[Consciousness] [1REED] The Mayan with no Head

[Henry Reed]

I wrote the essay below some years ago. Today I see it as part of the
key to my relationship to the 2012 mystery. I have found an
interpretation of the galactic alignment as relating to the Mayan idea
of having no head, as shown in some of their carvings. That image
pertains to the ego self being eclipsed and the God consciousness
shining through. Today, some call that "non-dual awareness." My work on
the emerging crisis in boundaries and its effects suggests that as
boundaries continue to dissolve, the psychic effect will be to create a
tendency for non-dual awareness to erupt spontaneously in people, for
some feeling like enlightenment, for others like depersonalization.
It's Hard to Be the Only One Who KnowsIn a dream, as I gaze at my
reflection in a mirror I am twice amazed. First, I see that I have no
head. I am holding my severed head about chest high in my hands.
Second, I am amazed that even without a head I can see quite well. I
stare even more intently into the mirror, marvelling and attempting to
understand this mystery.I had this dream many years ago and have been
spellbound by it ever since. I once read a book on Buddhism that
suggested that the experience of enlightenment might be simulated by
imaging seeing the world while having no head. The head restricts
consciousness to within an enclosed identity. By replacing the
restrictive head with the entire world, consciousness is liberated and
de-localized. The exercise symbolizes opening the shell of the ego
boundary to allow one to become one with all of life.I encountered
further understanding of my dream at the ballcourt of the Mayan ruin of
Chichen Itza. On the wall of the stadium is the carved image of a
decapitated ball player. Out of his neck portal gushes the world tree,
which branches and flowers as seven kundalini serpents, pouring life
out into the world. The image suggests that if we surrender ourselves
to the game of life, sacrificing our own personal identity to the play
itself, we can be channels of profound creativity.These ponderous
thoughts were but dim intuitions until I read the book The shaman's
secret: The lost resurrection teachings of the ancient Maya (Bantam
Books). The author, Douglas Gillette, a theologian, had written an
earlier book, King, warrior, magician lover, exploring the archetypal
symbols of the spiritual masculine. He now brings his well developed
gifts of symbolic interpretation to the Mayan world. Much progress has
been made in deciphering the Mayan heiroglyphs. Drawing upon both
Jungian techniques and comparative religion, Gillette is able to reveal
the meanings of these intriuging carvings and paintings in a manner not
possible before. The result is a stunning revelation of a worldview
of "terrible beauty."We are prone to dismiss or reject the Maya as
teachers because of their blood sacrifices. We learn in this book,
however, that there are many exact correlations between the Mayan world
and the worldview we associate with Edgar Cayce's esoteric vision of a
mystical Christianity. We are also reminded of the extensive
bloodletting symbolism and magical blood practices in the Christian
myth. The Mayan world, however, includes a more candid embrace of the
darker aspects--suffering, cruelty, and death--in a brave, and,
according to Gillette, successful attempt to use these demons to
liberate consciousness."In ancient Maya belief, we are all called upon
by the gods to become one with them and live forever. In the simplest
and the most dramatic happenings of our lives the Lords of the
Otherworld are giving us opportunities to create resurrection events
for ourselves. But, according to the Maya, we must engage our own
hidden depths in order to succeed. Those hidden depths embrace a
universe filled with terrible beauty and divine power, and one that is
vitally, miraculously, and ecstatically alive."The goal is to become a
companion to the creator god. To be such a companion to the divine
requires the heart-challenging task of being both transparent to the
transpersonal and yet an individual who provides the knowledgeable and
conscious reflection that companionship requires.In my dream I remove
my head and allow my mind to become transparet to the transpersonal.
Yet still I have my personal awareness--I can see what is happening.
Thus the event has me for a witness. In the Mayan world, this
witnessing is an important aspect of their resposibility to to the
Creator.The Mayans believed that there were four worlds before them.
Each was destroyed by Creator because the people could not say the
prayers correctly. Only when the people correctly acknowledge in their
awareness the presence of Creator does that Creator God fully exist in
a conscious state of being. The Mayans realized that God is dependent
upon the people for its conscious existence. The Creator God created
the people for companionship to give God this special dimension of
being.It is hard to be the only one who knows. Sharing an experience
with a companion relieves a burden of loneliness. A companion who
relects our experience back to us births our experience outward into
the world. It makes us seem more real to ourselves. We can relax and
grant greater reality to the world itself. We want to return the
favor.According to the Mayans, the Creator God created the world
through a process of self-sacrifice (symbolized by self decapitation).
To become companions to God, we are asked to similarly perform this
self-sacrifice in order to bring God into conscious existence in this
God created world. Gillette describes in detail how this service to God
was the Mayan's "ressurection machine," giving their souls immortal
bodies that defeat the illusion of death. Our creative self-sacrifice
bestows an immortality upon us, and resurrects us as co-creators of the
world.

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Posted By Henry Reed to 1REED at 1/26/2008 09:12:00 AM
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