Where does one begin messing with magical thinking? As the song says, “let’s start at the very beginning.”
According to Burras, humans began to walk upright, 3.7 million years ago.
(Are you now humming songs from the Sound of Music? If so, congratulate yourself, your unconscious is activated.)
Five hundred thousand years ago, present-day Homo sapiens emerged.
Chellis Glendinning* believes that we have been human in biological and psychological development for about one million years.
Only in the last six or seven thousand years have civilizations, as we know them today, emerged.
Alphabets and the creation of written language arose in the last five thousand years.
During these last five thousand years, Burras speculates that the following belief began to emerge:
Humankind is not part of nature but is superior to nature.
At the same time, patriarchy and male dominance over feminine values began to emerge. Women, children, animals, and nature began to be dominated by the patriarchal way of thinking.
Intuition, sensation, and expression of emotion all began to lose ground to rational thinking, words, and repression of emotion.
Intuition, sensation, and expression of emotion are characteristics that are largely unrecognized by patriarchy.
In this week of holiday gatherings and time off from work, find time to listen to your intuition, feel your sensations, and express your emotions. See what happens. If you meet resistance, perhaps you’ve met patriarchy. Introduce yourself.
And then let me know.We’ll continue to sneak up on magical thinking…
In the meantime:
Thanks for exploring the mystery – Nicky Mendenhall
*Quoted in Burras as being the author of My Name is Chellis and I’m in Recovery from Western Civilization
Image appeared after photo shoot of sunrise. A true mystery to me!
SPECIAL NOTE: If you need to know the other two corners of Four Corners of Movement to get closure, you are in luck – here they are: #3 is Integrative Movement and #4 is Playful Movement. #3 integrative movement works at re-patterning the nervous system using slow gentle movements. Examples: Alexander work, Feldenkrais, and Continuum all are examples of this work. #4, Playful Movement has few rules. Burras says most of us have forgotten how to play. Examples he gives are kayaking, dancing to music or swimming in the ocean.