Throughout my early childhood and into my middle adolescence my greatest concerns, my ultimate preoccupations focused on overcoming the abject terror and violence that at times defined my existence. Early on in life I realized that the solution to that problem did not reside solely in physical conditioning, technical preparation, or cognitive speculation, for in the face of life-threatening peril if we are without a resilient mental constitution such attributes can quickly uproot and leave us stranded in helplessness and despair.

I believe that it was as a result of those early impacting experiences that my interest in the martial arts and other Eastern practices and methodologies was focused more on the mental capacities that lead to enduring tranquility in the face of disaster than on the mere physical manifestations of power or technique. It was not nearly as much the fighting prowess of “Kwai Chang Caine” from the syndicated television series “Kung Fu” that captured my imagination as the wisdom and serenity of the Shaolin masters who trained him. It was not nearly as much the cinematographically dazzling dynamics and cries of the likes of Bruce Lee that inspired me, as the television images of the Buddhist monk who protesting religious injustice in South Vietnam self-immolated and died immutable, motionless and silent.

Over the years it became evident to me it is only with a strong psychological, philosophical and even ‘spiritual’ foundation that the edifice of our existence can be counted upon to weather the storms of life’s adversities, disappointments and disasters; it is also such a foundation that enables us to appreciate the magnificence and wonder of ‘being’ - no matter how objectionable the load we carry, how heavy the rock we must roll.

It is not in the moments of fashionable victory that we find the real champion; it is not in the hours, weeks, or years of celebrated discoveries or renowned achievements that we discover authentic ‘greatness’; it is in those inexorable instances lived by individuals who time and time again, whether faced with innumerable failures and tragic disappointments, threatened with dying in total anonymity, or living in abject poverty, demonstrate their unrelenting rededication to the ‘cause’.

Show me a man or woman whom, after being repeatedly beaten down and even broken by the implacable and unremitting forces of a reality beyond their control, and whom without seeking refuge either in fantastic dimensions or in fictional beings, stands up yet again on their own accord, in spirit if not in shattered body, and I will show you the true meaning of inner fortitude and personal power. Find an individual who even in the thick of life’s sometimes unpredictable trials and tribulations, cruel losses, untimely setbacks, and heartbreaking tragedies derives ‘meaning’ from the mere fact of being alive, and you would have found someone who has mastered the elusive art of being happy.

It is not the person whom, if afforded the luxury of calm and comfort can achieve a state of ‘mystical awareness’ that we need admire. Rather it is the individual who, when faced with the unpredictable disasters of the life truly engaged and is caught in the wicked clasp of circumstance, manages to rapidly recover their composure and demonstrate ‘centeredness’ that we need seek out, for these people have obtained something beyond what books can teach or techniques alone can foster: wisdom.

Wisdom, the combined knowledge and practice of that which leads to happiness and harmony in one’s life in spite of circumstances is what we are all ultimately after. Personal power alone is not sufficient, for without the mental mechanisms to guide its potential, without the philosophical/spiritual context within which to apply its resources we are but a Titanic: unstoppable in our motion and condemned to meet our demise at the inevitable encounter with life’s innumerable and unforgiving icebergs.

The human existential condition is by its nature fraught with inevitable loss – or its threat: loss of life, loss of health, loss of youth, loss of property and possessions, loss of loved ones, loss of innocence, and so on, and therefore becomes tainted by the accompanying grief and anguish that naturally ensues. But it is in the chaos of war that we encounter all of life’s most deplorable aspects in their extreme: carnage and mutilation, devastation and dispossession, pillaging and desecration, famine and disease, etc.

It is not surprising that many individuals return from the battlefield mentally traumatized and emotionally defiled and disturbed, unable to successfully reintegrate themselves into the ‘normality’ of their previous peacetime existence. Nor is it surprising that elite warrior castes would have sought philosophical/spiritual methodologies, such as was the case with the Samurai and Zen, in order to develop the mental and emotional capacity to endure the vileness of warfare and inwardly reconcile the gruesomeness of their experiences within the context of a way of life and being.

It is for this reason that to me the real martial arts aim to teach more than just techniques of physical power; they must seek to set the practitioner on a path to the self-empowerment, discovery and improvement that leads beyond an accumulation of information or the memorization of movements, a path which leads to the immutable spirit that derives from mind and body coordinated in harmonious action. This is the Way of MAMBA.

J. A. GUERRA OVERTON - THE FOUNDER

Based on an interview with Elizabeth Gonzalez Musello

What are the origins of Mamba Mindfulness?

The origins of Mindfulness as a mental technique, as a series of mental exercises can be found in Hindu yoga. We are talking about a discipline originating some thousands of years ago. No one knows exactly when yoga began, therefore no one knows exactly when Mindfulness  began, but in the Bhagavad-Gita, a sacred book of Hinduism dated between 50 and 500 BCE, the teachings of the god Krishna to his disciple Arjuna on the field of ‘duty’ at the dawn of a great battle included a direct reference to this mental technique. The teachings of this god to his mortal disciple focus on a fundamental principle of Mindfulness  – the need to calm “the whirlpools of the mind” in order to be able to accomplish the things one must accomplish despite emotional conflicts such as fear, feelings of guilt, anxiety etc. As far as I know this is one of the first literary references to this practice, to this mental discipline, and to the role that it plays not only relating to individual behavior but to the fulfillment of social duty itself. Mindfulness is central to the psychology and spiritual philosophy of Buddhism and of Zen and therefore it passed on to play a central role in the warrior paradigm of the Asian martial arts. With Mindfulness one learns to live in the present - but not only for the present.

What does mindfulness consist of?

Despite the fact that the English word does not encompass everything of the meaning of Mindfulness, it does give us an indication of what it consists of: mind + fullness. Mindfulness consists of on the one hand filling the mind, and on the other hand of being conscious and responsible for the contents of the same. With Mindfulness we learn to focus our attention: focus our attention on being conscious and focus on what we think of, on what we put into our minds. But Mindfulness goes beyond being conscious or placing one’s attention; it also consists of a certain type of control, of management, of domain over the conscious mind. Mindfulness seen thusly is a program that consists of learning how to focus the mind deliberately, of freeing us from the extraneous, of making a selection of which types of thoughts, emotions, or stimuli we want to focus on to the exclusion of others, of deciding which are the useless and even hurtful thoughts and not allowing ourselves to be dominated or carried away by them. The final objective of Mindfulness is the development of control over the conscious mind through what we could call a ‘super-consciousness,’ a ‘meta-consciousness’ – an attention to the mechanisms and contents of the mind in order to control its mechanisms and select its contents.

What is MAMBA-MINDFULNESS?

MAMBA Mindfulness is a much more structured and intense version of Mindfulness than is commonly taught. Due to the fact that it forms part of the martial paradigm that is MAMBA-Ryu, the ultimate objective of Mindfulness (the development of a super-consciousness) is much more of an imperative than in other typical Mindfulness programs. In general these [common] programs consist of a series of basic exercises – be they breathing or meditation – practiced in a very static and tranquil fashion, removed from the hustle and bustle of everyday activities; a typical program teaches one to meditate according to the principles of Mindfulness and it ends there. It tells people they have to meditate half an hour a day and that this will help them with their stress. Some Mindfulness programs are more advanced than others, applying the principles of Mindfulness to the management of mental processes during physical activities such as walking or eating lunch. However, these programs have little to do with applying the principles of Mindfulness to the real world. Of course meditation in itself is important – it gives the mind and the body a refuge, a space in time where it can take a break from the stresses of life. But MAMBA Mindfulness is much more extensive and intensive, much more dynamic and strategic in its applications of the principles of super-consciousness. This in great part is due to the fact that MAMBA is a martial paradigm for life in which there is a distinctive warrior paradigm in operation. For MAMBA the acceptance of adversity as integral or inevitable combines with the self-imposed directive of maintaining emotional equilibrium and stability; that is to say, for the MAMBA to maintain himself centered is not a desirable option but rather an obligation, an acceptance of the responsibility that one has within oneself, a mandate to achieve peace and inner harmony.

How does one develop ‘SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS’?

Although the details of the training program depend largely on the dedication and capacities of the student or disciple, one can outline a general program in three phases: static, dynamic, and strategic.

The first phase consists of learning how mental processes work at their most rudimentary level. Here we learn to be aware of our breathing and of its relationship with our thoughts and emotions. We become conscious of the basic connection between the body and the mind and we become aware of how difficult it is to calm the incessant ‘whirlpools of the mind.’ In this basic phase we learn to meditate, we learn to breathe, we learn to become aware of what we are inside; in other words we learn ‘how our mind works.’ We discover the elemental truth about the human mind – that it likes to eschew the present, escape from the here and the now at all costs and focus on the future, on fantasy, on the past, on the beyond, on the ‘there’ and the ‘then’.

The second phase is the dynamic phase. In this stage we learn to apply the same principles of Mindfulness that we used in the static phase during meditation, but instead to states that require movement. Here what is needed is to learn to apply the same control over the mental processes of meditation to movement – when one is walking, writing, or giving a lecture. Life becomes a meditation because we apply the same concentration, the same control, the same interior harmony to all aspects of our lives – one learns to be ‘present’ instead of escaping from life, instead of being ‘absent.’ Life takes place in a world of movement, not in an isolated and static place. Therefore it’s important to develop the techniques necessary to impose this harmony onto the most dynamic of tempests that is life.

The third phase is more sophisticated because it consists of applying the strategic precepts of MAMBA-Ryu to the mental processes of Mindfulness. We are speaking now of a strategic Mindfulness. Here one learns to make a preferential selection, conscious of what we want to think about in each moment. We learn to focus our thoughts, consciously aware that there are certain thoughts, certain notions that are more favorable than others, consciously aware that some are more conducive to peace and interior harmony while others, to the contrary, will only bring us misery and unhappiness. We execute a measured control, carrying out mental movements as if they were pieces on a chessboard and knowing all the while that the opponent is ourselves.

What is MAMBA Mindfulness good for?

Today in the United States Mindfulness has been used for some time in anti-stress programs to recover from critical pathologies such as cardiac problems, cancer, and even AIDS. In every situation what is indispensable for the patient for physiological/psychological reasons is to exercise control over their mental-emotional processes. These people need to learn to live in the present because the present is all they have; the past no longer exists and the future – who knows? With Mindfulness one learns to control the mind – he who controls his thoughts exercises an important influence over his emotions. Since emotions are a great connection between the mind and body it’s important that these patients learn to manage their minds; one who controls his mind exercises control over his emotions and one who controls his emotions exercises control over his body and therefore over life itself. For people with a nervous personality, Mindfulness teaches them to control how they think, how they feel, how they live, how they ‘are.’ Mindfulness is also useful for people who are affected by emotional crises such as depression or anxiety; these people also need to learn to be present. A depressed person lives in the past and feels that the tragedies of the past will inevitably manifest themselves in the future – they project the past onto the future. Anxious people fear for the future. That is they feel that the future is going to bring about some disaster, predictable or not, and they live imagining possible future calamities. They project an undesirable future over the present. Anxious and depressed people alike are incapable of appreciating the present – both of them live in their minds, emotional victims of mental processes that have trapped them in the ‘there and then’ instead of being able to take advantage of the peace of the present moment in the ‘here and now.’

