Why? when we seek out wise counsel, we gain the assistance of someone who is able to advise us on matters relating to our Soul Work. Some people call this Soul Work the path to enlightenment...or they term the path of study for Soul Work as a spiritual path. Wise counsel comes from someone who is walking this path and is able to shed light along our way.
Avoid expectations of perfection - in a guide/teacher (and yourself!); their work is on-going - however many steps ahead of yours. You seek them out to learn from their experience. They do not fix us - nor do we require fixing... we learn to walk the path and do our Work from wherever we are at the moment. They offer tools and insight about pitfalls, signposts, guidelines for natural healthy living, & healing practices. As I was taught: Immortal Monk points the Way; Wise Man walks the Path.
In ancient cultures, the shaman or medicine person was someone who interpreted dreams, visioned for treatments and remedies, created and passed on ceremony and ritual, studied the local plants and animals for healing remedies and poisons, and was generally responsible for the well being of the people in mind, body and spiritual matters. They were often excellent trackers, intuitive Seers and masters of the inner landscape - having travelled their own. They were sought out for healings, divination and private counsel along the way of many seekers along their journeys thorough life.
Training to become a shaman, medicine person, or wise woman was often arduous - even extreme in many cultures across the globe. Their unique abilities developed as a result of their training (though there were often certain qualities looked for in the apprentice), and in fact, they would only sharpen and deepen these abilities over time and with experience. They were the ancient psychologists. They were valued highest in their tribes by the leaders of groups, Chiefs and people - and in later times by Kings, Queens and Emperors who always had wise men and women around them.
Over time, the world shifted, and with the dawning of what was considered more modern times, some of these ancient paradigms, practices and teachings were overlooked, ridiculed and even violently suppressed. With all due respect, wonderful new discoveries have contributed to positive changes in many disciplines. Rather than integrating these discoveries with our spiritual natures (and thus maintaining and contributing to the harmony and balance of the natural world), we have contributed to the fragmentation and poisoning of ourselves and our planet in many ways. The growing awareness of this explains the surge of interest and participation in natural medicine and other healing and spiritual practices that are still around from earlier times. In fact, these practices have continued to expand in their knowledge/experience base from the on-going practical wisdom gained by teachers and students over the centuries.
We are fortunate that many of these teachings have come forward and are available to people...seek out wise counsel (as in all things, we must choose well). Doing genuine personal Work, we integrate ... from the inside out. The world becomes a better place with this integration - it is inclusive and expansive. Be a part of it. Do your Work.
So how does this history fit into the present? How does this relate to seeking out wise counsel? To answer this, we can begin by looking at the word psychology more closely. Words have a history too. They tell the origin of things, the history of things ... words come from other words ... languages come from other languages ... search out meanings of things and be delighted.
Psychology ... Psych ... ology
PSYCH comes from psyche which is a noun meaning the soul, human, spirit or mind. The origin of psyche is middle 17th Century via Latin from Greek (psukhe): meaning breath, life, soul ... My students, clients and apprentices will already know this, understanding why we have such a strong emphasis on breathing practices as a major part of our Work.
Psyche also comes from Greek mythology - Psyche is a personification (Hellenistic) of the soul as a female ... or sometimes as a butterfly ... butterflies are also symbols commonly representing transformation ... Soul Work involves transformation ... in all aspects of our being.
OLOGY... this is usually attached to another word or part of a word in order to represent that it is a subject of study ... a branch of knowledge .. or of interest.
Considering the definition above, taken from an Oxford Dictionary (get a good dictionary if you wish to get a start at researching word origins), we can see that the original intention .. or, perhaps, the root meaning of the word psychology has to do with the study of human nature ... the study of the soul or spirit (psyche).
The SOUL is defined as the spiritual or immaterial part of human or animals ... regarded as immortal. We view our work with others as soul work ... not in sterile offices of textbook practices, but in doing personal transformative work ... involving breath ... the soul ... the mind ... the human (and so the whole body) ... the spirit.
I approach Soul Work with respect for each individual's uniqueness. The work is Divine ... it is Sacred ... it is YOURS ... it is your Work ... No one can do it for you. A textbook will not do it; reading books and thinking you are working on your self will not do it ... and neither will prescriptions. Although prescriptions are SOMETIMES invaluable in emergency situations, they do not address the roots of the illness/imbalance...disharmony. These medications tend to further numb us and assist with psychic sleep ... as do all addictive substances/behaviours.
You can discover a spiritual practice which can offer you the tools to enlightenment .... This is what seeking out wise counsel can do for you. Gain higher levels of energy/vibration and benefit from the many ways that this impacts your inner and outer life for the better.
