The Two Minds of the Human Being

– and the dawning of a new age

There are many facets to the mind of a human being, but ultimately there are two fundamental aspects to the mind: the inner mind and the outer mind. One of these two minds is connected to the world of duality, and the other is not. The inner mind is a shamanic mind that has a spiritual essence; it understands that all of life is connected. This mind is related directly to the heart and intuition, and it seeks unity. The outer mind is a rational mind, and is connected to the ego and the personality. It relates to physical form and material reality, and it lives in the realm of duality. It is logical and analytical. Both of these minds have a function, and we need both. However, if only one gets attention, and the other is neglected and forgotten, human beings enter a state of disharmony. This causes problems in the outer world.

Things change…

Traditional shamanic cultures have generally had an equilibrium between the two minds, and have sought harmony between the physical and spiritual realities. In such cultures the spiritual aspects of life are as important as the physical, and the physical reality is seen to be spiritual in the sense that trees and rivers, rocks and animals have a spiritual essence in them. Everything is perceived as being part of the great mystery. Life is seen as a sacred hoop, the circle of life. The old Celts, the Norse people, the American Indians, the Australian Aboriginals lived for thousands of years with this awareness, in what they perceived as an animated and spiritual reality. Traditional shamanic cultures have generally had an equilibrium between the two minds, and have sought harmony between the physical and spiritual realities. In such cultures the spiritual aspects of life are as important as the physical, and the physical reality is seen to be spiritual in the sense that trees and rivers, rocks and animals have a spiritual essence in them. Everything is perceived as being part of the great mystery. Life is seen as a sacred hoop, the circle of life. 

But things change in the great cosmic dance of life, and the old way was replaced when religions brought a new paradigm, a new way of seeing reality. This new way had many gods, and the focus changed away from seeing nature as sacred, to the gods becoming the focus of worship. Examples of this era are the old Greek and Roman religions. This change has to do with the cycles of law, and the law of cycles. It was time for a new cycle in the history of our planet, and a new law began to govern this cycle. The wheel of time kept turning and things changed again with the coming of new world religions that were based on a belief in just one god, and he was seen to be male. Again, a new paradigm took over, one that saw nature, the body, and the earth as lower and inferior, and even evil. With this new kind of religion, the worldview had moved far away from the old shamanic way of understanding reality.

But things changed again with the emergence of science and materialism, and a new cycle of law began. Many of the outdated religious beliefs and superstitions were rejected and replaced with rational thinking, and scientific endeavour led the way. Here the general theory was that the answers to everything could be found through science in the physical realm. This new outlook has dominated the western world up to today, but it relied on the outer mind only, and rejected the inner mind, spirituality, heart-wisdom and intuition.

The Universe is Alive

This brings us up to date, and now the wheel is turning again, quantum theory is gaining ground, and a new paradigm is beginning to surface, one that in many ways is close to the old shamanic view. In other words, we are now once more at a major turning point, where the world is changing and a new way of understanding reality is beginning to emerge. Cutting edge science is pointing towards a revolution where science and spirituality could become united. Our understanding of consciousness and matter is changing. Quantum theory proposes that the universe itself may be alive, that maybe we are not separate selves, but part of a larger whole where everything is connected, including matter, energy, space, time and consciousness. The universe may be a huge network of living systems, connected in a complex web of relationships that emerge out of an underlying unified field. The old shamans in the deserts, in the high mountains, in the jungles, in the Arctics, and on the reservations, are all nodding their heads in agreements; they have all seen and understood this, like the shamans before them. They know the web of life, where everything is interconnected. They have climbed the cosmic tree of life where everything is one

A revolution of consciousness is beginning. More and more people are turning to shamanism, nature is again being honoured by many, and ecology is becoming a mainstream concept. On an internal level, many people are turning their focus towards the inner mind again. They are learning to meditate, and to not live only in the outer mind, but to build a bridge between the two. Spiritual traditions from all over the planet are now available, and people are free to choose, and not restricted to the tradition connected to where they were born. This gives freedom of choice. Many are looking towards the heart-based way of living that the surviving indigenous people have kept alive on reservations in North America, in remote mountain regions in South America, in the deserts of Australia, in the Arctic circumpolar regions, and in the remote steppes of Mongolia and Siberia. These are the keepers of the original instruction, the shamanic teachings on how to live in harmony with oneself and all of life.

That is a full circle. We are beginning to return to a more shamanic way of thinking, one that seeks equality between the inner mind and the outer mind, the spiritual and the material, humans and nature, and both are seen as being equally important.
The preparation and ground work to make this shift possible was done by the generation of young people with long hair in the 1960‘s and 70‘s. They came to the planet with a pioneer gene, and laid the foundation for a shift in consciousness.

Now the transformation process has fully begun, and as with all big changes, there is opposition, resistance, and difficulties. The process of major change can be challenging, but eventually it will give birth to a new earth and a new paradigm. A new cycle of law is coming. As the Maya Indians of Mesoamerica have foretold, the world as we know it is coming to an end, and a new one is on the horizon. It is up to us now to dream a new world into reality: one based on beauty, the oneness of all life, the path of the heart. Then the tree of life can flower again. For this to happen we must build a bridge between the inner and outer mind.

You can learn more about the way of the inner mind and shamanic awareness in my book, Calling Us Home, and in the ongoing shamanic training groups offered by Northern Drum Shamanic Centre.

Find out more about the latest book by Chris Lüttichau

“Written with quiet power and fluency. Chris Lüttichau offers us wisdom distilled from many years of profound enquiry. His is a voice of authenticity, of clarity, and of heartfelt truthfulness. We are a people searching home and this book offers many potent insights that like lanterns strung along a dark forest pathway, illuminate the way ahead.”

Mac Macartney, Speaker, Writer, Founder of Embercombe