There is a Zen story that captures very well the attitude of mindfulness with respect to living in the present:

Once upon a time there was a monk traveling one evening through the forest. Suddenly and without warning he was chased by a tiger and in order to escape had to hang from a vine dangling over a cliff. But while escaping the tiger the monk discovers that there is another hungry tiger awaiting him below. Hanging there between two tigers, things only get worse when some rats appear and start chewing at the vine. Looking around and realizing the catastrophic nature of the situation, the monk suddenly notices a ripe and tasty wild strawberry just within his reach. With a smile on his lips the monk plucks the strawberry from the ground and delights himself in so tasty a morsel. 

MAMBA Mindfulness teaches one how to live in the present but not for the present. Life consists of a series of present moments in a continuous flux of time that begins with the individual’s life and continues to a certain end – death. There are times when one has to ‘be’ in the future, because he who does not plan for his future will be lost in the present. And there are times when one needs to ‘be’ in the past, because he who does not understand the past will suffer from it. But the problem of the human mind is its pathological tendency to escape from the present; living, suffering, distressing in the past, in the future, in fantasy, losing sight of the authentic wonders of interior peace and spiritual harmony that only the present can offer.

J. A. GUERRA OVERTON - THE FOUNDER

Existential Strategy is a methodology of life, a ‘Way,’ dedicated to directing an individual toward liberation, toward a psychological/spiritual state of inner harmony, emotional equilibrium, personal excellence, clarity and self-power. To begin to understand what existential strategy consists of we must first arm ourselves with two concepts: strategy and existentialism.

Historically it was in the field of war that strategy was first defined and actualized as a discipline; as a representation of war the martial arts developed with a great emphasis on the field of strategy and the related concepts of tactics and stratagems. Classical treatises such as The Art of War and The Book of Five Rings for example preserve and invigorate this knowledge within the field of martial arts. It is from this influence that the perspective of existential strategy decidedly adopts a martial warrior attitude.

The general concept of strategy as a paradigm applies to many fields in such a way that one hears of economic strategy, political strategy, or legal strategies. The development of strategy as an art and as a science, as a methodology of cognition and action, however, is still in its embryonic state. Nonetheless we can offer a functional, operational definition:

Strategy is the perspicacious administration of limited resources to reach objectives, overcome adversities, and impose our designs.

Now what do we mean by existential? As the term indicates, by existential we refer to something that has to do with life, with existence, with overcoming, with survival. But here existential refers to something more substantial, something deeper, something more profound. The existential in Existential Strategy has to do with the art of bearing the human existential condition, the type of existence specific to our species. It is true that every species needs to face the demands of existence, of eating without being eaten, of procreation. And these demands are faced not in a vacuum but amidst an ecological context, amidst an environment: those that adapt pass on their genes, those that don’t populate museums to be seen and admired. It is for this reason that the processes of adapting to the environment leave their undeniable traces in the form and behavior of the species - animals and plants alike.

But the evolutionary processes that transformed genus after genus of hominids until progressing to our subspecies homo sapiens sapiens did a lot more than just integrate bipedal locomotion, manual dexterity and a smooth epidermis into our physical constitution. Evolution, with its various processes of selective adaptation and random mutation, ultimately transformed our neuronal networks into the functional basis of our brain matter – what resulted was a mind with something truly unique, unseen, and intrinsically human: imagination.

Imagination, that capacity to create mental experiences even more realistic than those originating from perception itself is the faculty of going beyond what our senses present. Imagination is the capacity to create images and experiences (some mundane, others fantastic) that transport us away from the here and now of the physical and temporal present to defy the repressive laws of time and space and place us in the there and then. Imagination, that cognitive platform of art, of language, of technology and of spirituality is what converts us into human beings, but at the same time removes us, alienates and estranges us from the rest of nature, from the cosmos, from other human beings and – worst of all – from ourselves.

With imagination we barely feel the continuous actual present, instead living in an imperfect and elastic recreation of the past or pre-experiencing an unlimited number of possible futures. With imagination thunder and lightning are not mere and imposing meteorological phenomena but rather an expression of the fury of the gods expressing their discontent with the tribe. With imagination the shadows of the campfire in the cave are not just rays of light in the darkness, but rather the spirits of our ancestors inviting us to the ritual dance of the hunt. With imagination a spoken phrase is not just a concatenation of incoherent sounds, but rather reference to an object, an image, an event of the past, future, or present. With imagination a symbol designed on a plane is no longer a mere scratching but rather a chemical formula for the manufacture of explosives.

From the standpoint of adaptation to the environment and overcoming the same, imagination provided our species with a competitive advantage that allowed it to persist. Lacking the superior physical faculties of the rest of the animal kingdom – claws to take down prey or dissuade predators, wings to navigate the free horizons of the open sky, bronchioles to breathe in the blue depth of the aqueous abyss, or blinding speed to both hunt or avoid being hunted – the survival of our species took place thanks to the adaptation of our central nervous system, specifically our brain. And which is the function of our brain most responsible for our survival as a species? Imagination.

Imagination is the undiscovered horizon of the human essence, and the brain, our evolutionary adaptation to our environment, is our organ of the same. 

But every silver lining has its cloud, and imagination would not be an exception to the rule. As primates we continue to be social animals, and as such we house a great emotional complexity that is absent in solitary or unsociable animals. It is here, in our emotional and affective super-development, that a great deal of our imagination becomes a double-edged sword. On the one hand it allows us to depict scenarios in our mind: plan for future events, analyze past events, and formulate detailed representations of possible realities and submit them to the process of group-rationalization by way of rhetoric and dialectic, eventually deciding on a course of action that involves a minimum of personal risk. But on the other hand it leads us into angst and sadness, anxiety and depression when we re-evoke the past or live futures without previous existence, suffering emotionally as if those were actually tangible realities. Imagination brings with it the human existential condition to formulate questions such as ‘where do we come from?’ and ‘what is beyond death?’ and – most importantly – imagination brings about the anxiety of not always obtaining completely satisfactory answers.

We live in a particular socio-historical time, one which sociologists and other academics have referred to as ‘post-modernism.’ As an era, post-modernism is characterized by a crisis of values, of absolutes, of beliefs, of ideologies that are fixed – determined by an existential crisis. Where does this crisis come from? On the one hand we are experiencing the inevitable result of the clash between science and reason with faith and religion – the world is not flat; the Sun does not revolve around the Earth; the sky opens to a cold abyss of galaxies, constellations, stars, satellites and planets of which ours is only one amongst the literally innumerable; the archeological record indicates a planet that developed over billions of years, not in six days; beings are borne not by spontaneous generation but rather by the procreation of others that are equal or genetically compatible.

The belief in the existential, transcendental answers that religion offers – any religion – become more and more difficult for us to accept, and every day we find a greater number of individuals that ‘personalize’ their religion according to their perspectives and needs, ignoring the dogma imposed by the official authority of the same. The world is becoming smaller and in any one of our societies, especially in our western societies, we come into contact with spiritual ideologies or religions originating in other cultures, each proposing different premises and conclusions, many of which are contradictory or incompatible regarding the origin, essence, and destiny of the cosmos and the human being. For the Jew, Christian, and Muslim, time follows a linear pattern – the universe itself began at one point in time and it will end at another. For the Hindu, to the contrary, time is cyclical, and creation and destruction of everything that exists repeats, and shall repeat itself innumerable times. For the Hindu the soul, the atman, the immutable essence of every being, reincarnates until it reaches a development such that it is free from the cycle. Instead the Buddhist believes in anatman – that this immutable essence does not exist, that everything is in flux.

The essential and inalienable incompatibilities between the spiritual traditions of this world leave us in a state of insecurity – where does the truth, the absolute truth lie that we so desire? Many, fed up with the anguish and disappointed by the search, try to escape, finding a temporary ‘fix’ in self-annihilation by way of legal or illegal narcotics, or at the hands of those stupefying distractions known as consumer electronics.

The human being, plagued with the human existential condition worse than ever in the postmodern era, begets necessities that are unique amongst the living beings of this planet. The objective of Existential Strategy is precisely to search that individual level – ‘what are those needs?’ and ‘how do we meet them?’ The resources may be limited but the objectives are clear and attainable: live our lives, our existence, whatever it may be, with a minimum of interior harmony, with personal peace, with spiritual tranquility, with a sensation of excellence and accomplishment. We seek quarter in battle, quietude in chaos, certainty in confusion. As a methodology of life Existential Strategy, also known as the Tao of Mamba-Ryu, makes use of numerous and varied disciplines and areas of knowledge to obtain its objectives: the psychology of religion, martial arts and other strategic disciplines, hypo-shamanism, Mamba Mindfulness, the cognitive sciences, clinical and health psychology, western philosophies of mind and existentialism, and the oriental philosophies of Buddhism, Taoism and Zen. Guided by our motto “from knowledge to wisdom” we make use of many teaching methods such as the “Socratic workshop,” group work, brief lessons and clarifying teachings to guide our students and apprentices to stimulate self-questioning and the development of their own comprehension and intuition.

Existential Strategy brings together interdisciplinary knowledge with the goal of transcending academic perspectives and reaching both a pragmatic disposition and singular wisdom, transforming theoretical knowledge into a practical mission of vital actions that lead to that personal happiness that only arises from the integration of mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.
 

One cannot begin to comprehend a methodology as profound and as extensive as Hypno-Shamanism without understanding first how it came into being, what are its foundations, its origins.  Only by knowing its prehistory can one begin to appreciate the magnitude of what it offers as a therapeutic methodology, as a means towards self-discovery and self-improvement.

          Hypno-Shamanism, also known as Imaginoceptive Meta-Programming, is born on the one hand by an interdisciplinary study of shamanism and hypnosis, mysticism and world religions, and on the other hand by extensive research into the cognitive and affective neurosciences, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, health psychology, and psychology of religion.

Inspired by challenging questions, provocative curiosities – subversive even – Hypno-Shamanism arises as a result of a scientific, analytic, and systematic exploration into the world of human spirituality, mythical beliefs, and the transcendental needs of the human being.  The result for those who have experienced it is a new perspective on being human and on the human being: a series of experiences that on the one hand connects the individual with shamans and mystics across time and on the other has him realize, if he is honest with himself, the infinitely creative powers of the organ of the imagination. 

 
          It was about halfway through the 1980s when my personal reading led me to a series of books by Carlos Castaneda, the mysterious author of Brazilian origin (as far as I know, for his origins are still in question) that began his career as an author by converting his anthropology doctoral thesis on his apprenticeship with a Yaqui sorcerer named Don Juan Matus into a popular book that would later become a collection of writings.

At that time I was living in Toronto, working on the last contract of my career as a systems analyst; nevertheless the collection of works by Castaneda fascinated me as it did many thousands if not millions of readers.  To me the teachings of Don Juan resonated in a special way; his philosophy of life emphasized a martial, warrior outlook which tied into the martial tradition I had lived my entire life.  Indeed, the lessons of Don Juan, their spiritual-psychological-philosophical content were paradigmatic of the teachings that legendary masters of the martial arts imparted upon their apprentices.  They touched upon issues common to the mystical, the esoteric, and even the magical traditions of the Oriental practices of Yoga, the martial arts, Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, etc., all of which I had been exposed to since I was a child.

