Precious Struggle

I’m going to stick my gweilo neck waayyyy out here and write about something powerfully meaningful for me that I typically don’t speak of in public. But this isn’t public, this is my tea room and I’m sharing it with those that have chosen to join me here. 

I believe the things that sustain and nourish us at the deepest levels deserve to be cherished and held sacred, not reduced to shadows through self aggrandizement and oversharing. 

I had a conversation recently with a dear one from the thiyóšpaye (Lakȟóta for family or community of practice) about what I’ll summarize as tradition, but goes much deeper than that. 

She was conflicted in her role as guide (I would say teacher) for a group preparing for oháŋblečheye, or traditional vision quest. Oháŋblečheye is a significant undertaking involving many days of preparation, deep prayer, observation of ceremonial elements and up to 4 days sitting in one place out in the wilderness with no tent, food or water. A living prayer. 

Some of the newer participants wanted to reduce the ceremonial elements and commitment level to something that felt more attainable for their busy lives and frankly, less risky. Maybe skip the lengthy prayer flag tying process and trim the schedule down so they didn’t have to be hungry so long or miss yoga on tuesday.

These days we have tech bro ayahuasca ceremonies, corporate sweat lodges and leadership teams nodding along to celebrity coach’s breathwork instructions and using words like embodiment in all hands meetings. Not bad per se, but it’s important to do the work and learn to honor your own efforts and honor the traditions you pursue to gain power. If that is why you do it. (Why do you do it? That’s a question worth asking.)

From the Pipe Loading Song:

Kȟolá, léčhel ečhúŋ wo! - Friend, do it this way.  

This is the great spirit addressing you as friend, not supplicant requiring payment to an intermediary priest to communicate on your behalf. You. Directly.  Friend. 

Héčhanuŋ kiŋ, nitȟúŋkašila waŋníyaŋg ú kte ló. - When (if) you do that, your Grandfather (Great Spirit) will come to see you. 

You have an opportunity to directly experience something larger than yourself and participate in effecting positive change in the ecosystem of reality. The more you invest in this, the greater your experience (and outcome of your prayers) may be. An important thing to remember here is that YOU ( your human identity, ego or small self) are not in charge of this. You are choosing to participate in a cosmic relationship. 

Or, you can attempt to reduce the experience to meet the concerns of your small self and thereby reduce yourself, the opportunity, the community and the ancestors. 

In the western psychiatric tradition, we are built up. Intensely individualized and taught to better ourselves so that we may control our destinies and by extension, personal profits. Therapies are those things that help us to become higher functioning, more independent individuals better able to exert our wills, project power and achieve personal vision. 

In the indigenous world, there is no “I” in the same way. To see a person as a disconnected individual is a kind of insanity. We are all part of a great ecosystem and we must work with all of life, for the benefit of all of life, if we are to get anywhere worth going. Aspirations are communally held and related to as dreams. The indigenous perspective teaches us to be hollow bones, to be clear and strong so life may flow through us. In this way, our investments are multiplied, amplified, and broadcast to the ecosystem. 

If you show up fully, truly, and in service to the greater good, you will be met. You generate something in proportion to your efforts to outgrow your small self in service to all of life. Doing this repeatedly as a devotional practice steadily deepens your relationship with allthatis and your contribution to the living reality. Will there be personal benefits? Of course. But benefits that come through the greater flowering of life. Not at it’s expense. This is power as, not power over. 

Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ - We are all related