Directions for Life

One of the Native American prayer ceremonies I have found inspiring and helpful in my life is that of praying in a "medicine wheel" which can be made of stones or simply drawn on the earth, or created with other natural materials. It marks a place to stand (in the center) and face in the four directions: north, east, south, west.

Native Americans will offer prayers to the four directions/winds as well as to "Father Sky" and "Mother Earth" and the Spirit within them. They understand that all of these are manifestations of the one great Creator Spirit, the Great Mystery, for whom they have many names according to their tribal traditions.

This ceremony is a good way to experience being grounded and centered in nature, and reminds us that we are a part of it, not separate. We are completely dependent on this creation in which we live, and it is fitting that we acknowledge its gifts and power in our lives.

Today's passage from the Native American Wisdom tradition is one version of the Medicine Wheel prayers , and is taken from an anthology daily meditation from the spiritual traditions of the world entitled

God Makes the Rivers to Flow by Eknath Easwaran. I recommend it highly to you.

O Great Spirit,

whose voice I hear in the winds

and whose breath gives life to all the world,

hear me.

I am small and weak.

I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty

and let my eyes ever behold the red and purle sunset.

Make my hands respect the things You have made

and my ears grow sharp to hear Your voice.

Make me wise so that I may understand the things You have taught my people.

Let me learn the lessons You have hidden in every leaf and rock.

I seek stgrength not to be greater than my brother or sister

but to fight my greatest enemy, myself.

Make me always ready

to come to You with clean hands and straight eyes

so when life fades as the fading sunset,

my spirit may come to You without shame.

Great Spirit of love, come to me with the power of the North.

Make me courageous when the cold winds of life fall upon me.

Give me strength and endurance for everything that is harsh,

everything that hurts, everything that makes me squint.

Make me move through life ready to take what comes from the North.

Spirit who comes out of the East,

come to me with the power of the rising sun.

Let there be light in my word.

let there be light on the path that I walk.

Let me remember always that You give the gift of a new day.

Never let me be burdened with sorrow by not starting over.

Great Spirit of creation,

send me the warm and soothing winds from the South.

Comfort me and caress me when I am tired and cold.

Enfold me as Your gentle breezes enfold your leaves on the trees.

And as you give to all the earth your warm, moving wind,

Give to me so that I may grow close to You in warmth.

Great life-giving Spirit, I face the West, the direction of the sundown,.

Let me remember every day that the moment will come

when my sun will go down.

Never let me forget that I must fade into You.

Give me beautiful color.

Give me a great sky for setting,

and when it is time to meet You,

let me come with glory.

And Giver of all life, I pray to You from the earth,

help me to remember as I touch the earth

that I am little and need Your pity,

Help me to be thankful for the gift of the earth

and never to walk hurtfully on the world.

Bless me to love what comes from mother earth

and teach me how to love your gifts.

Great Spirit of the heavens,

lift me up to You that my heart may worship You

and come to You in glory.

Hold in my memory that You are my Creator,

greater than I,

eager for my good life.

Let everything that is in the world lift my mind,

and my heart, and my life to You

so that we may always come to You in truth and in heart.

Signposts for Life

When I take a road trip, especially when it leads across the vast spaces of America, I often wonder what it would have been like to have travelled across this land as a Native American. No roads. No signs. No GPS. No maps. What was it that guided them in the direction they wanted to go? How did they end up at the place they wanted to be? Or did they just want to be wherever it was they ended up?

I know I do not have the skills to find my way for long distances without signposts to help me.

And the same is true for walking the path of life. There too, I need signposts---certain values and truths to guide me in living a good and wise life. Our collection of short readings today from the Native American Wisdom tradition provide just such signposts for us.

Those who sat on the ground in their tipis,

meditating on life and its meaning,

accepting the kinship of all creatures, and

acknowledging unity with the universe of things

were infusing into their beings the true essence of civilization.

(Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux)

Our ancestors gave us many laws,

which they learned from their ancestors before them.

These laws were good.

They told us to treat all others as they treated us,

that we should never be the first to break a bargain,

that it was a disgrace to tell a lie,

that we should only speak the truth.

(Chief Joseph, Nez Perce)

What are we without the animals?

If all of them were gone, we would die from great loneliness of spirit.

Whatever happens to animals also happens to humans.

All things are connected.

Whatever befalls the earth also befalls the children of earth.

(Chief Seattle, Duwamish Suquamish)

Every struggle, whether won or lost,

strengthens us for the next to come.

It is not good for people to have an easy life.

They become weak and inefficient when they cease to struggle.

Some need a series of defeats before developing the strength and courage

to win a victory.

(Victoria, Mimbres Apache)

My response:

These readings reveal a lot about the way of life of Native Americans--one lived close to nature, one that allowed time for musing and pondering on life, one that was closely connected to the land and its creatures.

