Wetiko: Healing the Mind-Virus That Plagues Our World

Description

How to break free from the collective mind parasite of wetiko * Explores how wetiko covertly operates both out in the world and within our minds and how it underlies every form of self-destruction, both individual and collective * Reveals how wetiko's power lies in our blindness to it and examines how people across the ages have symbolized wetiko to help see it and heal it * Examines the concept of wetiko as it appears in the teachings of the Kabbalah, Hawaiian Kahuna shamanism, mystical Christianity, and the work of C. G. Jung In its Native American meaning, wetiko is an evil cannibalistic spirit that can take over people's minds, leading to selfshness, insatiable greed, and consumption as an end in itself, destructively turning our intrinsic creative genius against our own humanity. Revealing the presence of wetiko in our modern world behind every form of destruction our species is carrying out, both individual and collective, Paul Levy shows how this mind-virus is so embedded in our psyches that it is almost undetectable--and it is our blindness to it that gives wetiko its power. Yet, as Levy reveals in striking detail, by recognizing this highly contagious mind parasite, by seeing wetiko, we can break free from its hold and realize the vast creative powers of the human mind. Levy explores how artists, philosophers, and spiritual traditions across the ages have been creatively symbolizing this deadly pathogen of the psyche so as to help us see it and heal it. He examines the concept of wetiko as it appears in the teachings of the Kabbalah, Hawaiian kahuna shamanism, Buddhism, and mystical Christianity and through esoteric concepts like egregores, demons, counterfeiting spirits, and psychic vampires. He reveals how visionary thinkers such as C. G. Jung, Sri Aurobindo, Philip K. Dick, Colin Wilson, Nicolas Berdyaev, and Rene Girard each point to wetiko in their own unique and creative way. He explores how the projection of the shadow self--scapegoating --is the underlying psychological mechanism fueling wetiko and examines wetiko in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, showing that we can reframe the pandemic so as to receive the lessons and opportunities embedded in it. Revealing how the power of imagination can cure the wetiko mind-virus, Levy underscores how important it is for each of us to bring forth the creative spirit within us, which helps shed the light of consciousness on wetiko, taking away its power over us while simultaneously empowering ourselves.

Paul Levy is a pioneer in the field of spiritual emergence and a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner for more than 35 years. He is the founder of the Awakening in the Dream Community in Portland, Oregon, and the author of several books, including Dispelling Wetiko. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

"Utterly brilliant. Paul Levy has identified the unidentifiable and has answered the questions everyone is asking: What is happening to us, and what is our way through? No one has articulated the handiwork of darkness with more precision than Paul. I urge people to read this book." * Caroline Myss, author of Intimate Conversations with the Divine * "This is a brilliant, indispensable book written by an authentic visionary genius. It is terrifying in its analysis of the soul sickness that now everywhere threatens the human adventure and exalting and inspiring in the remedies it proposes. Drawing on the richest possible sources of evolutionary mysticism, quantum physics, and transpersonal psychology, no one but Paul Levy could have given us such a feast." * Andrew Harvey, founder and director of the Institute for Sacred Activism and coauthor of Radical Reg * "In this time of unprecedented crises on almost every level, our challenge is to become aware of and shed the insidious trance of destruction that has come over us. Only as we awaken can we become the spiritual warriors necessary to free ourselves and our world of this life-threatening spell and step into a prophesied golden time. In this powerful book, Paul helps us look within ourselves and this illness to awaken the amazing potential that Creator has given us to thrive as good stewards of this precious home planet and all our relations." * Brooke Medicine Eagle, author of Buffalo Woman Comes Singing and The Last Ghost Dance * "Never before in human history has there been a time when we so desperately need the insights and profound wisdom that Paul Levy is offering us in this book. As Levy wisely admonishes us, only by developing a conscious, thriving inner spiritual life can we dispel wetiko for good. Otherwise, we will only collude with the darkness we believe we are fighting." * Carolyn Baker, Ph.D., author of Collapsing Consciously and Love in the Age of Ecological Apocalypse * "Paul Levy's first book, Dispelling Wetiko, is a classic and brought an expanded awareness of the dark force that has invaded Western culture. If you are one of those who wonder how we are to deal with it now that the genie is out of the bottle, Levy's new contribution, Wetiko, is a compelling read that will provide you with new tools for your toolbox. A most important book!" * Hank Wesselman, Ph.D., author of The Re-Enchantment and The Bowl of Light * "Wetiko is a gift to the world. Paul Levy brilliantly and beautifully dissects the wetiko illness and shows us how we can break its insidious spell. There are no topics more important than this, and Paul Levy writes exactly what we need to read." * Derrick Jensen, ecophilosopher and author of A Language Older Than Words * "In Wetiko, the power and authenticity of Paul's narrative is in the grounding of his own lived experience of the collective human psychosis of wetiko. This important and timely book maintains that the 'spirit of healing is hidden within the illness' and exhorts a shamanic journey of re-membering and reintegrating the innate wholeness of our true Self. Urging conscious co-creativity as a healing response and engagement. Wetiko invites us to free our imagination to literally embody the imaginal cells of the potential metamorphosis of our species." * Jude Currivan, Ph.D., author of The Cosmic Hologram and cofounder of WholeWorld-View * "This remarkable book, deeply rooted in Jungian psychology and the wisdom traditions, addresses the contagious psychospiritual disease of the soul that constitutes the crisis of humanity. The author brilliantly integrates a broad range of archetypal themes--from mythology, alchemy, religion, and quantum physics--to unearth the deeper meanings of our individual and collective soul-sickness. A must-read for anybody who is interested in a transformation of consciousness." * Ursula Wirtz, Jungian psychoanalyst and author of Trauma and Beyond * "Paul Levy has made a life's work out of studying wetiko--dealing with it in himself and shining the light of consciousness on it in the human world. In this book, he examines this mind-virus from multiple angles, helping the reader to achieve a full recognition of wetiko's nature, its terrible dangers, and the secret gift it contains. Wetiko is a book of urgent relevance and vital importance for everyone, alerting us to dire dangers and opening our eyes to our astonishing and wondrous potential as we engage with the multiple, simultaneous world crises that we face in these critical times." * Robert Simmons, author of The Alchemy of Stones and coauthor of The Book of Stones * "After reading Paul Levy's work on wetiko, I knew I had to meet him. I drove from Boston, Massachusetts, to Portland, Oregon. This man Paul, he is something. He knows things. He experiences things in ways impossible to explain. All I can say is, that which walks with me knows that Paul Levy has been placed here to help us--to help us mitigate the climate crisis, the sixth extinction, this pandemic, racism, and this wetiko without and within if only we listen. But we must all do this work if our children and our children's children are to experience The Mother. Read this book. Mitakuye Oyasin." * Thomas Balistrieri, Ed.D., assistant teaching professor of psychology and global studies at Worceste * "A worthy successor to the classic Displelling Wetiko." * Sting *