I don’t think there’s anything more
difficult and yet more rewarding than relationships. In the Christian Church when you get a child
baptized the priest, the pastor or the minister will tell parents and
god-parents to nourish their children with love, discipline, routine and
spiritual guidance. There’s an
expectation or request that family members and even congregation members commit
and devote to the next generation.
“Get involved in your community. Contribute to the World around you. Give the best of yourself to your family and
your people.”
It takes a village to bring up a child and
this, is certainly a theme Christians take to heart.
People are often surprised when I speak in
a positive way about Christianity. There’s
this assumption or perhaps even expectation that because I follow the Shaman’s
path I should be at war with all Religions.
During a recent visit to Concordia University, I received an interesting
apology from one of the students. This
young lady approached me at the end of the evening, and explained to me how she
was extremely loyal to the Christian Church.
“I almost didn’t make it to tonight’s
presentation,” she told me, “because I feared it would be seen as some kind of
betrayal against my own faith.”
It was obviously something that meant a lot
to her because she whimpered through her story.
She was genuinely distraught.
“Shamanism isn’t a Religion,” I told her
while grabbing her shaking hands, “you don’t have to worry, you haven’t
betrayed anyone. Shamanism can actually
be found at the roots of all Religions.
Religion at some point was meant to complete the shamanic experience the
same way that Shamanism often completes religious ways today.”
Two other students approached while I was
sharing these facts and seemed relieved by them; but each from different
perspectives. While one young lady
struggled with loyalty and commitment towards the Church; another student
seemed completely against the idea of religious institutions.
“I’m hopeful,” this other young lady
announced tainted with a little anger, “that the future may hold less people
who blindly follow Religion.”
The third student, a young man replied: “I
may be insensitive; but I don’t really care about what others think of me or my
beliefs. I just want to have a space
where I can express myself without being persecuted. I like the idea of having many Religions or
many perspectives coming together. I
like the teachings of the Medicine Wheel because they seem to be saying: All
perspectives have a place and have equal value.”
On that note I walked away with a
smile. Sometimes I wish we could give
weekend retreats and allow the students to speak more; question more; and
explore more of their thoughts, their feelings, nature and the stars.
It’s definitely something to organize in
the future.
Inter-relations on the Medicine Wheel speak
of relationships not only with humans (or any other external reality like
animals, trees, objects etc.…), but also with different dimensions of the self
or the dreaming. For example, I was in Montreal today with G
because of a doctor’s appointment.
Spring was definitely in the air with +10 degrees Celsius, beautiful
sunshine, and clear sidewalks (no more snow). G often relates to the World around him
through stories. He’s an avid reader and
a movie enthusiast. There’s no detail
around or within him that doesn’t trigger some reference to some movie /
storybook scene. It always makes me
chuckle when G speaks of his car as the Enterprise (from Star Trek); or takes
note of people in a crowd according to particular movie characters. I can’t wait for the Hobbit to be out of movie
theatres…
Me on the other hand seem to come from a
more “macabre” (as Gérard pointed out today) perspective. Death is more often than not my point of
reference to pretty much everything. I found out today that G has never been to
a funeral and has never had anyone die in his life. Of course this little detail came up after I
mentioned this long list of personal observations relating to death. Interestingly enough, how we relate to each
other connects to how we relate to ourselves and to the world around us. Inter-Relations suddenly touch different realities
or different phases of our journey and our development as collective creatures.
The Moon of Inter-Relations; which is the 7th
Moon on the Medicine Wheel is more then just about how we get along with
people. It’s about how we relate to the
World around us; which means that it’s about how we were brought up or how we
were conditioned. When I look back at my
childhood and adolescence I can already see how I related to myself, and
others. 47 years later I can pat myself
on the back for many major changes in my life; but I can also see that there is
still lots to learn. It seems relating
to the World is a continuous and perhaps infinite journey.
Comments
For me, ancestry has been coming up a lot and how my family's influence has made me who I am today.
I've also been observing how different the interactions are between my family members is compared to my Fiance's Family members. It's like night and day. I was talking with His grandmother the other day. She is the only living grandparent in the family and she told me how she never knew her own grandparents Whereas I have 8 living grandparents and still had great-grandparents until I was in my teens. I noticed how different having grandparents present changed the dynamics of the whole family and how they came together.
This post touched what I am living right now, and it feels pretty good.
Thank You!