By Berenice Andrews
An Ice Age Shaman
He/she had lost all sense of time and place. Deep in the earth, there was only forward movement…crawling in the darkness. Forward…forward…there was no going back…there was no space in which to turn around. Then, after seemingly endless hours of superhuman effort, the Ice Age shaman had reached the destination.
It was a cave system left behind 25,000 years before, when the river had changed course. It was a holy place where many shamans had ventured throughout many millennia. There they had communed with the Spirit and painted the wonderful figures covering the walls. Then, after 15,000 years, a landslide covered the entrance. And the Peche Merle caves had been lost.
“From then until [their] rediscovery in 1922, no one visited or even had the faintest idea that wonders and clues to the secrets of our origins lay entombed within, encoded in sacred images, shrouded in millennial darkness.” (Graham Hancock, Supernatural: Meetings With the Ancient Teachers of Mankind, Chapter Two; “The Greatest Riddle of Archaeology”)
Can you imagine what had driven those Ice Age shamans, during all those centuries, to risk entombment for the sake of turning an underground cave system into a place of extraordinary beauty—a place for worship? And while we are tempted to regard those prehistoric hunters and gatherers as “primitive,” here is ample evidence of a high level of sacred purpose.
The Peche Merle cave system has been challenging archaeologists for almost a century. A deeply revealing and concealing place, it offers a splendid opportunity for pondering about the consciousness energies of intent.
Microcosmic Intent
Because Ice Age homo sapiens were in-formed by consciousness energies that anticipated our own, it’s fascinating to delve into why and how our energies of intent have evolved. And that exploration inevitably leads us into the physical, emotional, mental, and transcendent consciousness energies that all of us carry.* Indeed, in this third dimension, the energy of intent is an attribute of all living things. But at this time we will focus mainly on people.
Physical Intent
Within the last 25 years there have been many scientists in many physiological disciplines who have explored both human and non-human physicality. In astonishment, they have often been required to set aside the narrow focus of science and entertain the idea of an energy of consciousness…a physical intent. That intent, especially in non-humans, was described as “instinct” until experiments repeatedly indicated that there was a purpose being served beyond the mere “survival of the species.” In other words, there was an evolutionary intent being revealed, even in bacteria.
In the case of homo sapiens, our physicality is guided by intent to an astounding degree. Even a cursory examination of our physical “systems”—their interactions and communications—would indicate that a multidimensional, holistic system is at work. It’s a system of immense complexity. Yet it requires no overt direction from us.
While looking into why this can happen, physiologists are increasingly finding proof that the human endocrine system seems to be in a complex “dance” with all the other systems (digestive, circulatory, respiratory, etc.). There is communication and direction—carried by “instructional waveforms”—going on. In other words, our physical body of consciousness is expressing an intent so powerful that outside of the basic “maintenance,” which we must provide, it can be trusted to function on its own.
And that multidimensional, holistic system continues…
Emotional Intent
We homo sapiens have been endowed with an emotional body consciousness that goes with us from lifetime to lifetime. But, while there has long been a metaphysical awareness about sadness, pain, grief, and anger on the one hand and happiness, joy, and delight on the other, the physical origins (and remedial treatments) of feelings have largely been unknown.
Recently there has been a growing awareness of the ways in which our electro-chemistry can create emotional responses. Again, the endocrine system has been strongly implicated. Meanwhile, research on the brain and central nervous system has yielded huge insights into emotional malfunction that can be treated with chemicals, while brain surgeons have made breathtaking advances in “repairs” to bring about healthier function.
Yet, that is not the entire story. There is still the “psychological” part that has continued to be troublesome. For centuries, we have been somewhat aware of our feelings and the underlying urges that can take over. In other words, our emotional bodies have intent. It’s an emotional intention that carries the undertone of a feeling/purpose. As with the physical intent, these energies are also in need of understanding—an inner revealing. When we do this, we see that our emotional intention carries a purpose that is colored more deeply than a simple physical intent. That’s not surprising when we realize that as a multidimensional, holistic system, our emotions, with their own consciousness energies, also “dance” closely with our physical consciousness energies.
The inner revealing also indicates that there are many layers of emotion. And at each one there is intention…a deeper level that a focused introspection can uncover. Thus, there is a continuous need for inner revealing. It’s an immense undertaking that can often be assisted by delving into myths and other special stories that teach us about ourselves, especially our emotions.
And thereby, we are working at yet another level of a multidimensional, holistic system.
