Mask From page 3
designed to achieve our control, debasement and ultimate enslavement. And this is where the conscious examination of this issue becomes truly problematic, as we are attempting to perceive and describe this scenario with the very mind that was designed with the intent to prevent us from doing this very thing. This is also why language very quickly becomes problematic, as we attempt to use it to give our thoughts expression. And so, we come to the Toltec mask. The Toltecs came to see these issues very clearly, and in their determination to resolve this scenario, they chose to work with the metaphor of the mask. The Toltec seers discerned the presence of the organic human in its true, un-parasitized state. This energetically indigenous state
Human Nature From page 2
as racism, warfare, and male domination should have been selected by evolution, since they would have had no benefit to us. In fact, as we have seen, individuals who behaved selfishness and ruthlessly would be less likely to survive, since they would have been ostracized from their groups. On the contrary, it makes more sense to see traits such as cooperation, egalitarianism, altruism, and peacefulness as natural to human beings. These were the traits that were prevalent in human life for tens of thousands of years, during the so-called era of evolutionary adaptedness, and so presumably these are the strongest traits in us now. Of course, you might argue that if this is case, why do present-day humans often behave so selfishly and ruthlessly, and why are negative traits, like warfare and male domination, so normal to many cultures?
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was described as the “first face”. This is the true face of the organic Human Being (the Anthropos), before it has been programmed with the parasitic form of the mind. As the programming takes place, especially during childhood, more and more layers of enforced identity are “given” to the child – these layers can be seen metaphorically as masks. The work of the Toltec is to enter into a process of recapitulation. This process is conceived as the removal of successive layers of programming, in the form of successive layers of masks. For example the “mask of the victim” is possibly the most powerfully operative mask, and its effects resonate incredibly powerfully through our individual and collective psyches. It is through trauma that the wounded psychic state necessary for the installation of the parasite is created. We can, if we choose, begin to examine the current human condition in a healing way. The current mind of the human is a parasitic
entity, and much of what it produces is designed to work against our own good and our own well-being. The mis-identification of our real and true being with, and as, this mind made simulacrum self, can now be seen to be an illusion, a waking hallucination. We can see the set of programs that are operating against us as a set of individual “masks”. And each of these masks can be examined, read, investigated and ultimately removed and/or healed. The masks are not us, they are simulacra, copies, and not very good ones at that. They do not withstand close scrutiny once we decide to begin our work of spirit. For it is our true spiritual essence and power that enables us to wipe away the masking layers of lies, deception and corruption. We must do this work for ourselves. It is not always easy and it is certainly not always fun to be profoundly confronted by the masks that we have worn. But “worn” is the right word, because the old programs and the old
However, we should perhaps view these traits as the result of environmental and psychological factors. Research has shown repeatedly that when the natural habitats of primates (such as chimpanzees) are disrupted, they tend to become more violent and hierarchical. So perhaps something similar has happened to us, since we gave up the hunter-gather lifestyle and switched to farming, and then started to live in towns and cities. Another possible theory (which I put forward in my book The Fall) is that the “fall” into warfare and hierarchy (and other negative traits) was related to a psychological change that occurred in some groups of people, beginning around 6,000 years ago: the development of a heightened sense of individuality and separateness. At any rate, these negative traits developed so recently that it’s not feasible to explain them in adaptive or evolutionary terms. It is therefore inaccurate to portray human beings as genetic machines who are only concerned with their own survival and replication, and whose selfish and ruthless nature is the inevitable consequence of their
prehistoric struggle to survive. The “good” side of our nature is much more deep-rooted than the “evil” side.
About the author Steve Taylor Ph.D is a senior lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. He is the author of Back to Sanity: Healing the Madness of Our Minds and The Fall: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of A New Era. Steve’s books have been published in 16 languages and his research has appeared in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, The Journal of Consciousness Studies, The Transpersonal Psychology Review, The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, as well as the popular media in the UK, including on BBC World TV, The Guardian, and The Independent. For References & Links please go to: https://www.wakingtimes. com/2018/09/17/an-alternative-view-ofhuman-nature/
masks are getting very worn out. The old masks are failing us now, and as this becomes more and more obvious in the world, the enforcement of the wearing of these old masks becomes more and more overtly violent. But we must remember that we did not choose these masks – they were given to us against our will. The realization of the fact that we were innocent children, and we were given no choice, is the pivotal moment. The pivotal moment of our transformation is the choice – to continue to be identified with our victimization – or to see that “the victim” is just another mask we were given to wear. We are not our masks. We are the incredibly beautiful spiritual beings that are only temporarily obscured from view. © 2018 Murray Hill https://sorendreier.com/you-arenot-your-mask/
Mind
From page 17
About the Author DAVID THRUSSELL is a poet trapped in the body of a hillbilly. Or a hopeless romantic hidden in the twisted frame of a dark electronic musician. Late at night Thrussell fantasises that actually he lives next door to Hieronymous Bosch in Medieval Europe and has hallucinated the whole dreadful modern era while suffering from acute ergot poisoning. We are not entirely convinced that this is not the case. The world knows him (if it knows him at all), as the creator of a seeming multitude of obscure recordings (Snog, Black Lung and Soma among others) and film scores. He has written previously for Wax Poetics, Fortean Times and numerous other publications.