One of my intentions when I began this blog was also to share some of the books that have been most influential in my life. Today I will share The Four-Fold Way by Angeles Arrien. She was an anthropologist and her work was rooted in her Basque heritage. This book is a distillation of four archetypes that she found present in most indigenous wisdom traditions: the warrior, the healer, the visionary, and the teacher.
Suggestions for playing with these archetypes
In one of his most famous quotes, Rainer Maria Rilke encourages us to explore our questions rather than trying to get answers, because the answers shut down the inquiry.
1. When you find something that intrigues you, sit with it and ask what you might learn. You might write for awhile or go for a walk and listen to what comes up from within.
2. Try one of the practices for a few days.
THE WARRIOR: Showing up and choosing to be present
“Being present allows us to access the human resources of power, presence, and communication.” This involves the willingness to show up: for family, for friends, for coworkers, for your community, for yourself.
When my children were young, I was working hard to support my family as an assistant professor. Even after I came home, I always had papers to grade and lessons to plan. One evening, my young son was telling me about his day. My body was there by my mind was elsewhere. My son took my head in is hands and said “Listen to me daddy.” I did!
Below are several aspects of this archetype that I have found helpful.
Respect
Respect literally means willing to look again: re (back) + spect (look at), hence to look back at. Can we take a second look vs. remaining stuck in a particular view of a situation or individual?
Responsibility involves the ability to respond instead of react
Am I aware of the causes and effects of my actions and my non-actions? This is not just the ability to respond to what comes toward us, but also the capacity to stand behind our actions. This brings integrity.
Right use of power: positive, life-affirming power
Power is connected to the Chinese word for energy: chi or qi as in Tai Chi and Qi Gong. When we use our power skillfully, no one can tell us what can’t be done.
Angeles included practices and questions in each chapter. I will include a few that I have found enlightening.
Practices
1. Movement, for example, yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or dancing: “when we dance we touch the essence of who we are.”
2. Reflect on how you handle unexpected events or surprises.
Questions
1. What does it mean to show up? To be present?
2. Where in my life did I stop dancing and singing and being enchanted with stories?
3. Where did I become uncomfortable with the sweet territory of silence?
Connection to mindfulness
Meditating and mindfulness during the day are practicing being present to what is happening now.
THE HEALER: Paying attention to what has heart and meaning
“Paying attention opens us to the human resources of love, gratitude, acknowledgement, and validation.” The healer archetype reminds us to consistently acknowledge others in four ways: each other’s skills, each other’s character qualities, each other’s appearance, and the impact we make on each other. It also involves the ability to equally give and receive and the ability to connect.
The metaphor of the four chambered heart and a question related to each.
Full-hearted vs. half-hearted: What am I avoiding?
Open-hearted vs. closed-hearted: What am I resisting? What am I protecting?
Clear-hearted: What am I ambivalent about? What am I confused about?
Strong-hearted: What am I afraid of?
Practices
1. Lie down with hands on the heart: acknowledge your strengths and talents, and acknowledge the love given and received.
2. Pay attention to the stories you tell about yourself and about the world.
Questions
1. What stories from childhood have I passed on to others?
2. Who are the people who have been teachers of my heart?
Connection to mindfulness
Loving-kindness and compassion meditation.
THE VISIONARY: Telling the truth without blame or judgment
“Nonjudgmental truthfulness maintains our authenticity, and develops our inner vision and intuition.”
While telling the truth has generally not been very challenging for me, I have struggled mightily with blame and judgment. When my daughter was a teen, she got furious at me one day for some reason and started cursing at me. I yelled at her and stormed out of the room. Her response: “Who is being the mature one here?” She was right. I came back and with my teeth gritted said, “I’m here. Let’s talk.” Storming out was what my dad did. It took awhile, but that pattern stopped!
Authenticity
When we remember who we are, we bring our authentic selves forward. One pattern that takes us from authenticity is when we see things as we want them to be rather than accept them as they are.
Practices
1. What songs connect you to your truths, to your true self? A saying from Oceanic societies: If you want to know how to tell the truth, begin to sing.
2. Pay attention to dreams
3. Notice and observe the sources of inspiration in your life.
Questions
1. What are my favorite songs? From childhood? My own songs?
2. What makes me laugh? What is fun for me? What are the forms of play in my life?
3. What was my first mystical or numinous experience?
Connection to mindfulness
Developing non-judgmental awareness.
THE TEACHER: Being open to outcome, not attached to outcome
“Openness and non-attachment help us recover the human resources of wisdom and objectivity.” Wisdom has many qualities including clarity, objectivity, discernment, trust, and non-attachment. I will elaborate the last two here.
Trust
Here we are talking about learning how to trust and be comfortable with uncertainty, with not knowing, which was unpacked in the last blog which you can read here. The opposite of trusting is trying to control the uncontrollable. Wisdom develops when we are open to all options.
Non-attachment
Think of the things that stick to you: someone said something unkind, someone didn’t do what they said they would do, and think how we can carry those insults and slights around. In one class, I had people write down all the things that were sticking to them on a sticky note and then put that sticky note on their shirt or blouse. We then went on with the class which also involved walking meditation. By the end of the class, most of the sticky note had fallen off! Simple but not necessarily easy.
Practices
1. Create some daily rituals that support you, especially during times of transition or loss.
2. Feel the richness of your roots and heritage.
Questions
1. Who have been the significant teachers in my life, the sources of inspiration and challenge?
2. What ‘wake-up” calls have I experienced?
3. What is my capacity for waiting in time of confusion? Where am I confused now?
Connection to mindfulness
Learning to let go is a process. If you type “letting go” into the Search menu in the blog, you find that I have discussed in in nine different blog posts.
I hope that something in Angeles’ framework sparks something in you, and if not, we can both let it go! If you are interested, the book contains so much more and used copies are as little as $2 plus postage.
May all beings be safe and well, be peaceful, and be free from suffering.
Two notes
1. Now that most states including New Hampshire are relaxing some of the restrictions on behavior outside our homes, many people are reporting more anxiety and fear. A friend sent me the most helpful article I have found about knowing and minimizing the risks when outside the home. It is written by a professor of biology at U Mass Dartmouth. You can view it here.
2. Another friend sent me this wonderful Ted Talk which put such a smile on my face and in my heart. The speaker’s main point is to celebrate what’s right in the world, and I will include some of his points in next week’s blog about choice and control. You can access the Ted Talk here.