Impeccability
Impeccability From Maggie Wahls What causes the Shaman to seek impeccability? The key to living in this world as a healer is to incorporate our skills and disciplines into our hearts in the most impeccable way possible. It is not enough to have knowledge or good intentions. The Shaman strives constantly to be the most disciplined and the highest skilled hunter he can be. He is not concerned with his own life, obsessed with any outcome, or allowing himself to give power away to anyone or anything. It is in the control and direction of his power that he hones his skills to become an impeccable hunter in the forest. A Shaman is a warrior, a hunter. He is on his highest alert, fully prepared, moving deliberately with his intention held firmly in place in the forefront of his mind. He is ready for anything, being emotionally centered although feeling the excitement of the hunt and the anticipation of the successful outcome. No one could sneak up on a good hunter. It is he who is doing the stalking. The hunter knows his skills, has practiced a long time, and knows where to look for the game he needs. A hunter has heightened his senses so he can smell the wind and see in low light. He knows a bear or wolf can attack him at anytime so he does his very best every minute. To do less may mean his death. What causes the Shaman to seek impeccability? The Shaman knows that death walks with him on his left side close enough to reach out and touch him at any moment. It is in this understanding that all we have is today, right now, to be the best we can be, that we are called to be constantly walking the path of impeccability. When one’s mortality is always a present thought we begin to see our lives with different eyes. Ask anyone suffering from a terminal disease and they will tell you how precious it is to watch a sunrise, to see a child sleeping, to hug your dog. We learn to wash the dishes as though it is the last time we may ever wash the dishes. It becomes a ceremony, an act of love and a joy to perform. Death becomes a friend, an ally, a guide to what is most important right now in our lives, what we most need to do and be and say to those we love. There is no time to wait until tomorrow. When we observe our own mortality we see that it does not matter if we are kings or paupers, rich or poor, famous or unknown. These things have nothing to do with our true selves. The hunter does not sit in the forest and shout out his importance to the trees. He is a hunter, like so many hunters who have gone to this forest before him to accomplish the same goal. He thinks of his brothers and sisters and is honored to sit with them in spirit and share their experience. With a sense of one’s own mortality there comes a sense of humility natural for anyone realizing the larger picture of all of life. It is not about standing taller than those who came before. If we only have today, would we not want to be the best we can be today? A Shaman has in many ways met his own death; The death of his childhood ideas, the death of his ego and self importance, the death of his emotional surges that would drag him back and forth. The hunter has a personal relationship with death, not one of adversary but one of necessity and even sustenance. Walking with this understanding allows one to see the beauty in every vision, every action, and every moment of one’s life. It is not about becoming perfect. Perfection is striving to be one better than your neighbor, to achieve status, to break a record. Perfection causes striving and since it is never attained, it leaves the striver unfulfilled, unhappy and unsatisfied. But a life lived impeccably is filled with joy, with wonder and with satisfaction that every action, thought and word was the very best effort one could make. This is the core of loving yourself in the highest and truest form. A Shaman in his awareness of his mortality finds himself much more alert and aware, trying to drink in everything around him. Thus, he gains knowledge on a level not approached by others. This knowledge then hones his sense of awareness and he sees the work of deeper energies on the earth and studies them with excitement and a natural thirst for improvement. This in turn engenders even more honing of skills causing more awareness and so impeccability is naturally engendered not through pride or perfection but through awe and experiencing all that can be experienced in the short time he has. This is the true source of personal power and this power is only available by living an authentic life. The hunter chooses to bring sustenance to himself and his people by being the very best hunter he can be. He is willing to accept any challenge he may encounter in that forest with skill, awareness and a sense of anticipation in success. Your life circumstance is the forest for you. Stand in your forest with impeccability and you will find yourself surrounded with love and joy and adventure for every minute of your short time on this planet. Become all that you can be. Shaman Elder Maggie Wahls - Copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved. About this Contributor: Shaman Elder Maggie Wahls has been a practicing Shaman for over 50 years. She recently received a dispensation to reach out to those who have a desire to learn about a Shaman’s path and now offers an online course at www.shamanelder.com. Wahls says "Many people on this earth have been Shamans in other lives and only need to reconnect with their lost knowledge and skills to bring shamanic healing back to Mother Earth and its peoples." From Fran/Mysti at.. http://Mystickblue.com ~Where we believe in Miracles and Magic~ Everyday of the year!! "The task ahead of you is never as great as the Power Within You" "Leap of Light~ http://Mystickblue.homestead.com/LeapofLight.html ~Please leave signatures and links intact when sharing this message, thank you~ Give credit where credit is due and hard work too~

Impeccability
Impeccability To be impeccable at that moment is to do all that you can do to pay attention, to use whatever you have learned, especially at those times when you know you have a tendency not to pay attention. Your knowledge is not perfect, not complete, but you use what you know, the best techniques you have, the best attitude you have, the best understanding you have, and apply it right then. (Diamond Heart Book 1, pg 214) It is not to be perfect but to do your best, to act according to all the wisdom, all the understanding, all the experience, all the awareness, all the will that you have. As you confront your indulgences, you will see that to continue to be really impeccable and not succumb to your indulgences will mean letting go of all kinds of things. The way of impeccability can be taken as a path on its own. You could attempt to be impeccable all the time and all your indulgences would arise, which would reveal all your attachments. Impeccability means letting go of those attachments. The way of the impeccable warrior is a way complete in itself, is a path to a certain knowledge. In our Work here, we’re not taking that path by itself, but we’re using it. We’re taking that attitude as an aid. (Diamond Heart Book 1, pg 218) Impeccability and action To act impeccably means to act with certainty. You cannot act impeccably when you are not sure of yourself. You know it is the best thing, even if you know that it is not perfect, but you do it with certainty. You’re learning to defend against your superego. You are not completely sure what this means, but you know something, and what you know is the best you know, and you do this as if you are certain. And this is what you do until you learn something else. In time, this will evolve and develop into what we call true certainty – essential certainty. Choosing to be an impeccable warrior means choosing to be a person, choosing to be a responsible adult, instead of being your mother’s baby. There is dignity in it; you are your own person, your life is your responsibility and you always have the choice to do your best. Impeccability can be in action, in feeling, in thinking. Impeccability can be in terms of the will, in terms of the mind, in terms of the heart. (Diamond Heart Book 1, pg 219) Impeccability and superego When you’re learning to defend against your superego, you really need to be an impeccable warrior. You can’t do it in a haphazard way. You can’t do it at one time and not at another, a little bit now, a little bit later. It won’t work. You have to do it constantly, all the time, impeccably. That means if you really want to learn about defending against your superego, you make it your number one aim …you are always aware of defending yourself against your superego and you do your best. (Diamond Heart Book 1, pg 216) Impeccability and truth To be an impeccable warrior, you do your tasks impeccably and your task is to be impeccable. That’s it. You do your best. After a while, you are impeccable for the sake of impeccability itself. I’ve talked about it in terms of a path leading someplace, but it is actually what we’re going toward. It’s both the means and the end. When you are really impeccable, that’s it. It’s not as if you’re looking for truth because truth will lead you someplace, to something else. No. You are dedicated to the truth because the truth is truth. It is the same thing with impeccability. (Diamond Heart Book 1, pg 221)