Angeles Arrien

Angeles Arrien (1940 – April 24, 2014) was a cultural anthropologist, educator, author, lecturer and consultant. She was born in Basque Country, Spain and moved with her family to the USA when she was seven years old.

• When we open to being powerful, loving, creative, and wise, we experience the world and ourselves as the many splendid things that we are. (from the Conclusion, p130)

• My research has demonstrated that virtually all shamanic traditions draw on the power of four archetypes in order to live in harmony and balance with our environment and with our own inner nature: the Warrior, the Healer, the Visionary, and the Teacher. Because each archetype draws on the deepest mythic roots of humanity, we too can tap into their wisdom. When we learn to live these archetypes within ourselves, we will begin to heal ourselves and our fragmented world.
  The following four principles, each based on an archetype, comprise what I call the Four-Fold Way:
  1. Show up, or choose to be present. Being present allows us to access the human resources of power, presence, and communication. This is the way of the Warrior.
  2. Pay attention to what has heart and meaning. Paying attention opens us to the human resources of love, gratitude, acknowledgment, and validation. This is the way of the Healer.
  3. Tell the truth without blame or judgment. Nonjudgmental truthfulness maintains our authenticity, and develops our inner vision and intuition. This is the way of the Visionary.
  4. Be open to outcome, not attached to outcome. Openness and nonattachment help us recover the human resources of wisdom and objectivity. This is the way of the Teacher.

• The shamanic traditions, practiced by agrarian and indigenous peoples the world over, remind us that for centuries human beings have used the wisdom of nature and ritual to support change and life transitions rather than to ignore or deny life processes, as we so often do. (p9)

• Spiritualism is the highest form of political consciousness. The native peoples of the West are among the world's surviving proprietors of that kind of consciousness. They are here to impart that message. It is important to use it wisely and well as we go into the twenty-first century-a time of bridging ancient wisdoms into the creative tapestry of contemporary times. (p11)

• Healers in all major traditions recognize that the power of love is the most potent healing force available to all human beings. Effective Healers from any culture are those who extend the arms of love: acknowledgment, acceptance, recognition, validation, and gratitude. (p49)

• the greatest remorse is love unexpressed. (p49)

• Where we are not strong-hearted is where we lack the courage to be authentic or to say what is true for us. Strong-heartedness is where we have the courage to be all of who we are in our life. (p50)

• Every culture has ways of maintaining health and well-being. Healers throughout the world recognize the importance of maintaining or retrieving the four universal healing salves: storytelling, singing, dancing, and silence. Shamanic societies believe that when we stop singing, stop dancing, are no longer enchanted by stories, or become uncomfortable with silence, we experience soul loss, which opens the door to discomfort and disease. The gifted Healer restores the soul through use of the healing salves. (p54)

• Many times, we are forced at an early age to hide our true selves in order to survive. At some point this hiding becomes unnecessary, yet we find it hard to break the habit. Every day we choose anew whether we will support the authentic self or the false self. (p80)

• We express denial in our lives when we avoid certain people or issues and when we see things only as we want them to be rather than to accept them as they are. Underneath every denial pattern is the underlying fear that we will not be able to handle conflict and a deep human need to maintain peace, balance, and harmony at all costs. In deep denial we will abandon ourselves to keep the peace rather than communicate our feelings directly. (p81)

• People who make scenes, throw tantrums, or blow things out of proportion actually have a strong need for acceptance. Because they are terrified of their own feelings of insecurity or vulnerability, they use exaggeration as a way to hide those feelings. (p81)

• When we can answer "yes" to the question, "Is my self-worth as strong as my self-critic?" then we are ready to engage our creative expression beyond patterns of denial or indulgence. (p82)

• Those shadow parts of us will dominate or persist until they are integrated. (p96)

• Where we lose our capacity to play or to maintain our sense of humor, we find ourselves either seeing only that which is not working, or becoming attached to our own perception as the only viewpoint to have. In either case, whether it's our blind spots or fixed perspectives, we lack spontaneity and become over-identified with our own ways of looking at things. (p99)

• Creative individuals are open to multiple ways of looking; and they are very facile in letting go and moving toward options or perspectives they had not considered. (p99)

• The way of the Teacher accesses the human resource of wisdom, and every culture has traditional and nontraditional means of education. Whether it is an established school system or an apprenticeship, the process of learning and teaching is universal.
  The principle that guides the Teacher is to be open to outcome, not attached to outcome. The Teacher has wisdom, teaches trust, and understands the need for detachment. (p109)

• The way of the Teacher is a practice in trust. Trust is the container out of which the qualities of wisdom grow: clarity, objectivity, discernment, and detachment. Wisdom is at work when we are open to all options. (p109)

• If we observe what causes us to lose our sense of humor, we can identify our point of attachment. Where we maintain our sense of humor is where we are detached and can remain flexible. (p111)

• In the West we know almost too well the importance of activity and movement; we also need to understand that silence and periods of solitude are essential ways to open to inner guidance and to replenish our soul. (p117)

• It is important to consider in what ways we can bring forward the "good, true, and beautiful" that is carried in our heritage; and to know that the quality of our life contributes to the opportunities and challenges for future generations to come. (p115)

• Our reactions to the new experiences we meet daily may well be a preparation for how we will handle or approach our death. Do we approach new experiences with curiosity, wonder, or excitement? Or do we handle the unexpected and unfamiliar by becoming controlling and fearful? (p115)

• The principle Teacher of detachment in Nature is often Grandmother Ocean, who is the primary nature example of flexibility and resilience. (p119)

• When we experience confusion, we should wait rather than act. If circumstances make it impossible not to act, we should seek pockets of clarity and act only in those areas. (p121)

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Angeles Arrien

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