The road to healing, that magnificent, complicated, wonderful, difficult quest for happiness, is littered with learning and emotion, but the rewards of personal development outweigh the obstacles by far for those who don’t give up. In seeking who, why, and what we are, and how to heal ourselves, we sometimes find our way back to what it really means to be human and to be happy (they're not mutually exclusive).
See the video on the left: When was the last time your eyes twinkled with the same passion and joy as this man’s eyes do when he tells a story (sorry- no, I have no idea what he’s saying, but I enjoyed his story anyway)?
Ancient Healing In A Civilized Age
Healing has been around as long as humans have, and legend has it that the anthropologist Margaret Mead thought the first sign of civilization was the discovery of a healed femur (thigh-bone), indicating that- unlike injured animals who die long and painful deaths or are easy prey, someone helped the human owner of this particular bone to heal. According to this legend, Mead said:
“Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts.”
A column on sapiens.org (and other publications) disputes this. When asked directly sometime after the legend hit the internet when she thought civilization started, Mead's documented response was:
“We have called societies civilizations when they have had great cities, elaborate division of labor, some form of keeping records.”
So it seems that to fit in with being civilized, people were more focused on working, building cities, and writing up books than they were on healing and the human connection. That's a little sad.
But is this really civilized, or should the ancient arts of healing and pearls of wisdom about life not be incorporated into the lives of so-called civilized people to be whole, happy people?
A Glimpse Into The History Of Man And Civilization (Who are we?)
Archeologists have traced our roots as humans back to the hominids, or primates in the Stone Age. Yes, we seemingly are related to the great apes, but they are a far more distant family than that embarrassing uncle who acts like a monkey, or the relationship between Americans and Chinese. Homo erectus, the Neanderthals, evolved into homo sapiens- the scientific name of human beings, in the first giant step in civilization, separating ourselves from the apes about 2 million years before man’s giant steps on the moon.
Opposable thumbs are found in both species, but the apes have opposable toes (we don't), and we communicate in different languages. Yet we often don't communicate all that well, or perhaps we are so driven by our egos that we refuse to hear, and follow whatever philosophies work for us at any given stage. Looking backward at philosophy, there are some important junctures (first, please stop wiggling your toes to see if they’re opposable, monkeys can’t read either):
The Cradles of Western Civilization (Modern Healing)
Greece or Rome are generally what comes to mind with many of the respected philosophies emerging from their great philosophers. Yet it's a young civilization, although perhaps not through the lens of formal philosophy, but so-called modern healing methods emanated from these philosophers as Hippocrates led the way.
People started setting up their homes in Scandinavia just after the region emerged from the last ice age (about 12,000 years ago). The Minoans, recognized as the oldest European civilization, existed on the island of Crete ( administrative regions (periféreies) of Greece) between 3,200 and 1,450 BC. Thales, a Milesian reported to have been the first Greek philosopher, lived between. 624-c. and 545 B.C.E, some 1,500 years later.
To give some perspective, it's worth noting that the Jewish religion (some may ascribe religion to being a philosophy) is seen as ancient, yet it too- by some counts, dates back almost 4,000 years. Between 700 and 480BCE (A mere 2,600 or so years ago), the Ancient Greek empire built the first major urban centers in Europe and used human reason to observe the natural world.
Cradles Of Civilization
Before Western civilization, the thinkers think that the earliest civilizations were:
Ancient China: The Yellow River Valley, regarded as the first civilization in China, gave rise to villages sometime around 5000 BCE, or 7,000 years ago. (Fun fact: The Chinese have used chopsticks to eat with for over 4,000 years.)
Mesopotamia: Sumerian civilization first took form around 4000 BCE, or 6000 years ago. (Fun Fact: Mesopotamians developed one of the first written scripts around 3000 BCE These were wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets).
Ancient Egypt: emerged around 3150 BC- a little over 5,000 years ago. (Fun fact: The ancient Egyptians worshipped over 2,000 gods and goddesses).
Ancient India: Modern humans first arrived from Africa and the first advanced society in India, the Indus Valley Civilization, dates to approximately 3000 BC- 5,000 years ago, around the same time as the Egyptians. (Fun fact: The ancient Indians discovered the number zero).
The New World Civilizations (The Americas):
Caral-Supe of coastal Peru: Radiocarbon analysis carried out indicates that the development of the site started between the years 3000 to 1800 B.C., from around 5,000 years ago. (Fun fact: Caral is thought to be the oldest town in the Americas).
Olmecs of Mexico: Dating roughly from 1200 BCE to about 400 BCE, the civilization is thought to be around 3,000 years old. Pre-Olmec cultures existed from about 2500 BCE, but by 1200 BCE, Olmec culture had emerged. (Fun Fact: Olmec art shows many hybrid creatures such as human-jaguars).
Yet they’re not all that ancient...
A glaring omission from American civilization seems to be the American Indians whose ancestors were the nomadic hunters of northeast Asia, who migrated over the Bering Strait bridge into North America, probably about 30,000–12,000 years ago. Many of their philosophies and practices are not that dissimilar from The San people of Africa, who date back 50,000 years (the estimates vary between 40,000 and 60,000). But both did not use the human reason that the Greeks introduced, preferring the natural order of things, disqualifying them from being formally known as “a civilization.” Characterized by group think and group well-being, no single philosophers emerge from these groups, rather the philosophies by which they live as a clan.
Developed from the original homo sapiens who archeologists have traced back to Africa, the hunter-gatherer San are among the oldest cultures on Earth and their descendants are still to be found in Southern Africa, calling themselves, “The First People,” but are sometimes known as “Bushmen,” an Anglicization of the dutch word, boesman, given to them by the European settlers in South Africa.
Conservation was a part of the everyday lives of the Bushmen. Believing that all parts of the natural world are connected and that man has no primacy over any other life, disrespecting or disturbing the natural order in the universe is- for the San, the ultimate sin. And- if the man in the video is anything to go by, it seems they have no use for healing their souls, they are already whole- and happy. Being at one with nature may be the key.
An article on Google Arts and Culture lists the Buchu plant as perhaps the most famous plant used to treat digestive issues. It is also a powerful anti-inflammatory. But indigenous plants find their way not only onto the menu for the San but for other purposes. The Hoodai cactus plant is used as an appetite suppressant. When it comes to healing the soul, nature and ancient practices remain part of the San culture.
In his book, Anthropology and the Bushman, Author Alan Barnard refers to a return journey to the Kalahari (in Southern Africa, and still home to many San people) made by clinical psychologist Richard Katz that resulted in the book, “Healing Makes Our Hearts Happy." Focussing on traditional healing rituals in the context of relations between the San and their herding neighbors, it looks into Western medicine, social problems such as alcoholism, and social efforts for their alleviation- such as through education.
According to Barnard, traditional ancient healing for the San involves, among other things the use of n/om (‘medicine,’ or spiritual energy, or spiritual healing) in the hands of medicine people, usually men. By going into a state of !aia, or trance during a medicine dance, this power can be used to cure illnesses, known and unknown, of everyone present. The San heal during their 'trance dance' or 'healing dance,' an altered state of consciousness.
Spiritual healing is very much centered around healing energy. Energy (n/um) pulls sickness out of the people. It’s a far cry from the human reason reflected in Greek philosophy, but perhaps we have a lot to learn, or rather, remember from who we once were, before we became civilized and started thinking too hard.
Today may be the best day to stand on your un-opposable toes and stretch out your arms and mind to welcome healing in, whether it’s your soul, your PTSD, or your psyche.
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