Thursday, August 25, 2011

Water Balloons

So, here is one for you. Many times I have folks come to me. Tell me the goofiest crap. Many come and tell me all they know about everything, and want to instruct me on all they know. As if I'm a dumb ass and I should fall all over myself because this numbnuts standing in front of me chose to impart upon me their great and celestial wisdom. Yeah, right. Up until a few years ago they were hanging out in the bars raising hell and not giving a damn about anything spiritual. One day they woke up, started learning and less than five years later, they got it all. Well, ain’t that special? Personally I don’t ever want to be that special. Sounds like way too much responsibility to me.

Basically what they are saying is they have learned it all. Applying this push button self service give it to me now way of life most exist in today to a spiritual understanding. One day they woke up and ta da! Instant enlightenment. Some folks are just out of their ever loving minds. Does anyone think for one second anyone could handle that comprehension immediately? Imagine your mind as a 2 liter pop bottle. Now instantly fill it with all the water in the oceans. What do you think is going to happen to that bottle? Yep, it would explode. And so would your mind. Pop like a water balloon. Remember when we were kids, filling balloons with water? We had to get the pressure just right. Invariably we always broke one or two, filling them too fast or too much. Slowly, just a trickle, until enough water had created the perfect bomb to drop off a second story window on some unsuspecting childhood companion. This is spiritual understanding. You are the balloon.

Another side of this is I hear how folks want to see things. Come into lodges and ceremonies, desperately seeking to see. Did you forget about the other 4 senses? Sometimes you will see Them. Maybe you will smell them, taste them (that one is always weird), hear them, feel them. We have a tendency to expect Them to do what we want. Come in a way we want. Ha, like that is ever going to happen. They come Their way. Our responsibility is to put away our preconceptions and let Them show us. That's a tough one for many.

Into this conversation, lets insert Elders. Folks who “woke up” in their 30's or 40's and are now in their 80's and 90's. They have had many years to let that trickle of understanding fill them to the right consistency and volume. Now they can be dropped on some unsuspecting fool, exploding understanding all over them. Years they have spent, learning to perceive Them as They chose to show Themselves. Through sight, touch, taste (still weird), sound, smell.

Into all of this stew of course is religion. The word of itself makes me hack. A few special folks, organizing spiritual understanding into a dogmatic form, telling everyone how it is and how they should do it. Really? Don’t think so. That perception has of course tainted traditional understanding as well. Many times I've had folks tell me so and so is a medicine person and I have to do what they tell me. According to this “medicine person”, Creator came to them and told them to tell me I had to do this, that and the other. Huh. Why did Creator tell them? Why not tell me? Regardless of how thick headed I might be, I'm sure an entity older than time itself can come up with some way of getting my attention. It would seem to me the Elders, the true Medicine People, their responsibility is to guide me in what was shown to me. Assist me in completing the task asked of me. Not standing there telling me what I have to do.

See, I'm not much good at following other folks. When someones steps up and says God told me to tell you, I'm immediately skeptical. So, God told you huh? Prove it. If this person is what they say they are, that shouldn't be a problem. If God gave them the ability to hear what the rest of us can't, I'm sure God gave them the ability to prove it. Are they so much better than the rest of us only they can hear God? Remember, your experiences made you who you are. Their experiences made them who they are. You aren’t them, they aren’t you and I’m pretty sure you both see the picture differently. Unless they can spread wings and fly or do something just as dramatic, it would seem they are just a person, like anyone else. Therefore, if they are just another human like the rest of us, where do they get off telling us what God said? Sounds like an ego trip to me.

Remember, its only a trickle. Just a little water, filling up the balloon that is your mind. None of us can handle instant understanding. Your head would explode. Just because someone says they are something doesn’t necessarily mean they are. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. Simply because a person tells you to do something doesn’t mean you have to do it. If God, Creator, Tunk'sila, what ever name you choose to apply to that entity wants you to do something, I'm pretty sure that entity will find a way to tell you. I don’t think that entity has to go to another person to go to you. Why would there need to be a middleman?

Trick is, after They come to you, tell you something, now what the hell do you do? Too many idiots out there who think they are what they ain’t. Now your left with a revelation, and no clue as to what to do with it. Unfortunately, there aren’t many true Elders and Medicine People who can guide you, assist you, in what you need to do. Here is a suggestion. Bring it to who you think you should. If that person gives you some long drawn out flowery explanation, don’t do it. What you need is the one who sits there and when you ask them what you are supposed to do, their response is they don’t know. When they say lets take it into ceremony and see what They have to say about it, you're probably talking to the right person. About the only way I have seen where it works out. Then it isn’t the person telling you what to do, its Them. The other side, who spoke to you in the first place. Makes more sense to get it straight from the source than through another human. But, it is each individuals choice. Guess there are folks too afraid to do it themselves, they have to have someone tell them how to do it. Of course, there are those who think of themselves so highly they need folks who are afraid, so they can tell them what to do and feel superior. The only thing that scares me is Them. That and humans who think they are special.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Faith...Now There Is A Thought.....

