The Woods Out Back -- Grateful for SNOW!
Here is where your people have lost the path. You have spent too much time thinking that we humans are at the top of everything. You have spent too much time trying to learn about things and not enough time trying to learn from them. You have thought too much and honored too little. Dan, the Lakota elder speaking in Kent Nerbern’s the Wolf at Twilight: An Indian Elder’s Journey through a Land of Ghosts and Shadows -- https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/The-Wolf-at-Twilight--An-Indian-Elder-s-Journey-Through-a-Land-of-Ghosts-and-Shadows-9781577315780
Every point in the Universe is a point of experience. There is no void, and no point lacking in any experience. Consciousness moves from very definitive points of learning linked by other experiences that are also learning experiences. … Welcome the next moment with love and excitement. … The only means for growth is to observe, to analyze, to create, to experience. Gregge Tiffen (Fanned Fire and Forced Love Never Did Well – February, 2008) -- https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Gregge+tiffen+Fanned+Fire+and+Forced+Love&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3AGregge+tiffen+Fanned+Fire+and+Forced+Love
I begin writing this post without clarity about where to begin or, honestly, what I want to share beyond the quotes above. Perhaps it’s that I don’t have words or even thoughts that seem adequate for expansion.
During this past week I’ve been deeply touched reading the second book in Kent Nerbern’s trilogy of stories that emerged from his association with a Lakota elder. My words feel lacking in their description as Nerbern shares the oral tradition of native peoples, telling their story using the wise elder’s voice.
Not only wisdom, but experience is shared. Not only lightness and humor, but the darkness and anger from a history lived, experienced. It is not the glossy, sanitized ‘Indian’ history I learned in school. I’ve long believed that our treatment of those who were here when we Anglos arrived was, at best, unjust. But, I simply (and sadly) was not aware of the depth and breadth of the atrocities my ancestors perpetrated on those who had long made this land their home.
I wonder, now that I begin to learn ‘about’ this side of history, how will what I’ve learned inform me going forward? What can I learn ‘from’ these stories to contribute to my growth?
I find myself with many questions and curiosity; few answers. A portal has opened to a point of learning from which to explore new territory. What experiences are on the path? What wisdom may be hidden in the depths and how might it contribute to my foundation, my capacity to hold a steady, loving course in the midst of the world’s chaos? What is being revealed to become a part of my expression in the world? I hope you’ll stay tuned and, as always, share your thoughts.
P.S. Perhaps a new pattern for my weekly posts is emerging. Or, maybe it’s simply the nature of this time ending one phase (the bed & breakfast) and opening another that is just beginning to reveal itself. As I drafted this post and looked back to last week’s, I notice they end with questions – questions I’m in at these moments in time. Being in questions is familiar territory for me, sometimes keeping me from jumping in too quickly with what I know. Perhaps the joy of not knowing is a skill that we need to grow.
Before the snow, gentleness and evening light in the woods.