Dr. Angeles Arrien was a cultural anthropologist, author, and educator who conducted workshops and lectures worldwide. Her work, which bridged cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions, led to her support and interest in Transpersonal Psychology. Her most famous book, The Four-Fold Way explores archetypes of the Native American medicine wheel and describes our life’s journey in terms of ‘the call’, ‘the search’, ‘the struggle’, ‘the breakthrough’, and ‘the return.’ In this interview, she speaks of the power of nature, silence and contemplation to connect us more profoundly to our instinctual nature—what she calls ‘the wilderness within.
Crazywise Conversations, https://crazywisefilm.com/crazywise-blog/crazywise-conversations/
| Angeles Arrien – Connecting to the Wilderness Within Transcript of CRAZYWISE Conversations: Angeles Arrien – Connecting to the Wilderness Within There’s something that every indigenous culture has in common is that there’s a deep connection to nature. There’s a deep connection to storytelling. There’s a deep connection to sound and sonics and music There’s’s s a deep connection to ritual. And there’s a deep connection to silence. And you know, most shamanic cultures if you go there disheartened or dispirited or depressed, usually the shaman will ask you one or four questions. When did you stop singing? When did you stop dancing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories, and particularly your own life story? And when did you start being comforted by the sweet territory of silence? Because wherever we stopped singing, or wherever we stopped dancing or being enchanted by stories are comforted by silences where we began to experience from their point of view, so loss or loss of spirit. And every culture of the world knows that in silence you touch contemplation or reflection or mystery, that you don’t touch in any other way. And the more that we became removed from nature itself, the outer wilderness that we become removed from the deep interior, wilderness within which carries all that instinctual knowing. And so that’s one reason why for 40 years, I’ve taken people out into the wilderness for three days and three nights that they’re, they’re deeply attached to that not only to mother nature, but also to silence and being alone and in nature, to for deep remembrance. |