Evolver Spores: Rites of Passage
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 the 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.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/n0thing/97969234
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Comments
Excellent theme!