Every Human Being Has Two Minds. Most of Us Live in Only One.
All of us, every human being, possesses both a Logic Mind and a Spirit Mind. The Logic Mind is what we use to navigate our day-to-day life in ordinary waking reality. When we think, do math, drive a car, read a book, or dial a phone number, we are acting within the province of the Logic Mind. The Spirit Mind is the realm of intuitive understanding, a place where our experiences can be described but not explained by logic. How, for example, can we logically explain the way we move across space and time in a dream?
How Shamanic Healing Happens
Shamanic awareness and shamanic healing depend on the shaman being able to consistently and effectively access the Spirit Mind. The health and longevity of the shaman depends on his/her ability to safely return to normal waking consciousness when the healing is complete. This is essential to the practice of shamanism.
To be effective, one must be able to journey into the dreamtime and then return at will. It is in the realm of the Spirit Mind that shamanic healing occurs, where the spiritual wounds of the past which live on in the present and can be healed. And where the limiting agreements we made at the time those wounds were inflicted can be changed into ones that allow us to release the trapped spiritual poison, bring back our life force energy, and move forward without the baggage of out past.
Why I Use the Drum
While there are many ways to access the Spirit Mind, I find entraining to the rhythm of the drum to be the most effective and the least taxing on my physical body. The drum lets me enter and return from shamanic realms with ease, without the physical toll of hallucinogens, extended fasting, or sleep deprivation, and with the added benefit that I can move from a very deep state of shamanic awareness to full focus in ordinary flesh reality, literally at the drop of a hat.
This is how we learn to walk in both worlds while being bound to none, free travelers between the Logic Mind and the Spirit Mind, navigating the worlds of flesh and spirit at will on our terms. We humans have been given the gift of both. It is a shame to abandon half of our capacity by planting ourselves firmly in one camp or the other, yet that is exactly the norm for most people. It is part of the illusion of duality that has led to so much conflict.
Not Either/Or... Both!
One reason I believe we hold this misconception is that while we are all capable of accessing both the Logic Mind and the Spirit Mind, we cannot access them both at the same time. This leads to a great deal of misunderstanding. We mistakenly believe we have to choose one or the other, simply because we can't do both simultaneously. But consider an analog radio dial. You choose a station, the signal comes in, you hear the music being played - this doesn't mean you can't change the station and tune into a different frequency when a commercial or a song you don't like comes on. You can't listen to two stations at the same time but you can certainly switch between them when we choose. In the same way, we can embrace both the Logic Mind and the Spirit Mind, each for its own purpose, and each at its own appropriate time.
Modern society is too focused on black or white. We are either in the world of logic or the world of intuition. Very rarely do we find people who are grounded in both worlds and able to move freely between them. Yet that is exactly what is needed for us to heal ourselves and reach our full potential.
Learning to access the Spirit Mind at will, safely and effectively, is the foundation of shamanic practice, and it is the first thing we learn together in Level 1 - The Fundamentals of Shamanism.