          My one year contract with Honeywell ended in the late spring of 1986.  That same summer, shortly after turning twenty three, I moved to Kingston, Ontario to enroll in Queen’s University. My plan was simple: finish the degree in computer science I had begun several years earlier at the University of Ottawa, maybe complete a Master’s degree in the same discipline, then return to the field of professional consulting where I would earn even more money and retire and produce my own software before the age of thirty. 

          The reality was quite different – the department of computer science was infested with failed mathematicians who sought any excuse to turn computer science exams into tests on mathematical theory.  For me, who detested theoretical mathematics, the result was predictable – if all my computer science projects received top marks, by comparison my exam results were truly humiliating, reflecting poorly on my final grades. 

 
          To achieve any substantial change in life one must arm oneself with three things: honesty to recognize that there is a problem; perspicacity to realize the nature of the problem; and the audacity to take the bull by the horns and do something about it.  It didn’t take me long to realize that the real problem wasn’t so much the department but myself – I was swimming upstream, against my own nature, and it was about time that I was sufficiently perspicacious, audacious, and honest with myself that I would follow what Don Juan Matus called a “path with a heart.”

My real fascination was with the mind and human nature, and I tried to reconcile this hidden passion with the field of computer science by way of the study of artificial intelligence in the new discipline of the future known as “cognitive science.”  I changed my major but soon realized that nothing substantial had changed.  At the time at least, Queen’s had no idea what the cognitive sciences were: what Queen’s called a new discipline was only a program of combined and disconnected computer science and psychology courses – I spent half the day in the same classrooms and with the same professors as before.

 
          Yet again disappointed, I soon changed my major to psychology – the science of the “psyche,” mind, or soul – consoling myself with the idea that despite the fact that I had abandoned a great part of my intellectual patrimony (inherited by working with my father as a programmer/analyst) that I was still at least in a branch of the sciences.  But a new disappointment would not be far off: what I found of interest in the field were not the typical topics of experimental psychology such as memory, perception and language, but rather ‘forbidden’ topics that were at the very least unknown to the mental sciences of the time, topics such as ‘mind,’ ‘consciousness’ or ‘intuition.’  Since my adolescence I had wanted to know what the real limits of the human mind were and what comprised this ‘human nature’ that was so often mentioned.

          I found that the Department of Psychology was completely dominated by behaviorists – they only studied behavior because it was observable.  Topics of interest to me such as the neuropsychology of dreaming were taboo: from their point of view a dream cannot be observed so how could we be sure that it actually exists?  During the hours that I spent watching rats run through a maze I never stopped asking myself – ‘what does this have to do with human nature?’

Meanwhile, while my internal scholastic struggles ensued my mother, a writer, had convinced me to enroll in some courses in the Department of Spanish and Italian in hopes of lightening and balancing my computer science load.  I started taking courses in literature and in Spanish and Latin American culture and civilization, topics I had not studied since my secondary schooling in Spain.  It was ironic that I would have to go to the other side of the world, far away from Spain and studying under English, Scottish, and even Italian professors, to come to appreciate the beauty and depth of Hispanic culture – my maternal patrimony.  My introduction to the arts and Iberian American culture took place with a new and special appreciation for the manner in which such writers as Cervantes, Quevedo, Bécquer, Paz, Borges, Asturias and Azuela captured the essence of human nature and the human condition, while psychology spent its time smelling rat feces. One fine day I decided to accept my new destiny – I had to admit that my master plan would never take place.  I went to the university registrar’s office and changed my major to Spanish and Latin American Studies in the Department of Spanish and Italian.  My life was about to take an unexpected and new direction in which I had traded the security of a predictable career as a programmer and systems analyst for the uncertainty of a path with a heart. 

Towards the end of my bachelor’s degree I had discovered that I wanted to investigate the world of the sorcerer Don Juan and the works of Carlos Castaneda.  The problems of the ‘how’ and the ‘where’ were resolved when I managed to get a professor of the department, Diego Bastianutti, who had his own interests in such a study taking place, to offer himself as an academic advisor.  The difficulty was that a study of such magnitude was beyond the scope of a mere Bachelor’s degree.  The solution then was to continue my studies in the department as a Master’s student of Spanish and Latin American Literature with Bastianutti as my advisor. 

          My objective was to analyze the work of Castaneda for my Master’s thesis, but after doing some research it turned out that Castaneda never wrote directly in Spanish or Portuguese; therefore despite the fact that he was Latin American, his work was not classified as such.  I had no choice but to find another subject for my thesis, but I did not give up completely on the topic of Castaneda’s master-sorcerer. 

          During my studies of Latin American literature I had realized that the character of the sorcerer, or brujo, was quite common, and that an inherent degree of esotery factored significantly into these works – the same esotery that literary genres such as magic realism, or the marvelous real were trying to capture for the implicit reader, that is, the educated western reader.  There was a ‘common denominator’ with the works of Castaneda, a pattern to discover, but it was difficult to articulate in concrete terms, difficult to identify the pattern for the purposes of a research proposal.  Given a variety of points that appear to be randomly distributed, identifying the model of a theory is akin to finding a relation between these points in a manner that reveals a clear, elegant, and succinct design.  The truth is that it became very slippery to identify the schema, the relationship between Don Juan, magic realism, sorcery, etc, although intuitively I knew it existed.  I was certain that no one, including the patron author of magic realism himself, Gabriel Garcia Márquez, could clearly define magical realism – the literary genre in which he had won a Nobel Prize; and to make matters worse anthropologists could not even agree upon a definition of a sorcerer or of sorcery. 

          As time passed my advisor was losing his patience with the topic – either I found gold quickly or had to abandon the mine and look elsewhere.  It was in this context that one evening, while I waited for the bus to arrive on my way to the campus, by chance I grabbed a small book that I had bought some time ago in Toronto, a book that every time I went to read I had put down, turned off by the strange characters drawn on the cover – mythological beings congregating around an old man with a long white beard dressed as a magician or a wizard.  But that evening, in a hurry and for lack of time to find another because the bus was arriving, I had no choice but to accept the company of that weird book. 

          Once seated on the bus I opened the book and in less than five minutes realized right there and then that I had stumbled upon the exact missing piece to the puzzle. I had found what I needed to link magic realism, the marvelous real, Don Juan Matus, magic, witchcraft, sorcery and the sorcerer, and much, much more.  The book, written by anthropologist Michael Harner, was entitled The Way of the Shaman, and nothing would be the same in my vision of the world or of human reality.

My Master’s thesis claimed two hundred pages instead of the permitted fifty to a hundred, and took me almost three years to write.  Entitled in English “Shamanism and the Shamanic Perspective in the Analysis of Works of Magic Realism: A Study Applied to Two Works of Gabriel Garcia Márquez,” it was an interdisciplinary study that was really psychological anthropology applied to literature.  The “shamanic perspective” was a term that I coined to capture the reality schema, the viewpoint of the world proper of shamans and shamanic cultures.  It is this perspective that allows one to understand the magical beliefs that have dominated not only aboriginal cultures around the world since the beginning of the human species, but have also formed the basis for the religious beliefs of the world, including the mythology and esotery of superstitions and occultism, witchcraft and sorcery.

My theory was well grounded although the committee would have liked it applied to more than only two works by the same author, a task which I later accomplished in an extensive article entitled “Shamanic Realism: Latin American Literature and the Shamanic Perspective.”  But given the obvious effort that the theory required, which made it more appropriate as a Doctoral thesis rather than a mere Master’s, it was certainly understandable that the application was so limited.  To all intents and purposes my thesis defense took place without any significant incidents, that is, until at the very end when Professor Omar Basabé, one who had accepted the ubiquity of the shamanic perspective, asked me “why?”  In other words, “why did this universal tendency take place in the human being?”  The question was genuine and sincere, an earnest indication of the fascination he shared with all those present for the topic at hand.  In retrospect it was a question that was at once innocent and obvious: if I told you that the basis of life as we know it is the carbon molecule, the next reasonable question to ask would be “why, what is so special about the carbon molecule?”  That is, as we say, ‘basic,’ ‘elementary.’  But to understand to what degree Basabé had ‘rained on my parade,’ you would have to realize that when you are dedicated to the impossible sometimes the obvious escapes you.  It had not even occurred to me, and the corresponding sensation was that if I had not seen something so obvious, what else had I overlooked? 

          Since it wasn’t the right time for philosophical self-inquiry but rather for quick responses, instead of remaining mute I replied with an answer to a related question so that even if I didn’t know the complete answer, I would show that I did have some general ideas.  I then substituted the ‘why’ of Basabé’s question with the ‘how,’ indicating that although it was outside the realm of the study, my research indicated that there was something particular about the central nervous system of homo sapiens, something that leant itself to this broad perspective of reality.  Given that all human beings share the same brain, it was logical then that this ‘something’ would also manifest itself universally.  The reply seemed to satisfy if not Basabé himself then the rest of the committee, and without further ado in February 1994 I was granted the title of Maestro - Master of Arts. 
          Later there was talk of completing the study at the level of a Doctoral program, applying my new theory to other works, but first I had unfinished business that needed settling – not knowing the answer to Basabé’s question haunted me endlessly.  Why did human beings tend so universally toward the shamanic perspective?  If it took me a while to even understand the depths of the question, it took me ten years to arrive at a satisfactory answer.  When finally I had the peace of mind necessary to understand what the question implied, I realized that I lacked the necessary knowledge to answer it.  I felt as a mountain climber who had exhausted himself reaching a peak only to discover at the summit a new chain of peaks, even higher than my own. With a simple and innocent question Basabé had robbed me of the glory of my triumph – what I had thought was the end of the road was just the beginning.

          I understood the ‘what’ of shamanism and had some idea of the ‘how,’ but the ‘why’ was still far off.  Based on my previous research I learned that I could not directly engage the question of the ‘why’ without having a better understanding of the ‘how’ – I had to re-equip myself for a new journey, a new mission: the neuro-physiological and psychological study of the shamanic journey, as it was only there that I could begin to define the answers to that question.  I contacted several neurosciences graduate programs only to discover that the discipline was highly specialized, meaning dedicated to the study of small mechanisms such as the role a certain protein plays in the synapses between two neurons, or how one’s levels of dopamine (a neurotransmitter associated with motor function, emotions, and feelings of pleasure) responded to certain pharmaceutical products. 

To understand this mentality, the mindset of the neurosciences, one must understand the methodology of reductionism that dominates the majority of the experimental sciences.  Reductionism is the name of an ideological current that believes that the only way to study a system is by a comprehension of its basic, smallest components.  The idea is that if you don’t understand how a watch works you dissemble it and study its parts, and if these results prove too complex you apply the same procedure until finally you arrive at a component so simple and so small that you can understand it completely.  Once all the smallest parts have been understood, then you start reassembling to understand the relationship between them, repeating the process until you have a complete watch and an understanding of how it works.  Reductionism is proper for classical physics where the interaction between the parts is clearly defined and governed according to rules that are well specified.  Its application to the rest of the sciences such as biology and its derivatives (which includes the neurosciences) is a legacy of a mechanical view of the world promoted by figures such as Rene Descartes.