It was also a life filled with struggle, most especially when the Europeans came and began attacking and taking away the land and way of life that had been theirs for centuries.

Today, our way of life is very different from that of the original inhabitants of our country. Yet we too need to reflect on our lives and our deep connection with the earth and the animals and other creatures that share it with us. We too have struggles, although I know many people, and I am sometimes among them, who would prefer not to have to struggle.

I pray that when struggles do come my way, I don't run away from them, but face them with the strength and courage of the Native Americans. And I pray we will all struggle to live, as the Native Americans did, in harmony and balance with the earth and animals and all the creatures that share our spaces, even if that means we have to make some sacrifices and live more simply.

I pray that I may always be truthful and keep my word.

I pray that I may treat others justly, and care for the well being of all the creatures of this marvelous earth.

Vision, Love, and Song

Every one of the great Wisdom Traditions of humanity gives the faithful a vision to hold,

and a way to live that honors and expresses that vision.

Today I would like to share three quotations by Native Americans which eloquently describe

what vision, love, and song mean to them.

I know that for me, having a vision that shapes my life and opens my heart and eyes is crucial.

So, of course, is love.

And for me, a day that goes by without singing a song (or many!) is a day that lacks vision and love.

I am grateful for the ancient wisdom in these Native American words about the importance of all three.

The Native vision, the gift of seeing truly, with wonder and delight

into the natural world, is informed by a certain attitude of reverence and respect.

It is a matter of extrasensory as well as sensory perception.

In addition to the eye, it involves the intelligence, the instinct, and the imagination.

It is the perception not only of objects and forms, but also of essences and ideals.

(N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa)

My friends, how desperately do we need to be loved and to love.

Love is something you and I must have.

We must have it because our spirit feeds upon it.

We must have it because without it we become weak and faint.

Without love our self esteem weakens.

Without it our courage fails.

Without love we can no longer look out confidently at the world.

We turn inward and begin to feed upon our own personalities,

and little by little we destroy ourselves.

With love, we are creative.

With love we march tirelessly.

With love, and with it alone, we are able to sacrifice for others.

(Chief Dan George, Coast Salish)

My breath--this is what I call my song,

for it is just as necessary to me to sing as it is to me to breathe.

I will sing this song, a song that is strong.

Songs are thoughts, sung out with the breath when people are moved by great forces

and ordinary speech no longer suffices.

People are moved just like the ice floe sailing here and there out in the current.

Their thoughts are driven by a flowing force when they feel joy,

when they feel sorrow.

Thoughts can wash over them like a flood,

making their breath come in gasps.

It may be that when we think we are small, we will fear to use words.

But it will happen that the words we need will come of themselves.

When the words we want to use shoot up of themselves,

we get a new song.

(Orpingalik, Netsilingmute)

My response:

Great Mystery, Beautiful Singer of all creation, and all our lives:

I am Your song, and I want to let that song sing through my heart, my thoughts, my words,

to strengthen me, to guide me, and when needed, to bring what is needed to others who may listen.

May my songs be songs that come from love, and bring love to others and the world.

May I sing my way through each day, and in the darkness of the night.

May Your vision find it's way into my songs, and into my living.

May I see myself, and others, and all of creation, as You do.

May I become aware of the essences and ideals in everything I behold.

Amen.

Sacred Circles in our Lives

Have you ever noticed that the shape of the circle is everywhere in nature?

The sun is a circle, the moon when it is full is a circle, the earth itself is circular, bird nests are circular,

the houses and temples of many ancient peoples are circular, some of the tables we sit at are circular,

and so are pies and some cakes and many kinds of fruit-----you get the picture!

Native Americans meditated deeply on the significance of circles, and the readings for today contain some of their wise reflections. I have paired them with a reading on the Native American awareness of the sacredness in all of nature---a mind set we sorely need today in a society in which nature is too often seen only as a backdrop of scenery for our lives, a place to enjoy on vacation, and something we can use as we like.

The Native American sense of our intrinsic rootedness in the natural world, and complete dependence on it, is an important reminder of the need to respect and care for this, our earthly home. It is sobering to contemplate the fact that while nature would do just fine without us humans (actually, better nowadays with so many of us ruining her in various ways) but we could not live at all without nature, and the more nature flourishes, the more we can flourish.

I have also benefited from Native American wisdom about gathering in circles, in which everyone has an equal opportunity to speak and participate, and no one dominates. In such circles, a "talking stick or feather or stone" was passed from one to another, and while a person held this object and spoke, everyone else remained silent and listened carefully. Think how this simple but profound way of meeting would improve the way our meetings often go!

Now let us pass the "talking feather" to the great Native American seer Black Elk ,whose book "Black Elk Speaks" I highly recommend to you, and let these words sink deep into our hearts.

All things are the works of the Great Spirit.

