. Worse, we all are spirit and our spirit information density is millions of times greater than possible with our chemistry.
So it is rather important. My own efforts at rigorous language for spirit comes down to:
Spirit Body as the whole mass of our Dark Matter entity that operates our cells and networks.
Soul as the ideal pattern to which the Spirit Body aspires.
Astral body as the part of us independent of our cellular processors. This can operate away from the living body and on death can abandon or disperse the cellular processors..
Spirit domain is the environment imagined and lived in by any group of the like minded. Remember the happy hunting ground.
And so on.
.
An Anthropologist’s Theory on Shamanism and the Origins of Knowledge Completely Rewrites Our Understanding of DNA
Dylan Charles, Editor
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2017/06/16/anthropologists-theory-shamanism-origins-knowledge-completely-rewrites-understanding-dna/?
The shaman’s world is one of allegory, symbolism, metaphor and
transcendence into the realms of energy and spirit. Their understanding
of the universe and the abundant sentient beings which inhabit it is
wildly foreign to the mind of the material scientist. Our best chance,
therefore, at bridging the gap between science and spirit may lie in the
anthropological study of those tribal cultures whose operating systems
permit them to move freely in the metaphysical realms with the
assistance of natural hallucinogenic substances.
The shamanic explanation of the origins of life and of the
intelligent nature of the plants and animals which inhabit the
rainforest are quite unbelievable to most, but a rational approach to
understanding their perspective lends extraordinary insight into some of
the greatest mysteries of human consciousness.
Author and anthropologist Jeremy Narby set out in the mid 1980’s to
do just this, hoping to learn from medicine men of the Amazon jungle
about how it is they claim to be able to communicate directly with
plants and unseen spirit beings of the forest. In his remarkable
must-read book, The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, his journey of empirical study takes a remarkable twist when he agrees to ingest the potent shamanic plant medicine, Ayahuasca.
Briefly summing up his book in an interview with Deoxy’s Todd Stewart, Narby remarks:
“Research indicates that shamans access an intelligence, which they say is nature’s, and which gives them information that has stunning correspondences with molecular biology.”
Researching this hypothesis, Narby began by examining the very real
paradox offered by plant masters of the Amazon, namely that their vast,
extensive, and incredibly thorough understanding of the thousands of
plants in their environment is the result, not of any kind of scientific
study as we know in the West, but rather as the result of direct
communication with plants themselves.
“So here are people without electron microscopes who choose, among some 80.000 Amazonian plant species, the leaves of a bush containing a hallucinogenic brain hormone, which they combine with a vine containing substances that inactivate an enzyme of the digestive tract, which would otherwise block the hallucinogenic effect. And they do this to modify their consciousness.
It is as if they knew about the molecular properties of plants and the art of combining them, and when one asks them how thev know these things, thev say their knowledge comes directly from hallucinogenic plants.” ~Jeremy Narby
At face value, the claim may seem ridiculous to the western mind, yet
the fact remains that shamanic knowledge, especially regarding the
medicinal properties of thousands of plants, is so thorough that it has
provided the basis for the modern pharmacological model of medical
science. Many of the top-selling and most effective medicines of our age
were derived directly from the culturally appropriated knowledge of the
people of the rainforest.
Intrigued by this perspective, Narby ultimately agreed to participate
in Ayahuasca ceremonies to experience first-hand the connection spoken
of by scores of indigenous cultures and medicine traditions. Doing so
led him to the conclusion that not only were these people being truthful
in their assertion of direct communication with plants is possible, but
that their hallucinogenic journeys may provide a means of unlocking and
accessing the origins of human knowledge which have been transmitted
for eons in the codes within DNA.
“Intelligence comes from the Latin inter-legere, to choose between. There seems to be a capacity to make choices operating inside each cell in our body, down to the level of individual proteins and enzymes. DNA itself is a kind of “text” that functions through a coding system called “genetic code,” which is strikingly similar to codes used by human beings. ” ~Jeremy Narby
During an intense period of analysis into the content of his plant
medicine visions, testimony from the shamans he worked with, and his
scholarly study of DNA, Narby had the realization that many ancient cave
art paintings and shamanic artwork of bygone civilizations seems to
produce similar iconic images of intertwining snakes, which look
remarkably like the double-helix form of DNA.