          The success of Isaac Newton’s mechanics in describing the behavior of objects in motion inspired scientists of all disciplines to follow the same paradigm, which is why physics (where this methodology works best) is considered ‘king’ among the sciences, and the rest (such as chemistry) are ‘runners-up,’ or even ‘beggars,’ such as the social sciences (for example psychology, anthropology or sociology).  In truth, reductionism is a failed paradigm that only works with simple systems, such as watches, or truly mechanical ones in which there is no synergistic connection between the components.  For example, there is nothing in the atom of hydrogen, a gas, or in the molecule of oxygen, another gas, to indicate that the two would combine to form water, a liquid that becomes solid at zero degrees centigrade or gas at a hundred degrees – nothing at all no matter how well you understood oxygen and hydrogen in isolation.  Another example – there is nothing in the pure physiology of a tiger, as opposed to that of a lion, no matter how much you study them under a scalpel, that would reveal that one lives in social prides whereas the other is a jealously solitary predator.  Only in the context of their natural environments can you appreciate this about the lion and tiger.  

In my inquiries into graduate programs two things became clear.  First, there was no set program of study that would allow me to develop the direction of investigation, of research, that I wanted.  Second, even if there was such a program I wouldn’t have the necessary background to follow it – a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Spanish and Latin American Literature were of no use as far as continuing in the field of neuroscience.  With respect to the first problem there was nothing I could do in the short term other than to continue looking, but as far as the second one, yes. I enrolled in a Bachelor’s program in general sciences at the University of Waterloo that would allow me to pursue a Doctorate program once I managed to find one.  I took the prerequisite courses for medicine: organic chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics of organic systems, molecular biophysics, genetics and molecular genetics, human physiology, physiological psychology, etc., and I managed to add a sub-specialization in the field pf psychology of religion.

As a caged bird that has tasted the open skies, one who has managed to break the ultra-human habit of self-delusion, does not turn back.  I was committed to follow a path no matter where it led, and where I stood now was at the base of a great mountain for which I couldn’t even see the peak.  I had to resort to a more indirect tactic – instead of looking for programs interested in studying something so obscure it was even difficult to describe over the phone, I had to find the best program that would prepare me for a future post-Doctoral study if necessary.  All indications were that the best field was an old friend, the cognitive sciences, but this time in a department world-renowned for the quality of its program for it was they who had practically invented the discipline: the Cognitive Science Program at the University of California at San Diego.  A neural science professor who had advised me at the University of Toronto had confided in me that to approach a program of that caliber with such a “crazy” idea as studying the neurophysiology of the shamanic journey would be academic suicide.  I had to have a more discrete plan.  So, in 1995 I left Kingston, Ontario Canada for San Diego, California with no more than some discrete contacts in my newly chosen Department and a strategic plan in mind.

To be continued. . . 

J. A. GUERRA OVERTON - THE FOUNDER

History confirms that war and warfare are both cause and consequence of many a historic period. The French revolution, for example, is the war that defines the birth of the modern era; likewise it could be argued that in many ways the Vietnam War played a defining role in the creation of American postmodern history, perhaps serving to give rise to the birth of American postmodernism itself. Anyone who has studied history must accept as a fact the prominence that war has played throughout the existence of our species. “Warfare is of the utmost importance to the state,” asserts Sun Tzu, “its study is the path to survival or extinction and therefore cannot be overemphasized.” Not only is war a common, frequent, and often defining state of humankind, but its survival requires the greatest degree of mental, physical, and philosophical-spiritual training. War, and the successful preparation for its engagement has demanded a condition of readiness, a clarity of purpose, a singularity of dedication that in many societies has been linked to traditions of profound spirituality, particularly in aboriginal, or indigenous cultures as well as those of the Far East. The archetypes of the warrior-monk or of the warrior-shaman are well represented throughout the world’s cultural traditions.

Given the severe implications that war represents for a nation, it is not surprising that the great masters in the art of warfare have been revered across time. Never have we been in a greater need for the wisdom of these masters of strategy then in today’s so-called postmodern era. Today we are all in a state of war in which there are no frontlines, no distinguishable foes; there are no rules of engagement and no weapons of choice; there are no particular battlefields, no distinctive adversaries donning their distinguishing uniforms or brandishing their identifying banners. But we are at war nonetheless. It is not international terrorism of which I speak, for even in that conflict there are adversaries, opponents, interests, ideologies, and sides. Today we are at war with the chaos that characterizes and dominates the world we live in; we are under siege by the absurdity that ubiquitously manifests itself throughout our societies, our institutions, and communities. This chaos and this absurdity have become so commonplace in our lives, so overpowering to our senses, so contemptuous of our powers of reason, that they demand nothing less than the total capitulation of own mind, the complete surrender of our psyche, our spirit, our humanity. Seen in this light it is not surprising that we resort to mind-numbing and mind-altering substances in our desperate attempt to avert our awareness to the reality that surrounds us, and that in many instances threatens to define who we are.

Much of my existence is spent immersed in the midst of this chaos, of this absurdity, feeling the very pulse of its frontline, struggling to resurrect its most dire victims. My time is currently divided between a Mexican city named Tijuana, and its sister San Diego, situated directly across each other along the US-Mexican border in southern California. Among other things I work as a doctoral student intern in a female juvenile detention facility in San Diego. There, as a member of the juvenile forensic psychology crisis intervention team I tend to the psyches of female juvenile offender’s who have been assigned to my charge. At least 95% of the girls at the Center could be divided loosely into four largely overlapping categories: recovering substance abusers, drug-dealers, gang ‘affiliates’ (combination of “gang-bangers” and “gang-backers”), and prostitutes.

It is an internship assignment that I selected from many other possible ones and for which ‘attributes’ I bring to the task are definite assets. For one I am a native Spanish-speaker of African-American, Native American, and Spanish descent; most of the wards are Latinas, either Mexican nationals or Mexican-Americans, which means a Spanish-Indian racial and ethnic mix; there is also a fair representation of African Americans, although below the national correctional average as a result of the racial demographics of San Diego County. The second characteristic I bring to the job is that I am not entirely unfamiliar with the roots of their barrio or ‘hood’ mentality: I know it at its root cause and in the flesh. My gender and age are also assets; virtually all of these girls are desperately lacking a positive father-figure in their lives, an older male who will not seek to sexually exploit or physically abuse them. Combined, my racial-ethnic background, my linguistic ability, my life-experience, my age and my gender allow me to build a sound therapist-patient relationship much quicker then one might expect from a male working in a female institution filled with rape and sexual abuse survivors. These therapeutic sessions are encounters in which the girls are free to discuss the details of their lives they have kept secret from the world, and all too often from themselves.

You may wish to question the relevance that this experience has on society as a whole; you may wish to argue that these individuals, and those like them at other institutions across the country, form such a small segment of the population that whatever conclusions one derives from their cases could not possibly reflect upon the society as a whole; you may think that these individuals represent not our society itself, but the rejects from our society; that they constitute the exceptions from which society seeks to protect itself, distance itself, and disown. You would be sadly mistaken. There are a number of characteristics of this population that are profoundly representative of who we are and of where we are as a nation, as a continent, as a civilization, and perhaps even as a species. Working with these girls has taught me a lot about the world in which we live, and has made me pay closer attention to the indicators of a reality you cannot see unless you already know it exists. Our American society, and perhaps our entire Western civilization, is experiencing a pathological denial of the reality that surrounds and defines us, of a reality that describes where we are, i.e., our stasis, and who we are, i.e., our self-identity. Together, stasis and self-identity are facets of the same coin: who you are is often the reflection of where you are, and vice-versa. Moreover, our cultures and societies are a cumulative manifestation of their individual components, and those individuals who constitute them are equally representations of the collective.

There are at least 11 factors that characterize many if not most of the patients in this institution, and these very factors are at the core of what is wrong with American society: a) criminal affiliations; b) a record of substance abuse; c) father absence – if not fatherlessness altogether; d) a history of child sexual and physical abuse; e) low education levels; f) a profound sense of materialism[1]; g) a family history of low economic status; h) social alienation; i) rage-bordering anger; j) a criminal record; and k) hopelessness.  In all too many cases the life histories of these girls were written long before they were born. They are not the rejects of a nation, of a society, of a civilization; they are often the victims of the same, and their stories constitute clues, hints, and traces of the verifiable nature of the world in which we all live, the world which we all contribute to create each and every day with our behaviors, habits, choices, apathy and negligence.

Boys and Girls from the Hood:

A recent bulletin issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated that there are approximately 30,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with approximately 800,000 members operating in the United States today. “Many are sophisticated and well organized; all use violence to control neighborhoods and boost their illegal money-making activities, which include drug trafficking, robbery, theft, fraud, extortion, prostitution rings, and gun trafficking.”[2]

The communiqué continues to outline the various “Anti-Gang Strategies” that the FBI has adopted, strategies that it recently presented before the Congress of the United States[3] in order to deal with the street gangs which are, according to the FBI spokesperson, "more violent, more organized, and more widespread than ever before."[4] What the FBI fails to mention is that in order to carry out this task it counts on little more than 30,000 total employees nationwide at its disposal (approximately one for every violent gang in the country), of which only a grand total of 12,515 are special agents. This is the force with which the FBI intends to secure the streets of America[5] and deal with not just violent street gangs, but with a host of other law-enforcement responsibilities, such as counter-espionage and anti-terrorism. In fact, the FBI’s 2007 estimate of the number of violent street gang members, which in all likelihood does not include street gang “backers”, substantially outnumbers the 674,000 full-time law enforcement officers across the country[6].

Figure 1: Total Number of Gang Members vs. FBI Special Agents & Full-Time Law Enforcement Officers USA.

Street gangs have become extremely prevalent in US society. According to a Department of Justice survey performed back in 2001, 20% of all students between the ages of 12 and 18 reported street gang members had been present at their schools within the past 6 months; 28% of students in urban schools reported a street gang presence, 18% of the students in suburban schools, and 13% in rural schools.[7]

This situation could only have worsened over the past 6 years as the estimated number of street gangs has risen from 21,500 in 2001 to 30,000 in 2007.  Indeed, many of my patients are part of the currently estimated 800,000 violent street gang members; under the psychologist-patient confidentiality laws I am privy to many of their exploits and I am also legally bound to a code of confidentiality in protection of their trust. I will say this much however: in not a few of these cases you would not want to find yourself alone and at their mercy. 

It is easy for an adult who has never experienced a street gang as a child to underestimate or altogether overlook the impact it can have on children’s perceptions of the world and of themselves. A seemingly harmless encounter with a single gang member, however can lead a child into an escalating series of violent and horrifying experiences, including death, against which teachers, parents, or even police officers can offer little or no protection. Gangs constitute a society within society based on a subversion of our rules, where the response to the chaos and the absurdity of our postmodern world is a self-sustaining and all-encompassing lifestyle of violence, substance abuse, and rampant criminality often financed by the distribution and sale of illicit narcotics and by the illegal trafficking of firearms.

