The Native Teachers say that each of us must take responsibility in restoring health and balance on Earth, and to disassociate ourselves, as much as possible, from the stupid, greedy cultural establishment which values money and possessions more than spiritual and ecological balance. They say we must return to the earth, return to respect and reverence for the earth, and return to a simpler, though more fulfilling, way of life.
Before we can help anyone, we must at least be working on healing ourselves, not just physically, but emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
True spiritual healing is the return to wholeness and balance. This means to once again realize the inner wisdom and love deep within our natural being, the Great Spirit within, and restore the balance and harmony of mind, emotion and body, under the inspiration of Spirit. We must return to our natural Spirit, and let the inner Spirit guide us, not the conditionings and forces of an unhealthy, materialistic culture.
And part of this return to balance involves our recognition of the natural world as the manifestation of spiritual truth and beauty. For all things are connected and all life is inter-related, so there is a very real connection between your inner spirit and the spirits of nature, and between who you are and what you find in the world of Nature. Thus, we need to continually deepen our respect and attunement with our own inner spiritual nature and, as well, with the greater Nature around us.
We must return to Nature, to the Natural world and to our natural self. Our spiritual self is the same as our natural self. This is what makes Native Earth Religion different from many other religions. When we speak of spirituality or being spiritual, we do not mean anything other than the natural way of being. In some, so-called monotheistic religions, the spiritual is thought to be opposite and superior to the natural way of being. The natural self is not trusted, and so one needs religious books and rules in order to tame the natural self, like one would tame a wild animal. This duality between the spiritual and the natural does not exist in the Native View of Life. Spiritual and natural are the same. The natural self can be trusted, because our own nature is made from Great Spirit, and so our deepest, natural motivation is to love, to understand, to be healthy, and to live in beauty and harmony. Your soul is natural, your love is natural, your inner wisdom is natural, and your creativity is natural. Your beauty is natural. You have an inner goodness which is natural. And all of this is spiritual, because our very nature is part of Great Spirit.
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Nature is our true paradise, and is healing to us, on many levels, because nature reflects our natural spiritual being. If we lose touch with Nature, we lose touch with our own inner nature as well. If we lose touch with our Mother Earth, we lose touch with the love, the healing, and the spiritual gifts she has for us. We need to remember our natural roots and re-connect with our earthiness and the very ground of our being. This Nature is where we come from and who we are. But we have gotten lost in a false belief of separateness and a feeling of being isolated from our Mother Nature. This is the spiritual illness of modern culture, and the effects of this uprootedness causes many related problems, from ill-health to emotional distress and mental confusion. So the return of the White Buffalo Teachings, or the Original Native Teachings of Life, is a Rescue Call for the human kingdom to return to Nature, to return to the earth. To re-connect and re-root ourselves in the nurturing soil of our Earth Mother.
This involves re-connecting our hearts and feelings with the Earth and re-appreciating all that is given. Once there is the recognition of our essential connection to the Earth and All Relations, and once there is appreciation and gratitude for the greater ecology and beauty of life, then our natural response will be to live closer to the Earth and serve the Earth’s continuance.
The Way to re-connect ourselves to the Earth Mother and to the Whole Circle of Life and to All Our relations is by remembering that this Earth is sacred, is spiritual, and is our true Home and the potential Paradise. We make the re-connection by remembering and appreciating all the other Lives who share in this Circle of Life.. By realizing the inter-relationship of all life, and being grateful for all that is around us and given to us. Know that gratefulness is the key to receiving the medicine energies and divine qualities of the natural world. But even before gratefulness there must be recognition, the recognition or acknowledgement of what life gives to us, what Mother Earth gives and what each kind of life gives.
The Native People were able to recognize the particular gifts and powers of Nature, because they lived so closely to the land and their lives were immersed in the natural world and cycles of Nature. They had to know about the natural world and the forces of Nature, in order to survive, and they wanted to know about the various kingdoms and species of Nature because they felt inter-related with those lives and found much beauty in those natural manifestations of the Great Mystery.
Their interest and knowledge of the natural world of relations and forces was both practical and aesthetic. They felt themselves to be connected in the Circle of Life and a part of the manifestation of Great Spirit, or the Great Mystery. They felt to be part of the natural world, and not distant or superior to it, and so they naturally felt that the lives of Nature were an essential part of their own being, their own soul.
Now, although the world has changed for almost all people, and the artificial world is often more evident than the natural world, it is still possible to be intimately connected and tuned into the natural world and the primary forces of Nature. Many people have returned and re-rooted themselves in Nature, and many Native traditions are still alive and resurgent Many are leaving behind the artificial and over-industrialized society and returning to a simpler and more sacred way of life. This is good. And it is good that people feel the freedom to do this. Yet, one might not feel able or wanting to make such a radical change in their life. And one may not need to completely leave behind the modern world.
