Our ability to change depends on our senses. As we discuss in About Gwenio, our past has a great influence on our actions, thoughts and feelings. Our past is the record of our experiences which in Seneca philosophy is our guideline to truth. Our senses are a bridge between what we experienced in the past and what we are experiencing now. Our memories stem from what we sensed in the past while our present situation is illuminated by what we observe through our senses.
Yet even our current observations have been conditioned by our past use of our senses. If we have believed that all dualities are the result of opposition, our senses will provide the proof. The Sight Guide provides a structure to show us how change happens through resonance. Here we will study the medicine wheels of Seneca Philosophy and the structure of energy in our bodies as seen through Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Senses
Seneca medicine wheels are circles. Each circle is divided into segments – like the spokes of a wheel. The number of segments is determined by the subject to be placed on the wheel for understanding. In Seneca tradition each segment is called a Stepping Stone.
Each of the Stepping Stones on a medicine wheel has seven facets. They are the five senses: sound, sight, scent, taste, and touch, plus emotion (feeling) and awareness. It is through these facets that we encounter and learn about our world and increase our understanding of the Great Mystery. The facets bring greater depth and meaning to all our experiences.
Sound is the first sense because it was sound which shattered the Great Peace and began creation. It is said, “Once we were all stone until we shattered our peace”. Sound begins with rhythm; the beat of our hearts and the pattern of our breathing. When we notice our heartbeat and our breathing we become aware of these rhythms. When our rhythms are in harmony with nature, we realize our true place and we feel enriched.
When we hear an unusual sound our first reaction is to look in the direction of the sound, to identify it. Our sense of Sight supplements our sense of sound. The noisy, complex world around us has narrowed our use of sound and our vision is limited.
Originally we used our distance vision more than near vision. Now our eyes are overworked reaching out to see all that is going on around us. This increased use of our external sight, has decreased the acuteness of our internal sight. Looking within rests our eyes and we are better able to adjust to the demands our complex world places on us.
Next is Scent. Scent tells us a lot about our world. The smell of food cooking is a reminder that we are hungry. Smell is also a warning like the scent of smoke which precedes a fire.
Scent is closely related to our emotions. The familiar smell of a puppy or a baby evokes emotions we all recognize. Flowers used at weddings and funerals reflect our use of scent to express emotions. When we look within, remembrance of scents can heighten our experience and bring our emotions into focus as an expansion of self-awareness.
Taste is closely related to and often an expansion of scent. It enhances our experience of the food we eat, fulfilling the promise that scent made. When we feed our bodies, taste satisfies our emotional nourishment.
The last sense is Touch. Through touching we add texture to our perception of the world. Things that are soft and yielding express different qualities from things that are hard and impenetrable.
The purpose of a physical world is to learn about touching. Through sound, sight, scent, taste, and touch we experience our environment. With the sensation of touch, we also have an opportunity to physically react to the world. The way we touch clearly expresses the judgments we hold about the world around us. Touching honors the sacred relationship we have with nature. When we are in harmony with nature, we use a gentle touch.
Emotion is the sixth facet of each stone. Emotions are the judgments and memories of judgments that are based on the impressions given by the five senses. Emotions which are felt in the present moment reflect both current impressions and our past judgments.
These memories of judgments, though no longer conscious, still have the power to control our actions even when new signals from our senses tell us to modify the judgments. When we look within, we can locate these stuck emotions and understand the judgments which created them. Using fresh impressions, we release the old emotions and create new judgments.
As we release the old, stuck emotions, we create movement within. This movement enables us to flow with the universal energy of all life and we are said to be Walking in Balance. Awareness of the flow and our ability to move within it is the seventh facet.
Thoughts
Memory links us with our experience through our emotions. Authentic emotions (those not resulting from habits) are the result of paying attention to our senses in the moment. The Seneca call this Listening to the Silence Within. We listen with our ears to hear the Silence Within. We listen with our eyes to see the Silence Within. We attune our senses to listen within because in the Silence Within ourselves we balance our true emotional response to our memory of our experiences.
Listening Within balances our emotional reaction with our objective awareness. We constantly weigh the habits of past emotional response with the emotional presentation of the current situation. When we are thinking from an oppositional view point, we think: “There is a big, black dog. Big, black dogs are dangerous. I’m afraid of big, black dogs. Run!!!”
When we shift to resonance thinking we see a big, black dog and notice it’s tail is wagging in greeting. We think: “I was jumped on by a big, black dog when I was two and was afraid. Now I’m older and I can see this dog is friendly. I’ll pet this big, black dog.”
We always have a choice between subjective assessment and objective assessment. When we assess only from our past (subjective) we neglect the growth we’ve accomplished since we first encountered the experience (objective). Seeing dualities as oppositional automatically keeps us in the past. It limits our choices to yes or no without the benefit of applying new criteria from our senses in this situation to our past experience. When we assess objectively our past becomes part of a continuing pattern of growth and the choices are unlimited.
Actions
When we choose to act from an objective point of view, our decisions carry with them an element of timing. As an example let’s switch our view point about big black dogs from negative to positive. Now, from our experience, we have always liked dogs and especially big, black dogs.
Again we see running toward us a big, black dog. Only this time the dog does not seem friendly. It is barking and baring its teeth. If we maintain our stance of friendliness in the face of its aggression, we could be bitten. Objectivity opens several options. Running away or confronting the dog is still open as a course of action but we have other options as well. We could take one of several evasive actions such as call to the owner, climb a tree, etc. One action that changes the energy completely is to envision a circle of yellow in front of the dog. As it runs through the circle hold the thought that yellow is love. The dog will feel the change in the energy surrounding it and drop its aggressive behavior. The only trick is to hold the illusion of the yellow circle far enough ahead of the dog so we have time to create the sense of love within the circle.
In this example we are not changing the dog. We are only changing our attitude toward the dog. A dog running toward us barking and baring its teeth is a fear provoking experience. By staying objectively in the present we realize that this big, black dog is not friendly but we do not succumb to its terror. We accept our feeling of fear that allows our attitude to change. We have taken evasive action.
Flow
Taking the evasive action mentioned in the example above allows the flow of both the dog’s energy and our own energy to continue in harmony instead of in opposition. Of course if we have invaded the dog’s territory we should leave as quickly as possible because it is the dog’s purpose to protect his territory. That is his flow. Our flow is simply to move through the territory. The success of this evasion depends on our ability to carry through with our original intent and move along.
Vibral Core
At the center of all this structure of changing through resonance is Truth. The truth of our Vibral Core is the essence of our personal experiences. We will only be able to create and maintain the illusion of a yellow circle of love if we are operating from the truth we know within ourselves. As we encounter life’s situations from an objective point of view by Listening with our senses to the Silence Within, we make the type of change that is called Wisdom.