“We human beings tend to experience ourselves as something separate from the whole we call the universe. This is actually an optical delusion of our consciousness. It is like a prison for us. Our task is to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. This striving for such an achievement is a path to our liberation and the only true foundation to our inner peace and security.” Albert Einstein

All People have the Capacity to Be Clairvoyant
When I say that I am clairvoyant, I get all kinds of reactions. Some people think I am trying to say I have some kind of superpower. But I believe all people have the potential for this ability. I’ll tell you why I think so.¹

Being “Psychic” used to be Common
In the time before the rise of Western civilization with its focus on technology – before our more subtle perceptions began to get drowned out by a cacophony of noise and mind-numbing media; before we were taught to rely on technology rather than commune with the quiet inner voice that can be heard in stillness; before we began to talk and shout so much that we lost the capacity to listen deeply – before all of these things happened, being “psychic” was a common trait.

If we look at indigenous tribes, we can see examples of this. For them, human psychic potential exists unobstructed by modern life.

The Art of Listening
One of these cultures is the Australian Aborigines. For some tribes still relatively untouched by modern civilization, life is built around the art of listening. The practice of empathetic listening is a part of their culture – something they learn from the very beginning of life. For our society which has lost so much of that capacity, it might seem very strange that life would revolve around such a thing.

For them listening has a different meaning than it does for us. In their culture it implies deep presence. This requires an inner stillness, and a spaciousness so that there is room to fully receive. They listen so deeply that they feel merged with the person or thing they are connecting with.

Beyond Words
In our world there is no frame of reference for listening in this way. The only thing I can compare it to in our culture is a trance state.² However, because many westerners associate trances with psychedelically altered states of consciousness, I feel I must clarify that for the Aborigines, this is not an altered state at all, but their normal day-to-day reality. It is not something that they require drugs to experience.³

To Be Merged with our Environment and the People We Love
In our language, which has few words to describe such a state of consciousness, suffice it to say that the Aborigines exist much of the time in a trance state in which they seem to become psychically merged with the people they love, and the environment they depend on for life. In this experience of interconnectedness – this freedom from the ego – there is tremendous healing power.

Many in our culture would consider this way of being to be abnormal. But to deeply attune to the elements of life has been essential to their existence since time immemorial – and is therefore natural and not an aberration. To the contrary, the way we live in the so-called “civilized” world might be considered “abnormal” – for we have separated ourselves from connecting deeply with the people that we care about and the elements that support our lives.

In Aboriginal life, the environment is a Living Being. They have learned that attuning their consciousness with It – listening to It in the fullest sense of the word – allows them to receive the things they need. Through that attunement, they are guided where to find game, water, and the herbs to heal their bodies. Thus, through the simple practice of presence, their needs are met.

They listen to the voice of the wind, and the spirits of the trees – to the healing power of the Earth – and they listen not just with their ears but with their souls and hearts. In the stillness of their listening, they hear the subtle voices of creation. They hear what others might miss.

They not only experience this closeness with nature, and also with each other. This is their reality – something they have known since the beginning. The unity of the tribe is the key to their survival; and they support that unity through compassionate listening.

Because of the closeness and trust that they share, there is no need for the people of the tribe to wall each other out. They live with their hearts open towards one and other. They attune with the other members of the tribe not out of obligation, but as a natural consequence of knowing that they all share a Sacred Presence.

Freed from the psychic barriers of distrust that we Westerners put up against each other, they can read each other’s minds without uttering a word. The idea that there would be secrets or lies within the tribe is not even in the realm of possibility.

The Ceremony of Dadirri

“Empathy has no script. There is no right or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening and holding space withholding judgement, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘You’re not alone.’ ” Prof. Brene’ Brown

If left unhealed, psychic pain would create a sense of separation within the tribe. This would be antithetical to their way of life. And so, when one member of the tribe is suffering emotionally – say from the loss of a loved one or some other trauma, the whole tribe gathers in a circle around her to help. And when I say the whole tribe, I mean everyone – men, women, children, and even the babies. All work, food gathering, hunting, and other activities come to a halt so that the person suffering can be made whole again. This is done in a ceremony known as Dadirri.⁴

The Aborigines are a naturally loving people. In Dadirri, those forming the circle listen to the person suffering with deep empathy and compassion. Because of the deep common bond between them, the person receiving healing knows that he/she is no longer alone with his pain. That bond of caring is visible on the listener’s faces – for whatever the person is feeling, they are feeling also.

The person being healed speaks his pain and cries his tears. And the tribe gathered around him holds sacred vigil and listens no matter how long it takes – and he repeats his heartache for as many times as is needed until it is released.

This is quite the opposite of the clinical detachment so commonly practiced by Wester psychologists – and yet it has been proven by thousands of years of indigenous use. So much so that some Western psycho-therapists have gone to the Aborigines to learn from them, and have adopted their simple compassionate principles, in their clinics.

The bond created by this level of sharing is needed desperately in the West, for our lifestyle teaches us to remain separate. We are afraid of getting too close lest we feel each other’s pain. And yet being witnessed is a human need, and we are starving for it.