Mental Intent
So much has been studied and written for so many centuries about the Western mindset that we simply take for granted the power and necessity of thought. Although much of what we “know” about it is still very metaphysical, there have recently been some major findings about the aspects of our physicality/emotionality that are involved with thinking. And thinking that is focused and directed, emotionally balanced or unbalanced has been found, experimentally, to be an amazing power. It’s the power of intentional thought. Especially in the West, this has quickly resulted in a very intellect-oriented society in which “the power of positive thinking” has gestated a vast amount of literature and business enterprise. A lot of people here live with a huge focus on their powers of analyzing, conceptualizing, and problem-solving.
In the meantime, psychotherapists are being kept busy with clients who are struggling with their conflictual and conflicted physical intent, emotional intention, and intentional thought. In short, they are (unknowingly) seeking ways to reconcile their disparate “parts” and promote their holistic multidimensionality.
Along the way, they realize that their intentional thought is creative, that they are capable of tapping into another, higher, level of “mind.”
And this, then, is the final level of a multidimensional, holistic system…
Transcendent Intent
The fact that many people are seeking newness and trying out new ways of promoting a better life is a wonderful indication of a deep seeking for self-realization. It’s the highest level of intent and the highest dimensionality possible for us on this earth plane.
American mythologist and writer Joseph Campbell has described people as being “transparent to transcendence.” It’s such power that at this stage in our spiritual evolution we can often understand it only from our dream imagery and artistic renderings…abstract paintings and deeply intuitive poetry…or shamanic spirit journeying. But transcendent intentionality can be ours.
Over time, we can become quite “transparent” by purifying, simplifying, and unifying our physical, emotional, and mental bodies. This can come about while we are discerning, detaching, and clarifying their intent—with the transcendent body increasingly coming to the fore. It is a huge creative power that it is also revealed as our guidance system.
Although vibrating at the highest level, that intentionality is not separate and apart from our other bodies of consciousness. Simply stated, we can attain it because we are a holistic system and our transcendent intentionality includes all our other bodies.
There are the wonderful myths and stories that tell us this. There are also the sacred scriptures that, when understood in their depths, are revealed as being full of the creative guidance of transcendent intentionality.
Because we’re now living in a global village, we require a greater understanding about transcendent intentionality than ever before in the story of homo sapiens.
And, we are slowly discovering that although we are (obviously) a consciousness energy being fueled by intent, we are but the microcosmic expression of that power. Thus, it behooves us to be more alert to the hazards of our own creative powers when they are not informed by something greater—a Macrocosmic Intent.
But how is this understanding to be achieved?
Macrocosmic Intent
Even before there was a “Big Bang” that got creation started, there must have been the intent to make this happen. That is, intent is inherent in existence. In light of the amazing way even this little segment of the Cosmos is ordered and predictable and in light of the amazing orderliness and predictability of the unlimited and ever-expanding Cosmos, it seems obvious that macrocosmic Creative Consciousness Energy (the Spirit) is a mindboggling Cosmic Intentionality.
And the connection that can be made between our microcosmic intent and the Cosmic Intentionality involves our own physical systems and our multidimensional centers of consciousness. Until recently, the latter have always been (except for Dr. Valerie Hunt) outside the parameters of science.
The Endocrine System and the Centers of Consciousness (Chakras)
While some scientists (as already noted) are exploring the interactions of our endocrine glands with each other and with the other major physical body systems, a few are actually voicing the idea that our chakras and their intent are present in that physical interaction. For shamanic healers, especially, it’s a major breakthrough!
Right now, the experimental evidence is pointing to a connection between the pituitary gland and the third eye chakra, between the thyroid gland and the throat chakra and between the hypothalamus gland and the root chakra.**
Even those small beginnings are very exciting. And when the day comes when we can measure and record all the interactions of our consciousness energies, we’ll finally know that our physical, emotional, mental, and transcendent bodies are the “dance” of Shiva and Shakti. Truly, we are divinity in microcosm.
Thus, intent could be said to be the consciousness energies behind all creation. And it could also be said that the Creator’s Intent was (and still is) to express Itself in, as, and through that creation…especially us.
Could this not also be the why and the how of the Ice Age shamans and their wonderful artwork in the Pech Merle caves?
Author’s Notes:
* Although consciousness can be defined as a “simple witnessing awareness,” (Ken Wilber), it can also be regarded as all the energies of knowing…a gnosis that is both aware and unaware…which is the meaning taken in this article.
** To read about the scientific explorations into the human endocrine system and its connection with the chakras, see Casey Adams, The Conscious Anatomy: Healing the Real You.
Berenice Andrews is a shamanic teacher/healer and a regular contributor to this magazine. To explore the ideas about the chakras presented above in greater detail, please refer to her articles in back issues of Transformation Magazine and to her book: Rebirthing Into Androgyny: Your Quest for Wholeness…And Afterward. If you are interested in becoming her student, see her website: thestonecircleclassroom.com.