March 01, 2016
Keeping It Sacred: Asking Permission
Our world is running a thousand miles an hour with a new technological advance just around every corner. We run to keep up and take shortcuts to get there. In fact, it is an unwritten law in our Western Culture that we do, or take, and if necessary, make apologies for it later. This sense of urgency puts us neck to neck, scrapping for what we believe, by birthright, is ours. We seem to have forgotten how to have respect, however, and how to honor each other in our scrambles up the ladder. Is it any wonder that nothing feels sacred anymore?
If we take a step back and look at the philosophies we have inherited in the West, we can see that there is a drive for more that is rooted in deep fears of scarcity. We have been doing and taking, without apology, for millennia. To be assertive denotes a position of power and strength. It gives a message of boldness that is forthright and highly revered, but it creates dissension when no permission is granted.
To take without asking trickles down into our personal relationships as well. How often have you told someone that you are going to need something, instead of asking them for it nicely? To ask denotes weakness, it puts us in the vulnerable position of someone possibly saying “no,” so we command it instead, or… just take. This creates an authoritative positioning within the relationship, thematic of our power driven culture. Equality, however, is based on mutual respect.
Asking permission is an ancient practice of honoring. It says, “I know we are all connected. You are a sovereign being, or nation, so too am I. To honor this, I am making myself vulnerable, and asking for your permission.” In indigenous cultures balance and respect are the underlying principles of a healthy existence. A hunter will give a plant or animal spirit an offering in exchange for its life. If someone wants guidance from an elder they will bring that person an offering, such as a pouch of tobacco. Even before traveling to a new place, the Shaman makes an offering to the land, asking permission to enter. We see it in Asian customs as well. In Japan, bowing connotes deep respect, while the Sanskrit greeting of “Namaste” says “I bow to the light within you, that resides within me as well.”
Taking without asking permission creates an environment of entitlement that spawns power and elitism, haves and have-nots. These are the seeds of war. Wars between Nations, wars between tribe members, wars between friends and lovers. It all starts with a war within ourselves. When we feel a sense of lack, we want power. It is this very sense of lack, however, that makes us uncomfortable with exposing our vulnerability by asking. Behind every act of arrogance is a wound. For us to heal as Nations we must heal as individuals. We came here to evolve and learn, not to have. We evolve by healing our abandonment, rejection and scarcity wounds, and we learn by accommodating differences, not overriding them.
Bring the Sacred back into your everyday life by making your actions conscious. It starts with seeing our place in Creation. No one is more entitled, or worthy, than another and no one is keeping score but you! Take a deep breath, slow things down. You are not a runner in a race. Stop, smell the flowers. Watch a spider spin its web. Everything is sacred when you honor it. Find that place in you that still has awe, that place where you reverberate with every little thing. It is in our very vulnerability that we find our light, our wholeness! Honor this sacredness. Love it… treasure it. Then respect it’s presence in others.
Christina Allen’s work as an Intuitive, Healer, Teacher and Founder and Director of the Austin Shamanic Center, combines a strong science background (BA Physics, MS Neuroscience) with decades of applied ancient spiritual wisdom (Master Yogi, Reiki Master, and profound Shamanic Healing, based in part on Q’ero Indian traditions of Peru). Learn more about upcoming classes, make private appointments: www.AustinShamanicCenter.com or (512) 391 9829.
© Austin All Natural, March, 2016