The following is some writing about my beliefs as a human being and a counselor. My work is eclectic. I am a feminist and I bring my feminism strongly into counseling.  I am a transpersonal therapist meaning that I believe that we are much, much more than a body, mind and brain. I believe that we are somehow activated by Spirit or Arutam; that we are living a dream that is dead and no longer useful and that we have a capacity to envision and to follow a new dream, a new paradigm, that is life giving and ecologically sustainable. As a counselor, I am a compassionate witness and I have faith that the body, mind and spirit will right itself if provided the right framework and support. I believe that many answers and a lot of power lies within us and is obtainable through the Spirit world of animals, plants and other beings in non-ordinary reality and are unveiled and recognized through Shamanic Journeying. I also use technology in the form of Video Self-Encounter to facilitate the seeing of ourselves as innately beautiful and self knowing.

The Shuar Tribe from the Amazonian Rainforest believe that “the world is as you dream it.”  For centuries the American dream and, increasingly, the global dream has included building tall buildings, producing and pouring massive amounts of cement parking lots and paved streets and highways, manufacturing big cars, big swimming pools, huge dams, etc., and has  measured its success by conspicuous wealth and bank accounts. The belief prevails that the earth including her oil, marble, uranium, animals, plants, etc. are there for the taking.  Indian land has been stolen. Birds have become extinct for their plumage and animals have become extinct for their fur, meat and horns. African American slave trade flourished in this country as well as in many parts of the patriarchal world. Massive fortunes have been gained and continue to be gained by the sweat of women and children in the form of free labor, cheap labor and prostitution. The result of this is an enormous disconnection from Pachamama, the Earth, including an invitation to use and abuse the living earth and all of its inhabitants. The effects of this dream is child abuse, spousal abuse, addiction, pollution, starvation, a host of psychological disturbances and a stepping away from or inability to connect with Pachamama as a life giving, sustaining, knowing and abundant world where hope and answers are inherent in the people, plants and animals in this world-our living and breathing world.

When we disconnect from ourselves and the Earth while striving for the dream that we are indoctrinated with from the very day that we are born we lose touch with the elemental perfection inherent in our own beings and those beings around us. We lose the ability to commune with the plant and animal spirits and to receive knowledge and guidance regarding life’s questions. Often we are so embroiled with the prevailing dream that it feels like unearthing a whole new paradigm just to acknowledge that, firstly, other dreams are possible and secondly, our dreaming will make a difference.

The unearthing of this paradigm is difficult.  Sometimes the “seeing” or unveiling of the acculturated dream can take form in a sudden epiphany when the cloud of illusion is withdrawn, perhaps in a single moment of true connection with a plant or animal spirit. The heart opens to the reality of new possibilities and dreams that are life honoring, ecologically sustainable and where the preciousness of life is recognized in the Beauty, Mystery and Sacredness of all beings.

Healing the planet begins from within as we sort out the lies that have been fed to us since birth. Often when we truly see one lie, or identify the acculturated dream for what it is, many other lies become evident.  Our mind becomes astute and we begin to trust our own intuition. For instance, when we really, really look at and into ourselves,  we see with fresh new eyes the innocence and beauty within as well as the Arutam or Spirit that empowers or activates our being. The lies that we are not perfect, or the beliefs that we have superficial flaws are unveiled for it is not our own personal dream but the dream that we have been indoctrinated into that tells us just what the American beauty looks like.

Just like people can “snap” into a so called sick state of mind, people can “snap” into knowing the real truth for themselves. Several incidents come to mind when thinking of this snapping. For instance, when Sonia Johnson, a radical feminist “snapped” on her way home from a Mormon meeting and realized for the very first time that she was a feminist, Sonia screamed at God for the unfairness and unjustness of the patriarchal system. She waited in her garage that night-all night- for God to strike her dead, so sure was her belief in the dream that she was indoctrinated into.  And then, Billie Jean King, in a flash of insight recognized the inequality that existed of men gaining scholarships to play tennis while women received much, much less, if anything at all. Billie Jean challenged the dream and made the space for a new dream of the recognition of women’s equality when she squarely beat Bobby Riggs on the tennis court in 1973. It took a tremendous mind set to challenge this paradigm. And it took a new dream and the recognition of her innate strength and skill to accomplish this task.

Virginia Woolf was a visionary.  She recognized the toxicity of the dream of the patriarchy around her and when she spoke the about “college” and “education” she spoke of the prevailing dream. She writes in Three Guineas: 

“ No guinea of earned money should go to rebuilding the college on the old plan; just as certainly none could be spent upon building a college upon a new plan; therefore the guinea should be earmarked ‘Rags. Petrol. Matches’. And this note should be attached to it. ‘Take this guinea and with it burn the college to the ground. Set fire to the old hypocrisies. Let the light of the burning building scare the nightingales and incarnadine the willows. And let the daughters of educated men dance round the fire and heap armful upon armful of dead leaves upon the flames. And let their mothers lean from the upper windows and cry “Let it blaze! Let it blaze! For we have done with this ‘education’!”’

In healing and in envisioning a new dream we look at ourselves sometimes for the first time. We realize and release the constraints of the old dream and let those constraints blaze as well. We look into our eyes at the purity that we were born with and the purity that has been present throughout time. Sometimes we recognize the sadness of our dis-remembering and dis-membering of who we are. We recognize and see the old dream for what is was and open ourselves to the possibility of a new paradigm where we value life. We value ourselves. We commune with the Elements.

Meredith does individual and group counseling. . he can be reached at 530 859-1720