Firewalking: The Psychology of Physical Immunity

By Jonathan Sternfield


Taking a Stand In the Fire

I had the feeling that I had pushed to the brink of the world; what was of burning interest to me was null and void for others, and even a cause for dread. . . . After all, there was nothing preposterous or world-shaking in the idea that there might be events which overstepped the limited categories of space, time, and causality.
Carl Jung

To assess further the phenomenon of firewalking, we should carefully examine any evidence that brings into question conventional physical explanations. Without resorting to a whole battery of new experiments, we might scrutinize the claims of scientists that short contact with the coals is the reason why most of us can safely walk across a glowing firebed. Besides the low thermal capacity and conductivity of wood coals — a fact which is not open to question but whose effects seem in some dispute — the short contact theory is the most popular scientific explanation of how the firewalk is possible. Yet repeatedly, both my own experience and that of others strongly suggests there is something else going on.

If there were any reliable reports of long contact, they might at once dispel both the short contact and the low thermal capacity and conductivity theories. For few would deny that if a firewalker simply stood on glowing, red-hot coals, he or she should normally suffer serious burns within a matter of seconds at most.

Zusne and Warren emphasize this in their exploration of anomalistic psychophysiology: “One of the factors not stressed in reports on fire walking is that fire walking is walking, not standing still on embers or stones. There is no recorded instance of anyone’s ever having attempted to just stand on red hot stones or glowing embers for any length of time.”1

JOE NUZUM AND THE CHI

Herewith, let us record several such instances. We already have my own account of standing on a bed of glowing hot coals for several seconds, though I did receive a small blister. We also have Michael Sky’s report about his standing in the fire — and his witnessing others not only standing in fire but lying down on the coals without singeing skin, hair or clothes. Equally impressive is the experience of Joe Nuzum, a former foundry worker from western Pennsylvania who spent years working around incredibly hot fires and molten metals. Now he spends his time giving demonstrations of what he calls “Ninja Magick” and teaching martial arts. Among the rituals he teaches his students is the firewalk.

Nuzum says he first firewalked in 1975, when he was 16. Before he firewalked, though, he experimented extensively. Having heard about firewalking Tibetan monks, he began by holding his hand over a candle flame. “Once I realized the different states of mind I could enter into,,, he told me, “I found a way where I wouldn’t get burned. I went from getting burned almost instantly to being able to hold my hand in the flame for close to 45 seconds.”2

Nuzum says he also practiced holding his hands in the flames of burning papers, then eventually progressed to firewalking and from there to standing on red hot coals. “And that I’ve done for maybe 45 seconds,” he said.3

I have not witnessed this, but I have seen videotapes of Nuzum holding flaming coals in his hands for a period of 40 seconds. I have also read reports about him and discussed him with a psychiatrist who has both examined him and written about him. 4  In conventional physical terms, Nuzum’s performances are amazing and inexplicable. Nuzum attributes his fire immunity to “the protective qualities of the chi,” the field of bioenergy around the body that Eastern mystics tell us can be controlled by the mind. “There’s been a lot of fascinating things done with the chi,” says Nuzum. “It’s mind blowing.”5

THE WORLD’S LONGEST AND HOTTEST FIREWALKS

Perhaps it is also time science confronted the activities of another amazing firewalker, a Washington state resident named Steve Bisyak. Bisyak is a Tolly Burkan-trained firewalking instructor who runs his own human potential seminars, Challenges Unlimited. And he is undoubtedly one of the most experienced firewalkers in the world. “I’ve firewalked over a thousand times now,” he said when I spoke with him in early 1991. “I’ve walked on a red-hot metal plate, red-hot coals and red-hot briquettes.

In Kansas City, in front of 300 people, I pretty much gave my whole lecture from the center of the fire. I was on a red-hot fire for minutes“6

Bisyak first saw firewalking on the “You Asked For It” TV show when he was nine. Fifteen years later, in 1984, he learned firewalking from Tolly Burkan. Even since then, he says, he has continued to “push the limits.” Today he holds the record for the world’s longest firewalk (120 feet) and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the hottest firebed ever walked on.

For the longest walk, he used 10 cords of wood with the highest BTU factors he could find (cherry, madrono and oak) stacked in a pile 126 feet long. For the hottest fire, he and 10 other walkers braved a coalbed 15 feet long, 12 inches deep, with three inches of flame on top. Its average temperature was measured at 1,546 degrees F. After his walk, not even the hairs on Bisyak’s toes were singed.

Bisyak has also done some tests with the firewalk — tests that lead him to conclude that the ability to walk safely over hot coals is all a state of mind. For example, in August 1990, he and three other volunteers were fitted with EEGs, blindfolded and, one by one, paraded around a grassy area. Then, unannounced, each was led onto a bed of red-hot coals. All four were badly burned.

“If you take the mind away from the situation, it’s guaranteed burn,” Bisyak said. “If you step on fire by accident, you get cooked. Other people who were there and in the right state of mind walked across that fire with no problem.”7

Moreover, the EEG, said Bisyak, indicated a common brain wave pattern for those who burned and another pattern for those who did not burn. “Alpha and beta [brain waves] are extremely wide; theta is fairly narrow; the very bottom of delta is pegged out wide. And without delta being pegged out wide, it was hot — meaning that if you were very peaceful and calm and relaxed, you got burned!8

After all his semi-scientific investigation, Bisyak has come up with a folksy formula for figuring a person’s burn possibilities prior to any firewalk. “One hundred, minus the percentage of attention,” he says, “equals the number of blisters — meaning if you’re 98 percent, you probably got two blisters; if you’re 75 percent, you got 25 blisters; if you’re 50 percent, you got cooked!”

Bisyak has also done what he calls the “nylon stocking test,” walking on hot coals wearing nylon stockings. “They don’t bum,” he says. “You can put the nylon on the coal bed, and it doesn’t last; it disintegrates — you can’t put it out! That’s what brings me to the conclusion that it’s a bioelectric field that protects us, something like the human aura.”9

Bisyak says he’s convinced that this field is activated by a combination of fear and faith. He’s also convinced that if it could be isolated, the same energy or chemical that prevents burns could also be used to treat serious burn victims. “Two out the three serious burns that I’ve had — and I mean where the whole bottom of the foot comes off — healed almost spontaneously. I was able to go out and play tennis the next day after walking on hot coals. There was no sign of damage at all.” 10

Bisyak’s testimony is also revealing in regard to the skeptics’ argument that a firewalker’s immunity can be attributed to the way in which the feet are placed on the coals. If we examine Bisyak’s experience and that of many other firewalkers, we must admit that hot coals are not only underfoot but also to the sides of the foot and on top of it as well. Bisyak at one point described his feet as “submerged” in glowing hot coals. Similarly, when I stood in the fire myself, my feet were buried in orange coals, and the surface coals covering the tops of my feet were in no way less radiant than when I entered the fire.

It seems equally clear that short contact with the fire cannot explain many firewalking in which the participants stand, dance or linger on the coals. “You have to be committed,” says Bisyak. “That’s the difference between what the physicists are saying and what the firewalkers are saying. If you’re not committed, you get burned.”11

JACK SCHWARZ: TOTAL BODY CONTROL

Another committed man who is equally adept with fire is Dutch-born American Jack Schwarz. In his early teens in Holland, Schwarz began increasingly to realize voluntary controls over many of his normally automatic physiological functions. He concentrated on the control of pain. frequently pushing an unsterilized knitting needle through his arm to test himself, but soon he could also control bleeding and burning. By the time he arrived for testing at the laboratory of Drs. Elmer and Alyce Green of the Menninger Institute in Topeka, Kansas in 1971, Schwarz was regularly sleeping only two or three hours a night, eating only several small meals a week and had demonstrated fire immunity to himself and to his friends. 12

In the late 1970s, Schwarz got an opportunity to demonstrate his controlled fire immunity to a convocation of 55 doctors. At a meeting of the Los Angeles County Medical Association, psychiatrist Kurt Fantl introduced Schwarz, announcing that he would demonstrate a variety of astonishing, self-regulatory controls. The most startling among these was immunity to fire. First, Schwarz allowed the physicians to examine his hands, which they found to be normal and untreated in any way. Next, two medical students wearing asbestos gloves carried a burning brazier into the conference, and from the container Schwarz scooped out a double handful of red-hot coals. Walking calmly among the doctors, Schwarz showed them the fire in his hands, allowing them to feel the heat and observe his immunity to burning. Finally, he laid the coals to rest on a newspaper, which immediately burst into flames. When his hands were examined once more, they again appeared to be perfectly normal, with no signs of their lengthy contact with red-hot coals.13

When tested in the Green’s laboratory at Menninger in 1971, Schwarz again demonstrated his immunity to fire, as well as his control of bleeding and pain. Fire immunity, Schwarz found, was not automatic; in certain states, he could still be burned, in other states, his immunity seemed complete and absolute. To him, the critical factors appeared to be intention and need. And when intention and need are strong enough, he says, they activate “the power of the radiance of our body,” which he says can protect us not only from fire but also from other noxious stimuli. Schwarz also maintains that this body radiance creates “a living Faraday cage — a high voltage, low amperage energy field” that can even prevent one’s hair and clothes from burning.14

Jack Schwarz believes that his remarkable abilities are not so remarkable, and he repeats over and over again that his performances are potentials we all have. “At a laboratory once,” he said, “they told me, ‘Now we are going to test some normal people.’ I said: ‘I beg your pardon; I am the only one whom you have ever tested who was normal. I follow the principles which are normal principles for firewalking; the other ones have not bothered to, so they are still operating in a subnormal way.” Schwarz seemed especially adamant about this last point. “I make that statement not just to you,” he said, “but in every lecture I give: ‘Now, look, people, don’t sit there in admiration, and don’t tell me, “Yeah, but you were born that way.” You forgot: you were born that way, too.”15

FOOTNOTES- Chapter 7

1. Leonard Zusne and Warren Jones, Anomalistic Psychology. A Study of Extraordinary Phenomena of Behavior and Experience (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum, 1982), 64.

2. Joe Nuzum, personal communication.

3. Ibid.

4. Joe Nuzum, “Joe Nuzum – Ninja Magick,” a videotape; Dr. Berthold Schwarz, “K: A Presumed Case of Telekinesis,” International journal of Psychosomatics, 32:1, 1985, 3-21; Dr. Berthold Schwarz, personal communication.

5. Joe Nuzum, personal communication.

6. Steve Bisyak, personal communication.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Elmer and Alyce Green, Beyond Biofeedback, (New York: Delacorte Press, 1977), 235-6; Jack Schwarz, personal communication.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.

15. Jack Schwarz, personal communication.

Firewalking From the Inside

BY

ARII-PEU TAMA-ITI

(CHARLES W. KENN)

Ordained and Initiate Firewalker

A report on four firewalking performances in Honolulu, and a critical study of them from the point of view of the initiate firewalker instead of that of the onlooker.


Review by Max Freedom Long

http://www.maxfreedomlong.com/articles/MFL_Bulletin_vol016_a.aspx

APPRECIATION OF THE FIRE-WALKING investigation and the report in the booklet, has been expressed in letters arriving at the "Study". As we all know, this appreciation is highly deserved. HRA Charles Kenn (944 Twentieth Ave., Kaimuki 16, Honolulu, Hawaii) is another who is performing a great and valuable labor of love. He is sparing neither time nor expense in his expert delving into Huna matters. He now ranks as the foremost expert on firewalking, and is a recognized authority on things having to do with the Hawaii of yesterday. Drop him a line of comment and thanks. He'll love it.

Most of you have by now had a copy of FIREWALKING FROM THE INSIDE and have read it, so what I now say about it will be more to the point.

Mr. Kenn, because of the limited space for his comments and explanations in his report, could only touch on some very significant things that he has unearthed from his studies of old manuscripts and books. Many points of contact seem to have been possible in ancient times between the kahunas and peoples of Egypt, Central America, India and elsewhere. Hidden behind a symbol one may find similar beliefs and practices.

On page 34 of the report Mr. Kenn tells us of the university composed of two colleges in early Polynesia. One was symbolized as the "Upper Jaw" and one the "Lower Jaw". This would seem very strange and meaningless did we not also know the terms applied to describe the two classes of student. One almost has to know Huna in order to understand when told ABOUT Huna by these old symbols and records which are often hidden in names.

The central and secret concept of the "WORD" and of "The LIGHT" seem to have appeared first in Huna as symbols, later being embodied with other ideas in the mixed religions found around the world.

The tongue was the secret symbol of the LIGHT. It was the "Flaming Sword" of the "Revelation" accredited to John the Divine – this work having all the earmarks of an initiatory drama filled with secret symbolic material covering certain teachings.

