non-allopathic perspectives

[edwschreiber at earthlink.net]

Many years ago two dear friends, both women, took me to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
That was 23 years ago.  At the time I was quite sick, was dealing with lymphoma and HIV.  It was a
time when there were really no medications to address the HIV.  On the Pine Ridge Reservation I was
given the opportunity to attend to this condition spiritually, on the level of soul, in the traditional
ways, in the Native Ceremonies.  It was quite stunning what happened and to this day, almost 24 years
later, the experience feels very very present.  

Upon my return I sought the therapeutic help of a Zen teacher, Mel Bucholtz.  He taught at Harvard and
at Emerson, where I first met him.  In my work with Mel he showed me how to access a state of mind, often
written of, written about, sometimes named "satori".  I remember well the first time I found this, or could
feel it, and taste it.  I was in his office, he was most often in this state, and I found it, found it emerge
within me, were shared it, it was amazing.  Years went by until I could again find it on my own.

In 87 I met Zerka.  Louise Lipman gave me Who Shall Survive? and in that I found path, a path for me, to the
same state, to the same surplus reality experience the Lakota give to people.

This is beyond allopathic, beyond psychiatry and rooted in ancient wisdom of generations of humanity carried forward,
the relationship of the body and the soul and the mind and awakening.

This is, Adam, beyond belief, it is experience and to sustain this, to grow in it, for me, has demanded a humility
that for much of my life I have been without, as you know.

Best,

Ed