Karl DireskeBefore I jump into the topic of the sacred order, I want to clarify the use of tools. We need tools to perform certain functions. They focus our skills and create a space for us to bridge the gaps in our abilities. In the realm of teaching we use tools to help the student learn. However, we need to be mindful that we don’t let the tool become the teaching. If we allow this, then we have created new dogma, a fixed point that tries to be the truth in every context. We must be careful not to replace dogma with dogma. Knowledge can easily feed the left hemisphere, tricking us into a place of knowing and away from questioning. When we rely on knowledge to be the answer, we diverge from the truth we are seeking. From this context let me talk about the sacred order.
Shelter, Water, Fire, Food – this is the sacred order of survival. In a survival situation we need to tend to our needs in this order. However just like any tool, context changes everything. I could go on for quite a while giving examples of such situations but this blog is not about survival in the wilderness. It’s about a tool we can use to understand the philosophy of NIA – tu’.
Shelter – Without shelter we can quickly perish in a drastic environment. Our first task in the sacred order is to provide ourselves with shelter. That shelter could be the arms of our mother, a blanket, our clothing, or a house. As healers we understand that our clients’ bodies are the most primal shelter of all. It is not the only shelter we work with, but it is where we begin. How well do you know your body as a shelter?
Water – Without water we can only survive a few days. As healers we see water from a different perspective. We equate water with that which surrounds us both externally and internally. We see water through the lens of spirit, a realm of all things relational. This may seem abstract, but can you imagine being in a place of total isolation? The effect would be profound. We need to feel like we can find temporary stability in our surroundings. We need to have connection to move and change. How much of your life flows?
Fire – As healers we look beyond the perspective of fire existing in the external. We work with the fire within. What is that which seems to upwell from within and fill or even overflow the very boundaries of who we believe we are? At time this is great happiness. At other times it is grief. Both are required for life. Can we find the fire within and let it warm us?
Food – Many of us believe that food is first in this sacred order. The reality is we can live for weeks without food. However, our culture has bombarded us with a false hunger on every level. Be it for a hamburger and fries, another movie, another news cycle, a Facebook post. What we all could learn from fasting would be surprising. Once we break the cycles of false hunger we could radically change our beliefs of what we really need for sustenance. How much ‘food’ do we really require each day, and does it actually feed us?
What if this sacred order shows us where our clients are creating illness? What if this set of tools provides us with perspectives that allow us to see our clients through a new lens? In general, most clients have reversed the sacred order. They live, consume and die for the ‘foods’ they crave.
How do we as healers assist in reversing the order? First we need to bring ourselves into our own alignment. Can we see the tools for what they are and uncover the truth that lies within?