The mouth is the home of the tongue and is formed by the upper and lower JAWS, the upper symbolizing the higher level of being and the lower the lower or earthy level. Mr. Kenn tells us that students of the Lower Jaw College were called hau-mana, meaning, "occult-power-inspired". The implication in the words is that these students were trained in the use of the rituals calling into action the High Mana of the High Selves. The Lower Jaw students were, mana-ai, "occult-power-food", which points clearly and directly to the work with the low mana on the earthy level of the Aunihipili or subconscious self. The high and low magic are thus indicated, and the work of instant healing with the High Mana and the help of the Aumakua, as well as the slower healing by the manipulation of the low mana when transferred from healer to patient or in implanting thought-forms as "suggestions".

I keep stressing the indications, whenever found, that add to the proof that we have rightly understand the ancient SECRET of the kahunas. I do this for the reason that IF we can be sure we have HUNA correctly understood on the main points, we can continue with full confidence in our efforts to work out the practical methods of using those basics for healing of body, purse or circumstances.

The "WORD" is the thing that comes from the mouth, and as it is the symbolic product of the action of the intelligent part of the triple man or Triple God. This action involves the use of the mana in its turn, and of the men or sacred aka or etheric basic substance which assumes a reality in terms of time and space when put to use.

The concept of "word" is still to be traced definitely in the Polynesian dialects, and may be hidden in terms not meaning "word" in modern usage. The actual spoken word did not set the creative work into motion, On the contrary, it was the cluster of thought forms, of which a word is but a sound-symbol, that formed the core of the created structure. This structure, we presently decide, is first invisible and built of the aka substance, being part of the future. It incubates in a way rather beyond our understanding, and, in due time, appears as a reality (be it a state, thing or set of circumstances) as the future becomes the present – always entering at the same moment the confines of space,

Knowing this much of our Huna, tentatively, we can look with greater understanding on the puzzling opening verses of the book of John in the New Testament. Let me quote them as given in the

Ferrar Fenton translation (a copy of which has just recently come to me as a greatly appreciated gift of an HRA and member of the newly formed and very active Portland, Oregon HRA group.) (This is a translation done with the greatest care taken to give the exact meaning of the earliest versions – often with surprising light thrown on meanings, especially since we have found Huna.)

(Note: This translation is given with the following comment: "There is ample reason to believe the Gospel of John was written at an earlier date than those of the other three Evangelists." In any event it seems to have its Huna traditional beliefs more perfectly preserved.)

"The WORD existed in the beginning, and the Word was with God, and the WORD was God. He was present with God at the beginning. All came into existence by means of Him; and nothing came into existence apart from Him. What originated in Him was Life; and the Life was the Light of Mankind. That Light shines in the darkness; but the darkness did not absorb it.

"A man came, sent from God; his name was John. He came for witness, in order that he might give evidence concerning the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not himself the Light; his mission was to give evidence concerning that Light. The real Light was that which enlightens every man coming into the world."

(The account then goes on to tell how the Light, as a personality, incarnated in the human form of Jesus – which, of course, was a matter coming at least 500 years after Huna was in full flower in the lands near Egypt, and certainly before the Polynesians left for far places.)

Jesus, emerging in the accounts as the Christ, becomes the symbolic incarnation of the WORD as well as of the LIGHT (Rev. 19: 13). And, turning to another revealed writing, OAHSPE, we read (128:1) "God foresaw that the knowledge of one generation could be handed down to the next. And though all these things are false in fact, as a written word is not a word, but an image of an idea which hath been spoken, so by symbols conveyed God the living truth."

Viewed from the Huna angle, the "Word of God" is no more nor less than the collection of thought-forms which were first made and then caused to be cast into the molds as earthly realities. The element of intelligence embodied in this Creative level of Consciousness, higher than ours, and which we call "God" and cannot really understand, is symbolized by the LIGHT. The Light uses the element of force (a higher mana) and the Universe is supposed to result. All we know to a certainty is that there is a Universe, and that at this time it is probable, as propounded in Huna, that the "food" or low mana of the "Lower Jaw" symbol is provided by us on the Aunihipili level of being to empower the Aumakua (standing with us as an individualized or incarnated unit of the Light) (as was Christ, if we can rely on the dusty accounts).

"Mr. Kenn passes on to us on page 43 the kahuna belief that,  "…the life of the kahuna is the Aumakua, and the life of the Aumakua is the kahuna."

If anything in Huna is important, it is the teaching that this relation of interdependence exists between us and our na Aumakua. We feed them with the low mana and they bless us with that same mana changed to the higher voltage or vibratory form and used for mutual good. All sacrifice is a feeding of the "gods", and all that the gods can accept and absorb from us is the low mana. Here is the "Pearl of Great Price" of the kahunas. No mana: no blessing.

"The Lost Word of Power" of the Cabalists, which great students searched for in the time of the German, Reuchlin, and the Italian, Pico Della Mirandola, appears to have been no secret name of God, no combination of sounds. We begin to see it as the combined action of mind-mana-thought.

It is also apparent that those who once knew this secret were at great pains to prevent the outsiders from learning it. They went to no end of trouble to pull the wool over the eyes of the curious. What was easier than to say that a certain secret name had only to be uttered to set miraculous power into action? In the Old Testament (Ex. vi. 3) the wool pulling may be seen. God was said to have revealed Himself to Moses and to have divulged His name; but later we find the name Jehovah warped into many forms to try to make it an instrument of magic. (Check "Logos" in the Greek, and "Vach" in the Sanskrit if you are interested in this line of thought.)

I have spoken of Central America and the traces of Huna to be found in the religions of yesterday in that region. Most of us are familiar with the pictures of the great feathered serpents carved in stone on the temples. Endless learned articles have been written to try to throw light on their significance, but when we know Huna, the mystery begins to fade. The serpent has been, the world around, a symbol of the mana of the level of the Aunihipili. The wise men of India expanded the symbol to get two serpents, and had them move upward in crossing spirals about the spinal centers until they reached the top of the head and went from there to a symbolic higher level. Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness as a symbol. Our Red Indians have rites performed with serpents, Only the kahunas were without these, oddly enough, and we must conclude that the symbol was discarded by them in a snakeless land in late centuries, or that, as they, knew the mana was the serpent, they felt no need of the shield for their secret.

The ancient stone serpents were not too hard to understand in terms of "serpent power", but the feathers had all the savants stumped, not that they ever admitted it. It is very simple in terms of Huna.; When a snake is given feathers,, that means wings and flight. The_ flight of the serpent power or low mana is to one place only in. religious practice, and that is to the Aumakua- call it by the name of any god or set of gods. All the kahuna prayers ended formally, and often as we end ours in the TMHG work - our prayer takes flight (that is, the mania flow is released to carry to the Aumakuas the thought-forms which we have created with care to be used as the molds or "seeds" to be used in making the conditions that will be the answer to the prayer,) let the rain of blessing fall(the return flow of life-giving high mana,) (Lele is the word used, and it means "to fly".)

The low mana that is food for the gods or the Aumakuas and that is provided by the "Lower Jaw" symbolically is the serpent. But, when the serpent has grown feathers and taken flight, it becomes the symbolic EAGLE. Feathers were worn and used ceremonially the world over, and are today in many parts. They are basically the symbol of the low mana changed to the magical HIGH MANA by the Aumakua who will manipulate the great power at the request of the devotee. From all sides we continue to find verifications of the fact that there was a secret belief and that we have rediscovered its symbolic meanings, We turn back the clock in order to turn it forward. MFL.

Firewalking From the Inside

BY

ARII-PEU TAMA-ITI

(CHARLES W. KENN)

Ordained and Initiate Firewalker

A report on four firewalking performances in Honolulu, and a critical study of them from the point of view of the initiate firewalker instead of that of the onlooker.


Editorial Changes

The following editorial changes were made to the original text.

  • Usage of the word "Kahunas" has been converted to "na kahuna". The reason is that plural forkahuna in the Hawaiian and Hunian language is indicated by a prefix "na" on the word not a plural 's' as in English. So these have been converted.
  • Usage of the word "Aumakuas" has been converted to "na aumakua" for the same reason.
  • Fire-Walking- The hyphen was removed from all instances of "Fire-walk" or "Fire-walking" or "Fire-walker". Firewalk, Firewalking, and Firewalker are now the modern term, so we have adapted to the newer terms so this information can be more easily found by people interested in this.
  • Italics – words with italics were italicized in the original document

Firewalking From the Inside

BY

ARII-PEU TAMA-ITI

(CHARLES W. KENN)

Ordained and Initiate Firewalker

A report on four firewalking performances in Honolulu, and a critical study of them from the point of view of the initiate firewalker instead of that of the onlooker.


Conclusion and Comments

MY CONCLUSIONS

While official "science" elects to remain stranded on the physical aspects of firewalking (and to ignore other forms of fire-immunity), it is high time that psychic science picks up where physics leaves off, and continues the study of the phenomenon in terms of the psychological. I aver that I am well within my scientific rights, and I certainly am in the very best of company, as I offer the conclusions which I do.

The old gods still live. By "gods" I mean the conscious entities or psychological forces which in this case, we see recognized and named as "Tu" and "Hina." To be less explicit, we may refer to these "gods" under the generic term, na aumakua. As such, they may range from the hypothetical level of consciousness and being next above the level of the conscious mind, to higher and higher levels.

The more lowly na aumakua may be the personal guardian spirits who watch over us. They in turn may have above there what in Hawaiian are called the akua na aumakua (or more god-like na aumakua).

If my efforts to increase our store of knowledge through an investigation of firewalking, and my conclusions as a result of that investigation, are to be of value, I must be frank and forthright. There is no longer a place for subterfuge and evasion.

What I have gained because of the advantage of my Polynesian blood and background, can be of value only if shared. I come from a long line of ancestors who have enjoyed a heritage of psychic gifts. I have lived fairly close to things Polynesian. Because of this I am able to feel what other Polynesians have felt when it comes to the "gods" — the na aumakua. I offer you psychological evidence from my own experience that the na aumakua are very real, very close, and very much what they are thought to be. I have been reared with a knowledge of them. I have seen their guidance and protection requested, apparently given, and gratefully acknowledged all my life. I have sensed them for myself, and such a heritage has made an acceptance of them not only easy but almost inevitable.

For me and for others of a similar heritage, the needed "faith" is easy to acquire.

I have had no difficulty in understanding and accepting my training in firewalking. My ordination, or introduction to the conscious beings who preside over the firewalk, was to me a very real experience.

If we are able to pull ourselves up and out of the mire of materialism, and push forward in the field in which we find non-physical consciousness, we will have an opportunity to learn and progress. If we are not, we stand to lose one of our brightest heritages.

There IS some invisible form of consciousness, using some form of energy, and probably some form of matter, to produce fire-immunity in the firewalk. This consciousness may be brought into action to furnish the immunity -through ritualistic actions.

If such impressive aid can be obtained for firewalking, it is reasonable to believe that aid in other matters can be obtained by the use of similar means.

Firewalking From the Inside

BY

ARII-PEU TAMA-ITI

(CHARLES W. KENN)

Ordained and Initiate Firewalker

A report on four firewalking performances in Honolulu, and a critical study of them from the point of view of the initiate firewalker instead of that of the onlooker.


Kahuna Preparations and Chants

CONDUCT OF THE CHIEF FIREWALKER IN PREPARING FOR THE FIREWALKING CEREMONY

Tu-nui Arii-peu supervised the preparation of the fire walking pit, the gathering of the stones, the cutting of the wood, and the securing of the coconut leaves. Each step was preceded with a prayer asking Tu and Hina for permission to take the materials. 

In seeking the proper ti-leaf wand, the Chief went alone into a grove, muttering an invocation as he did so. He stopped in front of the first two headed stalk that he saw, and while praying, deliberately broke off the stalk; then he stood perfectly still with the stalk over his right shoulder, and said another prayer. After this, he returned to his home, wrapped the ti-leaf stalk in cloth (originally this was done in bark cloth, made from hau fibers), and stood it up in his room. Originally, the ti-leaf stalk was taken to the marae (temple) of the firewalkers, and left on the altar overnight.

The men chosen as assistants saw to it that the selected materials were conveyed to the proper place. The pit was dug and the wood and stones placed in the prescribed way. This work was completed by the next afternoon, and plans were made to fire the firewalking pit in the morning following.

The Chief then settled down (to remain the night if necessary) beside the waiting firewalking pit and assumed a prayerful attitude. He had not been there long until he announced that he had seen what he had waited to see, the spirit forms of the deities “dancing upon the stones.” This was a good sign, for surely “his deities would be with him on the morrow” and crown his efforts with success.

