Elightenment Traps

Personally, I love fruits and vegetables. My thing is to eat as much good food as I can while I have time left on this earth. But the fact that I love fruits and vegetables does not mean that I don't like to consume meat (charred flesh, as a good friend of mine calls it). A number of years ago I went vegetarian. I was very careful to make sure that I was getting all the iron rich foods so that I would not have low iron levels. I was consuming copious quantities of these foods. I still ended up anemic and needed to go back to having meat in my diet. Here is the thing. Once I got away from consuming meat I thought that I was going to feel so much energy and vibrance. Quite the contrary. I was sluggish and low on energy and ambition and felt somewhat depressed. After 2 years of wondering what was wrong with me, I re-introduced meat into my diet and BAM! I felt so much better!

The truth is that back then I fell into what is called an Enlightenment Trap. An Enlightenment Trap is any belief that has an undercurrent of "I know what is best for me....and for you." I had everyone around me raving about how vegetarianism and veganism were the only way to go. I completely bought in. And I almost killed myself in the process. So why is it so much easier for people to believe someone when they say, "I stopped eating meat and wow do I feel so much better" than it is for them to believe someone when they say, "I started eating meat and wow do I feel so much better"? It is the Enlightenment Trap syndrome. It may as well be something like "I chose Jesus and wow do I feel so much better!" Radicals are radicals no matter what form they come in. We don't become enlightened by embracing a particular religion or diet or even philosophy. We become enlightened when we do our personal work and get over our personal issues in life. A diet or religion or philosophy is not going to do that for you. Dogma is dogma, no matter what the form. I get really frustrated with people who think that I am not enlightened and therefore could not possibly be a good healer just because I eat meat. That is just a bunch of bull. How would they feel if I said similar stuff about them because they were one of those "wacky vegans"? I don't say stuff like that, but they think that they have the right to say stuff like that about me or anyone else who eats meat. It really is quite ridiculous. It is very much like reverse racism. I am white so I can't say anything negative regarding anyone else's race (not that I do) but oh boy! Try to tell anyone of another race that they can't say anything negative about me based on my color! Them's fighting words!

I would really like it if people would leave others alone and not threaten them with "You're gonna die of cancer if you continue to eat meat" kind of ridiculous statements. To each their own. And I love having 2/3 of a plate of salad or vegetables and 1/3 meat. So there. Deal with it. No matter how you look at it, we are gonna kill an animal or a plant in order to live. It is called the circle of life. Deal with that too. And get you head outa your a.... and grow up!

 Blessed Be
 Trent
 http://www.deerhornshamanic.com/
 http://www.youtube.com/trentdeerhorn

Boxed In

Every once in a while we find that we have become a little imprisoned by someone else's viewpoint of who or what we are. This is always uncomfortable and never healthy. Too often, though, we succumb to the other person's view of us and then can go years with that as a weight upon our shoulders. Being an Air elemental, I do not at all enjoy being boxed in.

So you can imagine my disappointment when I discovered that someone whom I have thought of as a dear friend has a view of me that is untrue, or at the very least way out-dated, and is not hearing me when I am trying to tell her that this may have been true 15 or 20 years ago, but is no longer the case. The thing is that I think that she just does not want to hear me. In confining me in her wee little box of an idea, she thinks that she has some form of grasp on me or control over me. I think that it is because my personal power threatens her in some way. It is never easy to have our viewpoints of how things work in the world or in the universe challenged. As you know, I challenge dogma all the time, no matter where it may show up. So I must be an extreme challenge for her because I am relentless when it comes to boxing things in for the sake of ignorant comfortability. That is not to say that I am rude or aggressive about it, just relentless. Relentlessness can be accomplished in kind and gentle ways as well.

So now I am left with what to do with this sort of thing. If it were someone I did not care that much about, then the solution would be simple. Cut her loose. This is, however, someone for whom I care a great deal. So the solution will be a wee bit more difficult than that and will perhaps take much longer than I would hope. What complicates things is that she has a view of me that can actually be spun in a positive manner, but even though it can be it is still not truth. So I have decided that I will gradually allow the process to unfold and hopefully she will see that I am not in the box that she holds so dear to her heart. If she can handle that bit of information and process it, perhaps she will be able to adjust her point of view. If not, then she will have to move on and find someone else to box in, because I am a very patient person, but will lose patience if something goes on for too long a period of time. After a certain amount of unproductive lapses of time, it becomes obvious that allowing it to continue is simply enabling that person to do this to me. That will not be acceptable. So here is to hoping that she will one day actually hear me!

Blessed Be
Trent
http://www.youtube.com/trentdeerhorn
www.deerhornshamanic.com

Belief vs Understanding

People often ask me if they need to believe in anything in particular (such as a particular version of God, for example) in order for the healing work that I do for them to work. My answer is always "No."

I find it much more important to have experiences that lead us to understandings. This is always a much more thorough way to learn than is accepting beliefs that are just fed to us from childhood onward. Yes, I do believe in a Higher Being. Most often I relate to a Divine Feminine, but also a Divine Masculine. I don't, however, expect others to simply adopts these beliefs as their own. In fact I would worry if they did. What I believe is a result of experiences that have led me to understanding things in a particular set of ways. This then has become a way of my life.

Others need to find their own ways of life. We all like to belong, but what we understand in life is ultimately important in that it shapes who we become down the road. We can't adopt the beliefs of others just because they want us to. I remember someone asking me if I believed in Jesus. My answer was, "Having never met the man, I am not sure what I believe about him." A blank look of confusion came across the person's face. I then said, "I believe that someone by that name is reputed to have done some pretty spectacular things, but that is only here say for me until I see some evidence of such things." Another blank look. Then I said, "I don't, however, have any problem with what you chose to believe for yourself." Suddenly there was comprehension. But then the person began trying to make me believe in the same stuff. I had to put a stop to that quickly. I figured that if they were not wanting me to stuff my beliefs down their throats, then they had no right to try to do the same thing to me.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com