Presencing as a Path to Spiritual Initiation From Travelers By Donald Altman, MA, LPC /Roundfire Books Have you ever had a memorable initiation? I don’t know about you, but probably the most monumental initiation every human experiences is that of being born—and yet, we can’t even remember it! Initiations are, perhaps, the most misunderstood and least appreciated of life’s experiences. And yet, each day we are awash in initiations of all kinds. Ever had a sweet sixteen birthday? Graduated from high school or college? Got that first job? Had a promotion? All of those are initiations into another phase of your life.
Then of course, there are religious initiations, such as Christianity’s Rite of Baptism, Judaism’s Bar Mitzvah, or one of Buddhism’s many devotional practices. But initiations, whether secular or religious, serve a vital purpose. They establish meaning and context for our accomplishments, as well as acknowledge a new direction in our lives. Initiations act as guideposts on our journey. You might think of initiations as stepping stones. As Confucius wrote:
The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
From this perspective, a life is made by moving those stones, one at a time! It’s also worth considering that how you respond to any initiation tells you a lot about yourself. Have there been initiations in your life that you feared or worried about? Sometimes, it’s not the initiation, but the challenges for growth that matter most. You learn a lot about yourself through the initiations you face. The most impactful initiations open you up to exciting possibility of who you will become and what gifts you will bring to the world. Personally, I can recall many initiations in my life, my graduation from grade school, high school, and college, not to mention many birthdays and new jobs that acted as initiations. Some were more memorable than others. And yet, the most powerful initiations I’ve encountered were the ones that elevated my understanding of my place in the universe. These initiations expanded my normal state of being, awareness, and consciousness. They were spiritual initiations that helped me get in touch with the beauty and preciousness of all life.
If you think that spiritual initiation is some kind of enlightenment experience or meant only for longtime meditators or those on a spiritual path, read on.
The Bigger, More Expansive You
Our world has become so steeped in science and technology, that the sense of our spiritual being and a connection to nature is in danger of being lost. The number of hours spent looking at screens has increased exponentially in the past few years. It is well known that the light from cities blocks the stars from being seen in many parts of the world. Many believe that science holds all the answers, and any mystery that remains unknown will eventually be learned by science. Science is effective at reducing things by describing their individual parts, such as the human genome, the working of neurons, and molecular structure. What science cannot know, is what it is like to be a living, conscious being. Yes, devices may track brain waves and understand how the heart works, but the mystery of consciousness may only be understood by a living, breathing human. Further, I believe that by steeping ourselves in the mystery, we learn how to become better persons.
This over dependence on science, especially when dealing with mental illness, is one of the themes in my new novel, Travelers. The story centers on a psychiatrist, Dr. Ben Banks, who is struggling with loss of his daughter. He works at a psychiatric hospital, where manualized treatments, pathologies, diagnoses and technology are more important than looking at the whole person and taking a holistic approach to healing. In this except from Travelers, Dr. Banks, muses upon how things might be different: The morning staff meeting had a certain boring predictability to it. We all sat there, sipping our coffee and shuffling through the papers of dislocated lives, while speaking in a specialized clinical lingo, dissecting diagnoses, prescribing drugs, and choosing treatments and manualized therapies that were often printed out in bulk. I could hardly count how many boxes we clicked each day to satisfy insurance company requirements. How many different digital platforms we used to manage all our records. How distant and mechanical this was from actually working with patients, and yet we devoted a massive amount of our time to doing it.
At some point during the din of discussion, my mind drifted into an odd reverie about whether another kind of healing was possible. I imagined taking a patient’s hand and walking with them into their own swampy and dark personal hell. Together, we’d explore, confront, and make sense of the slimy gremlins and frightening swamp creatures, before walking over rough terrain and, exhausted but safe, finding our way back home, to the light. This process would take time, and we would let it unfold naturally, without the pressure of assessments and treatment outcomes. But now, instead of being a healer, had I just become another cog in a massive machine? This was what rattled through my mind when I heard a familiar, though distant voice. “Ben? Dr. Banks? Ben??”