Here are the invocations used during the selection and handling of the special materials used in the ritual. The cult of secrecy is still such that I am not allowed to give the prayers or chants which have been taught me by my mentor. But, as the material already long in print is almost a duplication in every respect, and as it covers exactly the same ground, I am giving that.

 


FIRST INVOCATION

(Upon approaching Ti-plant)

1. Te hii tapua’e tahi !
2. Te hii tapua’e rua !
3. Te liii tapua’e teru !
4. Te hii tapua’e ha !
5. Te hii tapua’e rima !
6. Te hii tapua’e ono !
7. Te hii tapua’e hitu !
8. Te hii tapua’e varu !
9. Te hii tapua’e iva !
10. Te hii tapua’e tini !
11. Te Vahine-nui-tahu-ra’i e !
12. Poia !

 

TRANSLATION

1. Holder of the first footstep !
2. Holder of the second footstep !
3. Holder of the third footstep
4. Holder of the fourth footstep !
5. Holder of the fifth footstep !
6. Holder of the sixth footstep !
7. Holder of the seventh footstep
8. Holder of the eighth footstep
9. Holder of the ninth footstep !
l0. Holder of the tenth footstep !
11. Oh-great-woman-who-set-fire-to-the-skies !
12. All is covered !

 


 

SECOND INVOCATION

(Before breaking Ti-plant)

1. E to Nu’u-atua! a ra, a tia i nia !
2. Te haere nei taua i te Umu-Ti ananahi !
3. E te Nu’u-atua e ! E haere oe i teie nei po !
4. E ananahi tatou atea ia !

 

TRANSLATION

1. O hosts of gods ! Awake, arise !
2. You and I are going to the ti-oven tomorrow !
3. O hosts of gods ! Go tonight !
4. And tomorrow you and I shall go.

 


 

THIRD INVOCATION

(While placing Ti-plant in Marae )

(Before leaving the Ti-plant area)

1. Ae! e ara, e te Nu’u atua e !
2. To avae e haere i te Umu-Ti.
3. Te Pape e te miti, e haere atea.
4. Te to’e, ma to to’e tea,
5. E haere i te Umu ;
6. Te ura o te auahi, e haere ana’e ;
7. Na oe e haere, e haere oe
8. I teia nei po e ananahi o oe ia e o vau ;
9. E haere taua i te Umu-Ti.

 

TRANSLATION

1. Arise ! Awake, O hosts of gods !
2. Let your feet take you to the ti-oven.
3. Fresh water and salt water come also.
4. Let the cool darkness and the cool light
5. Go to the oven;
6. Let the redness and the shades of the fire all go;
7. You will go, you will go
8. Tonight, and tomorrow it will be you and I;
9. We shall go to the Umu-Ti.

 


The next day, after supervising the lighting o the fire in the pit, the Chief kept to a temporary shelter on the grounds, meditating until time for the firewalking to begin.

When the time came, he walked several paces from the fire-pit toward the sea, and facing the sea (which was some distance away), he uttered the third Invocation. (As just given.)

After this he turned around and walked slowly and deliberately toward the pit, reciting the first Invocation. 
Upon reaching the pit, he repeated the following Invocation, at the end stepping down to stand on the first (and cooler marginal) stone in the pit while slapping or brushing the stones quickly with theti-leaf wand which he had all this time carried over his shoulder. (He had more ti-leaves draped about him. See photographs.)


FOURTH INVOCATION

(Before Firewalking. *)

1. E na taata e tahutahu i te umu e !
2. A tapohe na
3. E to’e uri ! E to’e tea !
4. Te Pape ! Te Miti
5. Te a’ama o te umu !
6. Te ruirui o te umu !
7. A hi’i atu i te tapuae avae o te feia e haere nei,
8. A tahiri na i te ahu o te ra’i !
9. E te feia to’eto’e na,
10. E taoto anae tatou i roto i teie nei umu.
11. A mau na, e te Vahine-nui-tahu-ra’i, i te tahiri.
12. E haere na taua i te repu o te umu !

 

*From Miss Teuira Henry’s article in J.P.S., val. 12, p. 105, checked

by J. L. Young’s article in J. P. S., vol 34, p. 214-222.

 


At the end of the Invocation, and again shouldering his ti-leaf wand, the Chief walked slowly across the hot stones to the far end of the pit and stepped off to the ground. He continued to walk straight ahead for twenty paces, all the while not looking back. He paused and stood facing East while he recited the third Invocation again. Meanwhile the people had been following him across. 

Returning to the pit he repeated the first part of the performance in exactly the same way, again approached the fire, again brushed the stones, and again made the crossing. This he did four times over, followed by the people. After the fourth time he left the field.

It was announced that all were forbidden to try the firewalk after the Chief had retired. One young man tried the firewalk later, despite the warning, and was severely burned.

All four of the performances were given with the same preparations and the same steps, care being taken to perform the ritual in that exact way. During every performance a number of people walked the firewalking pit safely while a few were burned to some degree. No explanation was offered for the fact that these few were burned except that they probably had some lack of faith or some mental condition that prevented the protection from being given.

“O ka pule ka mea nui,” say the Hawaiians. “Prayer is the most essential thing.” The meaning is that prayer conditions a person to receive the blessings he seeks, and faith and understanding are the essential qualifications.

Thus, from the native’s point of view, the materials used, and the invocations uttered, impress his mind that every precaution has been taken care of and everything is in his favor.

He knows that his deities will come to his aid because he has taken care of them, for the life of thekahuna is the aumakua, and the life of the aumakua is the kahuna. Each needs the other to survive.

Firewalking From the Inside

BY

ARII-PEU TAMA-ITI

(CHARLES W. KENN)

Ordained and Initiate Firewalker

A report on four firewalking performances in Honolulu, and a critical study of them from the point of view of the initiate firewalker instead of that of the onlooker.


Tradition and Initiation

Having stated the conclusions reached at the end of these tests, the next step is to move on to the far more important business of trying to learn something of the possible nature of the psychological or other factors which upset the usual "law of physics" and give fire-immunity. The rite of firewalking did not form a part of the older Polynesian culture. It was introduced about a hundred years ago from Fiji, and spread to many of the South Sea Islands.

It appeared in Huahine, the Chief's island, around 1850, and at about the same time began to be reported from Taha's and Raiatea, the Cook Islands, Fiji and New Zealand. The ritual in various forms was already known in Japan, Malay lands, China, Tibet, India and elsewhere. Fire-immunity was also known in the Americas.

While the firewalk was often made across burning coals in other lands, it was made across heated stones in the South Seas. This was natural because it was the native practice to cook food in underground ovens, the cooking heat being supplied by rocks heated in advance in pits. Such rocks furnished a simple firewalking surface at any time a feast was to be prepared, and could have been used for the rite before being placed in the ground oven or imu to cook the food.

In Hawaii, in the neighborhood of the active volcanoes, firewalking was done on lava overflows when they had hardened sufficiently to bear a man's weight. The records of this type of firewalk are scattered and it can only be supposed that the date of 1850 may apply to Hawaii's introduction to the rite as it does in a general way to other parts of Polynesia.

One thing is clearly seen, and that is that the native priests or na kahuna of Polynesia must have been so well grounded in matters of psychological magic that they accepted with ease the variations found in firewalking.

From such writings as are available touching the rituals in question, it is to be seen that their purpose was accepted along with the theory and practice. In the lands of origin the rite had been used to provide or to give proof of, "purity" or "purification" in the religious sense. It was supposed to bring clairvoyance and clairaudience so that the fate of lost voyagers might be learned, lost articles recovered etc. It was a thanksgiving ceremony. It called down a blessing on crops and people and animals. It brought rain. It replenished the fish in waters nearby. In India one firewalked to fulfill a vow when prayers had been answered. It was supposed to cure sterility. In Japan it was used as a healing ritual for various forms of sickness. In Polynesia it was used more or less for the same purposes, but as an additional rite and not to replace older rites already in use. The Polynesian was and is most adaptable. He accepted western civilization in a generation. Everything is grist in his mill, and his flexible mind quickly grasps and puts to use new ideas. Once a set of ideas has been accepted, it is fitted neatly in with other ideas already a part of the scheme of things, and soon takes on the aspect of having been a part of the older systems for centuries back.

In this process of adopting the new beliefs and practices, slight changes are made. Words are changed, invocations made over into the more familiar tongue, and the names of the foreign gods replaced by the Polynesian counterparts.

While some parts of the transition are missing, the picture as a whole is fairly clear, providing one understands the culture of the Polynesians which forms the background for the picture. 

It seems to have been a simple matter for the firewalking rite to become a part of the old Polynesian beliefs. The people of each locality were united in one set of beliefs. They were of the same blood, had the same cultural background, and were conditioned to the same general pattern of behavior. When those whose duty it was to act as priests saw fit to accept firewalking, all accepted it as a matter of course.

The priests (called na kahuna in Hawaii, but with variations in the pronunciation of the word in the other Polynesian dialects) all belonged to the priestly families, as the chiefs did to ruling families. It was natural, therefore, that the priests who took up the new rite should count it as more or less a family possession, and should guard its secrets with the other secrets of their religious beliefs. In a short time the new rite was being handed down from parent to child in the same way as other rites.

Firewalking was handed down to the eldest son, or lacking a son, to one consecrated as a blood son(hoolaa) for that purpose.

In the case of Tu-nui Arii-peu, he is a descendant of the original firewalker in his part of Polynesia, a priest whose name was Mae-haa, who passed on the prayers and secrets to his son, Ma-oa, and who in turn consecrated his son, Papa-Ita, from whom it was passed on to Afaitaata, then to Arii-peu, the present firewalker. There is now only one other Tahitian firewalker, Arii-pao who resides in Raiatea. Arii-peu is the fifth generation in his family, and is able to fire walk, offer immunity to those whom he permits to follow him, and to pass on the secret to his successor, who then becomes the sixth generation.

From this it will be seen, that it was no easy matter for me to approach Tu-nui Arii-peu with my questions. He had come to Honolulu on a business errand, not a social one. He wished to perform his self-appointed task of raising money by giving firewalking performances in order to send home stranded young Tahitians, and then to return home himself. He had no slightest desire to make converts to the contrary. In fact, although he had retained the ancient lore of his people to a large extent, he had more or less accepted Protestantism, and in deference to a real or fancied command derived from that religion, he no longer performed the firewalk at night–only by day. (Although night performances were urged by those who pointed out the fact that more people could come out in the evening, and that the fire pit would then show red, he steadfastly held to his refusal.)

The advertising of the firewalking, and of the native Tahitian dancing on the program, was poor. The attendance was also poor. This gave me an opportunity to press my offers of assistance, without remuneration, in such matters. I wrote articles for the papers and, helped in various ways with the publicity. The chief quickly lost his suspicion of me as a pressing stranger, and accepted me as a friend. But to be a friend, even a very close friend, was one thing. To be told the secrets surrounding the firewalking rites was something else again. My every effort to learn of the ritual and the prayers was met with polite but firm silence. My help and my friendship were most appreciated. I was warmly assured of that, but to let me into the secrets of

the firewalking cult was out of the question. In the first place I was not a son, not even a blood relative. In the second place, if I, a stranger, were to be given the secrets, there was no telling what disasters might be visited on the islands to the south as a consequence.

For a time it appeared that I would have to make the usual tests for temperature of the stones, write the usual impotent report, and content myself by standing on the pier and waving when the Chief sailed for home.

As luck would have it, however, in searching through a very considerable amount of accumulated and uncatalogued material on matters dealing with early beliefs and customs in Polynesia, I was able to unearth a rare article in an old copy of the JOURNAL OF THE POLYNESIAN SOCIETY, and in this article find a translation of the prayers used in the firewalking ritual. An early missionary who had lived in Tahitian parts had managed to get the material. He had set it down in the native tongue. It had later been translated by a Miss Teuira Henry, and her translation had been checked by J. L. Young. (All credit to all of them.)

The Hawaiian and the Tahitian dialects of the Polynesian tongue are much alike, and in a few hours I was able to memorize parts of the prayers so that I could recite them fairly well. I had also found some information as to the origin and nature of the rites, which I will sketch briefly.

The ancient gods of Polynesia, Tu and Hina the universal god-parents of all the Polynesians–have long since replaced foreign gods of the firewalk, and are appealed to through four invocations which have been handed down from Mae-haa, who, according to tradition, received them directly from the deities themselves. (Traditional history takes the place of written history in such matters, and in this case no mention is made of borrowing invocations or rites from non-Polynesian sources.)

In other lands greenery of different kinds plays a part very often in rituals of firewalking, but in Polynesia, where the ti-plant had been used for centuries in religious observances, it was very natural that it should be selected for use in the new ritual. This plant grows profusely throughout the South Seas and for use in rituals there are selected stalks having two crowns, one to represent Tu, and one Hina.

