The Accidental Shaman: Journeys with Plant Teachers and Other Spirit Allies - Howard G. Charing 2017

The Energy of The Mind
The Colors of Infinity: Becoming Cognizant of Bioenergy Fields

Let’s turn now to the concept that thoughts are energy, which has been an underlying idea throughout this book. From a shamanic point of view, thought is not an abstract notion but is in fact a perceptible energy. At times during an ayahuasca ceremony, I can see the “thought field”; it appears to me as a vast geometric, three-dimensional, interlaced, luminous net. Each node on this mesh is a spherical cluster with antenna connecting it with other nodes. The visionary artist Alex Grey depicts this geometric structure in many of his amazing paintings.

This is a fundamental concept for a variety of spiritual, personal-development, and shamanic practices. Positive thinking, the law of affirmation, and the law of attraction operate on the basis that thoughts attract experiences that we wish for or think about, for better or worse. If we are in a negative, downward spiral of thinking, then we attract the experiences that we fear and want to avoid. This also relates to the notion that we create our own reality, and to a certain extent that is valid. However, there are far larger forces, such as nature and the Earth, that form the preeminent reality of our lives. It is a magnificent piece of spiritual hubris to believe that we create our reality. I prefer the viewpoint that we co-create our reality. Looking at it this way, you might say, “What brought me to a volcano that is about to explode?” rather than “Why did I cause the volcano to explode?”

One of my favorite stories from the Carlos Castaneda books tells how Carlos reads a newspaper with a headline screaming about the increasing level of muggings in Mexico City. He asks his teacher, Don Juan, what he could do if he was in the city and attacked by muggers. Would he run or would he fight? Don Juan starts laughing, and he laughs and laughs. In fact, he laughs so much that he ends up rolling around on the ground gripped by this laughter. When Don Juan recovers, gets it back together, and can finally speak, he informs his totally bewildered apprentice that he would simply not be there!

This anecdote attests to an important principle: from a mind perspective, we reap what we sow. Therefore, it is important to be aware of our discordant and antagonistic thoughts, as they will co-create our reality. It is nothing new; many people experience this kind of discordance and the inevitable manner in which it ripples throughout the day. The idiom “getting out of the wrong side of the bed” is an apt metaphor for our energy manifesting in the world. We wake up grumpy and surly, which results in a day filled with frustration and aggravation. It’s one of those days that you wish you had just gone back to bed.

The “thoughts are energy” concept underlies the enigmatic power of the placebo effect, in which a patient is given a fake medicine that for all intents and purposes has the look and feel of the actual medicine. If the patient thinks that it will be helpful, then to the dismay of the pharmaceutical companies, this inert product often is. The placebo effect is a real and measurable phenomenon, and it illustrates how our thoughts and beliefs affect our body. The opposite of this is the notorious nocebo effect, discussed previously, in which a doctor’s diagnosis of a serious disease can have a dramatic effect. When a doctor’s negative attitude and outlook are transmitted to the patient, they afflict the patient’s thoughts and beliefs, creating emotional trauma in the form of discouragement, depression, and despondency. This is the antithesis of healing and invariably makes a critical situation worse. In olden days, a nocebo would be called a curse, which effectively it is.