Take the instance of an individual with terminal disease. I would like to begin with the premise that every illness is the result of an imbalance (or internal conflict) within the overall body or the consciousness of the individual. Furthermore, that every illness is an attempt at healing, and every healing is an attempt to arrive at a new state of balance. I would further like to expound that, by virtue of this new equilibrium, a new and higher state of consciousness is achieved.

If the person fails to heed the message of the illness and arrive at a new balance, the condition of imbalance continues to expand and amplify until the life-force of the individual can no longer sustain the mortal experience and the physical body dies. Any imbalance that is severe enough to propel an individual into such traumatic physical illness is also severe enough to create a psychological imbalance sufficient enough to force the perception of insights which the conscious mind would have never previously allowed.

Such is the situation of many terminally ill individuals, who, upon realizing the finality of their situation will resort to any treatment, regardless of the apparent absurdity. Desperation, the attempt to escape unbearable physical, mental, emotional, or psychological pain and suffering forces the conscious mind to expand and allow for the acceptance of radical new insights. It is no wonder then that people in these situation are the ones who most frequently have miraculous insights and experiences. They are the ones most emotionally tied to their lives and high emotion coupled with a clearly defined blueprint produces results.

Notice that throughout the above text, I constantly refer to reaching a point where the conscious mind must let go of its illusion of reality and override all or limiting parts of consensus reality. This should be a significant insight into how our illusion of reality and consensus reality are created and maintained.

The conscious mind operates like a computer. It takes the empirical data that it receives and analyses, associates and stores it. The conscious mind is also synonymous with the logical mind. The conscious mind is not your high or spiritual self, nor is it your lower or emotional self. It is the middle, logical self. Most occult practitioners will tell you that the training and discipline of the logical, conscious mind is the single most difficult and vital factor in occult work. The conscious mind works constantly, generating information, usually anticipating the future or rehashing the past.

Having said all that, it is not a far stretch of the imagination to find the correlation between illness and the first steps on the shamanic path. Is a traumatic event or illness a prerequisite to shamanism? Definitely not, but the degree to which one's illusion of reality must be fluid usually demands some interruption of normal consciousness.

As one of the prisoners still in the cave, you might ask, is it not possible that all the experiences which the supposedly liberated captive had are not simply a stress induced self-hallucination? This question is one of the most difficult questions ever asked. That depends on the individual, the verifiable validity of that individual's experiences (to the extent possible) and the extra-ordinary abilities the individual exhibits which were not present previously. Please remember, for all intents and purposes, the only person you are trying to convince is you. If that person believes themselves to be 'divinely endowed', your scepticism is not going to affect them.

Back to the cave. There are several possible outcomes. How that liberated captive deals with this aspect of freedom is critical. The first possibility is to run back into the cave, reassume his original place and pretend that nothing ever happened, despite the fact that he's no longer chained to the wall. In this case, the original illusion of reality and learned consensus reality have prevailed.

The second option is that he remain outside the cave. This second path forks quickly once you're on it. The first option is to simply accept your new environment and form a new illusion of reality based on your experiences there and accept the consensus reality found there. Option #2 is to realize that the cave was but one reality and now I am experiencing another, and there may be an infinite number of other possibilities. On this basis, the individual maintains a very fluid illusion of reality and abides the present consensus reality without buying into it.

This last option is the path of the Shaman. It is also the most vulnerable path. It is my firm belief that mental institutions around the world are full of individuals who have experienced this last option and are floating about in realms and possibilities like a ship without an anchor. In many traditions around the world where shamans, witches, sorcerers, and healers are an accepted part of consensus reality, the 'Wise Ones' observe the general population for signs of 'Shaman's Disease' (one who is not oriented or tied to normal reality) or in fact, pick a particular individual according to their criteria for an apprentice, and deliberately induce 'Shaman's Disease' as part of their training.

The learning experiences of the captive in his new world simulate the learning experiences of the aspiring shaman as he is introduced into the his new world as well. For both the captive and the aspiring shaman, the presence of a guide, mentor, or teacher becomes a critical aspect of the time and effort required to adapt and master their new world and their role in it. Having achieved a level of proficiency in his particular art, the aspiring shaman will receive recognition within the society, group or culture as a practicing shaman and begin receiving visits from the population for his specific help. In societies or cultures where the supernatural or shamanism is not socially acceptable, an entirely new set of challenges begin.

That pretty much brings us back to the captive's choice of returning to his fellow prisoners still in the cave. How does anyone who has experienced extra-ordinary events present the story of those events and the changes that the events effected on that individual back to their fellow man. The captive has braved to move outside the cave, learned and adapted to a broader awareness, successfully navigated unfamiliar terrain, and the last challenge is to take what has gained back where it can be of use to others.

This challenge can be more threatening than any previous challenge the captive or shaman has previously faced. Social acceptance does make a shaman any more or less a shaman, but it will set the precedent for how the shaman or captive will interact with society and the extent to which the knowledge, wisdom, and gifts gained will be shared with that society.

As humans, we are multi-dimensional beings. We consciously tap into only a very few. I cannot stress enough how our childhood training and experiences, our learned illusion of reality and our prevailing consensus reality affect what we will experience in this lifetime and countless lifetimes to come. The more fluid our belief system, the less anchored our conscious mind set, the greater our potential to experience a much broader spectrum of reality. Once you have been guided outside of the cave, you can pretend that you never left, but you will never be the same person that you were before.

Before I end this page, I would like to recommend a very interesting parallel to Plato's Allegory from a Native American perspective.