Whatever foreign names may have been given to the ritual, it became known in short order as the "Ceremony of the Ti Root Oven" (Te Umu Ti). The roots of the ti-plant were baked in ground ovens on occasion, especially when other food was scarce, and because the cooking took much time, many heated rocks had to be made ready to place in the pits. It is not difficult to understand the transition from hot coals to hot stones in the rite.

The ti-plant, the leaves of which are called la'i in Hawaii, is known botanically as Taetsia fruticosa,and is a member of the lily family, as the structure of its flowers would indicate. Certain varieties had a fragrant scent, and the leaves turn yellow or "ripen" after a while. The flower is made up of closely-set white buds tinged with pale purple. Because of this scent, Hina is said to make known her presence by exuding a fragrant odor, by which she is called Hina-nui-i-te-aara (Great-Hina-in-the-fragrance). The firewalker uses the "doubleheaded" branch of the ti-plant like a wand, or brush, and ties strips of the individual leaves around his head and neck, as well as around his waist like a belt. The leaves were used to expel or ward off evil spirits. The la'i is an important item in the firewalk.

The wood used is that of the hau (pariti tiliacium), and is a member of the mallow (hibiscus) family. Like the ti, the hau was an important commodity in ancient Polynesian life. The word hau means "breath of life, spirit of life'," and therefore, is most important in religious practices.

Niau, or coconut leaves, are also important in the ancient life, of the Polynesians. They were used as a medium through which the spirits of deities might be transmitted to certain objects, thus consecrating them. The husk was made into twine for various uses, some of them significantly religious.

In one of the invocations given, Hina is called upon to "lie upon the hot stones." Traditionally, she radiates "cold heat," especially at night (as she represents the moon), and, originally, this was a night ceremony in Polynesia for this reason. (Not generally so in other lands.)

Stones for the rite come from, dried river beds and rounded ones are selected. They need to be smooth and of good weight. As they are similar

to those used in the ground ovens, they are called umu stones. (In Hawaii hot lava was used, and worked equally well. The rough and clinkery lava which would have had the greatest porosity was not walked upon-only the lava which was of a close texture like glass.)

I have been able to piece together an account of the training taken by the beginner to become an initiate priest of the Ti Oven Cult a master of the firewalking ritual.

The selection of a candidate for the firewalking priesthood is a momentous matter. As explained before, the eldest son is the most appropriate person for that honor, as it is a Polynesian custom that he should continue the family line. However, lacking an elder son or sons, it was not uncommon to go outside the family. Originally, however, only nephews were chosen, but as time went on, total strangers to the family were consecrated. The Polynesians had a university of two colleges in which selected youths had to study. At an early age, a man child of the gentry, or priestly family, was either dedicated to Tu or to Romo. If to Tu, then he became a student under the Tu papa kahuna (class of experts), and entered the Auwae Runa College (pertaining to things celestial); if to Rono, he was passed into the Auwae Raro College (pertaining to things terrestrial). The literal meanings of these terms were "Upper Jaw" and "Lower Jaw." The student was known as the hau-mana ("occult-power-inspired"), or as the mana-ai ("occult-power-food") of the expert under whom he was placed.

The training was extremely strenuous. The student had to undergo hardships and suffer privations. He had to learn the invocations, the proper methods of caring for, installing, or empowering the deities. He learned through a process of "mental absorption" observation, close contact with the spiritual forces, and strict adherence to rules and regulations. The Hawaiians have a saying, "He ale iki ko ke kahuna, aole hiki ke hookolo ia." This embodies the Polynesian theory that through constant invocations, using the same words and tone of voice, eventually the deities become accustomed(hoomau) to the calls, and will respond readily, willingly, and promptly. But, to neglect them by not calling upon them frequently, will cause them to "die" (desert the kahuna).

Furthermore, it was the belief of the na kahuna that as the invocations were handed down, the laterna kahuna became more and more powerful. This was because they have a longer line of direct ancestors, all of whom have acquired mana (power) in great amounts, which is, in turn, passed on down the line.

Having accumulated such pertinent bits of information, and armed with the prayers I had memorized, I began a new attack on the wall of secrecy. I eventually found the opportunity to recite a little of the material to the Chief, and, having made myself a counterpart of the fabled camel who was allowed to get his head inside the Arab's tent, I was soon all the way in. If one is in, he cannot be kept out. Chief Tu-nui Arii-peu let down the bars and made the inevitable welcome. Being permitted by circumstances to let down the bars, he opened his heart as well, and with his customary generosity offered me everything.

Gratefully, and in all humility, may I state that he has adopted me as his blood son, has given me an honored place in his family line, and has made me the proud possessor of his distinguished ancestors. He has also given me a new name to use as a member of his family. I am, using that name in the author's signature of this report. I am Arii-peu Tama-iti as well as Charles W. Kenn. At this writing I plan to accept his warm invitation and go to spend most of the coming winter season with him on Huahine where I can continue searching for information of value. I shall also, in all probability, complete my initiation into the cult of the fir ewalk to the point of being able to use for myself what has been taught to me. If I succeed, I shall be one of the three remaining firewalkers in Polynesia.

As a candidate for initiation as a firewalking priest of the Ti Oven Cult, I was allowed to see every step leading up to the final crossing of the hot stones. Of necessity I was permitted to forego the long and arduous training of other days, but was given the assurance that once. I learned every step in the rite and all of the invocations, I would undoubtedly be able to perform the ritual. I would then have been consecrated to the work and would have been properly ordained, or introduced to the gods so that they would, thereafter, respond to my invocations.

Firewalking From the Inside

BY

ARII-PEU TAMA-ITI

(CHARLES W. KENN)

Ordained and Initiate Firewalker

A report on four firewalking performances in Honolulu, and a critical study of them from the point of view of the initiate firewalker instead of that of the onlooker.


Logistics and Experiments

The tests took place in Honolulu, beginning in the month of January, 1949. Tu-nui Arii-peu, a high priest and high chief of the firewalk (Te Umu Ti cult) visited Honolulu from the island of Huahine in the Society Islands. He was accompanied by four young men and two young women. They staged four demonstrations in the amphitheater of the University of Hawaii in Manoa Valley, Honolulu, and one demonstration in Wailuku, Maui. More than, six hundred people attended each of the Honolulu demonstrations and, in all, some 567 people firewalked.

For the demonstrations, a rectangular pit six feet wide, fifteen feet long, and four and one-half feet deep in the center, was dug in such a way as to create a gentle slope on, all sides running towards the center. The pit was supplied with the following materials 

  1. Small pebbles were strewn on the bottom.
  2. Dried coconut leaves were piled on top to a height of over two feet.
  3. Four and one-half cords of green hau (native hibiscus) wood were then piled over this heap extending above the surface of the ground for three feet at the highest point.
  4. Two heavy truck loads of large basaltic stones obtained from a dried-up river bed (called imustones) were then piled over this heap, covering the hau wood. The stones weighed from 10 to 60 pounds each.

Long poles were placed at each corner and one on each side at the middle of the pit to provide sufficient draft, and to hold up the materials.

ti-leaf stalk was planted at each corner of the pit.

The fire was lighted at 10 a.m. as the ceremony was to start at 10 a.m. That gave five hours' time for the wood to burn and the stones to become very hot.

After all the wood had been burned, the stones were leveled and made firm with long poles to provide a good surface across which to fire walk. All stones were turned over so that the hottest side would be uppermost. Many split upon contact with the cooler air.

During the fourth Honolulu demonstration which took place February 19, 1949, the following tests were made: The temperature of the heated stones was measured accurately, as we had the co-operation of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, in providing the use of a thermo-electric pyrometer equipped with two thermo-couples. Also the valued assistance of Mr. Henry Iwata of the Association staff.

Mr. Moses Ome of Honolulu kindly loaned his stop watch with which the time of each step of the controls could be secured, as well as the length of time it took to firewalk through the pit.

After the firewalking, four pieces of steak were broiled on the stones and their cooking timed. Pieces of newspaper were allowed to catch fire as well as small pieces of wood, and timed.

Mr. P. C. Hu, an expert photographer, took hundreds of pictures, some of which illustrate this report.

Cine-Pic Hawaii made a 16 mm. colored moving picture of the demonstration.

The temperature of the firewalking pit was taken shortly before the firewalking began, and was found to be 920 degrees Centigrade. The heat of the stones averaged 610 degrees Centigrade; however, the heat of the first stone on which every firewalker had to step was only 210 degrees Centigrade at the start of the firewalk. But it was more than twice as hot as boiling water, and the stones farther from the edge of the pit, and which made up the firewalk proper, averaged over six times the boiling temperature. It may be noted that cotton cloth scorches at about 120 degrees, and a comparison may be drawn between the familiar heat of an electric iron being used on clothing and the temperature of the stones in the pit. The ends of the thermo-couples were left on the first stone throughout the demonstration which took 17 minutes, and during which a total of 167 people firewalked. The stone lost 35 degrees of heat during that time, which shows fairly well that its porous nature did not prevent its sending out heat a supposedly non-conducting characteristic offered to explain away fire-immunity.

The chief firewalker was the first to step into the firewalking pit. He stood with both feet resting flatly upon the first stone for 1 1/2 seconds, slapping the stones ahead with his wand of ti-leaves, and at the same time invoking the deities of the fir ewalk. He then walked deliberately but slowly across the pit in 8 seconds and nine steps. He was closely followed by his assistant. Their feet were examined before they entered the pit and after they emerged from it. They were not blistered nor burned. The next two firewalkers took 5 1/2 seconds and eight steps, each foot coming in contact with the stones for 3/4second. They were young men 20-22 years old, both Caucasian. Neither had firewalked before. There was no sign of a blister or burn on the soles of their feet; as a matter of fact, their soles were cool to the touch.

At each crossing, those who were lined up waiting to fire walk closed in and followed the chief across. There was sufficient time between repetitions for about forty to cross. Some crossed more than once.

Tu-nui Arii-peu did not say that he would protect anyone. All were warned that they must walk at their own risk, but it was understood that it would be almost safe to cross. Immunity was provided for most, but failed for a few.

The chief and his assistant firewalked four times, after which their feet were again examined. Although the feet of neither were burned nor blistered, the soles of the chief firewalker appeared yellowish along the edge after his four trips. They were cool to the touch, and the Chief stated that they did not feel hot or even warm. He suffered no ill-effects. His assistant likewise escaped injury.

However, the next two firewalkers did not do so well, for by this time, both had tiny blisters along the insteps, and on each toe of both feet. They stated that they felt as if many tiny needles were being jabbed into their feet.

Among the amateur firewalkers, Mr. John F.G. Stokes, retired curator of the Bernice Pauahi Museum, reached about three-fourths of the walk, when he began to wobble and had to be helped out of the pit. The ball of his right foot was severely burned. The skin was peeled off in three long strips and the entire ball was left raw and exposed, but not bleeding. Mr. Stokes kept repeating to himself, "It didn't work with me, I wonder why?"1

1     A week later, Mr. and Mrs. Stokes called at my home. Although Mr. Stokes had his right foot bandaged with a white stocking over it, he was driving his car. And, he did not walk with crutches. He could not remember exactly what took place that day, and still wondered why it was that he was burned. He said that he believed that the prayers used by the chief firewalker would have a psychological effect on the minds of the people, and that the materials used in the pit could have the same effect, especially upon the minds of the natives (Hawaiians) . He stated that his feet felt the heat the moment he stepped into the pit. Mr. Stokes remembers interviewing Papa-Ita, a firewalker who visited Honolulu in 1901, and who would not allow any one to follow him.

Mrs. Stokes thought that her husband's age (he is seventy-three) could have had something to do with his being burned, as it tended to make him unsteady, and he was not accustomed to going barefooted even on the ground, to say nothing of over hot stones! As the tops of his toes were also burned, he must have slipped on the hot stones.

The element of a psychological hazard may have entered in, for Dr. Stokes had firewalked against the express wishes of his wife. He had decided to chance the walk, as it seemed comparatively safe and as he relied on his well-known love and sympathy for the Hawaiians. 

At the end of the ceremony, the test with steak broiling was made. The results:

  1. One side browned in 2 1/2 minutes.
  2. Two sides browned in 6 minutes.
  3. One side cooked in 3 minutes.
  4. Two sides cooked in 7 minutes.

One piece of newspaper burst into flames instantly when put in contact with a large stone that had just previously been walked upon.

Another piece of newspaper turned black in 2 minutes on a smaller stone, and caught fire in 3 1/2 minutes.

A small piece of wood turned black in 5 minutes. Another flamed in 7 minutes. 

