A Talk of Elders - Pt 2
Our Elders in the Sacred - Part 2
Some years ago, I was intent upon finding my Native roots. As my native family migrated back East in search of work, they eventually settled in New England. I was born in Laconia, New Hampshire. As a child, I never had an opportunity to know my native roots. In fact, my family, like so many people of native or mixed blood in those days took extra measures to cover-up their native blood. I was raised in my younger years, with little knowledge of my ancestors except when I visited my Great Grandmother who was a full blood Seneca, in western New York State on the Oil Springs Reservation.
My Great Grandmother was an elder in every sense of the word. She had a spiritual glow that shined through a very tough and untouchable exterior, that I know now was a fabrication in order to fend off the hurts of life. Even as young as I was I can remember two distinct characteristics about her. She smoked a corncob pipe continuously, and her presence dominated the whole place where she was. She actually burned her charisma into your soul. She was serious about life and lived in a way that did not take away from, but added to the beauty of her surroundings. She believed in cleanliness and living in an uncluttered environment. She had meager possessions, but she had all that she needed. When I sat on her lap, no matter how chilly it was outside, I immediately became warm, comfortable and at ease.
As a boy, I had the unique experience of living in two very different worlds, depending upon whether I lived with my grandmother or when I lived with my mother. On the one hand, I lived in abject poverty and on the other I lived in a well to do environment. This time worked out to be about half and half so I acquired a different perspective on life as compared to most of my peers. During the poverty days, I lived on top of a mountain in Eastern New York, with little to eat, little to do and depended upon my own resources to escape a home environment, which was intolerable at best. I had a very close, spiritual relationship with Creator and blamed Him for everything negative in my life, which pretty much turned out to be anytime, I was not with my Grandmother.
During the time I lived with my mother, I knew two old hermits who shared our mountain with us and lived about a mile up the dirt road from where we had our home. These old men lived across the road from each other; about 1/10 th of a mile apart and yet never to my knowledge even exchanged a glance at the other. It was as if they were living on two side by side planes of existence, neither one aware of the other. Yet I knew that they were fully aware of each other, because when I visited one the other would become jealous and even more reclusive.
These two old hermits were a lesson in opposites, except for one very similar trait. They were both uniquely tidy and fastidiously clean. They both cleaned everything they owned, every day from the time they got up until the time they went to sleep. Everything had it’s place, even the labels of their food goods had to be facing out and everything had to be in a uniform organizational pattern of military conformity. What amazed me about these fellows cleanliness the most was during the winter when we would get a new snowfall. Each one would shovel their walkway to exact specification that would rival the levelness of a bricklayer. Then they would put their shovels away on their designated hanging hooks along the outside, back wall of their cabin and proceed to sweep the area just shoveled with a broom assigned for that particular task. They swept until almost every granule of snow was removed and there was no possibility that there would be any tracking of snow into the house.
One my favorite and looked forward to experiences during that time in my life was going to talk to these old hermits. I think they looked forward to my coming as much as I did. I also knew that they felt some empathy for what I was experiencing in my home life and were providing a sanctuary for me to come to when things would get rough at home. I liked them both intensely and of course, during that period I was not sure why, but as I look back often upon those times I understand how much presence they had in the sacred.
These old men spent much time in meditation, although I doubt they could relate to their time alone in silence as a meditation, that in fact is what that is. During that time, they were completely in tune with Creation and All That Is. When I would come to them they usually new I was hurting and needed a place to feel safe and they would talk to me for hours about life and what I could and could not expect from it. They talked a lot about the wrongs done to them and taught me how to avoid the pitfalls. (You would think I would have learned something from such wonderful teachers.
Solitude – The thing I did not understand about these two hermits was their choice to remain in solitude, completely alone and coping with their own inner voices. I can tell you from experience that this place of aloneness has, as it’s major pitfall the consequence of loneliness.
Solitude leaves us little choice but to look at Self from a very introspective plane. It forces us to choose to SEE what is good and what needs improvement in our quest to become complete spiritual beings. What is more, the choice of solitude shuts out those external entities which are so hard to trust, and refocuses the energy to the untrusting inner self. This then becomes a magnifying glass and is a “See All” of the internal weaknesses and strengths of self. Unless of course, one has chosen solitude as a hide away from life and still chooses to see through the cloud of denial.