We see demonstrated in Dadirri, that creating a deep empathetic bond can play a powerful role in healing. Indeed, if we take down our barriers and dare to connect with love and compassion, we can all become “psychic” and share each other’s thoughts, and help each other heal.

All that is needed to do the latter is to really care about another human being and set our own selfish needs aside for a while – and to be present with a compassionate heart and really listen. This is a simple thing that we as a society, seem to have lost touch with – so much so that we need to go outside of our world to a more “primitive” one to rediscover it.⁵

This capacity to experience each other’s thoughts is not unique to the Aborigines. It was commonly known in ancient times even amongst cultures that did not place the same priority on empathy as do the Aborigines. And yet, because it is a human capacity, the ability to be a seer still held a place in those societies. In ancient Greece they were called Healing Oracles. In the indigenous cultures of Asia, they are the Shamans, and in the Americas they are the Medicine People. In Africa, they are the Sangomas. In present-day India, there are Saddhus, who through their compassion can effortlessly read the thoughts of their devotees. It was only with the advent of modern technology with its strong emphasis on linear left-brain thinking that the right-brain intuitive abilities of compassion and clairvoyance lost cultural importance. But still, they lie dormant, waiting to awaken.

Healing Trance States in Western Psychology
Western science has long known about the effectiveness of healing trance states. In the late 18th century, Franz Anton Mesmer MD, PhD, discovered he could spontaneously induce trance states in his clients. (The word “mesmerize,” which means to hypnotize, was coined after him.) During these states, he documented that some of his patients exhibited “psychic phenomena” such as the ability to read other people’s thoughts, and accurately report information that they could not otherwise possibly have known. He hypothesized that these states were induced by an invisible energy that ran between himself and the subject.

As a seer, I think that this idea was not far from the truth. There is an invisible energy that induces the trance state. But it is not some mysterious esoteric thing, but an aspect of consciousness that we all naturally share; and when it is imbued with love, it can make us whole again.

Conclusion:
Since ancient times it has been known that some people have the capacity to spontaneously experience healing trance states. In addition to this there are those who have the gift to induce those states in others. These states, combined with a deep empathetic bond, such as the Aborigines use in Dadirri, can become a powerful vehicle for healing.

When people share a powerful bond of love and compassion, all separation can fall away. Then it is possible to share each other’s thoughts and inner realities. This is a natural ability of humans which is still practiced by some tribes to this day.

The examples above suggest that the capacity to be “psychic” is within all of us. And yet, because our culture fails to nurture it, it has largely been forgotten. But it still lies within us waiting to awaken.

Through Dadirri we can learn about the healing power of listening. When we listen with empathy and forget ourselves for a few minutes, we can become unconditionally present with another human being. Such a bond of love can open up profound possibilities of healing. It can be experienced as a joyful state of altered consciousness, or “healing trance state.”
Compassion and empathy are the most important keys to being a healer. You don’t need to be especially gifted to do this. All you need is care about the other person and open yourself to love. Then healing can flow through you. It’s that simple.

You don’t have to be perfect to be a healer. We learn compassion from our own flaws. The secret to being a healer is not in being special in some way, but in the willingness to be present with an open heart.

1. For more information on how the average person can develop their psychic abilities, see the work of Judith Orloff MD. Judith writes about her own clairvoyant gifts, and how they lead her to teach people how to develop their intuition. Judith has had clairvoyant gifts since she was very young. She decided to devote part of her career as a psychiatrist to teaching people how they can develop their intuitive abilities. Her many books include Second Sight, The Empath’s Survival Guide, Emotional Freedom, Dr. Judith Orloff’s Guide to Intuitive Healing, Positive Energy, The Power of Surrender, and Thriving as an Empath. ↩︎
2. By trance state I mean a parasympathetically dominant state through which a person can access associative, non-linear dimensions of awareness that facilitate healing and expansion of consciousness. Although it is commonly accepted that this state can be accessed through psychedelic drugs, there are other ways of entering into it, such as through a deep loving connection with another human being or with the natural world. Simply put, it is a deeply relaxed state in which a person moves outside their normal consciousness and has a profoundly healing experience. Examples of this might be falling in love, or being so caught up in the beauty of a sunset that one finds oneself transformed and renewed by the experience. ↩︎
3. I am not saying that indigenous people do not use hallucinogens. But these are normally reserved for special ceremonies. What I am saying is that the state of attunement that many of them exist in – one in which they commune so deeply with nature and their fellow tribes-people as to experience a sense of oneness with them – is natural to the human condition, as well to healing. The point is that what we consider to be strange and exotic – something requiring special chemicals to experience – is for them, simply a normal part of their everyday experience. ↩︎
4. For more information on Dadirri see online article by Jonathan Davis; published July 20, 2015. “An Indigenous Approach to Healing Trauma” https://up with connect.com/indigenous-approach-to-healing-trauma/ ↩︎
5. For a brilliant account of the aboriginal way of life and of healing, see the book Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan, M.D. ↩︎