Remember, these tests were made immediately after the firewalk

On interviewing the amateur firewalkers, I found the majority agreed that upon stepping down into the pit they felt no sensation of heat in the soles of their feet, but that on their faces and hands they felt the heat greatly. As reported in the Kuda Bux tests, soles felt cooler to the touch after the firewalk than before it a strange phenomenon allowed to pass as lacking significance by the London investigators, even though they based their denial of any magic on the fact that feet must become cumulatively, hotter with each additional step, and that four steps were, therefore, the limit-two for each foot. 

Another experience found to be fairly common was that of a prickling sensation in the soles of the feet during the walk. This sometimes amounted to a painful "needling" or increased to the sharp pain of a burn, if a burn resulted. The average sensation was close to that felt when the circulation is cut off and the foot "goes to sleep." This is a peculiar matter and remains unexplained. Tests with materials aside from the firewalk give no such sensations. The burning sensation alone is felt, and after some time of testing and near-burning, only soreness results.

After watching and testing three of the demonstrations, being fully convinced of the genuineness of the demonstration, I crossed the hot stones myself on the fourth firewalk. Here is my report as I wrote it down the day after the walk:

February 20, 1949

As I stepped down to the first stone in the walk, any misgivings I may have had, left me. My mind seemed to become strangely empty or blank. The very uneven surface before me suddenly seemed to become smooth almost like a pavement. I stepped slowly forward, planting my feet firmly on the stones, but found myself doing as most of the others had done, using my arms, to help keep my balance as I stepped from one rounded surface to the next.

I felt no sensation of heat on the bottoms of my feet as I entered the pit and began my crossing, but the heat on my face and hands was terrific.

I was nearing the end of the pit, with two steps to go, when a friend standing at the side called out, "Atta boy, Mr. Kenn!" My attention was momentarily distracted and I involuntarily glanced up at him. I did not falter in my deliberate pace, but at the instant he called out to me, there came a sharp stab of pain in the ball of my right foot and in the toes–this foot was just coming down. My pace automatically quickened and as the other foot made contact with a stone for the last step, a similar stab of pain was felt in it. I stepped out of the pit and found both of my feet continuing to pain me with a sharp tingling, but not with the familiar sensation of burns. I examined both feet and nothing was to be seen in the way of markings or blisters. Later, at home, I made another inspection and found what seemed to be hard lumps under each toe. The stinging sensations resembled the pricking of many needles, but the soles of my feet were not hot to the touch, or sore. This condition lasted for about five hours. In the morning my feet were back to normal in every way and the strange lumps had vanished completely.

The feeling of having the mind a blank was a common experience among the firewalkers I talked to. It is evident that a break in this peculiar mental state, or an interruption of the successful course of the walk, acted in some way to "break the spell," and that burns then occurred as if no protection had been offered. Rev. N. Vanora Wattson, a visitor from San Francisco, and a Huna Research Associate, had the misfortune to slip and fall when she stepped on a sharp fragment which the heat had caused to crack off the end of a rock which was being walked upon. She stated that she had felt no heat on her soles until the sharp point pierced her foot and she fell in her effort to leave the pit. As she fell she sensed a mental change, and burns were suffered on parts touching the stones before she could rise.

In an attempt to give her conclusions afterwards, she said, "It seems to me that the secret lies in not consciously keeping the mind centered on the protection of the leader, but in allowing a mental state of a rather definite sort, to withdraw the consciousness from the self, and that when something happens unexpectedly to bring this self-consciousness back into function, the fire-immunity momentarily or permanently fails."

The weight of the person doing the firewalk seems to count very little. In the London tests much was made of the fact that the successful English amateur who outdid Hussain in the firewalk, weighed many pounds more than Hussain or Kuda Bux who walked earlier. In the Honolulu tests the walk was repeatedly made without burns by individuals weighing up to two hundred fifty pounds. On the other hand, there is no apparent reason to conclude that a heavier pressure of foot on stone or coal is of some advantage. The "steadiness" of stride and the "confidence" given in London as the only necessities for successful firewalking had to do with the mental attitude rather than with the steady placing of feet, the weight or the usual mental condition of "confidence." One may be permitted to guess that the Englishman who bested Hussain at his own game made use of the special state of mind even though not familiar with it as such. One might even guess that he found favor in some way with the ancient gods whom Hussain had invoked with no great success, in so far as he was personally concerned that day.

The time limit of contact with a very hot surface was given by the London testers as about a half second and not more than three-quarters. The Chief, at the beginning of the walk stepped down on the first rock in the pit and remained with both feet flat on it for a timed period of one and a half seconds while he brushed the stone with his ti-leaf wand before making the crossing.

Out of the 567 people who firewalked in the four performances, about 50 suffered burns ranging from the slightest blisters to burns of a serious nature. At least three individuals required hospitalization, and a half dozen were treated by emergency stations and sent to their personal physicians.

The stones of the walk were hot enough to burn. They burned some who crossed at a running pace, but not the majority who crossed much more slowly. The conclusion that seems impossible to avoid is that some psychological element set in action some unidentified force which prevented the firewalkers from being burned except in certain circumstances.

Firewalking From the Inside

BY

ARII-PEU TAMA-ITI

(CHARLES W. KENN)

<H2

Ordained and Initiate Firewalker

A report on four firewalking performances in Honolulu, and a critical study of them from the point of view of the initiate firewalker instead of that of the onlooker.


These tests and critical studies of fire-immunity were made in conjunction with similar studies and investigations being conducted by HUNA RESEARCH ASSOCIATES.

For further information address,

HUNA RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
c/o Max Freedom Long
P. O. Box 2867
Hollywood Station
Los Angeles 28, Calif.


INTRODUCTION

The publication of this report by Charles W. Kenn, marks the first really important step taken in years in the direction of understanding firewalking and related phenomena. 

His findings and conclusions are of such a nature that they open once more the entire question of fire immunity which was partly closed in the past decade by tests and reports which now appear much less than valid. 

Despite the reluctance of "science" to accept evidence of the verity of the materials of psychic science and its various branches, progress is being made toward fuller understanding.

On the part of the Huna Research Associates, I wish to congratulate Mr. Kenn on his outstanding work. For the first time, here is set before the public a full and careful report on firewalking from the point of view of the firewalker himself.

(Signed)

MAX FREEDOM LONG 


ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 1.

The master firewalker, Tu-nui Arii-peu and his young assistant, both from Huahini, with Charles W. Kenn.

 

Fig. 2.

Turning the hot stones over and leveling and firming them just before the firewalking.

Charles_Kenn_Fire_Walking_Pg1-Fig2_sm

 

Fig. 3.

Tur-nui Arii-peu leads the procession across the very hot stones. Insert shows him at the time of a later test, in native costume, pausing to recite an invocation after crossing the pit. He carries ti-plant wand on shoulder.

Charles_Kenn Firewalking on hot stone

Fig. 4.

The author of the report firewalks.

Charles_Kenn Firewalking

Fig. 5.

The firewalkers' contemplative expression may be seen here. Nearly all experienced a peculiar mental state during the walk.

Firewalker Firewalk on hot firewalking pit

Fig. 6.

Note the wrapt expression on the face of the lady just finishing her successful firewalk. Assistants stand anxiously by lest there be another accident or fall on the hot stones. 

Firewalking with locals

Fig. 7.

The successful firewalkers did not hurry. With short steps on the uneven surface and with an expression akin to that of sleep-walkers, they made the crossing. Heat was felt on hands and face, but not on the feet. Prickling was the only sensation in the feet unless something broke the spell and sharp pain was felt. Soles were cool to the touch after contact with the hot stones. Crossings took from 5 1/2 seconds to 8 seconds. The Chief took 9 seconds for his crossings.

Charles_Kenn Firewalking experience

 

Fig. 8.

After the firewalking. Child finds stone hot enough to burn fingers. Below her hand a wad of paper is beginning to char. At the far corner a stick is beginning to smoke as a young man watches. In heating the stones the green wood first covered the stones with soot. The stones later became red-hot and the soot was burned away. Some stones split when their hotter sides were turned up to the air before the performance. Immediately before a firewalk, a cracked stone, later walked on, registered a surface temperature of 620 degrees Centigrade on the hotter upturned side, and 598 degrees at the bottom of the crack.

Firewalking pit tempareture


FIREWALKING

FROM THE INSIDE

Up to this time we have had the results of firewalking tests placed before us by men of science and by travelers, but have never been given the firewalker's side of the story.

As the reports thus far available give no valid explanation of the phenomenon of fire-immunity in its several forms, it is apparent that it is high time for the persons who are able to do such things as firewalking, to be given their say in the matter.

The scientists are not entirely to blame: for the omission of acceptable information as to (1) the training of the firewalkers, (2) their beliefs and educational backgrounds, and (3) the rituals used as a preparation for the firewalk. The scientists failed to give needed information on these points, either because it seemed too unimportant to stress, or because they could not obtain it from the firewalkers such information often being held both sacred and secret, as in Polynesia.

The University of London Council for Psychical Investigation, when reporting on the tests made of Kuda Bux, wrote, "He (Kuda Bux) stated that any impurity in the fire (of wood and charcoal) such as cow dung, would inevitably burn him. He also offered to walk on red-hot stones, if we wished. …Kuda Bux stated that his immunity from burns was due to `faith'; that he had to ask a 'higher power' in India whether he might perform the feat. He also claimed that he could convey his immunity from burns to another person and take him over the fire without injury. …Before … the first walk, he stood in the end of the trench (filled with glowing coals ) on a wooden platform that had been placed there for that purpose, and, with left hand upraised, muttered a prayer from the Koran. He then carefully brushed away the ash from the embers, with his hand. He said he sometimes uses a fan. He then stepped on the fire, taking four steps, each foot being in contact with the embers twice … There was no sign of blistering … paper tossed on the fire blazed almost instantly."

The conclusion of the report was not greatly enlightening. It was, in part, "… it is possible … with chemically unprepared feet (not calloused) to take four rapid steps on (burning) charcoal at (a surface temperature of) 430 degrees Centigrade, without injury to feet." 

Later reports made on similar tests with Hussain, gave no additional information, but it was decided at that time that anyone could firewalk if he only had the courage, and walked steadily across the coals. This conclusion was reached after an Englishman who had these qualifications, performed a short firewalk better than Hussain. The flaw in the conclusion seemed to be that not everyone was able to qualify. However, the world was told to dismiss the idea that there might be an element of magic or of the supernatural in the firewalk.

An inspection of the mass of information available on the externals of other kinds of fire-immunity makes it clear to the layman that the famous reports in question are wanting in many respects, and that the conclusions reached are not at all final. In his book, THE SECRET SCIENCE BEHIND MIRACLES, Max Freedom Long has assembled evidence of a very striking nature which. bears on this point. Performers have, several times a day, held red-hot iron bars gripped tightly between their teeth while bending them up and down at the free ends. The enamel, of the teeth showed no cracking, but such heat applied as a test to newly extracted teeth cracked the enamel instantly. A blow-torch used for cutting steel was allowed to play on the throat of the same performer. He repeatedly chewed up live coals a half inch in diameter, and he drank boiling water so hot that it bubbled violently in the cup. In the records of spiritualistic phenomena, fire has been handled in similar ways, and D.D. Home held his bushy head in the flames in a fireplace without being scorched, also doing the same with flowers and fine fabric. He presented a blazing log to a woman observer and she held it in her arms with no injury to skin or clothing.

It is evident to the student who is looking for the answer to the secret of fire-immunity not simply for a negation of the phenomenon that the shortness of the time in which feet contact heated substances in the firewalk, is NOT THE COMPLETE EXPLANATI0N.

In making the tests about to be described; and while keeping in mind the findings and opinions of the scientists and their friends, my attention was directed primarily to the psychological side of the matter. Tests of temperature and of the length of time for feet to contact stones were secondary.

However, it is necessary to describe the externals first, to prove the genuineness of the demonstrations.

Firewalking and Firewalkers of the South Seas

May 1953

by

Wilmon Menard

Raiatea_Umuki Firewalker

The huge rocks of the firewalking pit glowed bright-red in the faint light of the South Pacific dawn. Now and then between me and the oven the coconut- oil smeared bodies of the fire-tenders passed briefly as they raked out the last of the log cinders and levelled the hot rocks. It was a tableau not unlike a scene in Dante’s Inferno. Little did I know then that I was to be one of the persons to cross that fiery expanse.

Word had reached me in Tahiti that an Umuti (Umu Ki or firewalk) was to be held on the Island of Raiatea, 135 miles distant, so I lost no time in boarding an interisland trading schooner to be on hand for the ceremony. I had arrived in time to observe every phase of the imminent firewalk. I had watched the digging of the firewalking pit, 30 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 4 feet deep; the gathering of the fagots and logs for the fuel; the rolling of the stones into a high mound, and the day-long heating. Now the actual fire ritual in this sacred coconut grove behind the village of Tevaitoa was about to start.

