2.7 Non-Western aspects

The Sacred Voyage: a holotropic perspective on mental health

In the West, the concept of a unique and inalienable core or centre is a far less salient issue. The Western world is characterised by its focus on the exterior, the image, and on personality (which literally means ‘mask’). The exterior seems to gain more and more ground in Western society, as is illustrated by ever increasing materialism, and seems to grow at the expense of the inner being. For many, identity is not derived from their unique and inalienable centre but from material and social status associated with their education, profession, house, car and other possessions. Western man seems to have been alienated from his personal centre and has shifted his focus to the ‘shopping centre’.

The Dagara concept of an inalienable centre, unique to every individual, is not unheard of in other cultures. In fact, many cultures support a similar idea. Buddhists refer to it as ‘Buddhanature’ and view the abdominal area as the ‘seat of the soul’. In Japan, the abdominal area is known as kikai, the sea of energy, in China it is tan’tien. In all oriental martial arts this centre is emphasised as essential for concentration, power and grace.

In the operational method of the Sacred Voyage, we assume that every human being is born with an individually unique core and that, as we have seen in the Dagara example, throughout their lives, people gradually become alienated from what is most characteristic of them. Our assumption is that this alienation from our essence is a result of upbringing, religion and education. It seems that, as people, we have developed a highly evolved social consciousness that helps us adjust to the norms of our group.

‘Our original true essence is forgotten and replaced by the projections put upon us by family, peers, and authority figures.’ (Sandra Ingerman)

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