It is a choice of a wise person to spend at least some time, during various periods in a lifetime in introspection and solitude. Most of us, however, go to great lengths to avoid this place. Most of us regard this place of seclusion, as a place to be feared and avoided at all cost, even if it means stealing the personal power of another in order to circumvent it. If you think is an idle comment, look around you at how many people you are acquainted with who are not happy unless they are in control of all those whom they come in contact with. Under this perceived control, they think they can feel secure and never have to face the incredibly hard job we call LIFE.
I have a very good friend (myself) who has now, because of circumstance or because spirit has directed it, chosen to remain within the solitude. I will stay here until I am directed otherwise! I have spent the most of my existence up until now attempting to avoid spirits directive to look within, all for the same reasons as everyone else shuns it. However, I have been thrown here repeatedly, only to see the fear and attempt to run from it. At this point in my life, I have finally chosen to stay here in isolation because of the incredibly destructive path that was placed before me at the hands of others who thought they saw something in me that they felt was lacking in them and attempted to claim it as their own. I choose to stay here, because they very nearly succeeded, because the energy expense is too great, and because after all this time, I am realizing that within my solitude, lays my Awakening.
I know some of you are wondering why this sharing of such personal information about experiences with life. Many would consider these things as “In the closet, never to see the light of day except in the presence of a Therapist, information”. I do not feel that way; my attitude is that nothing is too personal. If anyone can help someone else follow a little easier path by others having suffered through the pain and mistakes, then so be it. Traditionally, my Native Elders (Grandfathers and Grandmothers), teach by example and I will be the first to acknowledge the effectiveness of this type of healing.
The Awakening I find is happening a little bit at a time, as I peel back the layers of corruption that has been learned from a society decidedly out of balance with itself. I guess one could relate the clearing of perception as a peeling of the union, layer by layer until we get to the inner core we call Heart. I am not there yet, but I can say this most assuredly that my relationship to self and to spirit is becoming solid and defined. I no longer need to be in the presence of others in order to feel whole. I still feel lonely, however, but I understand that no man is an island and to be completely healthy, we all need to be able to share our deep love with another being.
The Respect of the Grandfathers –
A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to be in Standoff, Alberta Ca. during Treaty Seven Days. This is a time of coming together of the Indigenous People of Canada to plan for times ahead. (More info may be found on the Internet at http://www.treaty7.org/). This was the first time I was to experience Treaty7, and one of my first exposures to reservation life among my own people. Oh yes I have been around native people quite a bit, however that experience was with Eastern People who are in many ways different from the Plains People. I thoroughly enjoy being with both cultures, however there is a distinct difference that one notices in the interaction. I attribute many of those differences to the isolation of the Plains People as opposed to the Eastern People who have more opportunity to be in the mainstream of the dominant society of today.
I arrived at the Red Crow College in Standoff, which is where the meeting was being held. I was amazed at the number of people there and the camaraderie that was happening between them. It seemed that everyone knew everyone, which was ever more apparent when I arrived, because no one knew me. Everyone checked me out thoroughly and seemed to deduce that I was there under peaceful skies and then went about their talk. I asked if I would be permitted in the meeting hall and was asked who I was. I told them I was looking for my relations there and was interested in what was going on. They accepted me at my word and asked me in. Just then, everything became very quiet and all activity came to a halt. I turn around and looked back through the entrance way and observed a very old man in what appeared to be threadbare clothes being helped out of the passenger side of a sedan.
Without exception, all of the onlookers immediately became quiet and turned their attention to this old person who seemed at best to be of limited means. Then one by one as the old man passed, each person greeted him by name and presented him with a pleasantry of one sort or another. When he had finally passed through the door to the auditorium, the conversation return to the previous din before the old one arrived.
All sorts of thoughts were racing through my mind. Who was this old person? Was he a chief or a holy man or someone whom the tribe looked to for guidance? I noticed my physical reaction to the energy of this occurrence. It all seemed so familiar, and yet I had no frame of reference in this lifetime to compare with such an occasion. I noticed the intensely warm thrill that swept through me and this happening unfolded and can remember thinking, “surely this person was a very special person, even though he seemed to be very poor…” In retrospect, I have reflected upon the weakness of my own reaction to this, only relating to the material in how I judged the situation.