My interest in man’s strange experiments in fiery tortures was aroused several years ago when the late Robert Ripley, of "Believe it or not” fame, sponsored a firewalking Hindu-mystic, Kuda Bux by name, who strolled barefooted across two separate firewalking pits in a parking lot in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center. It is a matter of official record that three cords of oak and 500 pounds of charcoal burned for eight hours before Kuda Bux made the walk across the two separate ovens that a pyrometer registered at 1,220 F. Attending physicians peered and smelled at the soles of the firewalker’s feet, but found only one small burn, where a coal had stuck to his instep. Their nostrils detected no odor of burned flesh. I was one of the astounded spectators, and I was deeply impressed by the feat.

Now as I stood in the greying dawn in this sacred grove of Raiatea I thought of man’s superstitious dread and awe of fire, coupled with his instinctive, practical usages, that have resulted in so many fantastic fire ordeals. The American Indians during certain rites danced in the live coals of their campfires; devotees of the Sinsyn Shinto sect of Japan firewalk barefooted over glowing coals. In Hawaii in the early days the priests and priestesses of the Fire Goddess Pele strode across the molten lava on the broad bosom of Kilauea volcano. In darkest Africa, newborn children are held briefly over a flame. In India, cremation of the corpse is supposed to be the soul’s only passport to their particular firewalking pit.

The Chief Leads

Now the firewalk of Polynesia was to be performed before my eyes. Chief Terii-Pao, the young and hereditary firewalker of Raiatea, had suddenly called an Umuti, primarily, of course, to pay sacred homage to the two great goddesses of ancient days—Hina-nui-te’a’ara (Great-Grey-Of-The-Scented-

Herbs), who was the Goddess of the Moon, and Te-Vahine-Nui-Tahu-ra’i e(The Great Woman-Who-Set-Fire-To-The-Sky)—but also to earn a few francs with which to buy a bottle of rum and a few yards of calico cloth for his woman.

Terii-Pao suddenly stepped from his nearby coconut palm marae (temple), and his attendants, similarly garbed in native pareu and sacred Ti-leaves, followed. I could feel the crackling excitement that swept the clearing upon his appearance. The laughter, singing, and loud talking ceased instantly. All eyes were fixed upon the handsome chief—a splendid figure standing at the head of his assistants. He turned, caught my eye and smiled. Once we had sailed aboard a trading schooner to the pearl-diving atoll of Anaa in the Dangerous Archipelago; I had gifted him with a case of foodstuffs, so we were friends.

The many tourists who had voyaged on the interisland schooner from Papeete, Tahiti, surrounded Terii-Pao, and began a careful inspection of his feet. He submitted indulgently, grinning broadly at their thorough examination. I saw one of the tourists turn suddenly, walk to the edge of the firewalking pit, and look full into the center of the firewalking pit for a few seconds. With a groan he clapped his hands over his face and backed away. I could see that his neck and face were badly seared; his glazed eyes were streaming tears. Another tourist, with the aid of a long stick, dropped a handkerchief upon the rocks and it turned almost instantly to a grey powder. The firewalking pit was certainly hot! The tourists withdrew from Teril with baffled expressions.

Chief Terii, with head held high and with eyes uplifted to the opalescent sky, walked toward the end of the oven, a branch of Ti-leaves held in his hand. There he stopped, striking the rocks three times with the Ti-wand. He began to chant in Tahitian the ancient firewalking prayer. I, knowing the language, listened closely.

These were the words:

"O Being (Spirit) who enchants the oven, let it die out for a while! O dark earthworms! O light earthworms! Fresh water and salt water, heat of the firewalking ground, darkening of the firewalking pit, hold up the footsteps of the walkers and fan the heat of the bed. O cold host, let us linger in the midst of the firewalking pit. O Vahine-nui-tahu-ra’i, hold the fan and let us go into the firewalking pit for a little while!”

Then followed a measured cant of the ten first steps to be made upon the fiery oven. Finally, Terii’s loud exultant shout of: "O Vahine-nui-tahu-ra’i-e! All is covered!”

I shall never forget the great sigh and then the hush that followed the Chief's first step upon the firewalking pit. He hesitated a moment as if to be sure that the stones would not shift under his weight, and then with head held high he walked onto the glowing firewalking bed of rocks. The tourists gave a gasp of dismay; the natives sat stiffly, unmoving, as if hypnotized. I watched incredulously. This was no sham. A human being was walking onto an firewalking pit of rocks sufficient to roast one! Terii crossed the pit and then turned and retraced his steps. Upon his return, his assistants fanned in a straight line behind him. Again Terii struck the edge of the glowing rocks with his Ti-wand; then he and his followers marched with firm steps across the Umu (oven). I could see the heat waves rippling above their heads, but there was no odor of seared flesh, as one might expect. I stared fixedly until they had traversed the oven, expecting every second for one of them to leap with a scream of agony from the line. But each one passed across safely. The last firewalker stepped from the oven, and Terii raised his Ti-leaves, took his place at the head of the column and led them back across the fiery expanse. This was repeated three times.

With the third crossing, Terii raised his Ti-leaves and cried "Aura! Enough!" Then, unexpectedly, he turned quickly and proceeded to crawl across the 30- foot oven of rocks on his stomach!

At the far side he stood up, grinned and beckoned to the tourists to make their inspection. His body, as one of the tourists loudly verified, was not even warmed. I moved forward to examine his feet. They were not even marked by the crossing of the fiery furnace. The examination over, we withdrew with amazed faces.

I Try It

Terii then turned to the assembled natives and exhorted those who were afflicted with any physical or mental taints, in need of spiritual purification, or who wished to test their courage with fire, to firewalk behind him over the hot rocks. Passing close to me, he caught my eye again, grinned, and stopped. "Perhaps you would like to walk behind me across the Umu. You have lived long in our islands and understand our customs and ceremonies. But if you are afraid, it would be dangerous to attempt the firewalk."

It was his last remark that compelled me to kick off my sneekers, remove my socks and cry: "Haere outou! Let's go!"

A loud chorus of "Maitai! Good!" rose from the native onlookers. A comic among the tourists yelled: "You're going to be sorry, chum!"

I stepped into the column of fire walkers forming behind the Chief. Now my bravado was on the ebb. I was experiencing the first symptoms of fright, and I cursed the impulse that had made me accept Terii's invitation to walk behind him over the Umu. There was the customary taut feeling in my throat, and my stomach felt as if it had suddenly been invaded with crazed butterflies. My heart started to pound violently; my head ached, and I wanted very much to step out of line. I have always had an uncommon fear of fire, since the day in my childhood when I fell into a burning bonfire, and now that memory was intensified. The stalwart Tahua (priest) behind me gave me a light push. Terii had started toward the firewalking pit!

I clamped my teeth hard, inhaled deeply, and gave a belly-depth groan. Mechanically I started to walk, and I felt not unlike a somnambulist proceeding toward a portentous fate. My legs felt numb and leaden; my heart was now thudding with jarring impacts against my ribs. Then my bare feet touched something uneven and elevated. This is it, I told myself; you'd better step out of line before it s too late! Another firm shove on my shoulders, and in the next instant countless tiny electric shocks pricked the bottom of my feet. It was not unlike the sudden jabbing of the skin with sharp needles. Smothering heat waves shimmered before my steadfast gaze, compelling me at last to half-close my eyes. It was not unlike the sudden blast of heat that explodes from the widely flung doors of a huge blast-furnace. The heat of the oven all but suffocated me. My lungs became filled with superheated air, and I felt I would collapse if I did not breathe pure cool air quickly. As if from a great distance, through a long windswept tunnel, I heard the murmuring of the spectators. And as I walked I felt that I must surely present an abject figure treading behind Terii, if my physical aspect matched my mental unrest.

Then, suddenly, the tingling sensation on the bottom of my feet ceased, and I knew that I had crossed the oven. I glanced down at my feet. They were untouched! I had half-expected to see burn-blisters erupting between the toes and the flesh bursting under intense roasting. Every pore of my body filtered rivulets of sweat, and I could see that Chief Terli's broad back was glistening with globules of body moisture. Terii abruptly lifted his wand of Ti leaves, a recognized signal that the last in line had passed over the Umu, and now everyone was to right-about-face for the return transit. I knew that I could not undergo another firewalk upon the hot stones, so I stepped quickly out of line. Terii grinned and gave me an understanding slap on my shoulders. Then he led his followers back across the oven.

Quickly I was surrounded by the tourists, who lifted my feet and wiped away the dirt to search for burn marks. There were none! The natives shook my hand, and gave complimentary shouts of "Maitai-roa! Very good!"

White Man Looks to Science

Several white men have firewalked barefooted across the firewalking pit of Polynesia, among them Dr. William Craig and his brother, former British resident agents of the Cook Islands; they made a safe crossing. Some, voicing flippant or skeptical remarks, were horribly burned during an Umuti, necessitating hospitalization; others, believing in the strange ceremonies of the islands, have made the walk unscathed. The reasons for the different experiences I cannot explain.

Some assayers of human immunity to fire-burn have made interesting observations. A writer-traveler in Japan, John Hyde, noticed that the priests, before firewalking over their herb-strewn firewalking pits, rubbed the soles of their feet with salt. He experimented similarly, and after a walk across an firewalking pit, he remarked: "My confidence was not misplaced. In my feet I felt only a sensation of gentle warmth, but my ankles, to which no salt was applied, were scorched."

Wemyss Reid, in his Memoirs and Correspondence of Lyon Playfair, tells how Playfair induced the Victorian Prince of Wales, in a faith-test in science, to stir a pot of molten metal with his bare hand (after he had cleansed the hand with ammonia to rid it of any grease), and to ladle out a measure. The Prince dipped out some boiling lead without sustaining any burns. Playfair then concluded his observations on the royal person's act by saying: "It is a well-known scientific fact that the human hand, if perfectly cleansed, may be placed uninjured in lead boiling at white heat, the moisture of the skin protecting it under these conditions from any injury."

Some years ago, the astute magician and escape-artist, Harry Houdini, an avid debunker of performances of the so-called supernatural, blasted demonstrations of fire-eaters and firewalkers in his book Miracle Mongers and Their Methods (E. P. Dutton, 1920). He took particular exception to a "roasting alive" act performed by a young man inside a heated glass enclosure garbed only in bathing trunks, with a steak dangling from his arm. The idea was for the exhibitionist to remain inside the booth, exposed to a high register of heat until the steak was thoroughly cooked. Houdini pointed out that the young man protected his hair with a bathing cap and had smeared clay over his eyebrows, so that the hair would not retain the heat longer than skin cells. Houdini maintained that this, with the tempering effect of excreting perspiration, was the solution to this heat-torture act. However, the magician explained, if the man had stayed in the overheated enclosure beyond a certain period of time, his body would have become dehydrated and serious heat prostration would have resulted. Precise timing was the explanation of this trick, according to Houdini.

U. S. Air Force Makes Tests

A more recent experiment in heat and its effects on the human body was conducted a short time ago at the University of California in Los Angeles, and was supervised by Dr. Craig Taylor, physiologist and engineer, at the request of the U. S. Army Air Force Command.

The Air Corps wanted to know one very important thing: what were the potentialities concerning a jet-plane pilot's being roasted alive in a friction-heated cockpit? These supersonic crafts, powered by jet propulsion, need refrigeration systems to keep the cockpits comfortable and bearable. What would happen to the pilot or pilots, if the cooling equipment failed while the jet planes were in flight? Would the pilot collapse at the controls? Would he succumb to heat prostration? Would he have to bail out in the stratosphere, or would he be literally baked alive in the cockpit? Could he stay at the controls, enduring the terrific heat, until he was able to slow down the plane?

This was a big order, but Professor Taylor was determined to find out what would happen to a human in a jet plane in flight if the cooling system conked out. He made with the help of his assistants a testing furnace out of a huge steel cylinder, and provided a strong fan to suck in dry air across an outside battery of white-hot electric grids. The first human guinea-pigs remained in the hot-box until the heat passed the boiling-point of water (212° F.). These student volunteers in the heat experiment came out a little groggy and florid faced, but quite "uncooked."

Professor Taylor reserved the final and decisive tests for himself. His hands, feet, and neck were protected before being wheeled into the cylinder, the temperature of which in this supreme experiment upon entrance read 230° F. He remained in this overheated atmosphere for 15¼ minutes, until the heat climbed to 262° F. While he was in there, an egg fried on a metal frying-pan in front of him. The only uncomfortable effects he suffered were that his face became fiery red when the hot blasts of air hit it, and his nasal membranes contracted, but apart from these discomforts he experienced no dire physical or mental agonies.

