A Reset for Spiritual and Religious Confusion
As promised in the Are We Sheep? article, here are Five Toltec Principles that helped us reset our spiritual and religious confusion. As you may imagine, for us these principles are sacred, for oh so many reasons.
Please note, we use Toltec with a cap to indicate the actual, historical People of Mexico, our ancestors; we use lower case to describe the toltec way/path/philosophy, which is to make art of one’s life. In addition, all non-English or non-Spanish words are in a major Native American language known as Nahuatl, the word meaning, beautiful harmonious sound.
Sacred because the Principles offer a functional, non-judgmental path to our True Self, a path free of religious and societal dogma, where one decides who they will be and how they will live.
Imagine for a moment that you step up to a cave entrance. A Warrior suggests you leave all your beliefs at the door, like religious influence, teachings/beliefs of family, traditions, peer pressures, mate pressures, politics, and the endless list of human dramas.
It takes a minute because there are many conflicting feelings and deep beliefs, but finally you unpack because part of the reset is to sort all that out, and Amen to that.
Naked like a baby you step in the cave. The Warrior and a Warrior Woman step forward to bequeath to you what they call, “Five Basic Human Objectives, with infinite possibilities,” the Warriors add,” without bias and influence outside of yourself, your True Self. Do what you will with them.”
After that you, the Warriors and Others, figure it out…your story to tell.
FIVE TOLTEC PRINCIPLES
There are many, many authors, teachers, elders, traditional dancers, and other real toltecs/Toltecs that can explain this much better than I, so if anything grabs your eye, looking for those teachers and sources of information are well worth your time. If we can assist, you know where to find us.
EMANCIPATION – SHOSHOU’KI
Freedom is the ultimate goal of the survival instinct. It says abundance, choice and strength, not scarcity, take-what-you-can or weak behavior. The mere thought of Freedom provides the needed vitality to chase it.
Freedom includes a certain detachment from material conditions, detachment from a confusing reality and the dogma used to perpetuate it. This one accomplishes through the sobriety and training of the senses, all of them, the five, the well-known sixth sense and the seventh, which the Navajo taught us is dreaming. No matter what one faces, one is on the rise toward freedom.
There is no request for you to give that freedom to anyone. Only you make that decision. It’s for you, for this life, for your cosmic journey, perhaps something you can actually take with you.
EQUILIBRIUM – KINAMICTIA
Equilibrium within the forces of life. This does not advise balance as a safety measure, although balance plays a part in our well-being. In no way does this idea of balance hamper the spirit or still the voice that wants to sing. Think of it this way:
If you were an asteroid traveling through space, balance in flight through all the debris and other flying objects, will determine how far you get. If you want to hit something, OK then, but let it be your target. If you hit everything out there, though, you won’t get very far.
Scale that down to moving through our day as human beings: family, work, physical condition, social media, politics, love interests, dark desires, frustrations, obstacles, possibilities and impossibilities. Isn’t that like an asteroid sometimes?
The idea is remaining in balance as you move through where you want to go.
EXPERIENCE – ISHLAMATI
Guide yourself by your own experience, depend on your own experience.
That really makes sense, like it’s a given, but it is indeed a rare teaching in our world. Mostly we are to guide ourselves by what community, church, school and government say, aren’t we?
We are given a framework of behavior since our birth, then, within that framework we are advised (correctly) that we have personal responsibility, however they mean accountable to that framework.
Toltec thinking puts your personal experience above and separate from that framework. Be accountable to yourself – personal responsibility without middlemen. This puts government, religion, society, family even, into a secondary position, and ultimately, some of them with no position at all.
AWARENESS OF DEATH – NANAMIKI
No matter our beliefs around Death, the cycles of life and death surround us in three-dimensional, hardcore reality. Every living creature shares birth and death with every creature of every size, shape and function – the great equalizer, as they say.
Being aware of one’s death as one lives puts an edge to our evolution. We know all of it expires at some point, so we behave accordingly, making the most of every moment we have.
It’s said that awareness of death purifies us from superstitions as it guides the development of our character. Sounds like a teacher, huh?
ATTENTION TO ANCESTORS – YEYEKOLTIA
This is a devotional matter, no doubt, but devotion Toltec style changes the meaning of the word – from a person with hands in prayer, eyes to the sky, to a woman in touch with those who came before, putting a life together!
That’s not to say the woman doesn’t take the prayer position or look to the sky at some point, but that’s not all she does. She finds, retrieves, intuits, reads-the-signs-around her – information that translates to more food, better shelter, healing, child-rearing and other functionalities of life on Earth.
Nowadays, in light of science, one could say this woman is making the best of her DNA, talking to her blood, so to speak.
A tap on the shoulder tells you it’s time to leave the cave. As you step back out, you’re given Five Medicine Bags, and you know it’s time to start sorting it out. If you keep it, put it in the right Medicine Bag. If it doesn’t serve anymore, burn it.
Next time, we’ll talk about the Three Approaches to making these Principles work.
HempCredible 