Tag Archives: intellect

Deep Intent

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Oakley Gordon

When we look back at some of the Andean meditations I have shared in this blog–connecting with the world through our llankay, munay, or yachay; operating from our left side or our right side; opening up our energy or withdrawing into ourselves–what emerges is our having a choice in how we interact energetically with society and the Cosmos. Often this is not just a choice of which behavior to exhibit, or how strongly to be connected to what is going on around us, but a choice of which facet of … Continue reading →

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Filling in the Conceptual Corners

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Oakley Gordon

In the Andean Cosmovision the Cosmos does not play by the rules of Aristotelean logic where everything must be either A or not A. An example of this can be found in the various ways in which the Andeans conceive the difference between the energies found on the right and left side. In the previous post (Right Side / Left Side) I described how in the Andes the right side is our ability to operate in everyday life while the left side connects us to the ineffable mystery of the … Continue reading →

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Thoughts

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Oakley Gordon

Ultimately, I no longer care about philosophy. I’m in love with life…and what I care about is learning how to be a better lover. (A thought that arose while I was writing the post “Remember to Wave your Warak’as“) To the scientist the Andean Cosmovision is a fantasy. In the Andean Cosmovision, the Aristotelean logic of the scientist is an illusion. (Don Americo Yabar, personal communication, close paraphrase). Don’t believe everything you think. (A bumper-sticker from www.NorthernSun.com). Our intellect was meant to be our guardian, not our prison guard. (Various … Continue reading →

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On Doing Not Doing

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Oakley Gordon

Out beyond ideas…there is a field, I’ll meet you there. Sufi mystic Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) I first ran into the concept of ‘not doing’ in the works of Carlos Castaneda. His early books, particularly Journey to Ixtlan and Tales of Power had a big effect on me when I was a young man. Later in my life I ran into ‘not doing’ again when I began working with don Americo Yabar. And more recently, I have run across it, in a most beautiful and pragmatic way, in the book A … Continue reading →

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The Three Centers of Being (Part 1)

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Oakley Gordon

In the Andes they identify three centers of our being; the yachay, the munay, and the llankay. Each center is located in a different part of the body and each provides a different way of perceiving and understanding reality. The yachay is located in our head. It is our ability to think, in other words it is the intellect. In our culture, at least in my world of science and academia, logic is viewed as the epitome of thought. In the Andes, however, wisdom as a quality of thought is … Continue reading →

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Lesson of the Mask

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Oakley Gordon
Sacred Dan Mask

Joseph Campbell, who in my view was the world’s greatest comparative mythologist, wrote a book about the role of masks in ancient ceremonies (The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology). He was interested in the experiences of people who participated in sacred rituals where a performer wore a mask which portrayed her or him as a deity. The people at the ceremony often knew the identity of the person wearing the mask, it may have been–for example–their uncle, so what did they believe about the person when he was wearing the … Continue reading →

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Why a Swan?

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Oakley Gordon

Our intellect is a very important part of our existence. It’s main task is to determine what is true and what is false. This is the context of both science and Western religion. While they differ in how they determine true from false they both take on this task. Let us consider a performance of the ballet Swan Lake. A ballerina appears on the stage dressed as a swan. This is not the appropriate context for the scientist to leap up and shout “Don’t be fooled, that is not really … Continue reading →

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