We should know that this Spirit is within all things:

the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains,

and all the four-legged animals, and the winged peoples.

Even more important, we should understand that

the Great Spirit is also above all these things and peoples.

I was standing on the highest mountain of them all,

and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world.

And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell

and I understood more than I saw;

for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the Spirit,

and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.

And I say the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops

that made up one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight.

In the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children

of one mother and one father.

And I saw that it was holy.

Anywhere is the center of the world, and is holy.

The Circle has healing power.

In the Circle we are all equal.

When in the Circler, no one is in front of you

No one is behind you.

No one is above you.

No one is below you.

The Sacred Circle is designed to create unity.

On this hoop there is a place for every species,

every race, every tree, and every plant.

It is this completeness of Life that must be respected

in order to bring about health on this planet.

Like the ripples when a stone is tossed into the waters,

the Circle of understanding and respect starts small and grows...until it fills the whole lake.

(Black Elk, Oglala Sioux)

My prayer of response:

Great Spirit, Great Mystery,

May I live always in the awareness of Your Sacred Presence in all of nature about me, from the smallest to the greatest. May I respect and treasure its beauty and meaning. May I open my heart to what I can learn from what You have created, and how I can better care for it. Amen

VALUES TO PASS ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION

Have you ever thought much about just what values you want to pass on to the next generation?

What would you say to them---in what words? And how would the way you live teach the same thing?

These are things Native American tribes thought about a lot, especially as their way of life became threatened by the coming of Europeans who wanted to take over their land.

Here are a few of the things some Native American leaders have said about the values they want to pass on to the generations that come after them.

Look at me---I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation.

We do not want riches, but we do want to train our children right.

Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world.

We do not want riches.

We want peace and love. (Red Cloud, Sioux )

It is our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome.

Its appeal is to the material part, and if allowed its way, it will in time disturb one's spiritual balance.

Therefore, children must early learn the beauty of generosity.

They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.

If a child is inclined to be grasping, or to cling to any of his or her little possessions,

legends are related about the contempt and disgrace falling upon the ungenerous and mean person....

The Indians in their simplicity literally give away all that they have---to relatives,

to guests of other tribes or clans, but above all, to the poor and the aged,

from whom they can hope for no return. (Ohiyesa, Santee Sioux )

In talking to children, the old Lakota would place a hand on the ground and explain:

"We sit in the lap of our Mother.

From her we, and all other living things, come.

We shall soon pass, but the place where we now rest will last forever."

So we, too, learned to sit or lie on the ground and become conscious of life about us

in its multitude of forms.

Sometimes as children we would sit motionless and watch the swallows, the tiny ants,

or perhaps some small animal at its work,

and ponder its industry and ingenuity;

or we lay on our backs and looked long at the sky,

and when the stars came out, made shapes from the various groups.

Everything is possessed of personality, only differing from us in form.

Knowledge is inherent in all things.

The world is a library, and its books are the stones, leaves, grass, brooks,

and the birds and animals that share, alike with us, the storms and blessings of earth.

We do not rail at storms, the furious winds, and the biting frosts and snows.

To do so intensifies human futility, so whatever comes, we adjust ourselves,

by more effort and energy if necessary, but without complaint.

Observation is certain to have its rewards.

Interest, wonder, and admiration grow, and the fact is appreciated that

life is more than mere human manifestation, but is expressed in a multitude of forms.

This appreciation enriches our existence.

Life is vivid and pulsing when lived this way.

Nothing is casual and commonplace.

We live, in every sense of the word, from our first to our last breath.

(Chief Luther Standing Bear, Teton Sioux )

A Native American Prayer

The beauty of the trees,

the softness of the air,

the fragrance of the grass,

speaks to me.

The summit of the mountain,

the thunder of the sky,

the rhythm of the sea,

speaks to me.

The faintness of the stars,

the freshness of the morning,

the dewdrop in the flower,

speaks to me.

The strength of the fire,

the taste of the samon,

the trail of the sun,

and the life that never goes away,

they speak to me.

And my heart soars.

(Chief Dan George)

Returning to Balance

The Native American Wisdom Tradition is far older than a thousand years. But it does not have millions of adherents today, though it may have a few centuries ago, before the Native American population was decimated by the coming of Europeans to North and South America. Yet the wisdom of these ancient tribes has been preserved and passed on in various ways, and I think it is important to share it with you.

I discovered that I have some resources for this wisdom on my bookshelf, and though the traditional way Native Americans always passed on their wisdom was personally and orally, I am taking the liberty of sharing the flowering wisdom I have found in the prayers, sayings, and speeches that have been preserved in books.

In today's first blog on the Native American Wisdom Tradition, I am quoting the introduction to a book called "Native American Wisdom" edited by Kent Nerburn and Louise Mengelkoch and a couple quotations from Native Americans themselves. I hope you will find them as instructive and wise as I have.

