Thursday, September 14, 2006
Trancers
Recently, I watched a documentary (which I obtained from Netflix) called "Mystic Iran: The Unseen World." And indeed, this world is very different from the one presented to us by the news media daily. It included various scenes of certain esoteric sects, including the (male) Sufis who gather to chant and dance all night long in a rite celebrated by dervishes since the time of Rumi, and perhaps even before. (The speaker suggested these rituals may date back as far as early Christianity.) Many of these men looked as though they could in fact have been Shams arriving wildeyed and disheveled out of the desert, ready to dazzle Rumi with his overwhelming presence. They did not wear robes or special costumes--no swirling black skirts and tall hats. They were dressed in their ordinary clothes, and literally let their hair down (dervishes, like yogis, let their hair grow.) Usually these males kept their hair coiled and bound beneath their turbans. Now it flashed wildly as they chanted and moved back and forth in their hypnotic state. Some looked almost primitive, as their trance deepened, and their ecstasy grew.
The next part of the film was even more interesting. It was filmed in a remote area of the country (Kurdistan--still part of Iran). This segment presented women dervishes, whose presence is largely unknown to the outside world, and who had never been filmed before. This female group, mostly older, heavy set "women of the earth," were paying a visit to the tomb of a female saint entombed nearby. They arrived on foot, to the driving beat of a hypnotic drum. They soon went into ecstatic trance, and, to the continuing drumbeat, began to bend their bodies forward and back in a deep bow to the divine presence now present among them. Obviously, they were quite unaware of their external surroundings or their movements. They are Zoroastrians, a sect derived from ancient fire worshipers. One of the women went into such deep trance that she was in danger of burning her hand on a hot log (she was now oblivious to pain). She also kept trying to "eat fire" (or at least to swallow the smoke), and finally had to be led outside for her own safety. (It was the leader's responsibility to make sure that no one was injured during the ritual.)
Watching this film made me think of trancers from other cultures, and indeed there are many--in Haiti, Africa, South America, and India for sure. Ancient shamans also went into deep trance to make their "spirit journeys" to other realms. Full trance channels also do this, and lose awareness of who they are or what they are saying.
What happens when the conscious mind is "disengaged" from the "unconscious" layers below? What gods or goddesses are admitted into the inner spirit of the worshipers? Why do humans long for such transcendent experience, and indeed is this longing the basis for the desire for mind altering drugs, as many have suggested?
And what about our own "light trance " states, which can occur for some of us so easily, when the drums pound some hypnotic rhythm, or the music awakens the inner energies, or the currents simply flow, seemingly of themselves. Even a church service, with its beautiful setting and bewitching music, its candles and incense and chanting, can induce in us a different state of mind from the ordinary. The energies of the ashram, once the group creates a "coherent energy field" (my term) in devotional ritual, can carry us on its bliss currents, as if nothing existed but god/the goddess. Sometimes even less is required--a sacred book or poem, a picture of an evolved soul, a field of flowers which gives delight, a certain strain of music--these too can lift us out of ourselves.
I have no real answers to any of these questions. I remain fascinated by the process, both as an event and as an experience. Whatever it is, it is clearly part of the spectrum of human response, an indication of human yearning for connection with that which is other than the small self.
The next part of the film was even more interesting. It was filmed in a remote area of the country (Kurdistan--still part of Iran). This segment presented women dervishes, whose presence is largely unknown to the outside world, and who had never been filmed before. This female group, mostly older, heavy set "women of the earth," were paying a visit to the tomb of a female saint entombed nearby. They arrived on foot, to the driving beat of a hypnotic drum. They soon went into ecstatic trance, and, to the continuing drumbeat, began to bend their bodies forward and back in a deep bow to the divine presence now present among them. Obviously, they were quite unaware of their external surroundings or their movements. They are Zoroastrians, a sect derived from ancient fire worshipers. One of the women went into such deep trance that she was in danger of burning her hand on a hot log (she was now oblivious to pain). She also kept trying to "eat fire" (or at least to swallow the smoke), and finally had to be led outside for her own safety. (It was the leader's responsibility to make sure that no one was injured during the ritual.)
Watching this film made me think of trancers from other cultures, and indeed there are many--in Haiti, Africa, South America, and India for sure. Ancient shamans also went into deep trance to make their "spirit journeys" to other realms. Full trance channels also do this, and lose awareness of who they are or what they are saying.
What happens when the conscious mind is "disengaged" from the "unconscious" layers below? What gods or goddesses are admitted into the inner spirit of the worshipers? Why do humans long for such transcendent experience, and indeed is this longing the basis for the desire for mind altering drugs, as many have suggested?
And what about our own "light trance " states, which can occur for some of us so easily, when the drums pound some hypnotic rhythm, or the music awakens the inner energies, or the currents simply flow, seemingly of themselves. Even a church service, with its beautiful setting and bewitching music, its candles and incense and chanting, can induce in us a different state of mind from the ordinary. The energies of the ashram, once the group creates a "coherent energy field" (my term) in devotional ritual, can carry us on its bliss currents, as if nothing existed but god/the goddess. Sometimes even less is required--a sacred book or poem, a picture of an evolved soul, a field of flowers which gives delight, a certain strain of music--these too can lift us out of ourselves.
I have no real answers to any of these questions. I remain fascinated by the process, both as an event and as an experience. Whatever it is, it is clearly part of the spectrum of human response, an indication of human yearning for connection with that which is other than the small self.