A narcotized society:

            Consequently, practically all my patients have been substance abusers at some point or another; many, if not most, have been “slinging for a living” – engaged in the sale and/or traffic of narcotics. My conversations with my patients during these therapeutic sessions regarding their drug-trafficking activities are reminiscent of a very different type of work I did nearly twenty years ago. Between the late 1980s and through the early 1990s I freelanced as a Spanish/English interpreter while completing my Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies, followed by my Masters degree in Spanish and Latin American literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Much of my work in those days took place either for the RCMP –the Canadian equivalent of the FBI, for private attorneys, or for the Canadian correctional system in the various minimum, medium and maximum security institutions distributed throughout the Kingston, Ontario area. Sometimes I worked as a simultaneous interpreter, a surprisingly demanding and draining task.  Most frequently, however, I served as a cultural interpreter for Spanish-speaking inmates in preparation for, and during their parole board hearings. In general the job of interpreting for Corrections Canada was not an easy one for the government to fill. To begin with, at the time there were few people in the Kingston area competent enough in the Spanish language who could pass the rigorous security background checks; even fewer still would who be willing to venture into emergency medical ward of a maximum security penitentiary at 3:00 am in the morning to interpret for an inmate who had just been ‘shanked’ and hemorrhaging profusely.

Kingston, Ontario is the penitentiary capital of Canada, so interpreting was a steady stream of income. Virtually all my work was drug-traffic related, much of it pertaining to the cases operatives of the then all-powerful Columbian drug cartels. My job required not only a command of the Spanish and English languages, but also a sound understanding of both Hispanic and Anglo-Canadian cultures. These inmates had to be prepared for one of the most decisive moments of their lives, their chance to regain their freedom at their parole board hearing, and the Canadian government wanted them at their best, in full understanding of what was required and expected of them. During those years I met and interpreted for dozens upon dozens of Spanish-American drug-traffickers – Colombians, Mexicans, Chileans, Venezuelans, Peruvians, Argentineans, etc., even for a former Cuban intelligence officer – all linked to the drug Cartels of Latin America. My clients ranged from lowly illiterate ‘mules’ who were caught (and some likely setup as decoys) carrying relatively small quantities of narcotics stuffed in some bodily cavity or other; to sophisticated, and deadly, lieutenants and capos. I even experienced the excitement of interpreting on a parole board hearing for a former girlfriend of one of Escobar’s top lieutenants (a cousin), arrested during what was at the time the largest cocaine bust in Canadian history, an interagency operation that involved a number of United States and Canadian federal, state and provincial law enforcement agencies, including the DEA, the FBI, the RCMP, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Surete du Quebec.

The Canadian Correctional parole board was composed of a limited number of members who traveled throughout the country for these precise occasions; since a disproportionate number of federal penitentiaries were in Kingston, over the years most of the board members became quite familiar and even sympathetic faces. One day, after a particularly long set of hearings the Chair asked me to regain my seat just as I was leaving. I shut the door and sat down again while the room filled with an awkward silence, evidently this was not a spur of the moment decision. Suddenly the Chair asked me why it was that regardless of their efforts to dissuade the trafficking of drugs into the country, to educate those who were arrested, tried, and sentenced to the damage that drugs cause the people of Canada, that the number of drug trafficking related cases was not diminishing but rather steadily climbing. I do not recollect his precise facial features, but I do recall the genuine sense of frustration, even to the point of despair that dominated his expression. I remember looking around the table, noting the age and ethnicity of the Parole Board Members – all middle-aged Caucasians – and asking myself if they really wanted a sincere answer or if this was really just a rhetorical question in disguise and that perhaps I was being ‘tested’ in some way. As if reading my mind the Chair said “You have worked with these people for years and we would all really like to hear your opinion on this. Why is this not working?” He was referring to the overall societal effort, from law enforcement to corrections, to deter the flow of illicit narcotics into the country. I remember taking a deep mental breath and distinctly thinking, “Well, he asked for it.”

The fact of the matter was that for one of my courses in Latin American culture and civilization I had prepared a detailed report, complete with a presentation based on the work that I did as an interpreter and on some sound academic research of my own. It was my opinion that the “Drug War” could be no more won than the Vietnam War had been, and that the US was making now the same fundamental mistakes it did then: failing to take into consideration the historical, social, and cultural foundation of the people they were at ‘war’ against. Not only did the US not understand the enemy, it did not have a clear understanding of itself; as Master Sun would say: to neither know the enemy nor oneself is a sure recipe for defeat. Drug-trafficking was clearly both a demand-side and a supply-side problem. As long as the United States, and by association Canada, presented a demand for these substances any number of sources would arise to supply them. As far as the supply side was concerned, there had been a systematic failure to recognize the cultural attitudes of those involved.

Despite the great diversity among the Spanish-speaking peoples of Spain and Latin America, collectively known as La Hispanidad, they partake of many fundamental socio-cultural attitudes and customs that derive from their common Iberian origins. As they pertain to the problem of the traffic of illicit drugs there are two essential traditions that need to be considered: the bandolero or bandolerismo tradition, and the contrabandista or smuggler tradition. The bandolero or bandido is a figure that historically has doubled at times as an outlaw and a freedom fighter. Culturally, Hispanics tend to perceive all forms of government as inherently corrupt, oppressive, and opportunistic; primarily seeking to advance the private interests of individual politicians and high ranking bureaucrats above and beyond that of the nation itself. Consequently, law enforcement and military forces are understood to be fundamentally agents of oppression and governmental means to subjugate and exploit the people. The bandolero and the guerrillero or freedom fighter have often been interchangeable entities, both employing the guerrilla or insurgency tactics, both operating within the confines of a culture steeped in secrecy and secret societies[8]. The guerrillero/bandolero traditions, for instance, date back to the native Iberian resistance to the Roman invasion and occupation, and have continued throughout the histories of Spain and its derivative sub-cultures in Spanish-speaking America. Bandoleros in times of extensive governmental repression or in times of invasion became guerrilleros renowned for their subversive effort. In Spain for example, Andres Lopez was a Sevillian bandit who participated in insurgency operations against the invading French forces of Napoleon in the 19^th century; his exploits inspired the popular Spanish television series Curro Jimenez in the late 1970s. When political circumstances became too unfavorable, guerrilleros at times became bandoleros in order to survive. Bandolerismo is therefore one instance of a culture’s adaptation to a long history of invading and oppressive forces, a history that in Spain ends only recently with the death of the dictator Generalisimo Franciso Franco and the fall of his American-backed fascist regime in the 1970s.

Commensurate with bandolerismo is contrabandismo, a long-standing Hispanic tradition arising from the economic need to circumvent the Spanish crown’s monopolies and restrictions on free trade. Once again, not only was this custom well established in Spain, but it became standard practice in the New World among the colonies in the efforts to assert economic and political autonomy in the face of repressive political forces. The trafficking of illicit narcotics from Latin America into the US in the latter part of the 20^th centuries and into the present one are a mere continuation of the long-standing, centuries-old illegal contraband practices that Spanish-American colonies sustained, often with the United States, against Spanish imperial trade restrictions. Rather than evading the oppressive imperial forces of Spain and trading illegally with the US and Britain in sugar or molasses, for example, these societies now elude the drug-interdiction forces of the US government in order to trade in cocaine and cannabis; same mule, different cargo. The cultural tolerance, if not acceptance of the bandolero and the contrabandista are instances of Hispanic culture that are not equally represented in Anglo societies, except perhaps by the Robin Hood story, and therefore overlooked and misunderstood by American policy makers.

The United States, and its doctrine of Manifest Destiny, is often perceived in Latin America as the new colonial Empire, the ultimate force of social and economic repression, the cause upon which they can blame all of their social and economic woes. US military and covert activities have not helped to dissuade this viewpoint. The persecution of Pancho Villa into Mexican territory by the US army; the multiple attempts to kill or overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba; the assassination of Salvador Allende in Chile by the CIA leading to the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet; and the US Iran-Contra affair in Nicaragua constitute a short list of examples of United States political, social, and economic interventions which the Latin American keeps mentally present at all times. This anti-US sentiment is probably best summarized by a quote attributed to the former Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz, “Poor Mexico, so far from God, and so close to the United States.”  For many Hispanics they are the lawful owners California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. So while the US has used up most of Latin America’s goodwill, the drug trade at large is perceived by many as an opportunity to settle a centuries old score – and for a few a profitable one at that. There is no inherent immoral stigma associated with the selling of a renowned poison to a declared enemy who knowingly can’t seem to consume it fast enough.

There is an entire world of cultural values and perspectives that the Anglo-Saxon ethnocentrically tends to ignore, values and perspectives that motivate and inspire people into behaviors that are otherwise incomprehensible. As long as American and Canadian consumers present a profitable demand for these self-destructive substances, there would be a moral, not to mention an economic justification in supplying them. “There is a war,” I informed the Parole board, “but it is not a ‘drug war’, it is a socio-cultural confrontation between two opposing cultures, a confrontation that dates back to the age-old rivalry between two of Europe’s greatest imperial forces, England and Spain, a confrontation implicitly continued by their descendent nations here in the New World.” You could have heard a flea hop as I ended my ‘lecture’ with four solemn words: “You’ll never beat them.” 

The 1980s and the 1990s we’re filled with rhetoric from the US government regarding the “War on Drugs,” yet by the early 2000s one would rarely hear that term anymore. Politicians have simply taken the approach that seems to suit the American people just fine: if a problem is not mentioned then the implication is that it no longer exists. The fact of the matter was that not only did we not win “the War on Drugs,” but we spent billions of taxpayer dollars loosing it: “Efforts to significantly reduce the flow of illicit drugs from abroad into the United States have so far not succeeded.”[9] Indeed they have not. If the gang-related statistics didn’t captivate your imagination or at least catch your attention, then perhaps the drug-trafficking ones will. In 2006 the wholesale-level drug distribution in the US was estimated between $13.6 and $48.4 billion dollars, with substantially more revenues generated through midlevel and retail drug transactions.[10] In 2004 the estimated quantity of cocaine alone available to the US market was estimated to have been between 95 and 445 metric tons (1 metric ton = 2,200 lbs).[11] To give you an idea of the economic magnitude of these estimated quantities consider that 1 gram of pure cocaine retails for about $100; there are 1000 grams in a kilogram, and 1000 kilograms in a metric ton, which means that a metric ton of pure, uncut cocaine has a street value of $100 million. Plug these figures into the 2004 figures above and you get estimates of between $9.5 billion and $44.5 billion dollars worth of pure cocaine sold in the US that year; these estimated quantities double once the cocaine has been cut for the streets. By 2006 the solid estimate for cocaine imported into the United States was 300 metric tons or about $30 billion in wholesale street-value, $60 billion in street-retail value. The economic pressure to import cocaine into the US is astonishing: that same ton of pure cocaine that sold wholesale in the US for $100 million was only worth $3 million when it left Columbia: a 33-fold increase from production value to wholesale value.[12] These estimates do not include figures for the national consumption of other illicit drugs such as marijuana, heroin, opium, and others. To give you a sense of how serious drug trafficking is on a global scale consider that it is presently believed that approximately 50% of the $750 billion laundered around the world each year stems from the illicit drug market.[13]

FIGURE 2: Mounting Social Cost of Substance Abuse (Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco, individually and combined) Compared to Department of Defense Expenditures.

