The Era of the American Mystic

This is the era of the American Mystic, the Bodhisattva, the everyday shaman. We are in a bardo: an initiation, a phase between death of the old way, the old guard, the old playbook and the birth of the new.

In her book, The Fruitful Darkness, 
Zen teacher Joan Halifax describes the process:
“The Shamans say that being a medicine man begins by falling into the power of the demons; the one who pulls out of the dark place becomes the medicine man, and the one who stays in it is the sick person.”

“You can take every psychological illness as an initiation.
Even the worst things you fall into are an effort of initiation, for you are in something which belongs to you.”

Bardo instructions are simple: the pull or allure to the old will be greater than ever. The temptation to fall into the old way will be great—hyper-focusing on the problem, the focus on the self and what ails you, from trauma to the various -isms to blame, hoping to garner the significance of the aggrieved will be great.

But if you want to be one who rises, one who resurrects in the new era as the humble gardener,
free from suffering, here to tend to the world, then you must focus on the aim.

And what is the aim? The end of suffering. And how do we create that condition? We will unleash the
creative force and ride it into the mystical state. How do we start? Ignite the spark of Eros and let arousal do what it does.

Will you remain in the dark place? Or become the medicine man or woman that we so desperately need at this time?