Listen to “Why we Need Ancient Wisdom in Modern Society”.
No matter how much sensual pleasure people have, no matter how much they consume, they always want more. This endless personal craving manifests as ever increasing material consumption. On the other hand, for a person who cultivates wisdom or true knowledge, the results are inner peace, satisfaction, patience, respect for others, freedom from duplicity, compassion, joyfulness, remembrance of his 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 to our modern way of life. Indigenous people around the world, whether it is in the tundra, the savannah, the deserts, the highlands or the Amazon rainforest have lived connected, as one with the land for thousands of years, learning the ways and the secrets of the earth they walk on, and passing down this knowledge 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, or altered states of mind—and a belief in the possibility of human transformation.
In many cultures, these facets of experience are indeed the preserve of the shaman. Shamanism is the original spirituality, so it’s really no surprise that more and more people are “being called” or, more correctly, “called back” to this ancient system of healing and wellness, which recognizes the truth of who we are: spiritual beings of energy and light having a human experience, each of us connected as one with all of creation.
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 the social, economic, and personal problems of the world today. The basic answers to our survival might lie precisely in the very indigenous communities that the corporate global project is rapidly destroying.
There is more than enough food, water, fuel and so on to satisfy the actual needs of everyone on the planet. But 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 things are getting worse. Technological, social, political, and economic change present challenges in the way we relate to one another and the environment. A renewed interest in ritual, shamanism, and transcendental experience driven by 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.