The mounting social cost of the illicit drug trade is even more mind-boggling than its wholesale or even retail financial impact. According to the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, in 1992 the economic cost of drug abuse in the United States was estimated at $102.2 billion, and that cost rose at the steady annual rate of 5.9% between 1992 and 1998. This 5.9% increase exceeded the 3.5% combined increase of the adult population and the consumer price index for all services combined. [14] 1993 economic costs of illicit drug abuse were $111.5 billion; $118.4 billion in 1994; $126.5 billion in 1995; $131.3 billion in 1996; $137.1 billion in 1997; and $143 billion in 1998. By the year 2002 the calculated annual economic cost of drug abuse in the United States ascended to a staggering $180.9 billion dollars.[15]

But if you think that illicit drugs are where our substance abuse worries should reside then think again. In 1992 the National Institute of Health or NIH, conservatively estimated the combined social cost of alcohol and drug abuse in the US at $246 billion – approximately $965 for every man, woman, and child residing in the US that year.

            The breakdown of this quantity may surprise you even further since 60% of the damage was produced by alcohol abuse and alcoholism, about $148 billion, whereas all illicit drugs combined caused ‘only’ 40% of the damage, at $98 billion.[16] In 1995 the estimated economic cost of illicit drug abuse was $124.9 billion, while that of smoking exceeding it at $138 billion that same year; in the meantime, alcohol abuse costs rose to $184 billion by 1998.[17] Most of the girls at the rehabilitation facility where I work as an intern present with alcohol abuse or alcoholism problems. If you think these girls are the exception even there, yet again you would be sadly mistaken: in 2006 the social costs of underage drinking were conservatively estimated at $53 billion, of which $19 billion are from automobile crashes, and $29 billion are from violent crimes; and all this despite the fact that it is legally forbidden to sell alcohol to minors in all of the 50 states.[18]

These figures are so astonishing that they become meaningless without a context for comparison. In 1998 when the calculated cost of drug abuse alone was $143.4 billion, the calculated cost of alcohol abuse was $184 billion, and that of smoking $167 billion, for a combined economic cost of substance abuse that year of $494.4 billion, the entire US Department of Defense budget paled in comparison with its ‘mere’ $259.4 billion: America spent more than 190% of its entire Defense budget picking up the pieces of its substance abuse habits. In 2002 the cost of drug abuse was estimated at $180.9 billion, and that of smoking held steady at $167 billion. We can estimate the 2002 cost of alcohol abuse using 1992 and 1998 figures together with the 3.9% growth rate from earlier years and set that figure at $213.6 billion. Our total estimated cost of substance abuse for the year 2002 was $561.5 billion. Compare this to the DOD budget of ‘only’ $302.4 billion in the same year and we spent 85.6% more on the aftermath of harming ourselves than we did in attempting to protect the country from foreign attack. 9-11 and the Iraq war has served to equalize those costs somewhat, which is a dubious relief at best. Projected expenditures for 2007 for drug abuse ($217.35 billion), alcohol abuse ($257.39 billion), and smoking ($167.08 billion), give an estimated total of $641.82 billion – ‘only’ 38% more than the DOD budget of $463 billion for this year. Our enemies need not destroy us; we are doing a great job ourselves.

FIGURE 3: Metric Tons of Cocaine Interdicted Over the Years

While consumption and the economic cost of substance abuse have gone up over the last decade, so have the US government’s efforts to reduce the supply: in the year 2000, 117 metric tons of cocaine were intercepted; 141 metric tons of cocaine in 2001; 143 metric tons in 2002; 157 metric tons in 2003; 197 in 2004; and 234 metric tons in 2005.

FIGURE 4: World (2003/2004) Vs. USA (2005) Percentage of Habitual Drug Users

Drug interdiction simply cannot solve the problem of supply, and the problems of demand and abuse continue to increase. In 2005 it was estimated that there are 19.7 million habitual drug users in the United States, approximately 8.1% of the population 12 years old or older[19] “spending by most conservative estimates over $60 billion dollars annually in a diverse and fragmented criminal market.” This figure is slightly up from the 19.1 million or 7.9% of the population 12 years old or older estimates from 2004.[20] To put this consumption in global terms, it is estimated that approximately 200 million people use illicit drugs habitually worldwide[21], which means that the United States with less than 5% of the world’s population has approximately 10% of the habitual illicit drug users; what this means is that the United States has more than twice the percentage of drug addicts as compared to the rest of the world.

To be continued . . .

Reports from the Frontline is written by J. A. Guerra Overton. Mr. Overton holds a Bachelor’s degree (Honors) in Spanish and Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Spanish and Latin American Literature from Queen’s University, in Kingston, Canada; a Bachelor’s degree in General Science from the University of Waterloo, Canada; a Master’s degree in Cognitive Science from the University of California; and is currently a PhD Candidate in Clinical, Health and Integrative Psychology from Alliant International University in San Diego, California. He is the Founder and Headmaster of The Kaizen Center for Strategic and Integrative Arts, MAMBA-Ryu, Kai-Jutsu and The International MAMBA-Ryu Society. Mr. Overton can be contacted for lectures and seminars at james@kaizen-center.com or (858) 568 2430.

To be continued. . . 

J. A. GUERRA OVERTON - THE FOUNDER

Hypnosis and hypnotic phenomena are integral aspects of certain shamanic practices. The use of hypnotic methods can be identified in ancient shamanistic traditions from around the world, long before hypnosis was formally introduced into modern Western society (e.g., Teitelbaum, 1978; Bowers, 1976). This close relationship between shamanism and hypnosis can be clearly observed in at least two areas of the shamanic complex. First, both shamanism in its healing rituals and hypnosis in its therapeutic encounter, rely essentially on the skillful manipulation of the patient’s imagination in order to achieve the desired therapeutic benefits. Accordingly, shamanic healing and clinical hypnosis can be jointly defined as the “masterful presentation of ideas [by the hypnotist or shaman] in order to manipulate images in the subject or client, all for the purpose of causing deliberate physiological and/or psychological responses to take place” (Overton, 1998). The second aspect shared by both shamanism and hypnosis the representative use of the same dissociative state of consciousness, which in shamanism is referred to as the ‘shamanic journey,’ or ‘ecstatic flight,’ and in hypnosis is called ‘the hypnotic trance,’ or simply ‘trance.’ Neurophysiological and empirical evidence support the view that the shamanic journey achieved without the use of hallucinogenic substances, that is, with the aid of musical instrumentation, chanting, etc., elicits the same electroencephalographic profile as the hypnotic trance state. In addition, experiential phenomena characteristic of the shaman's ecstatic flight, such as shapeshifting, contact with imaginal agents, etc., can likewise be achieved in hypnotic trance (see Overton, 1998, 2000).

The role of trance and imagination in hypnosis is not always self-evident from its definitions, which vary greatly. Hypnosis has been defined as “any effective communication” (Grinder and Bandler 1981; 2), “a state of mind in which suggestions are acted upon much more powerfully than is possible under normal circumstances" (Alman and Lambrou, 1992), and “ideas evoking responses” (Bierman, 1995, p. 65). Each of these definitions illustrates differing views on the relationship between hypnosis and trance, an association that is often not clearly understood although the latter is frequently implicitly viewed as equivalent to the former. However, although the use of trance with patients is central to the manner in which hypnotherapy is currently practiced, this was not always the case, nor do all practitioners understand it to be exclusively so.

HYPNOSIS IN BRIEF HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE:

From its initial stages to its present-day usage, hypnosis in the West has undergone a series of identifiable transformations in its development. These transformations reveal the relationship between hypnosis and trance, the role that imagination plays in the therapeutic process, as well as some key intrinsic aspects of hypnosis which pertain to its relationship with shamanism. In the West, hypnosis, or ‘Mesmerism’ as it was once called, can be directly traced to Anton Mesmer, who in 1776 promoted the idea that a general magnetic fluid pervaded all of nature, including living organisms, and that disease resulted when this magnetic fluid was unevenly distributed within the body. The proximity of a magnetized substance was employed to reestablish the flow of magnetic fluid in the body and therefore restore the organism to health. Although the hypnotic procedure took place without a formal trance induction process, healing was accomplished by the successful manipulation of the patient’s expectation of the effects of imagined magnetic forces. So powerful were the images of the effects of these illusory forces, that these therapeutic interventions were often accompanied by violent convulsions on the part of the patient.

The second phase in the development of hypnosis centered on the techniques promoted by a disciple of Mesmer - the Marquis de Puysegur. Puysegur insisted that the healing power to realign the magnetic fluids in the patient’s body resided not in the magnets themselves, but rather in the “magnetizer” who by mere willpower redirected the magnetic flow and promoted healing. Puysegur was the first hypnotist known to induce a trance in his patients, a state that he referred to as “somnambulism.” Thus, this phase in the development of hypnosis is distinguished by the use of (still imaginary) directed ‘forces,’ combined with the introduction of the ‘somnambulist,’ or trance state in the patient. Puysegur’s techniques inspired several healing methods involving hand passes (so-called “laying of the hands”) and light touching in key areas of the body.

The next stage in the evolution of hypnosis began in 1819 with Abbe Faria who developed the fixed-gaze method, in which he required subjects to fix their attention on an object in order to induce trance, after which he would offer healing suggestions to complete the intervention. Faria believed that the capacity for healing resided not in the magnetizer’s powers, but rather in the patient’s trance state, and despite publishing his results, his discoveries sparked little attention and remained unknown for some time.

In 1849, several decades later, and independently of Faria's findings, Dr. James Braid also discovered that when patients experienced a period of focused attention on a light, they became more suggestible. He coined the term “hypnosis” to refer to this sleep-like state in which patients entered when staring at the light for extended periods. Like Abbe Faria, Braid's discovery that patients’ became more susceptible to the images elicited by his suggestions when in “hypnosis” than otherwise, also lead him to conclude that the therapeutic process depended not on the receipt of any magnetic substance, but rather on the hypnotic state of the patient. Furthermore, Braid concluded that the patients’ suggestibility was measured by their capacity to enter the hypnotic state. With the advances of both Abbe Faria and James Braid, hypnosis passed into the “trance stage,” during which trance alone, without the manipulation of imagined magnetic forces, became understood as the basis for the healing intervention.

By the end of the nineteenth century Bernheim and Liebault in France fully determined that hypnosis is the result of psychological forces within the subject and not physical (or any other type of) forces existing without. In 1958, after a two-year study, the American Medical Association accepted hypnosis as a viable clinical procedure. Currently, the term ‘hypnosis’ has become exceedingly controversial, difficult to define and therefore to delimit. It is still often applied indiscriminately to the method of intervention called 'hypnotherapy,' the hypnotic trance state, the psychological and cognitive phenomena commonly elicited during trance, as well as to the means of inducing the trance state itself.

