While splashing in a pool, Horton the elephant hears a small speck of dust talking to him. Believing that there must be something living there, he places it on a clover and vows to protect it. Soon he discovers that the speck is actually a planet with tiny people living there. These microscopic people were known as Whos and their planet was called Whoville. For his beliefs, Horton is mocked and harassed by the other animals in the jungle for believing in something they can't see or hear.
This storyline, from the 2008 animated movie, Horton Hears a Who! seemed apropos to the topic of a “deeper reality”. Theories about life, reality, and its greater meaning have always abounded. What is real? Today, in the modern western world view, reality has immersed itself in secular materialism. Essentially, this doctrine espouses that physical matter is the only reality. All else, including thoughts, feelings, mind and will are all explained by physical phenomena. Further, physical well-being and material possessions represent the greatest good and highest value one can attain.
Reality has been influenced throughout history by the prevailing beliefs of the time and place we happen to live in. From one end to the other of this planet, the nature of reality has been molded by the dominant science, philosophy or religions which in turn have formed the conceptual lens through which groups of people see the world and life. Sadly, a repercussion of this has been that people’s deepest suppositions become so fixed that anything that contradicts or challenges them is summarily dismissed as untrue.
My fear as a shaman and astrologer is that in our western culture, we have swung so far into an exaggerated belief that modern science holds all of the answers to life and reality, that all else is deemed unworthy of serious consideration. Despite all of the amazing achievements of the modern era, I believe we have lost something vital and incalculably important. We have forgotten the spiritual and mythic element of life. In doing so, we have forfeited an important part of our existence, that which provides a deeper reality and transcends the material.
What is it about this deeper reality, a higher one, the unseen one? In my view, there is a causative actor or source residing parallel to our material reality, veiled from our view. Call this God, the Universal Soul (Om), or Spirit, I believe our material reality is encased in this higher principle. Safely ensconced in this universal womb we can only detect a greater presence through subtle clues and signs. An unseen reality that does speak to us, however mysterious it may at times seem.
Although we don’t possess a complete vocabulary to describe it or a full understanding of it, this does not negate its existence. My work as a shamanic healer and an astrologer has confirmed this concept to me in a dynamic and persuasive manner. During healings, I have experienced the necessary and accurate promptings, unseen by others, that have assisted me in detecting physical illnesses and emotional wounds that were unknown or only known to the person receiving the healing. In instances of the unknown, medical examinations have later confirmed the messages.
Further, when in the sacred space of an astrological consultation, through the symbolic language of the planets and stars, messages and understanding have come through by way of a person’s natal chart. Contained within these ancient symbols resides a timeless knowledge about the human experience, connecting human lives to the cosmos in a powerful and symbiotic dance through time, therefore, echoing the words of Hermes Trismegistus, “as above, so below”. The implication being what happens on one level of reality happens on every other level.
Now, back briefly to Horton. He heard what others did not and was ridiculed as a result. Today, we find a similar response emanating from modern science concerning the mythic and spiritual aspects of our existence. Instead of their representing “an expression of the deepest creative potentialities of man”, they are dismissed as fantastical, illusionary, and disconnected from the real world. To me, this is tragic.
In conclusion, I believe we have lost our reverence for the mysterious nature of reality. While cradled within the “mysterium tremendum et fascinans” that permeates the human experience, we are frequently confronted with an awesome and urgent feeling of being part of something much bigger and grander than we can comprehend. But when we listen with our hearts, we can hear echoes from the place we have forgotten. An unseen reality where our beginning resides, and our connection to all that is, exists… and awaits our return.
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