Journey over the Earth
13.7
page 7 of 8
Inverting the poles
Higher up North, nature becomes frugal. The scarcity of vegetation and warmth puts considerable restrictions on human and animal life, and protection against the cold climate plays a predominant role. Much energy is invested in precautions against the severe weather conditions. Everything is focused on survival. The sunny side of life has receded into the background, just as the impulse to disappear and lose oneself in the group. The group may still be important for survival, but here the individual has gone through a process of differentiation and knows himself. The subjective experiences of a single individual (the Shaman) may even become the guiding principle for the whole clan. As a consequence, within this psycho-social structure we will find no official, generally accepted image of God. This has been substituted by the instructions of the Shaman (*).
So here the image of God has been detached from tradition and put into the hands of the personal and situational. The Shaman is only consulted when people feel the need for it.
Individuality
Up in the high North, the isolation of the individual is being emphasized. Saturn is the ideal instrument for this, but his influence varies from person to person. A weak Saturn results in a lack of backbone and an inability to stand firm. There is an overwhelming feeling of being lost, as well as a need to escape from reality. Depression and alcohol abuse are a well known fenomenon among the Scandinavian people.
When Saturn appears in a more crystallized form, a turning inward of the senses prevails. Every Shaman apprentice knows the risks that accompany this Saturn (more about this later). In these regions, Saturn does not allow for any watering down any longer. Flexibility is no longer feasible, Saturn’s rule is absolute.
Crystallization
So as we move up from the Equator to the North, we see the Self emerging step by step in the psycho-social conditions, in a process of individualization and crystallization. Our journey from the Equator to the poles and back offers us a bird’s eye view of the process of our Self-development in its initial crystallization and its later surrender. In each zone, we can recognize the images and projections emanating from it, in both their individual and their collective expressions. The cultural values in these psycho-social zones derive their meaning from these collective projections. The subsequent stages that we see emerging along the Meridians in this way, together reflect the whole process of Self-development.
No absolute truth
As all these cultural values arise from Self-projections, any absolute objectivity is impossible, even though it is often claimed.
And we ought to keep bearing in mind that the same applies to the world of science. In science, too, the furnishing of proof is only valid within the mental frameworks that have been established by science itself.