The lives of the deities articulate - actualize - all
that is possible for the beings, be they human or gods.
This complete potential might be termed totipotential; the
totality of potential. This totality of potential carries
no implication of values, no commitment to 'good' or
'compassion' versus 'bad' or 'evil. Such concepts are
forever relative within various philosophies and there is
no possiblity of 'objectivity' in either linguistic
definition or actual behavior. Nonetheless, the
undesirable, desructiveness of the 'dark side' of human and
god nature is clear, and does not need elaborate
explanation. The mytho-poetic lives of the gods explore the
complete range of the possible. That panorama presents to
us the full spectrum of what might be possible under
'ideal' conditions for human transformation. This full
range of possibilities contains both 'black' and 'white'
powers; sorcerers may do good or evil. But more
importantly, it contains possibilities for more than
'power'; it reveals the potential for spiritual
transformation. If the Buddhists are right, that is our
unique legacy; our unique potential.

2: WISDOM HAPPINESS LOVE 
     Immortality be damned! In any case, that attribute may
be uniquely reserved for the gods. The unique legacy of
human beings is the possibility for spiritual
transformation and the acquisition of global compassion;
love for all beings without exception. The gods, for all
their awesome powers, are forever fixed in the particular
spiritual state of their niche. Those who acquire
compassion, acquire wisdom, happiness and love. Those
qualities may be applied to one's close and intimate daily
relationships and/or humanity and Gaia at large. We thereby
hold in our hands the ultimate power, the possibility of
affecting the QUALITY of our emotional/spiritual lives and
also the possibility of the affecting the QUALITY of Gaia -
Mother Earth - the global ecosystem. We can all be
bodhisattvas to Gaia if we choose.

3: Create the Structure of Human Society 
     The fundamentals of human society; family, clan and
tribe with their attendant rituals did not spring de novo
from the mind of humankind. Our societies, with their
passions, complexity, happinesses and unhappinesses mirror
that of gods. We MUST mirror the gods, not because we are
inferior parrots, but because the closest of reciprocal
relationships provides the most complete, multi-level
nourishment for ALL, both the gods and us. The mirror
reflects reciprocity and the possibility for the healthiest
of symbiosis. If our social and mytho-poetic structures did
not mirror 'heaven' than the reciprocal nurturing behavior
which leads to the best of all possible 'worlds' would be
much more difficult. When our Bicameral Minds Broke Down
(c.3,000 B.C. - 0 A.D.) and Consciousness with its Self
Awareness and narrative 'I' appeared, we lost the easy
ability to talk to the gods. We MUST regain it if our
overall 'health' is to be restored. Isolated regions of
recovery, as promoted by Western reductionist science when
working alone, will not suffice.

4: Society NEEDS Nurture from the Gods 
     In principle the rationale is simple. Do you wish to
be 'healthy' on both the spritual and physical planes? Of
course, you say. Well, there is a price to pay; everything
is not possible in all 'worlds'. You must pick and choose
and be content with the gains and losses. The exercise of
raw, exploitive power in whatever realm can not coincide
with the achievement of a totipotent 'health'. The narcotic
highs produced by physical or verbal abuse, the pursuits of
material wealth, the acquistion of ecological power and the
indulgence of pyschological or physical obsessions are
forever incompatible with a spirtual and compassionate
life. They are also incompatible with the achievement of
happiness and love, those forever indefinable, but we
'know-it-when-we-find-it' psychic states.

5: The Gods REQUIRE Nuture from Society 
      Yes, the Gods do require and NEED us. Not simply for
the ego gratification of having something worship you. The
Gods are dependent upon us for spiritual nourishment, love,
respect and acknowledgement that life is rich and worth
living. Sounds like some of the qualities of a good human
relationship, doesn't it? Well it is; the Gods need our
love or they are left alone with themselves and that is not
conducive to their happiness. The objective truth is that
they possess, as do we, an intense need for intimacy. Love
and intimacy appear to be global needs, global truths;
there are very few beings who can legitimately do without
them. Their existence serves only to illustrate the
statistical flucuations from the mean that are possible in
large populations; they do not indicate a life path that
most of us can follow towards fulfillment. If you don't
believe this, contemplate the death of the so-called pagan
gods and above all, the near extinction of the Great
Goddess. Physically she is immortal, but that is not the
point. At the hands of a judgemental, power-oritented,
chauvanitstic Christianity, she nearly died a spiritual
death.

6: That Food is Dreamtime Ritual 
        Today, we think that the Dreamtime is specific to
the native Australians but the historical record suggests
otherwise. These extraordinary people are 'simply' the last
stewards of the Dreamtime; they have miraculously preserved
it into the 20th century. In the Dreamtime, the gods walked
the earth and shaped it according to their creative whims
and their serious needs. That creation of the 'world' also
structured it for us; it provided the frame for the
'mirror' with which we reflect 'heaven'. In ritual, we
leave linear, secular time and enter the sacred time of the
Dreamtime. In that space, we can communicate with the gods
directly, learn from them and possibly acquire spiritual
knowledge of the type that is forever beyond language. In
such mytho-poetic rituals, we explore other dimensions of
the 'world' and dimensions of ourselves that are not
reachable otherwise. If we cannot do so directly, the
shaman will do so for us with the difficult techniques of
ectasy, for that is his sacred trust. When the shaman
returns from spirit-soul journeys, he or she communicates
the experience to the clan and all are enriched and made
wiser by the experience. 

7: 'Nuture' Allows the Gods to Live and Creat
     Nourished by the APPROPRIATE rituals, the gods have
their health renewed and are able to continue to live out
their mytho-poetic lives and create. BUT, the rituals must
be appropriate, they must possess spiritual integrity.
Almost any behavior can become ritualistic if repeated
within a recognizable structure but all rituals are neither
spiritual nor healthy. The obsessive behavior of the
autistic person is ritualistic but cannot lead to spiritual
growth. Our society's indulgence in the acquisition of
material wealth and power, 'professional' sports, material
exploitation of the earth, and the obsessive feeding of our
immature egos through distorted, immature and often abusive
relationships all have ritualistic aspects. However, anyone
with a little insight would not lable such activities as
spiritual ritual. The common element that flows through our
impoverished 'rituals'is the infatuation with power and the
ego. For ritual to possess integrity and the potential to
the contact the Dreamtime, those elements must be absent.

8: Embody the Evolutionary Process 
      Healthy mytho-poetics is stable, contextual and
ever-changing. The embodiment of evolutionary potential is
transferred to us, the humans, yet all evolutionary change
is not necessarily for the better. The Breakdown of the
Bicameral Mind was an epochal evolutionary event and left
us with a much more complex 'world' and the gains and
losses are difficult to assess. Would you trade
'consciousness', 'self awareness' and the 'narrative I' for
a greater sense of spiritual well being. Would you trade
modern technological Western society, with all of its
material wonders (including this computer!) for a near
guarantee of spritual happiness? Is it necessary to trade,
is this concept of gains and losses beside the point? Can
we have it all? Can we have great technological
understanding with its unavoidable, intense use of the
ecology and a Unicameral Mind that is at ease with
communication with the gods and is capable of benefitting
from such a relationship? Can you imagine a technological
West with compassion towards Gaia and all the beings?

9: Reality of Spiritual Transformation 
Unknown shamans, Zoroaster, Vardhamana, Buddha, Confucius,
Lao-tzu, Jesus Christ, Mohammed
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