What we do need to leave behind, though, is the conditioning and the rat race of consumer greed and a life where we are not true to our most fundamental natural feelings and needs. And we do need to re-connect to Nature, in whatever way we can. We do need to return to Nature, because we are essentially natural beings, and this begins with an opening of our hearts and sensitivity to the natural world and to the Love of Mother Nature, and living our lives in appreciation and gratitude for all that is given from the Earth Mother and All Her children of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms. We can also give our gratitude to those ancestors and people of the Good Path who have helped make life more beautiful, harmonious and joyful.
The Earth Wisdom and Native attitude in living is founded on the realization that the natural world is full of beauty, intelligence, and powers, all of which can add to the sacredness and joy of living, that is, if we are able to really see and connect with these lives of Nature.
Live your life awake to life. Open up your eyes, your ears, your senses. Be awake to what is around, the individual expressions of Spirit.
The Native Way is to consciously walk about the Earth, fully sensing and enjoying the sacredness of life and all the beautiful natural manifestations of the Great Spirit. Begin to open yourself to the beauty of nature and begin to recognize the spiritual presence of each life, be it a plant, tree, animal, human, or even a rock. This is the Native Way.
Recognize the spiritual presence in all things of Earth, and as you do this the whole of physical existence is seen as many unique expressions of Spirit, and each form of life begins to radiate the beauty of Spirit. In essence every form of life, including the rocks, is a manifestation of the One Great Spirit, and yet each is unique. Each is a unique spiritual presence, and yet each spirit presence is a unique expression of the Great Spirit. So we recognize many individual spirits of nature, though each is part of the One Great Spiritual Essence. And all lives, all spirits, are inter-related in one great web or circle of spiritual existence. So everything and every activity has its effects on everything else, to varying degrees. Nothing is isolated or separate from the great interconnected circle of Life. Whatever we give to the greater life adds to the life we receive, and whatever we take away from this life depletes our own life. This is spiritual law and natural law as well. And it is not just about the physical ecology, because if we kill off one of the major animal species we are killing off a part of our own soul.
Our very soul, and our psychic balance, depends upon the health and balance in nature, for the human soul is an integrated reflection of all the energies and qualities of being which are found in nature. Our inner world reflects the outer world, and vice versa.
The inner and outer worlds each effect the other. This is a very important Spiritual Law. The Native peoples very directly realized that their natural environment, and their group cultural rituals as well, profoundly effected the individual psyche and well-being of each person.
The
body of nature, that is, the environment of animals, plants, trees,
geological formations, and weather, all has profound effects on the
human mind and the emotional feelings of well-being. You cannot
really separate the mind from body, or the human psyche from nature
or environmental influences. Yet the Law goes both ways, and the
Native peoples realized also that their emotional attitudes and
feelings and good thoughts have significant effects on the natural
environment. They discovered that feelings of respect and gratitude
directed to nature spaces, trees, etc., actually opened up
communication with nature spirits and that the spirit of Nature
appeared to come alive with radiance when one’s mind and heart was
humble and receptive. We’ll speak more about all this in due time,
but for now we must simply realize the interrelation between the
physical natural environment and the spiritual or psychic life of man
and woman, and we each can observe this relationship and feel the
affects in ourselves.
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Gratefulness is an expression of love, and it is a real medicine energy which nurtures the unfoldment of Great Spirit on Earth.
Remember that Great Spirit is alive and conscious throughout Mother Earth and in all natural things, so when we give thanks to Great Spirit or to the Mother Earth, or to any of the giving Nature Spirits, our gratefulness is heard, when it comes from the heart and from love, and this is partly how we can give back love to Mother Nature and to Great Spirit. Recognition and appreciation for love given, is love returned.
So be grateful for all which is provided by Mother Earth and All Our Relations. Give thanks to each of the kingdoms of Nature and to all the powers of Great Spirit. This is how the nature powers will hear you and know your sincerity. And this is the way you can give your love to Great Spirit and all the Relations of Mother Earth, for we give our love through our gratefulness. And through gratefulness we open the door to greater love, wisdom, and spiritual power.
Recognize and reflect upon what is given by each Relation and Power of Spirit, then simply and sincerely say in your heart, “Thank you for being and all that you give.” This is the key to opening that particular spiritual power and quality. Know that recognition and gratefulness is the key to receiving the special power of any form or presence in Nature. Then, an added energy and quality begins to awaken within yourself.
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The Native Earth Wisdom is the understanding and experience that Great Spirit is in all things and lives through all lives. This Earth and its physical manifestations are the very embodiment of Great Spirit. Throughout Life and throughout the Universe there is but One Great Spirit.
Open yourself now to this Great Spirit, which surrounds you, enfolds you and lives within you. You are of this Great Spirit. You live within the Great Spirit and the One Spirit lives within you. All things and all life are expressions of the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit lives within all things, all beings. And thus, all life is inter-related in the great web of the One Spirit-Being. All healing and all guidance essentially comes from Great Spirit. Remember this always. All the healing and guidance we ever need is available from Great Spirit, and Great Spirit is all around us and all through us. But we are closed off from this Spirit when we believe in separation or feel unrelated to Spirit. So, open your heart and open your mind to the Great Spirit. Open your faith in the One Great Spirit of the Universal Life. This opening, this receptive attitude, and this developing faith is the first step to spiritual awakening and spiritual healing.