His answer was simple and to the point: the human body's resistance to heat is its own cooling system which nature has so advantageously provided — perspiration and mucous secretions. He proved that the moisture evaporating from the skin provides part of the body with a layer of cool air. A "desert waterbag" hanging on the outside of a car in traveling keeps the water cool from its own evaporation of moisture through the porous canvas.

While inside the hot-box, Professor Taylor learned that at one time when the register of heat was at 236° F, the air three quarters of an inch from his nose was 226° F. The skin of the nose itself registered a safe 119.5° F. Air drawn into the nostrils was cooled down to 100° F., which certainly could not injure the lungs. The general temperature of his body rose only a couple of degrees.

But what the Professor did emphasize as a danger to jet pilots in overheated cockpits was the raised temperature of the blood being conveyed to the brain cells. This would give pilots of jet planes the surest indication of approaching heat prostration should the cooling equipment break down. He also pointed out that man's fear of heat is chiefly a mental torture. Humans, no matter if they are pilots in friction heated cockpits of jet planes or unfortunate victims trapped in burning buildings or ships, can overcome high registers of heat by rational, well-organized attitudes of self-preservation. Fright or overexcitement can raise the temperature of the blood many degrees.

The firewalkers of Raiatea, Japan, Fiji, India, and Africa have had no indoctrination as to the scientific principles of heat, and, therefore, it is quite understandable that they would look to a psychic or supernatural source to explain their safe firewalks across firewalking pits. Certainly, the Umuti of Raiatea is a remarkable feat. One must bear in mind that hot rocks and not hot air come into contact with the flesh of the participants. I think Professor Taylor would have to admit that Chief Terii's ceremony is quite different from the one he conducted.

And I have to remind myself that no scientist has completely explained to my entire satisfaction how I crossed the fiery pit at Raiatea without so much as a blistered toe.

Dancing With the Fire

The Skeptical Mind

by Michael Sky

 

When we are certain that a phenomenon such as firewalking does not happen, we are really saying: "My basic knowledge of how the universe works is so complete and so accurate that the cosmos holds no more surprises for me. I know all the real truths and the details will all fit them."

How sad … If only experience and life would not keep teaching us how little we know.

Sit down before fact like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.

Doubt is not ultimately transcended through beliefs. Doubt is a state of mind that is fundamentally without content. It is an expression of the contraction of the being. It is not cured with positive beliefs that are the opposite of doubt. It is cured by the release of this contraction so that there is a continuity between consciousness and forms and relations, and unobstructed continuity between the being and Reality altogether.

 

The first barrier which most people encounter on their way to the firewalk is something which I call the skeptical mind. The skeptical mind is that part of us which tends to doubt and distrust certain things, especially things which we have never experienced before, such as Firewalking. It is a 'show-me' attitude, which assumes that something is false until proven true, a predisposition of disbelief toward anything which would stretch us even slightly beyond our current convictions about the nature of things. Persisted in, it becomes a mentally, emotionally, and physically ingrained habit, a fixed posture of skepticism, from which it is impossible to even entertain notions such as Firewalking, much less to participate in and truly learn from such realities.

The skeptical mind is a total way of being in the world which is endemic to our culture, a highly valued trait within our scientific, medical, legal, media, business, and educational communities. All of us carry some degree of the skeptical edge in our lives, though for some it is much sharper than for others. It is a deeply rooted pattern of psycho-physical response, taught to us at an early age, and supported by virtually all of our cultural institutions.

Above all, the skeptical mind is viewed as absolutely essential to our survival in these modern times. This is a dog-eat-dog world after all, filled with harsh truths and hard realities, filled to the brim with shams and charlatans, rip-offs and scams, so many fictions masquerading as fact. Our survival depends upon our ability to separate the snake oil from the real thing, to discern the true from the false. Thus, we talk of healthy skepticism, of street-smarts, of hard-bitten cynicism, and of cold, relentless logic, all terms which suggest strength and intelligence to us. Asked to define the opposite of skepticism, we will usually come up with words such as naivety, romanticism, idealism, and innocence, all suggestive of weakness and stupidity.

In fact, the word skepticism means doubt, distrust, and disbelief, and its true opposites are faith, trust, and openness. The more we approach the circumstances of our lives with the attitudes of doubt, distrust, and disbelief, the more fully committed we become, mentally, emotionally, and physically, to the skeptical mind and the resulting posture of skepticism. The more fully we have adopted a posture of skepticism, the more difficult it becomes to approach anything in life with the attitude and posture of open faith and trust. This is especially true for new things, strange things, foreign things, unheard of things, 'too good to be true' things, and 'impossible' things. Eventually, a deeply ingrained posture of skepticism operates like a set of blinders which will effectively screen from one's awareness anything 'out of the ordinary.' It is then no longer a matter of doubting and distrusting such possibilities — the skeptical mind simply will not see them to begin with.

I must stress at this point that in using the term 'the skeptical mind' I am not implying that the mind is by nature skeptical. Quite to the contrary, I believe that the human mind is essentially open, trusting, and believing and that skepticism is a trait which most minds learn which then develops into an overall way of being in the world, a posture of skepticism, very much to the mind's detriment. Ultimately, skepticism is nothing but a bad habit, necessary in the way that bad habits are always necessary, but ultimately of no redeeming value to the human species.

To those who might argue that skepticism is vital to good science, I would answer that the very best scientists are children. During their first seven years, children are endlessly exploring, touching, tasting, and smelling life; testing, trying out, and learning, learning, learning, absorbing vast quantities of data. Their brains expand in great bursts of cellular growth, their eyes and ears wide open and accepting of everything. They steadily expand their understanding of the world, figuring out gravity and nourishment and human relationship, a breakthrough every hour, a Nobel prize worth of discovery every day — and they do it all, this prodigious learning, without the slightest trace of skepticism, without the slightest need for doubt, distrust, or disbelief. Rather, it is precisely the child's wide-eyed innocence and absolute believing which makes such learning possible.

Likewise, to those who would argue that a good, healthy dose of skepticism is necessary protection in this cruel-hearted world, helping us to 'wise up' and 'know better keeping us from buying all of the various Brooklyn Bridges that life offers, I would point out that it is informed intelligence that keeps us from such follies, not skepticism. It is quite possible to be wide-open and trusting of all that comes one's way and to still say no to those things which sound false or misleading. In fact, experienced con artists claim that the best marks are those who appear to be rigidly skeptical, as it is simply a matter of using their prejudices against them. A skeptical mind is invariably a closed mind, is invariably a crippled mind. Truly, skepticism is neither essential to the learning process nor essential to the intelligent negotiation of life, and is ultimately a serious hindrance to both. This has not, however, prevented the skeptical mind from becoming one of the most highly valued and firmly rooted traits of Western culture.

It has been through such a deeply rooted posture of skepticism that the Western world has always viewed the firewalk. To date there have been only a few scientific investigations of the firewalk, and what little literature there is on the subject is for the most part anecdotal in nature. There have been a small number of Western institutions that have gone off to various parts of the world to report on the subject, and they have always confirmed that it is in fact happening. Many such reports have included a theoretical explanation of the event, while on other occasions the investigators have admitted to being stymied by what they witnessed. Yet, despite the widely known and highly provocative nature of the firewalk, very little serious scientific investigation of the phenomenon has ever been pursued.

This is especially ironic since the scientific community has for so many years dismissed out of hand most, if not all, paranormal phenomena, such as the firewalk, for being anecdotal, unverifiable, and experimentally unrepeatable. Since the early 1980s there have been a number of firewalkers such as myself traveling about, in full public view, and essentially performing the same experiment over and over and over again, with the same basic results, while enthusiastically inviting full scientific scrutiny. Yet, as I say, the scientific community has for the most part been unwilling to approach the firewalk, unwilling to study it, and unwilling to learn from the data it presents.

Quite to the contrary, there has always been a rather studious avoidance of such a study. As Dr. Andrew Weil points out: "Hardly any physiologists or medical scientists have studied the phenomenon, and those who have written about it have mostly tried to make it appear unremarkable. Their aim is to defuse the challenge it poses to the materialistic conception of the human organism." Up until a few years ago the Western world, entrenched within its posture of skepticism, was content to simply say, "It's impossible; it's a trick, a sham; it can't be happening" and to let it go at that, enough said, no need for any further thought, just another instance of phenomenal flotsam from the uncivilized world. Over the years, however, the reports from well-respected observers have slowly gathered, saying that it is indeed happening, that the coals are very hot, the feet uncalloused and untreated, and that real people are really walking without burning. These reports, coupled with the recent well-publicized Firewalking in the United States, have made it impossible for the skeptics to simply deny the experience any longer. Yet this has not led, as one might have thought, to an eager rush to understand how it could be happening, but instead to the next defense of the skeptical mind: that of explaining it away.

'Explain-aways' begin to arise when the skeptical mind is finally willing to admit that firewalkers are in fact doing what they have always been claiming to do, that the coals are hot, and that the walking happens — for the most part without burning. Having acceded that much, the skeptical mind is usually not at all willing to then allow that this happens for the reasons that the firewalkers give: that it is a demonstration of some new evolutionary capacity of humankind, or of mind over matter, or of possession by God, or of connection to the spirit of the fire, or of any other such 'exotic' explanation. No, indeed not. At this point the skeptical mind says: "Enough is enough. While Firewalking may be fact, there must surely be, must surely be, some perfectly reasonable and totally physical explanation." That is, "Yes it is happening, but it is only something which looks difficult and really isn't, like an optical illusion, and here is an explanation. We've explained it away, and now back to serious matters." Unfortunately, as Dr. Weil puts it, the real appeal of all 'explain-aways' is that they avoid "any reference to the mind or the power of consciousness to modify physical reality."

I do not mean to suggest that science is some great and nasty monolith which has unfairly spurned the poor firewalk these many years. Rather, I am saying that science, in so thoroughly committing itself to the necessity of the posture of skepticism, has by definition greatly limited its field of enquiry and what is permitted to count as 'good science.' It has developed a knack for quickly explaining away any data which manage to slip through the perimeters of the current scientific paradigms. Harking back to Einstein's comment, "It was as if the earth was pulled out from under one," we can certainly understand the scientist's reluctance to allow human consciousness into the creative machinery of life; it does make for rather messy data!

The reigning 'explain-away' for years has been that Firewalking is a demonstration of something called the Leidenfrost effect. The Leidenfrost effect, named after the German scientist who first studied it, is what happens when you sprinkle water onto a very hot skillet, and, instead of immediately evaporating, it retains its shape and bounces around on the skillet for a few moments. This occurs when the heat is at just the right temperature to evaporate the bottom layer of the drop of water. The vapor then, in effect, becomes an insulating layer for the rest of the drop, protecting it from the heat. The bottom layer of water will continuously evaporate, while the rest of the drop above continues to feed water into it, until eventually the whole drop disappears. Extrapolating, rather extravagantly I think, from that piece of data, skeptics have reasoned that what happens at a firewalk is that participants get so nervous beforehand that their feet sweat and that, a la Leidenfrost, they are protected from the heat of the coals by a thin layer of insulating sweat.

Lately, a different 'explain-away' has been getting a lot of press. This argument draws a distinction between temperature and heat energy, pointing out that while two objects may be heated to the same temperature, they will contain different amounts of heat energy depending upon their differing masses, and that it is heat energy which causes burning, not temperature. As an example, imagine reaching into a hot oven to retrieve a baking pan. Though the air inside the oven and the baking pan are both heated to the same temperature, your hand will not be burned by the air because it is of such little mass that it holds very little heat energy. The pan, however, has a much higher mass, contains much more heat energy, and will burn you if you do not protect your hand. This theory continues by saying that burning embers contain very little mass in relation to the mass of human feet and thus cannot contain enough heat energy to do any damage.

A major refutation of these, and any other 'explain-aways' that the skeptical mind might come up with, comes from burn specialists. Those who have worked in hospital burn units for any appreciable length of time have invariably treated victims of similar fires, i.e., those who have stepped accidentally on campfires or upon stray barbeque coals, or have come into brief contact with fireplace logs. Such specialists are generally quite explicit about what ought to happen when a person steps on a fire of the sort that firewalkers use: instantaneous second- and/or third degree burning. This is expert testimony, coming from years of direct experience with different types of fire and its effect upon the human body. As I say, most of the doctors that I have spoken with have been quite clear that something extraordinary is happening at a firewalk.

I say 'most of the doctors' because I have known of a few burn specialists who have landed in the skeptic's camp, arguing that it is impossible to get badly burned at a firewalk. However, even the most sophisticated of arguments against the possibility of being burned by hot coals tends to break down when you talk to someone who has actually been burned, and has suffered greatly, from such an experience. I have had six campfire burn victims show up at my firewalks, each having once been very badly burned by a campfire. All of them successfully firewalked, and all were totally certain that the fire which had burned them earlier in life was much cooler, and their contact with it much shorter in duration. One was so impressed by his experience that he is now leading firewalks himself. Still, this is at best anecdotal evidence.

