Listen to “Why we Need Ancient Wisdom in Modern Society”.
No matter how much sensual pleasure people have and how much they consume, they will always want more. This endless personal craving manifests itself in our ever-increasing material consumption. But there is another path we can take.
For those who cultivate wisdom or true knowledge, the results and rewards are far greater. They include:
- Inner peace
- Satisfaction
- Patience
- Respect for others
- Compassion
- Joyfulness
- Remembrance and reconnection with a spiritual identity
- Freedom from the fear of death
- Freedom from anxiety and depression
To live harmoniously, we may need to understand the teachings of the people who have been living in synchronicity with the Earth and taking care of her for generations and try to incorporate their wisdom into our modern living habits.
Indigenous people worldwide, whether it is in the tundra, the savannah, the deserts, the highlands or the rainforests have lived at one with the land for thousands of years. They have learned the ways and the secrets of the Earth they walk on, and they pass their knowledge down from generation to generation.
Many wisdom keepers still walk and defend the Earth, sharing their ancestral knowledge with the masses.
There is rising interest in the West in ritualistic, folkloric practices; alternative modes of spirituality, altered states of mind—and a belief in the possibility of human transformation.
In many cultures, these facets of experience are preserved by the shaman. Shamanism is the original spirituality and recognizes the truth of who we are as spiritual beings of energy and light, each of us connected as one with all of creation. Therefore, it’s no surprise that people are being “called” or, more correctly, “called back” to this ancient system of healing and wellness.
Shamanism offers useful tools for healing both the individual and the collective and is the best hope for restoring balance on the planet.
Ancient wisdom for modern living provides insight and practical answers to today’s social, economic, and personal problems. Our survival’s basic answers might lie precisely in the very indigenous communities that the global corporate project is rapidly destroying.
There is more than enough food, water, fuel and so on to satisfy the needs of everyone on the planet. However, there is not enough to satisfy everyone’s greed. In some parts of the world, people are dying from severe undernourishment, while in other parts of the world, people are dying from obesity.
There is a pervasive sense in our society that we are in a bad place and that things are only getting worse. Technological, social, political, and economic changes present challenges in how we relate to one another and the environment. A renewed interest in ritual, shamanism, and transcendental experience, driven by a universal desire for spiritual life; a yearning for some higher power or intelligence; or “reach for something beyond,” can lead us to some interesting places and give us some hope as a society.
