Spirituality:  East and West

Studying  Native  American  spirituality  and  Buddhism offers a profound balance between east and west;  heaven and earth.  Earth cannot betray the truths of heaven; nature cannot betray the truths of the spirit.  Knowing one offers wisdom in the other, knowing both places one foot firmly on the ground, the other foot well placed in spirit.  The two forms of spirituality have a surprising number of common truths.  These common bonds lead the way to much larger, universal truths…I mean, when one culture’s truths can agree with another’s that is on the opposite side of the world, then, you know you’ve got rock solid theology.  Below is a message from Black Elk, a revered holy man of the Oglala Sioux.  His legend and words live on, his body was with us from 1863 – 1950.

You have noticed that everything an Indian does in a circle,
and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles,
and everything and everything tries to be round.

In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop
of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people
flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop,
and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace
and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north
with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This
knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.

Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.
The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball
and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.
Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon
does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great
circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is
in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the
nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s hoop,
a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.

Over a hundred years ago Black Elk had a vision of the time when Indian people would heal from the devastating effects of European migration. In his vision the Sacred Hoop which had been broken, would be mended in seven generations. 

 The children born into this decade will be the seventh generation.

Young Black Elk

Questions and Thoughts

“Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.”~James Allen

Questions: Is there beauty without pain? Is there success without failure? Are there miracles without tragedy? Please keep Haiti in your prayers.

You can’t necessarily change the world around you, you can, however, change yourself. Ironically, as you change yourself, you change the world around you.

 Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees, other times we can’t see the sky for the forest; we look to see the sun peeking through golden leaves as a star of light, in the end, standing in stark illumination.

Decisions. We all have to make them on occasion, but as we flow with the universe, the need to decide comes far and few between. The trick to a good decision is to make a decision that won’t haunt you later on. So, wait until the decision is a natural one where there is no room for regret, even if things go wrong. Confidence doesn’t come from being right all the time, it comes from not fearing being wrong.

If there is no peace within you, there can be no finding peace in what’s around you.  Changing life’s circumstances isn’t necessarily the answer…changing yoruself from within is harder, but courageous and true, although a hot bubble bath and Haagen-Daas might help.

Many people say there are 2 sides to a coin, when actually there are 3.  There’s one side, the other and the rim where the 2 sides meet. this is where you will most often find truth.