IMAGINATION: THE SINE QUA NON OF HYPNOSIS AND SHAMANISM:
What is important to note about hypnosis from its history is the main purpose which the individual’s imagination, in the form of beliefs, suggested images, and expectations, serves in the hypnotic encounter, with or without the use of trance. For example, in 1784, at the request of the king of France, Benjamin Franklin led a commission to investigate the scientific validity of Mesmer’s magnetic claims. The result of the royal commissions’ findings were that “imagination without magnetism produces convulsions, and that magnetism without imagination produces nothing” (Bowers, 1976). However, trance currently plays a central role in hypnotherapy, as in this state the suggestions of the hypnotist are thought to have magnified effects compared to those that similar manipulations would accomplish in a ‘normal’ or ‘waking’ state of consciousness. Nevertheless, the patient's expectation, which is a cognitive-affective state resulting from the combination of the imagined outcome of an event or procedure together with anticipation associated with that imagining, is at work not only within the hypnotic trance, but also in each aspect of any given therapeutic encounter. This is the case even prior to the formal intervention procedure. The psychophysiological effect of the impact of imagination plus anticipation is an ordinary occurrence in the history of medicine and is commonly reflected in the phenomenon often derisively referred to as the 'placebo' effect (e.g., see Bierman 1995; or Overton, 1999). The placebo effect can be defined as the beneficial physiological or psychological response that occurs as a result of the patient's expectation alone, despite the ingestion of an inert substance or otherwise (rationally) ineffectual intervention. The placebo effect is the bane of the pharmacological industry, its power being so pervasive that it is one of the main standards against which every new drug or treatment must demonstrate its efficacy (Harrington, 1997). Furthermore, "its effectiveness has been attested to, without exception, for more than two millennia” (Shapiro & Shapiro, 1997).

Hypnosis exemplifies the psychophysiological power of the human imagination, arguably the same power also at work during the placebo effect. Indeed, for Bierman, the placebo effect is "the cardinal fact" of hypnosis (Bierman, 1995). The relationship between the placebo effect and hypnosis is most evident during the earliest stages of its history when it relied exclusively on the magnetizer's manipulation of the patient's expectation.
The counterpart of a placebo is often referred to as a 'nocebo', that is, the negative physiological responses to an inert substance or otherwise non-functional intervention based on the patient's fatalistic expectations. Voodoo death, in which the witch doctor or other shamanistic figure's curse leads to the demise of the victim, is often presented as the classic example of the nocebo effect. The first scientific investigation of Voodoo death was performed by the physiologist Walter Cannon (1942), who described this shamanistic phenomenon as the “fatal power of the imagination working through unmitigated terror” (Cannon in Benson, 1996). Thus, the relationship between Voodoo death and hypnosis is simple to discern: “Voodoo death is hypnodeath” (Overton, 1998). Whether positive (placebo) or negative (nocebo), the imagined outcome of the patient's expectation can often be so compelling to the individual's physiology that the resulting imagining becomes, to a lesser or greater extent, enacted in the form of healing or ailment.

From the perspective of clinical hypnosis Bierman emphasizes that placebo, i.e., hypnosis without trance, and ‘trancework’ indeed represent opposite ends of the “technique spectrum” (Bierman, 1995). It is also here where we can clearly find one of the common denominators between shamanic healing and hypnosis. In the shamanic healing encounter, the patient’s imagination is excited and exercised while observing the actions, in the form of physical behaviors and verbal descriptions of the shaman who, in trance, is mentally traveling in the supernatural realm. The reason for the “shamanic journey” or “ecstatic flight” in shamanic traditions this lies in the etiology of disease in the shamanic paradigm, according to which pathology is often attributed to supernatural causes in the form of illicit interference, such as soul loss, witchcraft, or sorcery. Thus, the shaman must ecstatically, that is, in the form of an out-of-the-body experience, enter the supernatural realm to either obtain the knowledge to heal or to intervene in that dimension on behalf on the patient.

The role reversal between hypnosis and shamanism in the use of trance is an interesting one. For the hypnotherapist, the patient's trance magnifies the therapeutic effect of the mental images elicited by the hypnotherapist's words. For the shaman, the vividness of the experiences he describes when journeying plays powerfully on the patient's imagination, heavily conditioned by culturally acquired expectations. In hypnotherapy, following the development of the Western model, the ability to heal resides in the mind of the patient because disease is understood to originate within an individual. For this reason, it is there, in the patient’s mental realm, where the healer must endeavor to find a solution to the malady. Ultimately, both shamanic healing and hypnotherapy rely on the power of the human imagination to both create vivid and dynamic images, and to respond to such imagery, psychologically and physiologically, often in dramatic and enduring ways (Overton, 1998).

Aside from the essential role that imagination plays in both shamanism and hypnosis, another area in which they are similar is in the nature of the trance experience itself. From a neurophysiological standpoint, the pattern of brain wave activity created during a hypnotic trance experience is practically identical to that created during similar recording of shamanic journeys. In addition, the phenomenology of the shamanic journey can readily be replicated in any suggestible subject during hypnotic trance (see Overton, 1998, 2000). Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that both the shamanic journey and the hypnotic trance correspond to the same state of the mind-brain and are simply social and cultural adaptations of the same psychobiological phenomena. As Overton concludes, where shamanic healing and clinical hypnotherapy principally differ “is in the fact that they are each cultural adaptations fundamentally rooted in opposing epistemological polarities.” In other words, for “the Westerner, knowledge resides in this reality, thus so should the clinician’s consciousness,” on the other hand, “for a member of a shamanic culture, knowledge resides in non-ordinary reality, and so should the shaman’s spirit.” Inherent to both healing methodologies is the fundamental use of the patient’s imagination in order to achieve the desired responses, be they psychological, or physiological, or both.
 

REFERENCES AND WORKS CITED
 

Achterberg, J. (1985). Imagery in healing: Shamanism and modern medicine. Boston: Shambhala.

Achterberg, J. (1987). The shaman: Master healer in the imaginary realm. In Shirley Nicholson (Ed.), Shamanism (pp. 103-124). Wheaton, IL: The Theosophical Publishing House.

Alman, Brian M. & Lambrou, Peter (1990). Self-hypnosis. The complete manual for health and self-change. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Benson, Herbert (1996). Timeless healing. New York: Scribner.

Bierman, Steve (1995). Medical hypnosis. Advances: The Journal of Mind-Body Health, 11, (3). Kalamazoo, MI: Fetzer Institute.

Bowers, K. (1976). Hypnosis for the Seriously Curious. Monterey CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

Boyne, Gil. (1989). Transforming Therapy. Glendale, CA: Westwood Publishing Company, Inc.

Cannon, Walter B. (1942). 'Voodoo' death. American Anthropologist, 44, 169-81.

Eliade, M. (1964). Shamanism. Archaic techniques of ecstasy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Grinder, John & Bandler, Richard (1981). Trance-formations. Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the structure of hypnosis. Mohab, UT: Real People Press.

Halifax, Joan (1982). Shaman: The wounded healer. London: Thames and Hudson.

Harrington, A. (1997). Introduction. The Placebo Effect: An Interdisciplinary Exploration. Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press.

Maxfield, Melinda (1990). Effects of rhythmic drumming on EEG and subjective experience. Unpublished Dissertation, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Menlo Park, CA.

Overton, James A. (1998) Shamanism and Clinical Hypnosis: A Brief Comparative Analysis. Shaman, Vol 6, No 2.

Overton, James A. (2000) Neurocognitive Foundations of the Shamanic Perspective: A Brief Exploration into the Role of Imagination in Cognition and in the Creation of Experience. Shaman, Vol 8, No 1.

Shapiro, A. & Shapiro, E. (1997). The Powerful Placebo: From Ancient Priest to Modern Physician. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Teitelbaum, Myron. Hypnosis Induction Tecnics (1978). Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas.

Walsh, Roger N. (1990) The spirit of shamanism. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher.

Wall, Steve (1995). Shadowcatchers. New York: HarperPerennial.

Yapko, Michael (1990). Trancework: An introduction to the practice of clinical hypnosis. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
 

J. A. GUERRA OVERTON - THE FOUNDER

The trail up the mountain suddenly led into a thick mist that stretched before him like an ominous white curtain. Absorbed in his progress he neither paused nor contended its place but rather proceeded into it determined to stay the course. It wasn’t for quite a number of steps that he noticed the complete change of temperature and scenery to what now seemed like a different world: the warm mountain climate had been replaced by a near arctic landscape covered in snow and enshrouded in a dense and oppressive fog. His pace slowly ground to a seeming halt as he became aware of an eerie sensation that had unexpectedly materialized within him: fear.

At first the feeling was a knowing impression at the periphery of his awareness and he simply ignored it, attributing it to the sudden marked change in temperature and dramatic increase in humidity that impacted his mostly naked sweaty body. Gradually the sensation had intensified to the point that he had to attend to it, consider it for it demanded his attention.

He was quite surprised by his own thoughts and he was not sure what they betrayed: a lack of confidence? Regret? Guilt? Loneliness? What was happening to him?? He was by himself, with himself, why would he be afraid?!? But he was; in fact he was overcome with terror. He wanted to cry out, but knew it to be both in vain and demeaning if the already pathetic feelings he was experiencing within were manifested to the cosmos. He felt small and insignificant, as if everything he ever did or could ever do would amount to little more than the silent emptiness that presently engulfed him; it was as if everything were nothing; it was as if he himself were nothing; it was as if the immensity of the universe, of nature, of this very trail and mountain he so arrogantly wished to challenge and fathom came crashing down on him all at once and crushed him in spirit if not in body. Running with Wolves! Swimming with Killer Whales! Following the Eagle, his Eagle in the sky! What was wrong with him? Who did he think he was? Something special? How could he have fooled himself so? How was this possible? Why had he not drowned in the depths of the bay swimming with the Orcas only to wish to cease to ‘be,’ here so close to the summit? What was wrong with him? Where was his Power, his warrior’s Pride? Why did he suddenly break, wimp out, crumble?!?

It was in the midst of this cerebral fog that his mind barely caught a glimpse of an ephemeral shadow, a furtive blur that made him spin around in a wild-eyed panic. What was that?!? “Am I going crazy too?” he cried aloud. But as he repeatedly whirled around trying to materialize into a concrete visual image the flash he was not sure was real or a hallucination, he noticed that he was disoriented, that he no longer knew which was the path of return or where his path had been leading; he was stuck, dizzied and lost. It was at that precise instant that the first attack came.

A ripping, searing pain that shot through his body like a dagger of ice cutting him from groin to scalp stopped his very breathing. His back arched as much from the unexpected abruptness of the event as from the agony of it itself. Mouth agape and eyes as large as plates he instinctively spun in the direction of the attack while his brain scrambled to interpret into reality the flood of cryptic messages that his senses presented. Sheer terror gripped him as he impulsively reached down to grasp the source of pain at his left rear flank, only to feel a hot sticky wet substance flowing liberally down his backside and now over his hand. He caught another ephemeral glimpse of a shadow as it retreated into he was not sure which direction even as his mind ran through possible supernatural explanations for what was happening. Frantically glancing around all he saw were trees and more trees fading into the white distance. Nothing made sense as terror clutched his very being, paralyzing his very thought.

The second attack caught him on his right side and he distinctly felt teeth sinking into his flesh; instantly he roared in pain. Once again he swerved to get a visual on his attacker, and yet again it disappeared into the forest without a trace, like a phantom, like an invisible evil presence that left nothing but wounds, pain and terror in its wake. The attacks kept coming, now with more speed and greater frequency. His legs failed him and he collapsed onto the ground, writhing with agony, shocked that even such a degree of pain was possible for he had never . . . no! Not true! A flash of memory coming from a wave of abrupt familiarity, rolled back the years to that place, to that time, and to that . . . to that helpless state as a child . . . but a child he was no more! A flicker of anger that soon became a torrent of wrath overtook him, overwhelming and overriding his agony. Nostrils flared, teeth gritted, lips curled and snarling like a raging beast, his face became a mask of wild fury as he regained his feet; no longer content to withstand and avoid he was now determined to hunt and destroy the angry demon. As if shocked by the transition of its prey, the shadow materialized to reveal an equally snarling and fearless adversary: the bloodthirsty Carcajou!