Then an even more profound energy came into my awareness, as another elder arrived, in much the same situation as the first old man. This person was an old woman. Everyone once again grew quiet, and one by one paid their respects to this elder woman. I reacted in the same way, both physically and mentally and then became aware of the Spirit of this old person and how present it seemed to be. It seemed the Auric energy surrounding this person fully encompassed the whole physical boundaries of the Red Crow College. Powerful and yet peaceful, not focused upon anything in particular but fully there in beautiful harmony.
It seemed as if all of the participants in this gathering were gaining in strength and harmony as each elder arrived. The same ritual of respect was paid to each as they arrived. The energy became less and less spurious as time passed before the beginning of the meeting. All of the individual energy’s that usually make up a gathering such as this was beginning to meld into one whole energy, with one intent and a genuine concern for the welfare of each individual there. There seemed to be no hierarchy of importance, all were equal and defined as a piece of the whole and none there seemed intent upon gaining attention at the expense of someone else.
Today my heart is full of questions and a pain which is not my own particularly but that is felt by many, many individuals in this society. It is very apparent to me that the people in Standoff are living according to the teachings of Creator (Api-stoh-toh-ki), while the rest of us live by the teachings of those who have the most money. My People, the Blackfeet know the priorities of life and they do not lie in the material realm. They have a deep respect for the babies, and the Grandparents. They know that all are very close to Creator and can SEE to the other side. One is coming and one is going, but the energy is the same.
We in mainstream society are trapped by our own base perceptions of where we think we need to be in order to be whole. The problem with this pursuit is that it is fraught with the frustration of never getting to where we think we need to be. As this daily frustration continues to hang on, we become increasingly desperate to satisfy the need. We start to slip a bit in our own moral code, where a particular action was considered unacceptable in the past, now is given more grey area. “Maybe it will be ok to hurt my neighbor this one time if it gets me to where I need to be!” “Just this once, won’t hurt anybody if I do it or allow it this once time!”
We find if there are no apparent consequences to our actions, we continue to slip farther and deeper into a morass of non-moral actions and all at once these once unacceptable behaviors are now acceptable and a part of normal life. Until we get to a point in our existence, where it is considered acceptable for instance, for a president of our country violate the trust of the people with his own version of self-determined morality. This is just one indicator of the “satisfy my needs – immediately” attitude in this society that has other people from diverse cultures around the world, so anti-United States. Why do other societies feel this way? If we satisfy our needs at all costs, it usually is at the expense of some other less fortunate entities whether it be an individual or a whole culture. One such, being the true Natives of this land. Let us consider (those of you who know the traditions of Native People), how these same actions, committed in a tribal environment would have been dealt with.
Without question, a person who committed and anti-societal act would have been immediately stripped of any office if they held one. He/she would have at the very least been shunned or banned from all encounters with members of their community. They would be in essence blacklisted with all other tribes, as the word would be spread of their deeds. In extreme cases, they would be put to death. The result of these actions is that illicit, antisocial deeds were almost non-existent among tribal communities. The consequence of the actions was immediate and sweeping and was the best deterrent to immoral acts. There were no pedophiles in tribal communities…
In the case of a broken relationship where there were children involved? The situation was quite different from what is seen in present day social circles. The children were not just children of the couple but were considered children of the community and thus were never allowed to be pawns in a dual between two unreasonable partners in a broken relationship. When these breaks occurred, if there was seen a use of the children to get what was wanted the children were simply removed from the care of either party and went to live with a relative. The couple was not allowed contact with the children until their issues were resolved.
"If today I had a young mind to direct, to start on the journey of life, and I was faced with the duty of choosing between the natural way of my forefathers and that of the... present way of civilization, I would, for its welfare, unhesitatingly set that child's feet in the path of my forefathers. I would raise him to be an Indian!"
Neither individual of a failing relationship was allowed to feel they were alone and without help. The whole tribe would be involved in the resolution of the issues and whatever the whole tribe determined as the correct measures to take was the rule. If the resolution was not unanimous then the issue would remain on the table until it was. There could be no unresolved issues in the community. The beauty of these methods was that no one was in a position of feeling as if they were being dealt with unfairly and none was alone in their pain. The whole tribe shared in it and was there to lean on in times of sadness and hurt.
Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and
Absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles of truth,
Honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.
To Be Continued
