Wetiko – And the Sickness of the Human Spirit
What is going on with the Human Race? Why do we seem to be so hell bent on destruction? The course of Human history is one that has been shaped by war, greed, genocide and environmental pillaging and sadly this theme doesn’t look like ending anytime soon. Yet we are clearly capable of such greatness as well. We can love, sing, dance, build and create devices of such technological wonder that they can only be seen as nothing short of miraculous. The chances are that the people around you aren’t genocidal maniacs and most people you meet, whether they are from Somerset or Somalia, tend to want the same things out of life – a bit of peace, quiet and security for themselves and their loved ones. Unfortunately however, our societies are not governed by the average person in the street. We are run by the absolute worst of us. War-mongering, blood-thirsty psychopaths seem to hold positions of power throughout the World and they seem whole-heartedly committed to kicking off World War III. How on earth did this come about? I doubt there are many people who would vote for a nuclear Armageddon, and yet we have handed over this power, a power of total destruction, to a few highly questionable, unsuitable and downright unstable individuals. How did we find ourselves here?
The Native Shamans of North America believe that the Human race is infected with a sort of mind virus that effects the human soul. It is seen as a sickness of the spirit and one which they named Wetiko. Wetiko covertly operated through the human psyche, rendering people oblivious to their own madness and compelling them to act against their own best interests. Wetiko is seen as a kind of energetic parasite that is driven by an insatiable greed. It feeds off the human emotions of fear, terror and trauma. It has the ability subvert and control our actions, to make us more aggressive and war-like, so as to create the circumstances so that it can continue to feed.
As implausible as this may sound, this kind of situation is being found more and more throughout nature. For example, the cordyceps mushroom that takes control of the mind and body of its insect host sending it on a suicide mission, or the usually placid dog that suddenly becomes rabid and starts biting people so that the virus can be spread. There are even yeast infections that can be seen to cause humans to crave and consume more sugar. We tend to think of ourselves as a single entity but in reality we are a conglomeration of millions of different organisms. Could it be possible that mankind has been infected with a kind of organism, or an invisible virus of the spirit, that has rendered many of us devoid of empathy and compassion and intent on violence?
It is not just the Native Americans who think that this is the case. The concept of human beings being possessed by ‘evil spirits’ is one that is ancient and globally wide spread. The Chinese talk of ‘hungry ghosts’ – strange entities that exist only on an energetic level but feed off of the human emotions of fear, suffering and addiction. In Hinduism the Vedas talk of many ways to exorcise a person from malevolent spirits as do the Old and the New Testaments of Christianity. Every shamanic culture from around the globe would have had a healer or witch doctor whose job it was to rid the tribe and its inhabitants of any unwanted beings from unseen dimensions.
It is only here, in the Western modern world, where such things are deemed impossible or even ludicrous. In a mechanistic world, devoid of spirit or consciousness there is no room for energetic entities, woo-woo or bad juju. I don’t know, maybe this is true, and maybe this is just a way of trying to rationalise some of the atrocities of human behaviour, but it would seem to make a certain sense. We clearly seem to be a species set to self-destruction and we’re not even really sure why. Perhaps Keyser Soze was right and it really was the Devils greatest trick to convince the world he doesn’t exist.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Even if there is no energetic parasite feeding off of our fears, surely it’s better to try and live a life without them. We have seen recently the collective insanity that can ensue when fear takes hold of the collective, and that was over a virus that very few of us had any real reason to fear. A nuclear bomb on the other hand, would obviously have a much higher kill rate and yet our politicians and leaders don’t seem so fearful about leading us down that path, gung-ho and without a care in the world. It may well be prudent therefore, and safe practice, to ensure that every politician seeking a position of power should first check in with a Shaman of high repute. And if this leads to some ayahuasca sessions, some serious self-purging and deep self-reflection then so be it!