Month: March 2021

Original Wisdom: a book review

Date Posted: 2021/03/11

Original Wisdom Book Cover

Original Wisdom

Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing

By Robert Wolff

Inner Traditions (August 1, 2001)

Although Robert Wolff published Original Wisdom: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing twenty years ago, it’s a wonderful book. I recently read it for a second time.

Deep in the mountains of the jungle of Malaysia live the aboriginal people called the Sng’oi. Their way of living can teach us a way of life that could help us survive.

It is this way of life that psychologist Robert Wolff shares with us in Original Wisdom.

Original Wisdom Book Cover

Earning trust

Robert Wolff stayed with the Sng’oi peoples — learning their language, sharing their food, and sleeping in their huts. The Sng’oi are pre-agricultural and semi-nomadic.  He found that they live entirely in the present with a sense of joy and wonder. They respect all species and trust time to heal and reveal the way for each day. They also trust their intuition.

Eventually the Sng’oi peoples trusted Wolff enough to train him in their ways. They wanted him to find his own path. Wolff describes how he was able to trust a process that gave him entry into the depths of a way of living he did not know existed.

Through this book, we can see how far society has come from relying upon our intuition and trust in the universe.

I recommend this book if you want to find hope in a way of living that is attainable for all of us – one village at a time.

I long for a reconnection to all living beings and a respect for all species.

Take care,

~Ellen

 

P.S. Robert Wolff passed in 2016. I did find a 2007 interview he did about his experience with this way of life trusting in each other and the universe. Find it on Future Primitive.

 

 

 

 

 

New Beginnings — Spring

Date Posted: 2021/03/10

Well, the days are getting longer and warmer, so spring must be coming. Like many of you, I feel spring as a real relief from sheltering inside my home.

It feels good to be outdoors. Last week on my walk, I saw the first daffodils poking through the earth. I took a photo of them today and they had grown about three times as big.
daffodils of spring 2021

With the trees, plants, and flowers turning green, I have begun to think about what I will plant in my garden. I can hardly wait until it is time to do that. I’m ready.

Connected as one

On another topic, last weekend, I spent two afternoons at an on-line retreat with Tim Freke. From reading his books, his way of thinking has intrigued me so I decided to check him out.

He is a philosopher who has authored more than 30 books. His philosophy differs radically from the Eastern approach to spiritual awakening. In his view, the ego is not the villain, but the hero in the spiritual journey.

Freke teaches that when we are ‘deep awake’, we understand oneness and celebrate separateness.

This retreat was part experiential and part lecture, and I was amazed that the experiential aspect worked online.

Gazing into another person’s eyes to experience a sense of oneness and love is one of Tim’s techniques. Again, I was surprise that, even on Zoom, the gazing engenders a deep connection, and a deep feeling of love and oneness. It was hard for me to fathom until this experience.

Tim describes how we are evolving from individuals to “unividuals.”

Unividuals

He coined this term to describe being an individual and also being part of the oneness with the universe.

He sees humanity’s development on the Earth from its beginning to the present time as being physical and that now our souls are evolving.

Tim believes that we can have and need to have both our own individuality and a connection to the oneness. I am obviously not doing justice to his teaching here but wanted to introduce you to a new way of thinking.

“My work is for passionately curious people who want to understand what life is.” Tim Freke

I have read a number of Tim Freke’s books including:

  • Soul Story – evolution and the purpose of life
  • Lucid Living – experience your life like a lucid dream
  • The Mystery Experience – a revolutionary approach to spiritual awakening
  • How Long Is Now? How to be spiritually awake in the real world

After my experience this weekend, I feel I need to read some of them again to really get a full understanding of his unividualism.

Luckily, his books are quite easy to read.

I recommend you check him out. His Ted Talk can give you a preview of his philosophy – you might want to watch it more than once.

My spring wish for you…

May you be one with all species from trees to people letting your individual consciousness enjoy the universal world.

Take care,

~~Ellen

P.S. Originally published in my newsletter. Fill out the form below if you would like my monthly messages of hope in  your email box.