In 1492 Columbus and his crew, lost battered, and stricken with sysenterym, were helped ashore by a people he described as "neither black nor white...fairly tall, good looking and well proportioned." Believing he had landed in the East Indies, he called these people Indians. In fact they were part of a great population that had made its home on this continent for centuries.

The inhabitants of this land were not one people. Their customs differed. Their languages differed. Some tilled the earth; others hunted and picked the abundance of the land around them. They lived in different kinds of dwellings and governed themselves according to different rules.

But they shared in common a belief that the earth is a spiritual presence that must be honored, not mastered. Unfortunately, western europeans who came to these shores had a contrary belief. To them, the entire American continent was a beautiful but savage land that it was not only their right, but their duty, to tame and use as they saw fit.

Western civilization is now confronting the inevitable results of this philosophy of dominance.

We have gotten out of balance with our earth, and the very future of our planet depends on our capacity to restore that balance.

We are crying out for help, for a grounding in the truth of nature, for words of wisdom.

That wisdom is contained in the words of the native peoples of the Americas.

But these people speak quietly. Their words are simple and their voices soft.

We have not heard them because we have not taken the time to listen. Perhpas now the time is right for us to open our ears and hearts to the words they have to say.

It does not require many words to speak the truth. (Chief Joseph Nez Perce)

The first Americans mingled with their pride a singular humility.

Spiritual arrogance was foreign to their nature and teaching.

They never claimed that their power of articulate speech was proof of superiority over "dumb creation;"

on the other hand, speech to them was a perilous gift.

They believe profoundly in silence--the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit.

Those who preserve themselves ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence---not a leaf, as it were, astir on the tree, not a ripple upon the surface of the shining pool--their is the deal attitude and conduct of life. For them, silence is the cornerstone of character. (Charles alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa) Santee Sioux

Silence is meaningful for the Lakota, and their granting a space of silence before talking is done in the practice of true politeness and regardful of the rule that thought comes before speech. In the midst of sorrow, sickness, death, or misfortune of any kind, and in the presence of the notable and great, silence is the mark of respect. More powerful than words is silenc with the Lakota. Their strict observance of this tenet of good behavior is the reason, no doubt, for being given the false characterization by white people of being stoic, or dumb, stupid, indifferent, and unfeeling.

As a matter of truth, they are the most sympathetic of people, but their emotions of depth and sincerity are tempered with control. Silence means to the Lakota what it ment to Disraeli when he said, "Silence is the mother of truth." The silent people are the ones to be trusted, while those ever ready with speech are not taken seriously. (Chief Luther Standing Bear, Teton Sioux)

You must speak straight, so that your words may go as sunlight into our hearts. (Cochise)

My prayer of response:

Great Spirit of all people, sorrow fills my heart as I think of the lost lives and lost wisdom of the peoples who lived here for so long before my ancestors came to this beautiful land. Today we are reaping the tragic harvest

of our foolishness and destructiveness. May we who have settled in this land that was once theirs learn from what remains of their wisdom. May be treat this land with the same respect and care with which they treated it. May we not allow our greed to determine how we use the rich natural resources of this land, but rather what is best for the future of our children and grandchildren and the generations after them.

Help us to learn the wisdom of thoughtful and reverent silence. In that silence, may we listen again to Your wisdom in the whisper of the wind in the trees, the sounds of the creatures with which we share this earth,

and the voices of those who once roamed this land, living in harmony with it. amen.

God's Rewarding Work

We conclude this series of ten blogs on Flowers from the Garden of Christianity with an ancient and beautiful prayer from the Byzantine liturgy, and the famous prayer of St. Francis.

My experience is that when I enter with an open heart into the prayers of people of various faiths, I can feel their love and devotion, and it sparks my own. With my mind in my heart, I can join in these prayers, and feel our essential God given oneness.

I pray that these prayers, as well as others I have shared with you from other faiths, will do the same for you.

Holy Spirit, send from heaven a spark of Your radiant heart

Mother of the poor, bestowing gifts on those in need,

come, Source of Life, within our hearts.

Deepest Source of consolation dwelling in our souls,

You give pilgrims their repose.

Tothe toiling You give rest.

You cool the burning heat, and comfort those in tears.

O most joyful like a bride, fill the secred hearts of those who trust in You.

Without the presence of Your Godhead,

nothing lies in us free from harm.

Wash what is sooiled,

water what is dry,

heal what is wounded.

Bend what is rigid,

warm what is cold,

find what is lost

Grant to those who believe and trust in You

the sacred gifts and fruits of Divine Love.

Grant us the reward of Your work in us.

Consummate our lives in peace.

Grant us joy forever.

Alleluia!

The Prayer of St Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your Peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

Amen!