A College Degree

[Gugeyewalker]

This topic relates to 'stalking' in that we deal with the 'world of man' as a matter of conrolled folly, but also because we must for us and our knowledge to survive.

The reality is hitting me that even Castaneda's work would not have gotten very far had he not been a professionally trained anthropologist, giving his early works and dissertation at UCLA; the authority needed to go through the gates of reason and into mainstream culture.

We live in a world dominated by a combination of materialism and reason. College does also instill a sense of mental discipline and achievment. It is becoming apparent that if one has knowledge or experiences that one wants to share with the world at large, your best chance is to get that college degree.

Unfortunately I only have a 2 year associates and a lot of work experience that serves me well...it isn't enough if I ever want to, say 'publish a book' about the exploration of extraordimary perception etc. Certainly I am well read, and attending university lectures online as a hobby is fun, but I am not well educated as far as attending university.

Now self-employed, I 'might' be able to go back to school depending on how I manage my businesses.
Some appropriate choices that could help us on this path, considering the following 'degree programs', 

Cognitive Science (my favorite so far, with emphasis on cognitive psychology)
Cultural Anthropology
Archaeology
Psychology - which can also lead to
Mythology & Folklore (ala Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung)
Philosophy
Applied Mathematics  - which can calso lead to
Theoretical Physics, Astrophysics, and Particle Physics

Trying to think of others, and please feel free to come up with some ideas.

Kind of looking at University of Texas as it seems to have most of these programs, although UCLA certainly does as well.

[Senear]

You options in the humanities all seem like good options, and would be interesting to study as well. Physics and math, or other STEM degrees, would have more limited application. This is partly arbitrary, but there re a great many individules with some sort of mathematical or science degree that attempt to propose more spiritually aligned theories, and is not taken very seriously, in part perhaps because of creationists attempting that track in the 90's and 2000's. But philosophers and anthropologists who propose more philosophic theories tend to have more "shelf space" if one is to go by book sales and lecture attendance.

[watergaze]

don't forget medicine/healing, physical movement therapy etc.
A lot of credit to old ways like shamanism (or Chinese medicine or flow of energy in the body, acupuncture etc) has been gained through accepting their methods for healing by the western doctors. nowadays it is not uncommon to have drumming as part of healing, or shamanic journeying as the basis of some therapy (I now forget what it is called), but it even gets one what is a shamanic ally . Also, just recently I saw on TV (on a mainstream talkshow) an interview with a psychologist or psychiatrist (I forget), who has appropriated some shamanic methods into her healing practices (she even had a drum with her at the interview and was very touchy/sensitive about not just using it for whatever just cause the talk show host asked )
It is a fact that when used by healing practitioners, with western based and recognized degrees, the use of the shamanic methods of healing is more accepted. This is by far not just a matter of psychology and psychiatry. Not so long ago I heard of a hospital that offers drumming to their patients.

the mythology and folklore also links to literature. story telling is a big one .
and that leads to the most obvious - arts.

in a nutshell.. Art is crucial. And not just the accepted forms of it - painting, theatre, literature, music. The core of it is about linking to creativity and creation.. And a shamanic practitioner can bring their shamanic learning and connection with spirit into the mix with the valuable skills that can also be learned or expressed through/or linked with more traditional ways..

Into this one can also take sports (something I would not have considered some years back). But not the typical type that is done for medals and money (because that usually bends too much in other ways, does not allow much space for the shamanic setting). Movement, dance, body expression is part of art.
I loved when we played football during a shamanic seminar. Allowing the body to do stuff I didnt even know I could do. Pretty surprising and awesome . But that was just the surface layer of it, it brought out deep issues (a layer of that, which I can explain to an extent, is for example force, aggression, submission, group dynamics, scoring vs. enjoyment, defending and attacking, middle, playing but also watching team mates struggle and other matches observed, the football field became the world and a playing field for power, facing power, patience, alertness, attentiveness on more than one level, attention to health and not injuring others or oneself, and the typical dynamics one may witness in life were there too - great for stalking and self stalking). I learned a lot from this and it affected some changing in me. It was a profound experience. Was a lot of fun and I also experienced a personal hell . Good stuff -- some may notice the background for this Stalking forum is sports-related (it is most noticeable in Stalkers' Playground subforum, but even here the background is ice and we have a puck as a new post indicator) .. now you know why

but, coming back to movement, bringing the body back to life and allowing it fluidity of expression is crucial for the path..