I have been living this life for many years now. Been too many places to count. Seen so many faces they are beginning to blur. Six of one, half dozen of another, all and all it has been one hell of a ride. They came for me at 11, and my life hasn’t been the same since. Not that I'm bitching mind you. But I do often wonder who I would be, what I would be doing, if They hadn’t. So many interests come and gone. So many different directions that could have been. Regardless, this is what They want, and I accept it, gladly. Kicking and screaming at times, but I guess that is to be expected. They never said it would be easy. As a matter of fact, They specifically said it would be difficult. Very, very difficult. I give thanks for that, for the pain and suffering. The privilege to live this way. Grateful for all given, never asking for a damn thing. I live in my faith. It defines me, makes me who and what I am.

Faith. Easy to talk about. A son of a bitch to live. Faith is one of those things that either is or isn’t. There is no gray. Totally black and white. Either you have faith or you don’t. Either you believe, or you don’t. Not a little, not “well, maybe this piece but not that one.” With faith its all or nothing. Took me many years to get that. I can now say my faith is unshakeable. I give credit to Them for everything. When I lose something, need help with something, have a “sudden” understanding. First thing, I thank Them. I know it came from Them, not me. I ain’t that clever.

This is where I get confused. I see many of my Relatives, who profess faith, yet lack the ability, the initiative or the comprehension to live it. Some don’t live their faith because of fear. Which is one hell of a contradiction. If you believe what is there to fear? Many confuse organized religious practices with spiritual beliefs. That one stupefies me regularly. What the hell? Okay, so someone says they are spiritual, but everything they do is religious. Doesn’t make sense to me. So many are seeking, looking for the direction. So many have found the church, synagogue, temple to be empty. What they need to fill that void simply isn’t there. Duh. Its a building built by men, controlled by men. Of course its empty and hollow. How can anyone find anything more than an echo in an empty building? Usually it turns into a fashion show, or an ego fest. Some figure that out, and turn to the original instructions. The traditional ways of being. Unfortunately they bring all their religious bad habits with them.

Take instructions for example. Eventually you find yourself at a place, with someone who is supposed to be a Leader or Medicine Person. Let me tell you now, there are very, very few real ones walking this rock. Most who say they are with no doubt are absolutely full of shit. The majority of those few that could be are predators. Yeah, I said it. Too many who could be have forgotten what was given was given for the People, not the person. Feeding off those who are starving for some direction, some understanding. Every year its a new crop of the urban confused, wallet in hand looking for the fast track to enlightenment. Freaking depressing. I’ve seen it thousands of times. The conversation usually goes “so and so from such and such told me I had to a) dance for this many years b) go on the hill for this many days c) do this certain ceremony d) make this many prayer ties.” Every time it comes with a price tag. Always,eventually, their phone rings because so and so from such and such needs money. Huh. To me that speaks volumes.

Yes, the real medicine people live very pitiful, humble lives. They have nothing, because they give everything away. However, they always have what they need. Their faith sustains them and they don’t have to ask. For anything. When its needed, its provided. Every time. So that dispenses with the so and so from such and such needing money. If they needed it, and they actually are what they claim to be, it will be provided. Why would they have to ask? I don’t think They want them sitting in the casino wasting the cash you gave them.

The other side of that is the fact that so and so from such and such told you what you had to do. Wait a second, isn’t that person just that? A person. How the hell would they know? Isn’t that exactly like some preacher telling you what you have to do? If its something you are supposed to do, why wouldn’t They tell you? That is the spiritual understanding, isn’t it? That when you begin to live the original instructions, They will come to you, tell you what you need to know, need to do. Most are too anxious, too impatient, to wait and grow. Most want it now, immediately, today. Do you honestly think your mind could handle all that understanding right now? Your head would explode. Its a little at a time, piece by piece. Doing what you are told to by Them, building your faith. This is why it takes years. Why there are Elders.

That in no way discredits visions and dreams. Actually, that is the point. This is Them talking to you. This is Them instructing you. Not so and so from such and such. You being given what you need, as you need it. Then, you find a true interpreter. Someone who isn’t feeding their ego, isn’t feeding off the Relatives. In a sacred place, in a sacred manner. This is how you learn what to do with what was shown. Interpreting your own visions and dreams is a sure way to screw things up. You can't, simply because you will interpret it in a way that suits you. Your interpretation will be biased. You cant make it not biased. So you find someone who truly is, and leave you out of it. Those who really are will, in ceremony, speak with Them on your behalf. Those who are understand it isn’t the person. They leave the human out of it. The interpreter is the telephone and you are dialing them, calling the other side. What comes through are instructions for each individual. Unbiased. This is how you know what the dreams and visions meant. This is how you know what to do with the information. This is how you learn to live the original instructions.

Just because someone is from somewhere, or has a title or position doesn’t make them any more than anyone else. The idea is to make them less. Take everything you think you know and turn it upside down. Those who are true Leaders, Medicine People, they get that. They have nothing, but faith. Their faith is what sustains them, provides for them. They don’t have to ask you for anything. They simply live to serve, and in serving they live. They will be the first to tell you they don’t know. How the hell could they? They are a person, like you, like me, like anyone else. No individual can tell you. It has to come from the other side. It has to come from faith. Either you have it or you don’t. So, who are you listening to? A person, who you provide gambling money to? Or are you really listening to Them? Have you taken what was shown into ceremony? Come to an unbiased understanding? Are you doing what They told you to do, or what another human told you to do?