I looked around with a start. Oh my God! Had I gone into another fit of catalepsy? Did I drool all over my chin? Quickly, I put my hand to face and stroked my chin as if I were deeply pondering something, when actually I was doing a wet chin check. Nope, that was dry. Did I wet myself? I moved subtly in my chair. No, all seemed dry down there, too. I seemed intact, although my heart pounded like a jackhammer for a couple of beats, and I felt my neck and face flush and tingle.
“Uh, Sorry?” I gulped.
“Well, everyone, I think that’s a sign this meeting is going on a bit too long!” Dr. Howell laughed, defusing my embarrassment. “Have you any updates on your cases?”
Though steeped in rationality and science, Dr. Banks is forced out of his comfort zone and must undergo a shamanic initiation if he is to help a young, psychotic patient. What he discovers shocks him and moves his life forward in an entirely new direction. Fortunately, your spiritual sense of being doesn’t depend on finding a shaman… or depend on anyone. Let me explain.
Did you ever witness something so awe inspiring that you’re mind just stopped thinking? Mindfulness teachers call that being in the here and now. I think of it as presencing, or being fully present with your surroundings, especially natural ones. That’s what happened to me the first time I stepped gingerly to the edge of the Cliffs of Moher on a trip to Ireland. The secret, though, is to presence on a daily basis, like when you step outside and look up at sky, trees, and that green hummingbird hanging in mid-air.
Presencing as a Spiritual Initiation
If you were asked to define yourself, how would you answer? Would you identify yourself by music you like, the viewpoints you hold, the job you have, your family of origin, your means of transportation? Maybe even those thoughts and anxieties that run wildly through your head? Many individuals identify themselves with all those things to which they are strongly attached and loyal. They mistake an assemblage of likes and dislikes that they’ve accumulated over the years as real proof of who they are and what they stand for. The difficulty with this view of the self is that it’s all too easy to defend our attachments and identifications at all costs. Just imagine all the sources of conflict that this personal self can create! It would be laughable if it weren’t sad.
Fortunately, there’s a way out of being stuck in your identifications. And that is through the act of presencing. Basically, presencing fully initiates and immerses you in the here and now. Doing this lets you remove your ego’s elaborate costume and get in touch with something much more profound and expansive than the personal self. This is an initiation into contacting your deeper nature and being. It’s that spacious and unbounded part of you that connects with everything else. Neuroscientist V. Ramachandran has made the point that it is the skin that surrounds our bodies that gives us the illusion that we are separate from what is around us. Without this boundary, there’s no more inside and outside, no more “me” and “them.” There’s just the experience of being and interconnectedness, which is beyond words. For that reason, presencing yourself in the moment is an initiation that points you in an entirely new direction. You are catapulted from the “me” into the “we,” and with this shift comes a fresh understanding of our place in the Cosmos. There may be no more important step a human can undertake than an initiation into peace, understanding and compassion. Can you imagine how this would change the world? The Buddha wisely spoke to this idea when he said: See yourself in others.
Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do? Conclusion Remember this: Presencing is your natural birthright. So keep it simple and find your presence in the next breath. The next step. The next flower that you see. The next worm wriggling slowly through the grass. Truly, each is a spiritual initiation into the mystery and depth of being. And when you forget? Begin again with a new, small awareness, knowing that this day offers the wonderful possibility of initiation into kindness, wholeness, healing, connection and renewal. Author Bio: Donald Altman is a psychotherapist, award-winning author, and former Buddhist monk who writes the Practical Mindfulness Blog for Psychology Today. In addition to being profiled in The Living Spiritual Teachers Project, he is an international keynote speaker, consultant, and workshop leader. His award-winning books include The Mindfulness Toolbox, Clearing Emotional Clutter and The Mindfulness Code. For more info: mindfulpractices.com Travelers By Donald Altman is available from Roundfire Books or from wherever books are sold. BOOK LINK: https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/roundfire-books/our-books/travelers-novel |
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