But I guess this was an aside to the topic of your thread, so, to come back to the college degree stuff (but learning sports and also becoming a sports teacher might be part of that. a fine tuned and attentive sports teacher would be a godsend lol, so yea, another thing to add to the list)... What concerns getting a degree I remember vaguely in one of the Witch's books one of them mentioned that Don Juan asked them (or rather lol demanded they do it as part of their training) to apply to university and get a degree. But not for the degree itself, but for the rational structure that it helps one in fostering. That is needed on the path too. Needed for Balance.

[Gugeyewalker]

I had not thought of sports and movement...we can then add to the list

Kinesiology ( covers sports medicine, would seem that this would apply to yoga martial arts, chi gung, or tai chi as well)

This kind of gets us close to the topic of tensegrity and whether Castaneda just 'made it up'. I feel that science will begin to confirm a lot of truths about the universe that shamans have known (an argument could be made that it has already). For example, tai chi is proven to lower blood pressure. We should not fear the pursuit of scientific verification on several fronts.

If there are any hardcore tensegrity practitioners left (I think there are) then their should be some study on the state of their mental well being and health. Also how much their brainwave patterns change, in the same way we have studied rem sleep, lucid dreaming, and meditation. Similar studies could be done for sports, martial arts, and others. I would especially be interested to know in what way 'inner silence' changes or enhances sports performance.

I am listening to an Osprey and a gull outside....if we are covering shamanism then we should add:
Ecology
Environmental Science

Hmm......

[watergaze]

yea. healing. environment comes into that. I thought after posting that I forgot to extend it to animals - so not just human doctors but also vets. and you added the plant kingdom and earth. All in one healing box. healing pollution, stuff already being looked into from more shamanic perspectives, like the work with water that changed some of how stuff like this is perceived.

[Gugeyewalker]

I noticed Sam Harris has a new book out called Waking Up - A Guide To Spirituality Without Religion.

This is really interesting to me because Sam Harris is famous for being a prominent 'new atheist' along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and some others.
He has a PhD in Cognitive Science, and is a seasoned neuroscientist. He has gained his fame mostly through his criticism of religion and New Age 'cultism' with many of his previous books.

Unlike some atheists though, he does admit that the origin of consciousness is a mystery that we have only begun to explore with science. He had a drug induced experience when he was a teenager that he writes about in his book, and he is an avid practitioner of meditation, especially the kind brought to us through Buddhism.

I am not invalidating Sam Harris's experiences or his remarkable ability to couple reason with sobriety, but his experiences are very few compared to what I know many of us have had with or without drugs. He is allowed a 'pass' through the Iron Gates of Reason to reveal, to hundreds of thousands that will buy his books, that there is a 'mystery of consciousness' or a kind of 'spirituality', and this will resonate with atheists and skeptics who have also had an experience.

Ya' know its not fair! But it is what it is. People are taken more seriously by a good chunk of our society when they have the 'societal credentials'. I don't know for sure if I will have a chance to get a degree in Cognitive Science myself, but my goodness, more of us should!!

[serloco]

Attachments, internal dialogues sustaining yesterdays. First attention fixations. Not claiming power.

[Gugeyewalker]

serloco wrote:Attachments, internal dialogues sustaining yesterdays. First attention fixations. Not claiming power.
The reality is that the 1st attention is real, and like it or not, it is the state that affects us most as human beings, sorceror/seer or NOT.

Most mystics fail to communicate because reason in its purest form is very powerful., and they have not been trained or or educated themselves sufficiently to communicate 'around' or through reason and allude to the 2nd attention. For this reason to the average person and a lot of other sorcerors they sound like crackpots and wack jobs.

The goal of stalking is to learn about people and human society better than most people know about themselves. Yoo want power? Thats ok to an extent, but a good stalker can do rings around an undisciplined dreamer because he knows her/his-self and all the potential human failings that could trip them up, where as dreamers are the softies that need protection if they are not well versed in the institutions of man.

That is why the conquest devestated meso-american culture so thoroughly, and history can repeat itself if we let things slip.

[serloco]

TRUTH is u been goin to my schools boy! They teach wut I say.

No, u fail. S'why u gots no Allies !

History's mine! Bitches love cuz I'm on time..

bitches

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