Sunday, January 31, 2010

Last Sunday in January

This photograph is a pair of Tlinget Indians from Alaska. The picture was on a poster from a traveling native basket collection that made it's way to Humboldt State University one year, and I fell in love with it. The Tlingets are well known for their totem poles and drums, as well.
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After reading Enchanted Oaks blog today and noticing that I'm not hearing much about some major things happening in the world, it got me to thinking about war and poverty and a number of the things that we like to shuffle off to the back of our minds most of the time. We have to do this, I think, to survive the helplessness we feel. There is such a surplus of catastrophe out there...I don't have television, and I don't buy newspapers. I read Mother Jones magazine and that is enough to make me scream. I get news off the internet, so it isn't like I'm tuned out to all that's happening. I get newsletters and emails from different not-so-mainstream news sources. I am informed. I try to be open minded about things , but it is depressingly clear to me that the state of the world leaves much to be desired. And I have to say that starvation is one of the things that knocks me off center more than anything. I don't understand how it can be happening and the politics of it all just overwhelm me.

Sometimes I feel like I am some kind of goofy Pollyanna who thinks that everything is all rainbows and sunshine, and I probably sound like that. But it hurts my heart, this stuff that goes on. In some primal, psychic manner...I sometimes feel the pain of the world. Of the Mother Earth. Of hungry children. Of war torn countries. I don't know if that empathy is my esoteric connection to all living things or my imagination. I don't know if I can do anything positive to help change things or not. I don't know if there are souls who choose their paths in this lifetime and I need to stay out of their way while they work their way through to the solutions, or I am supposed to be an activist, fighting to make change apparent.


There is a Red Cedar Circle prayer that I like, that goes like this:

SiSiWiSS Prayer

Ati si si kweeaht
We honor the sacred that is beyond words.


Ati si si sayeeah
We honor the sacred Love.

Ati si si saye-elh
We honor the sacred natural world.

Ati si si kweeaht
We honor the sacred that is beyond words.





Whatever I do, I must honor the sacred. If there is indeed a grand cosmic plan afoot, could it encompass my spiritual connection and growth as well as the plights of citizens around the world.? Could it all be interwoven? Could it be part of an awakening of all people to the hum of the connectedness? That the time for separateness is going now? Am I, (small, here on my little plot of land) a piece of the puzzle every bit as important to the whole as say, governments, or churches, or schools? Is my heart on the same grid as the collective consciousness that strives to make the world a better place? When I plant a garden, tend the earth, feed my soul...share the bounty with others not fortunate enough to have the ability or place or time to do so themselves...does my one small act of kindness make a difference in the cosmic vibration? And is that difference palpable?

I have to believe it is, it does. One small person, doing one small thing. None of us have to feel helpless in the face of this world we live in. We can start by honoring the sacred, changing the vibration of the Universe with our gratitude, our prayers, our compassion. This all sounds rather new agey, but in my soul I know it's right. On a small scale, I look for the good in the people around me. I want to believe that all of us are innocent, sensitive, honest and good. That love is at our core. And I know some people do things that don't prove this out, but is it because people are generally bad? No, I think it's that these people are lost. They are the walking wounded and there is some filter of fear that colors their entire perception of the world. And I'm not talking about just killers or rapists. I'm talking as well about the Maddoxs and the Enrons of the world. Corporate thieves. Warmongers. Bullies. Egocentric monstrosities.


Whew. lol Not sure where all this came from, except that I had some very heavy conversation about some things today, and it has set me thinking all day about life and how it is so different for so many. What is enough? What do we really need to be okay? I don't know if there is a pat answer to this. I know that I have to be where my feet are and try to live simply and be joyful. To learn to trust, when about me all is in chaos. To find my place in the world. To understand the true nature of wealth, and of happiness, and of love. To redefine prosperity and abundance.


And now, to sleep...perchance to dream...



Namaste.

10 comments:

Mary LA said...

I'm so with you. And staying connected to our own piece of land, place, nature, caring for those around us, nurturing, struggling, sustaining, staying sober -- all bound up with practical love.

Blessed Imbolc darling

Michelle said...

This is beautifully written and heartwarming. What an inspirational post. I think we have very similar views about this spiritual world we live in. Thanks for making me feel like someone else out there shares my thoughts and feelings. We really are all the same deep down aren't we?

Mike Minzes said...

All your toughts about us being connected to the earth and everything in it are more true that most people will ever discover :)

One Prayer Girl said...

Lots of food for thought here.

I try to do what I can and leave the results to God.

As we often hear, the longer I'm sober, the less I know or understand.

I am and always have been eternally grateful to have been born in America, in a country that has been blessed with so much opportunity.

I will have to give this post more thought later. Thanks and I loved the prayer.
PG

Anonymous said...

Empathy is not esoteric. It is very real. Some are simply more aware of the vibrations of others.

Thank you for this post.

DJan said...

I do believe that we have the ability to make a difference by having the right mindset. I wrote this post about the Hundredth Monkey back in September. It's about the same thing.

Maude Lynn said...

I don't the answers, either. Except to be kind.

This is a beautiful post.

Jess Mistress of Mischief said...

Beautiful share! I love the Prayer!

I love where your heart is! If you're a goofy pollyanna I'd rather have a million of you than one of the other kind, whatever they may be.

:)

CiCi said...

I hope you know how wonderful and powerful and endearing your words are in the post. It is a very good thing you followed your heart and wrote it as you did. Good for you. It is always a surprise and yet a comfort to meet other people who do not watch TV. Hubby and I don't have TV, don't want it and are blessed every day we live without that intruding into our minds and hearts. Like you, we find true news available online. I love it that you share whatever bounty you have available. Yes one person can make a difference. We have to believe it.

G-Man said...

You are such a warm, loving, and beautiful human being.

Wonderful Prayer...G