Preparation For Vision Quest

SURVIVAL IN THE NATURAL WORLD

All ceremonies of passage involve some sort of hardship, risk, or trial. You must prepare yourself, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, to survive a period of three or four days and nights of solitude in the “wilderness,” without food or any other convenience than the contents of your backpack. Even if you are an “old hand,” you will probably feel the same apprehension the seasoned sailor feels before a long voyage. After all, Nature is unpredictable and her power is beyond imagining. You will go to her and place yourself in her hands. By preparing to surrender to and endure whatever she has to teach you, you are probably confronting some basic fears. Remember that fear itself can be a teacher of clarity of purpose and wisdom of heart. The pumping of adrenaline becomes feeling. Feeling becomes thought; thought becomes enlightened action. “The body likes fear,” says Don Juan. “The body likes the darkness and the wind.”

You will be asked to participate in a series of preparatory meetings where you will meet with a small group of others. Prepare carefully and well. Your very life may hinge on how thoroughly you take the steps that lead to the threshold. Those who help to guide you can best be seen in the Socratic sense. They are asking you to “know thyself”.Their function is maieutic, i.e., they are midwives who will help you give birth to new perceptions. Utilise their counsel. You may not even hold to the same value or belief system. Nevertheless, they seek your safety, well-being, and self-educational growth. They cannot and will not take the steps of preparation for you or accompany you across the threshold.

You and those with whom you meet comprise a community. This community has been formed to insure the survival of everyone of its members. Therefore, you will probably feel close to the others, especially as the threshold phase draws nigh. You will become vividly aware of their emotions, feelings, and thoughts, even as you are of your own. Hopefully, you will find yourself willing to share your tenderest places with everyone, and they with you. The survival of any community depends on the mutual trust of its members. This community is a microcosm of the human world, and is a way of seeing your place in it. Are you extroverted, introverted, bold or shy? No matter, you will take part in the essential act of mutual survival. You will confirm your oneness with your kind by laying your body and soul on the line. And so our role within the human community is no different than that of the mouse. Though separate beings, we exist for the well being of the collective.

When the vision fast is complete, the community will dissolve. Everyone will return to the greater social body. Parting will not be easy. The challenge lies ahead, the challenge to live the role that you have played within the vision fast community, the role of sustainer, upholder, and nurturer. So read the following well. Your knowledge of this material is essential to the well being of yourself and the community which you will serve. Make sure that you ask questions of your guides relevant to the terrain, weather, flora and fauna, and equipment needs of the area in which you will be fasting.

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