Both opponents now circled each other in a battle to the death as the Carcajou no longer had the advantage of possession of the man’s spirit and heart and had to now fight him solely “mano a mano,” from outside his mind and body. The man kicked and the Carcajou nimbly retreated, the beast lunged and snapped and the man leapt and dodged. Man and beast attacked and defended, neither making the least progress until suddenly the man, synchronizing his movements with those of the great mustelid, managed to connect a ferocious kick against the very muzzle of the beastly ghost, hurling it backwards in a head over tail tumble across the snow, shrieking like a whipped dog. This incensed the Carcajou who, wild with fury and hatred, attacked in reckless abandon, and tossing all caution to the four winds took a prodigious leap towards the man’s throat. The man offered his left forearm as a shield and target for the Carcajou’s furious wrath and gaping jaws. The Carcajou clenched onto the man’s left forearm and both of them heard the cracking of the bones even before the man felt the shock waves of pain that quickly paralyzed his entire left side. But the warrior would not be stopped. With the lightning speed that had so often characterized him in battle he dropped down to the ground, slamming the Carcajou on its back and stabbing his knee in its chest, pinning it against the snow. In a continuous blood curling frenzy of human and animal snarls, of animal claws tearing and ripping human flesh, and of human flesh splattering blood in all directions, the man mercilessly beat the beast with his right fist until the Carcajou lay a limp mass of broken bones, battered meat, and flattened tissue and fur. It is doubtful that the man even registered the bones in his own hands cracking from the tremendous and relentless impact he imparted upon the skeleton of the spirit-animal.

He did not stop striking until his arm no longer responded to his will to continue, long after the carcass had relinquished its grip and its life. Chest heaving with exertion, both hands clenched in white-knuckled fists as his eyes rolled in their sockets towards the top of his head. Falling back and sitting on his heels, his head and face upturned to the sky he emitted a primal scream of rage, desperation, and detachment to all things in a manner that seemed to howl: “This is it? This is it? This is all you have? This is what you sent to destroy me? I don’t care!!! I STILL AM!!!” The roar boomed into the mist, reverberating through the trunks and branches of the forest’s trees, echoing into the far-off mountains. In the distance the thunder of a great storm replied to his calling.

For moments or hours – no one knows - he just sat there, exhausted, emptied and full. Finally, regaining himself he felt his power surge once again and the will to keep moving suddenly pulled him to his feet. Disoriented still, his mind delayed in recognizing as snow the flakes of white stuff he just noticed falling from the sky. The seasoned warrior that he was, he took stock of his numerous wounds and lacerations as he remembered one of his favorite expressions: a warrior without scars has never been to battle. After a functional assessment of his condition he resolved that he had no choice but to press on forward, always forward; but where, in which direction? Looking around for a sign he noticed the figure of the Eagle, his Eagle, calmly resting atop a branch: he knew that to be the Way.

When he limped to where the Eagle awaited him he looked back at what he had left behind. He was stunned to see that the carcass of the Carcajou was no longer that of the mangled and broken furry beast he had left behind, but rather that of a man – himself! Even more astounding was the realization that the tracks in the snow leading from the killing ground to where he now stood were not his, nor even those of a man, but rather those of the Carcajou itself.
 

J. A. GUERRA OVERTON - THE FOUNDER

WHAT IS BLACK MAMBA?   BLACK MAMBA is the physical and combative aspect of the personal development paradigm known as MAMBA-RYU.   BLACK MAMBA is both a martial art as well as a system of personal protection.   As a martial art BLACK MAMBA encompasses all of the psychological, emotional, and philosophical aspects of the oriental arts, but without many of the inherent limitations of traditional arts and combat sports.   As a system of personal protection, BLACK MAMBA was developed as a response to the security needs of the modern world and with only one objective in mind: survival. Like the snake from which it derives its name, the techniques, tactics, and strategies of BLACK MAMBA are designed to eliminate a threat with the greatest efficiency (minimum effort) and effectiveness (maximum result) possible.   THE BLACK MAMBA MOTTO, "MOVE LIKE A MONGOOSE, STRIKE LIKE A SNAKE" succinctly summarizes the emphasis placed on strategic maneuverability, tactical flexibility, and technical execution that characterizes the BLACK MAMBA approach to combat survival.

THE HISTORY OF BLACK MAMBA

BLACK MAMBA  is the direct result of the experiences, research, and training programs of its founder James Alexander Guerra Overton. The son of an Afro-Indian American father and a Spanish mother, Master/Founder Overton was born in the United States in 1963, in a decade of intense racial turmoil and only shortly after many states had overturned their "Jim Crow" laws forbidding mixed racial marriages. From his earliest infancy he experienced extreme racial violence resulting in physical attacks which on more than one occasion left him unconscious and abandoned for dead. The effects of these encounters affected his physical and emotional health causing serious digestive disorders, migraines, allergies, and general respiratory problems. At 7 years of age and after having sustained emergency-room treatments for asthma attacks, Overton's allergist assured him that without a disciplined exercise regimen to strengthen his lungs he would most likely not live to see his 12th birthday.

Largely in response to this social reality which threatened to end the life of their (at the time) only son, the Overtons left the United States for the mother's homeland, Spain. It was there at 8 years of age when Overton commenced his training in yoga and Zen.

Nevertheless, violence would not elude him for long. Responding to a period of political instability in Spain after the assassination of the Prime Minister, Admiral Carrero Blanco, at the age of 10 the family moved to England for slightly over a year, where the young Overton would once again be exposed to the physical and emotional trauma of racial violence. Upon returning to Spain at the age of 12 years and as a result of a passing encounter with a member of the local youth gang, Overton would find himself involved in a series of events and experiences that lasted years and forever affected his perspective on the martial arts in all of its aspects - physical, psychological, and philosophical. It is during this period that his passion for the oriental and combative disciplines emerges.

At the age of 18 the Overton family would move to Canada, where he would continue to pursue his study of the martial arts (karate, judo, aikido, boxing, kickboxing, kung-fu, tae-kwon-do, Filipino eskrima, and others), training with world-ranked fighters in kickboxing, amateur boxing, and tae-kwon-do. He would begin teaching his own art BLACK MAMBA in 1990 at the age of 27. In 1995 in order to pursue a graduate career at UCSD, Overton would move to San Diego, California where his study of the martial arts would intensify, leading him to obtain teaching ranks and licenses under internationally renowned masters and grandmasters in judo, Japanese jujutsu, Brazilian jujutsu, aiki-jujutsu, Russian sambo, hapkido, combat hapkido, ninjutsu, Thai boxing (Muay Thai), and krav maga.

It is also during this time that Overton would become the coach and primary training partner to his son Jimmy, who won several national and international judo titles as well as a place on the Canadian national judo team, all for which Master-Founder Overton would be awarded the title of Best Coach in Canadian judo for three consecutive years (1999, 2000, 2001).

Combining his martial knowledge with his studies in the disciplines of shamanism, psychology, neurosciences, cognitive sciences, world religions, oriental and Western philosophy, survival, and executive protection, Master-Founder Overton would expand BLACK MAMBA into the broader MAMBA-RYU, designating BLACK MAMBA as its physically combative branch.

In July 2006 Master-Founder Overton will be inducted into the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

WHY BLACK MAMBA?

BLACK MAMBA arises on the one hand as the result of direct experience with violence and on the other from the integration of a wide spectrum of combative knowledge, all of which combined allow for the rejection of ineffectual techniques and tactics as well as the ability to adapt others to the necessities of the current situation. BLACK MAMBA is the product of a selective and creative synthesis of over 20 different arts.

Black MAMBA is a truly integrated system, meaning that it provides an over-arching theme and vision that synergistically blends a diversity of components derived from a wide-variety of origins and adapted into a uniquely broad, encompassing, and proficient combative system capable of addressing any aspect of reality. Many modern systems attempt to make this claim, but under scrutiny they are but collection of mismatched techniques from a variety of other arts or competition sports attached together but lacking a series of principles, much less a vision, that integrates them into a whole; the result is an approached that is doomed to mediocrity on all levels. BLACK MAMBA is a cohesive combat paradigm characterized by strategic, tactical, and technical integration across ranges and weapons.     

BLACK MAMBA is an integral component of a large comprehensive system, MAMBA-Ryu, and as such is the result of integration at a much higher level than the mere combative. Although Black Mamba is the combative branch of MAMBA-Ryu, it reflects the profound philosophical, cognitive, psychological, and spiritual depths of the other aspects of the MAMBA-Ryu paradigm, as do MAMBA Mindfulness, Imaginoceptive Meta-Programming, and Existential Strategy. Black Mamba, for this very reason, is an authentic ‘WAY'. While many martial arts assert the same, the reality of the matter is that few actually produce the coherent set of premises or principles necessary to constitute a philosophy of life, much less a cogent methodology to serve as a guide for the student to progress along a path of self-realization.

Black Mamba focuses on principles, not just techniques. Techniques are as limitless as the leaves on a tree because they are mere instantiations in a particular time and space of a given branch of principles. In both BLACK MAMBA as well as in Black MAMBA Situational Combat we emphasize identifying and comprehending the fundamental psychological, philosophical, and physical principles that define the scenario. By grasping the underlying principle, the student of Black Mamba learns how to transcend individual techniques and improvise an instantiation of the higher level principle in order to deal with the situation at hand.

Black Mamba teaches each application and its shadow, that is, its reversal, its counter and therefore its weaknesses and limitations. Much like a criminal investigator must be capable of thinking like the criminal he or she pursues, by learning the limitations of a technique we can better prepare ourselves to defend against it. For example, it is not by being the best grappler that we can defeat the grappler, but by both understanding the limits of grappling AND by being sufficiently proficient at grappling that we can neutralize the grappler and conduct the battle on our own terms.

BLACK MAMBA training takes place PRIMARILY outdoors,  where real-life confrontations occur. By training on different terrains, uneven surfaces, varying weather conditions, at different times of the day or night, and under various three-dimensional constraints (water, elevator, car, kitchen, etc.), the student develops a familiarity with the many situations in which a conflict situation can take place and is therefore better prepared to enact a successful response.

J. A. GUERRA OVERTON - THE FOUNDER

Hello!

I just read through quickly my first e-newsletter from your centre. wow...

I am a 56 yr old woman who has just begun karate (goju-ryu) here in Kingston, Ontario at Tallack's Martial Arts. I am merely a lowly grasshopper (remember the original Kung Fu tv show with David Carradine?) ...have achieved yellow belt and am so entranced and energized by the physical rituals. I embrace the mind-body-spirit demands!

Reading through this newsletter I found so many interesting ideas...Thank you!

Be wonderful!
Karen

A Series of Seminar/Workshops and Personalized Training Programs

Conducted in Select Locations

 Throughout San Diego and Baja California.

Designed and Offered by Master/Founder and

USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame Member

J. A. Guerra Overton

Assisted by Instructor Jimmy Overton:

5 Time US Judo Champion

4 Time Canadian Judo Champion

California State Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Champion

Wrestling Champion

Certified Instructor of Sambo , Judo, Japanese Ju-Jitsu , Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and  Black Mamba

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