Synopses & Reviews
A psychospiritual crisis is sweeping through our civilization like a contagion, infecting a growing number of people with insanity in the form of greed, egotism, and destructiveness. The Native Americans had a name for this phenomenon: they called it
wetiko, and they recognized it with horror in the faces of Europeans who arrived in hordes several centuries ago.
Drawing on Jungian psychology, shamanism, and personal experience, author Paul Levy asserts that wetiko is not merely folklore, but a seeming predatory entity that feeds on the psyche of its victims, simultaneously blinding them to their own possession and compelling them to act against their own best interests. We can see signs of wetiko, he suggests, not only in our personal lives — where so many of us struggle with abusers and narcissists — but also in society en masse, where we find an increase in corrupt politicians, unconscionable international and domestic policies, and tyranny within the financial system. Perhaps most alarmingly, he argues, is the fact that so many people seem to be oblivious to the absolute insanity of it all.
For those who are looking at the current state of affairs and wondering how such madness can proliferate, Levy provides an answer — as well as a solution. Lying dormant in the venom of wetiko, he says, is its antidote — one that can help us wake ourselves and each other up from this mass hypnosis and finally bring sanity back to society.
Review
"The world would be a better place if everyone read this book." Sting
Review
"I do very much recommend Paul Levy's writings. Synthesizing a deep understanding of Jungian psychology and spirituality, Paul's work brilliantly illuminates the dreamlike nature of reality." Dr. Arnold Mindell, founder of process-oriented psychology
Review
"Messianic...Paul Levy represents the future." Dr. Seth Farber, The Journal of Mind and Behavior
Review
"Dispelling Wetiko is one of those rare, courageous books that leads us where we would prefer not to go: into the depths of our own shadow. Yet this is the most essential journey for our present time....It is a must-read, without a doubt." Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
Review
"Paul Levy summons us by Wisdom's call to community, action, and our higher humanity. Truly initiatory, this book is inviting us to step through the looking glass and consciously participate in our own evolution. In exposing our psychic blindness, Levy is helping us to open our eyes and see." Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight
Review
"When I read Dispelling Wetiko, I was unprepared for a work of such true brilliance and depth. Paul Levy should be congratulated on writing a seminal work." Brad Steiger, author of Revelation: The Divine Fire
Review
"No one else writing in America today, in whatever genre, sees into the real nature of our crushing global endgame emergency more deeply, steadily, or wholly than Paul Levy." Eric Larsen, author of A Nation Gone Blind and professor emeritus at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
Review
"Paul Levy has broadened his hard-won personal insights into a trenchant diagnosis of the mass-mind psychosis afflicting our Western (and indeed now global) civilization. I honor Paul's courage and discernment in taking on this most elusive and treacherous of topics and showing the steps one can take to move toward liberation. Dispelling Wetiko deserves to be widely read and studied." Ralph Metzner, PhD, professor emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies and author of The Unfolding Self
Review
"I very much recommend Paul Levy's writings. Synthesizing a deep understanding of Jungian psychology and spirituality, his work brilliantly illuminates the dreamlike nature of reality." Dr. Arny Mindell, founder of process-oriented psychology and author of The Shaman's Body
Review
"The world is suffering from the globalization of selfishness, materialism, and militarism, and Paul Levy, in his magnum opus, Dispelling Wetiko, identifies their roots in a cancer of the soul....An insightful and provocative manifesto on how to combat this global epidemic before it is too late." Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine, chair of the Interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives, and author of The Left Hand of God
Review
"As a people, we seem to be seriously impaired. It is as if we have suffered a culture-wide stroke that has damaged the higher centers that control our ability to reason and act in rational ways. What will see us through? What will help us wake up from this slow suicide? Paul Levy's Dispelling Wetiko is a valuable step in the right direction. This desperately needed book not only sounds an alarm, but also points to a solution." Larry Dossey, MD, author of The One Mind and executive editor of Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing
Review
"In these dire straits, many extraordinary people — in all walks of life, speaking in different tones and voices — envision the nondual experience of the nature of mind. Paul Levy is one of them. [He] evokes a clear and scintillating vision, resolving much of the incongruity of our existence." Keith Dowman, author of Natural Perfection: Longchenpa's Radical Dzogchen
Review
"Paul Levy hits the archetypal nail on the head when he identifies debt pushers, consumption pushers, and GOD (gold, oil, and drug) pushers as the cannibalistic offenders in today’s society....I can’t express how brilliant I find this book." Iona Miller, coauthor of The Modern Alchemist: A Guide to Personal Transformation
Review
"This rich and fascinating book is full of original insights that challenge us to see the human predicament in a new way." Timothy Freke, author of The Jesus Mysteries and The Mystery Experience
Review
"Paul Levy's provocative and insightful book Dispelling Wetiko shines a light on the darkness and exposes evil as an illusion — one that nonetheless impacts our reality. It is particularly important in these evolutionary times that those who see themselves as 'bringers of the light' understand the heart of darkness as well....Kudos to Paul Levy for taking on this topic." Steve Bhaerman, coauthor of Spontaneous Evolution
Synopsis
There is a contagious psychospiritual disease of the soul, a parasite of the mind, that is currently being acted out en masse on the world stage via a collective psychosis of titanic proportions. This mind-virus — which Native Americans have called "wetiko" — covertly operates through the unconscious blind spots in the human psyche, rendering people oblivious to their own madness and compelling them to act against their own best interests.
Drawing on insights from Jungian psychology, shamanism, alchemy, spiritual wisdom traditions, and personal experience, author Paul Levy shows us that hidden within the venom of wetiko is its own antidote, which once recognized can help us wake up and bring sanity back to our society.
About the Author
In 1981, Paul Levy experienced what his doctors considered to be a nervous breakdown. In actuality, it was a spiritual awakening, one that changed his life's path forever. Since 1993, he has been giving talks and facilitating groups to help others in the process of awakening from the collective dream. A Tibetan Buddhist practitioner for more than thirty years, he has intimately studied with some of the greatest spiritual masters of Tibet and Burma. The author lives in Portland, OR.