DNA and the Cosmic Serpent
Is this mere coincidence, or have ancient cultures across the globe
been directly accessing DNA with the assistance of consciousness
altering natural substances found in abundance on planet earth?
Narby explains further:
“DNA is a single molecule with a double helix structure; it is two complementary versions of the same “text” wrapped around each other; this allows it to unwind and make copies of itself: twins! This twinning mechanism is at the heart of life since it began. Without it, one cell could not become two, and life would not exist. And, from one generation to the next, the DNA text can also be modified, so it allows both constancy and transformation. This means that beings can be the same and not the same. One of the mysteries is what drives the changes in the DNA text in evolution. DNA has apparently been around for billions of years in its current form in virtually all forms of life. The old theory—random accumulation of errors combined with natural selection—does not fully explain the data currently generated by genome sequencing. The question is wide open.” ~Jeremy Narby
The imagery of the snaking figures led Narby to the defining concept
of the Cosmic Serpent, the potential source of intelligence in our
universe, and the symbolism of the snaking figures in a double helix is
central to his question of whether or not shamans can directly access
the codes of life during altered states of consciousness.
Again, Narby explains:
“This is the observation that led me to investigate the cosmic serpent. I found the symbol in shamanism all over the world. Why? That’s a good question. My hypothesis is that it is connected to the double helix of DNA inside virtually all living beings. And DNA itself is a symbolic Saussurian code. So, yes, in at least one important way, the living world is inherently symbolic. We are made of living language.
Both shamans and molecular biologists agree that there is a hidden unity under the surface of life’s diversity; both associate this unity with the double helix shape (or two entwined serpents, a twisted ladder, a spiral staircase, two vines wrapped around each other); both consider that one must deal with this level of reality in order to heal. One can fill a book with correspondences between shamanism and molecular biology.” ~Jeremy Narby
While certainly a fascinating and refreshing take on the important
role of shamanism, language, symbolism and consciousness in human
development, Narby acknowledges that his theory opens the door for
entire new set of questions to be examined by the scientific community.
“I think we should attend to the words we use. “Consciousness” carries different baggage than “intelligence.” Many would define human consciousness as different from, say, animal consciousness, because humans are conscious of being conscious. But how do we know that dolphins don’t think about being dolphins? I do not know whether there is a “consciousness” inside our cells; for now, the question seems out of reach; we have a hard enough time understanding our own consciousness—though we use it most of the time. I propose the concept of “intelligence” to describe what proteins and cells do, simply because it makes the data more comprehensible. This concept will require at least a decade or two for biologists to consider and test. Then, we might be able to move along and consider the idea of a “cellular consciousness.”
I wrote the book because I felt that certain things needed saying. Writing a book is like sending out a message in a bottle: sometimes one gets replies. Judging from the responses, a surprising number of people have got the message loud and clear.” ~Jeremy Narby
Indeed, the question is wide open for exploration, but the
proposition that we human beings may be able to directly communicate
with DNA in order to influence our own evolution is a powerful one,
especially in the context of technological advancements which give us
more options than ever of collecting and organizing data.
What knowledge have we human beings forgotten in our press forward in
time, and can this knowledge be recovered and put to good use when
determining our future?
Dylan Charles is
a student and teacher of Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Qi Gong, a
practitioner of Yoga and Taoist arts, and an activist and idealist
passionately engaged in the struggle for a more sustainable and just
world for future generations. He is the editor of WakingTimes.com, the proprietor of OffgridOutpost.com,
a grateful father and a man who seeks to enlighten others with the
power of inspiring information and action. He may be contacted at wakingtimes@gmail.com.
This article (An Anthropologist’s Theory on Shamanism and the Origins of Knowledge Completely Rewrites Our Understanding of DNA) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Dylan Charles and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.
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