The main problem with any explanation of why 'you really can't get burned at a firewalk' is that people do in fact get burned at firewalks! As mentioned in the previous chapter, I have not come across a single reference to Firewalking anywhere that did not include some warning about the possibility of being burned. In other parts of the world, there are reports of people who have been crippled or fatally injured while Firewalking. While, to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever been so seriously burned in the United States, it is not at all uncommon for people to experience burning pain and to develop blisters as a result of Firewalking. I could safely say that all continuing firewalkers eventually get a nasty burn, and that at the end of any given firewalk there are at least a couple of walkers who are feeling pain. These are generally pretty benign affairs: a few sharply stinging spots on the bottoms of the feet, lasting for an hour or two, and then lingering as blisters on the sole of the foot for a few days, or at most a hobbled week or so. I know of several people who have gone to hospital emergency rooms in great pain after Firewalking, including three who were diagnosed by the receiving doctor as having severe second-degree bums, and of one man who spent a month on crutches after one of my firewalks. I have personally had a few rather long, painful nights myself, my foot in a bucket of cold water, when I wished very much that it was impossible to get burned at a firewalk!

But people do get burned, all the time. And while bums and blisters are a somewhat unpleasant aspect of firewalking that I often wish would go away, they do at the same time very clearly serve to validate the process. Having watched thousands of people go through the firewalk, and having followed up with many who were burned, and many more who were not, all that I have seen has led me to the very firm conclusion that burns are somehow caused from inside the person, rather than by the fire. Each time I lead a firewalk I use the same amount of the same kind of wood, and I burn it for the same length of time, raking it into a path of the same dimensions, meticulously preparing it in the same way. And yet, from firewalk to firewalk, from experiment to experiment, sometimes there are burns, and sometimes there are not. The fire has burned as a constant, unchanging stimulus. The only changing factor has been the psycho-emotional state of the individual walkers.

Even more compelling is the testimony of experienced walkers, such as myself. To have walked on fire a dozen or more times, to have had the experience on some nights of being able to do just about anything with the fire — dancing, slow dancing, standing still, laughing through it all and feeling no heat whatsoever — and then to stand in front of another fire and hear a voice inside screaming "not tonight!" and sure enough, with the first step forward, to experience a burst of heat and a piercing pain: having gone through this more than a few times, and swapped notes with others who have done likewise, I am firmly convinced that the primary cause of burning at a firewalk is the consciousness of the individual walker, in combination with the collective consciousness of the entire group involved.

The testimony of burn specialists, combined with the continuing experience of thousands and thousands of firewalkers, would seem to present a good case for the basic premise of firewalking: that a fire which would ordinarily burn does not, and that human consciousness is a primary causative factor for this phenomenon. Yet, even with such evidence, most skeptics, firmly committed as they are to a posture of doubt, distrust, and disbelief, will continue to generate 'explain-aways' I have watched the minds of some people, just minutes after firewalking, start sending up the disclaimers: "That fire didn't seem so hot," "It was only a few steps," "It was only a few seconds," "We walked so fast," "If everyone did it that must prove you can't get burned." This no longer surprises me, for it has been my experience that most if not all of us will have to wrestle through such moments of skepticism, such dark nights of the soul, while our minds scramble to invalidate the simple miracle of the firewalk.

Indeed, I find it difficult to even write the word 'miracle,' much less announce that I will be performing one with twenty other people next Friday night at 10 pm! Presumptuous, to say the least, with an unhealthy dose of hubris. And yet, looking the word 'miracle' up in the dictionary, I find it defined as "an event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a divine source." Which is exactly what a firewalk is.

Let's divide this definition into three parts. First, a firewalk is certainly an event in the physical world. These are real feet stepping onto real fire without really burning. It is most definitely not a case of mass hypnosis or shared hallucination or any such thing.

Second, it is an event which surpasses all known human or natural powers. The emphasis here is on the word 'known,' meaning that while firewalking is beyond our current understanding of human or natural powers, it is by no means unknowable. Very often the vehemence and, at times, the outright anger with which skeptics view events like firewalking stems from the mistaken belief that such paranormal phenomena discount the laws of nature, or that they deny the fact that we do live in an orderly universe which can be systematically studied and understood. The firewalk can seem like a very large slap in the face to those whose lives are devoted to such study, both contradicting and threatening their life works, that they will typically react by arguing vigorously against its possibility.

But firewalking is not, by any means or manner of reckoning, a refutation of the laws of physics or a denial that there is an underlying order to this universe which can be systematically understood. It is merely a firm reminder that there are still large gaps in our knowledge, that our minds must remain relentlessly open to new learnings, and that our understanding must be expected and permitted to grow. Simply consider the lessons that Copernicus, Galileo, Columbus, and Einstein brought to the world: each introduced radical new concepts that were contradictory to the known laws of nature in their time; each met with hostile skepticism; and each, ultimately, ushered in a fresh new wave of understanding which encompassed and went beyond all that was known before. In like manner, the firewalk is a teaching which goes against our current understanding and which promises to deliver several important insights into the workings of the world. It only remains for us to have the courage and the willingness to truly look, listen, and learn.

The third part of the definition of a miracle is that it is an event which is ascribed to a divine source. Looking further through the dictionary, we find that 'divine' is defined as 'God-like,' and 'God' is defined as 'the creator.' Given the basic premise of the firewalk, as introduced in Chapter 2 — that there is an ongoing co-creative process, or divine intelligence, which determines the way that the world is, the very fabric of reality, and the laws which govern it; that each of us is a vital and integral part of that process; and that all human beings are potentially co-creators of this world — then it follows that the firewalk may indeed be ascribed to a divine source, which is ourselves!

Harumph and pshaw, yikes and arrgh, the textbook skeptic reels away from this suggestion that we are divine, literally feels revulsion towards such a notion, turns red in the face, grits teeth and clenches fists, screams of pantheism and paganism, of witchcraft and heresy; or chuckles wryly at such misinformed romanticism, lightly dismissing the very idea as naive, primitive, and sadly innocent.

We have now arrived at the root of the skeptical mind, at the very source of all the skepticism that the world has ever known and experienced. For behind all of the doubting, all of the distrusting, and all of the disbelieving of the posture of skepticism, lies this essential doubt, this essential distrust, this essential disbelief in ourselves as co-creators, in our connection to the primary creative forces of this world. The basic denial of our true divine nature becomes a denial of all of life. The basic stance of skepticism taken toward our own true role as co-creators becomes an ingrained habit of skepticism which colors every other aspect of our lives.

Simply consider this: if our basic premise is correct — that we contribute to the creation of reality through our thoughts and feelings — and we disagree, saying that our thoughts do not have creative impact and that our feelings do not have creative impact, then it will follow, quite ironically, that our thoughts and feelings will not have creative power and we will be quite right in proclaiming our lack of divinity. This is the original self-fulfilling prophecy (actually it is a self-frustrating prophecy), the catch-22 of all catch-22s. The more fervently we argue against our co-creative powers, the more surely we empower that reality. The more clever and complete our proof that we are not divine by nature, the more evidence we will be able to find to support our lack of divinity. As Richard Bach puts it so concisely in Illusions: "Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours." To which we might add: "The more clever and determined your argument, the more limited you will be." And then a corollary: "Argue for your greatness and that too shall be yours."

Of course, it is quite true that as we look out at the world we see very little evidence of such greatness, very little evidence of humankind's divine nature, very little evidence that human beings somehow contribute to the creation of the external world through the movement of their internal processes. We must constantly remember that arguing from past cases has little relevance during evolutionary leaps. Caterpillars cannot conceive of flying; apes cannot conceive of conceiving. Like a child-king, humanity has long lived with the promise of power while being too young, too immature, too unevolved, to truly fulfill that promise. We have had our many masters, our Christs and Buddhas, the evolutionary mutants, living examples of our true nature, breathing reminders of our ultimate potential, always demonstrating the possible while saying, "You can do this too." That we have as yet failed to realize our full potential can be an indictment of humanity or a promise for the future. I am inclined toward the latter view and feel that the firewalk's present-day arrival in the land of skepticism suggests that we may be ready at last to fully embrace our true nature.

Every firewalker is saying about himself or herself: There is an ongoing, co-creative process which determines the very fabric of reality and the laws which govern it and I, as a conscious human being, am an integral part of that process; there is a divine, creative energy pulsing through all of this universe and I, as a conscious, evolutionary human, am the living embodiment of that divine energy. As we, individually and collectively, begin to truly have faith (which equals belief without proof, the very opposite of skepticism) in this possibility; as we truly honor our own divinity; as we truly believe in the creative impact that we have upon our world; as we take full responsibility for our vital roles as co-creators; as we finally and completely lift the veils of skepticism and doubt to behold the magical child, the wondrous, ancient, and eternal soul, the higher self, the holy one, the Godhead, the Christ, as we look upon ourselves and say, "Yes, amen, I am that I AM, so be it!"; then, by reflection, we have also affirmed this for our entire world. We can then experience a co-creative energy which is flowing through each of us, through all people, linking all of humanity together as one, and deeply and profoundly connecting us to the living consciousness of this planet.

Thus is our age-old prophecy and dream of heaven on Earth, of one peaceful world, made manifest. One who experiences that all of life is divinely connected finds it impossible to ever knowingly harm another; finds oneself, indeed, compelled toward a life of good and harmonious thoughts, words, and deeds. It is the transformation of our entire planet, and it begins with each of us looking inside and saying, "Yes, I am divine, I am co-creator of this world; my every conscious momentmatters, deeply, fully, profoundly."

The skeptical mind will point to the world as it is, saying, "Read the papers, watch the six o'clock news, observe the hopelessness, the helplessness, the despair, the confusion, the stupid depravity of our race, Where is the divine, where are these promised Gods, what is this foolishness!?" This is like the scientist removing a fish from water to study it upon a laboratory table for several hours until it is proven that fish can't exist because the damn thing died! Likewise, in allowing and strongly investing in a deeply-ingrained and profoundly rooted atmosphere of skeptical doubt, distrust, and disbelief, we have created an environment which is poisonous to the human spirit, which is openly hostile to our divine nature, and which works totally against the realization of our greatest dreams and most inspired possibilities. Indeed, the term 'healthy skepticism' is an outright lie, and could not be further from the truth, for skepticism always poisons, always attacks, always belittles, always defeats. All skepticism is by nature and definition unhealthy, for it begins with the denial of the essential human spirit, a denial which tragically prevents that spirit from coming forth in the world. Far from protecting, such chronic skepticism stifles and suffocates the body, narrows the vision, depresses the mind, inhibits relationship, and argues feverishly, and oh so cleverly, against the very possibility of embodied spirit, against the very precious possibility that we are each co-creators of this life.

Still, it must be conceded that all of these words are bound to fall like so much water on the rock-hard logic of the skeptical mind. We will probably never manage to completely convince the skeptical mind of the essential goodness of humanity, nor of its essential divine nature, nor of its vast reservoirs of untapped creative potential. The forever self-defeating nature of the skeptical mind is such that it cannot see beyond the created limitations of its own presumptions. Thus, we could do happy cartwheels through the hottest of fires (and have), laughing all the while, and the skeptical mind will immediately explain it all away, without considering for even the briefest moment that it might be true, that there might be a very new and different way of looking at the world. And, if we were then to point out the explicitly suicidal nature of such arguments, the skeptical mind would only dig in deeper still, threatened and offended and ever more determined to put an end to such nonsense. "Argue for your limitations and they're yours," warned a reluctant messiah. Sadly, the skeptic argues on, bound and determined to be dead right.

There is the story of a monkey who saw a caged bird and reached through the bars of the cage to grab it, thinking of dinner. Once having grasped the bird, however, his hand became too large to remove through the narrow bars. Though freedom lay in simply releasing the bird, the monkey just could not let go of something which had once seemed so important, and thus eventually died, still clinging to the bird.

Let us not also perish while clinging to a vision of ourselves which is negative, limiting, and stuck in the past. Our greatest teachers have told us that entering into the new world will require the easy innocence and open faith of a child. The evolutionary leap and the leap of faith are one and the same: a courageous leap beyond the narrow bars of skepticism and into a new world of abiding trust and unshakable belief in the divine nature of humankind. It is a leap which each of us must take individually, deeply affirming our divine purpose, acknowledging responsibility for our role as conscious participants in the evolutionary process, and accepting and gladly exercising our ability to positively impact our world. Slowly but surely an atmosphere of openness, faith, trust, and belief will be created, an atmosphere which will affirm, nurture, and support the very best that we could become, the very best of all possible worlds.