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| The Sustainable Herbalist; The Sustainable Life - Page 5 |
SPIRIT TALK - SPIRIT WALK
Most herbalists with whom we talk to refer to their herbal journey as a spiritual journey; one of service work to humanity, Nature and the invisible realm. Each describes this in their own way but it basically is a statement that acknowledges a greater Wisdom that they are trying to align with and serve. We feel that this aspect of herbology needs to come out of the closet and be an open and integral part of the reality being presented to the public. Any organizing body of herbalists should not depreciate any aspect of this and state that the "government" or other "certifying committee" or whatever would laugh at us or not take our spiritual vision seriously. To hide such a view is to continue to support the paradigm that is limited, destructive and all consuming. If we feel that meditations with plants is an integral part of being an herbalist then we need to state it openly with no apologies or shame.
Also, some herbalists hold the idea that there can be a "clinical herbalist" who is practicing herbology but doesn't know nor recognize plants and many times cannot make the simplest medicine. We have seen many sincere students of acupuncture or naturopathy come out of schools and be extremely stressed due to the academic and financial pressures. They were taught all the academically appropriate things but they were not shown what it is to be a True Human being nor were they given the initiatory steps to what a true healer is. This scenario unfortunately echoes the Western medical model and lifestyle and yet is straddling the fence as well; using the herbs but not walking the talk mostly due to the academic paradigm that they are subjected to. Many feel that this is the only model that we can use in order to "make it" in the world. However, the sustainable paradigm as stated earlier is valid and can be the foundation for the academic studies. In the following section I have outlined some ideas gleaned from different times and traditions that may help us to understand the role of the herbalist/healer.
ANCIENT EGYPT
We have to be careful about creating too many rules and regulations by which to practice our healing arts. Some times there are so many rules that the practitioner no longer is looking at the life situation unfolding. This can be liked to the Zen story of how the teacher was pointing to the moon and all the students were studying his hand. The rules and protocol can at some point get in the way of the direct experience. Not that we should neglect our studies or ignore various traditions, but at some point in our practice we have to do our own dance in relationship to what is directly happening in front of us. This is like a dancer who has to learn all the movements, body positions, and routines. At some point they can drop all of the thinking about the dance and just dance. The art has been integrated and is now a part of their whole being. They are able to be in direct relationship with the moment.
I want to relay a story from Ancient Egypt. By about 500 BC Egyptian medicine and culture was already ancient and their medicine overlaid and steeped in dogma. In fact, some of the early Greek writers maintain that an Egyptian physician could be put to death for instituting therapy outside that which was considered "correct" or "by the book" because the legislator was convinced that the old therapy which had been observed for so long and was collected by the best experts, should not be replaced by a new individual wisdom. Only after four days of no response to the "correct" treatment could other means or methods be applied. To say that this stifled innovation, experimentation and creativity is an understatement. There is a lesson to be learned here which many of our colleagues and other members of society would do well to head.
Some herbalists contend that this scenario will not happen to us because we are too aware to let this happen. However, there seems to be indelible rules that groups follow, the utopian vision, followed by the Manichean idea (good and evil / bad guys verses good guys), then authoritarianism.
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