The Great Spirit is not an Idea or concept. It is a living, energetic reality, like the sun, like the wind. Thinking about Great Spirit is interesting, but feeling the Spirit and awakening in the Spirit is transforming, and can often be ecstatic. And remember too, the Great Spirit is not some Super-Being outside of this world, awaiting our worship and subservience to Its rules. That kind of God, which so many now believe, was merely a creation of olden monarchies and medieval European Authoritarianism.
The Great Spirit, as revered by Native American Religions, is truly the Great Love and Intelligence which pervades all of life here on Earth and throughout the whole Universe. We are not separate from the Great Spirit, which is the true inspiration behind all good and beautiful creative activities, and the inspiration behind the virtues of cooperation, caring and harmony. We believe the Great Spirit is the very Essence of Life and Consciousness, and the Great Power of this Love and Wisdom is always available to every one of us. But we must want, with all our heart, that Great Spirit to be in our life and inspire our ways. We must want this, ask for this, and open up to this, in sincerity, humility, and innocence.
The Great Spirit is a power and presence much like the Wind, which blows across the Earth and moves things. Great Spirit is often referred to as Wind, which comes from one of the Four Directions. Great Spirit is all around, like the Air. We believe that Air is a vital energy and that energy is the Breath of Great Spirit. So this Air, or this Wind, is the Breath of Great Spirit, which circulates throughout the planet and through all breathing organisms. Know that you can actually receive the Spirit in through the breath, for Spirit is the breath of Life. When you breathe in the Spirit, you begin to experience Spirit as a real energy, a real feeling and a real presence. Then, Spirit becomes a living experience, and not merely an idea.
SEE -
Practice
with Spirit and cleansing
The Great Spirit is also known as The Great Mystery. The One Essential Spirit which lives in all things is truly a great Mystery. The Original Source of existence is The Great Mystery. This whole existence, this whole Life is The Great Mystery. The All, the Totality of existence is Great Mystery. The Totality is the Divine Mystery. And when we honor this Totality, we honor Great Mystery, or the embodiment of Great Spirit.
Allowing Mystery and livingness into experience is not something which occurs automatically. It doesn’t just happen. We need to consciously allow the Great Mystery of Life into experience. We need to desire this and want it. By the freedom of choice, we must consciously allow the Great Mystery into us from the outside and also allow this to emerge from the inside. This is our choice, and each moment we are presented with this choice, whether we realize it or not. If we do Not consciously allow the Great Mystery to unfold within us, or allow the Great Mystery to reveal Itself around us, then the Great Mystery is blocked, is closed off and shut out. Then, Great Mystery cannot flow, as it could, for the benefit of oneself and others. This is the harsh reality of the Teachings. The spiritual emergence of the Great Mystery cannot flow or grow from within and around us, without our conscious recognition and conscious allowing. Consciousness and allowing are the keys, without which the Door to the Great Mystery cannot open.
So it is up to each of you. You need to make some effort at awakening to what is waiting to emerge through you and to what is waiting to be recognized in and around you. Remember, Great Spirit, or Great Mystery, comes from within and around you. And the Great Mystery is revealed in many possible ways and through all kinds of beings on Earth and in the Spirit World. If you are closed off, or unconscious, or unwilling to recognize the manifestations and Lessons of Great Spirit, then you remain stuck on the Path until you do open up and become conscious.
It is good to look within, and discover the Spirit and inspiration within. But this should not be in exclusion to looking outside oneself for Spirit, for guidance, and for sacredness. If we only look within, and only find the truth within, or only find Great Spirit within, then we close ourselves off to the sacredness and teachings around us. We then exclude the Great Mystery surrounding us, excluding the Lessons and Beauty of All Relations.
Then, we isolate ourselves, and can never realize the Wholeness of Spirit in all of Life. So our spiritual balance and realization depends on not only looking within and discovering our inner truth and inspiration, but also looking outward and discovering the unique sacredness of All Relations in Life. This begins by recognizing the natural beauty around us, which is the manifesting appearance of Great Mystery.
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Begin with respect. Love begins with respect, and then is the possibility of recognition, and the final step of love is sacred reverence and complete gratitude. First is respect, which means giving attention to the individuality and uniqueness of a human being, an animal, a plant, a tree, a rock or crystal. This is respect for that individual spirit presence or that particular unique power and expression of the One Spirit. To respect is to re-see or give special attention to a particular expression and be open to learning or receiving from that unique spiritual form or life. We should also respect ourself in this way, and keep looking deeper inside ourself for what we previously neglected to notice.
So respect is about giving attention to particulars and noticing unique qualities which were previously ignored. This means that we cannot just assume a general abstract love for Nature or for life, though this general kind of love is important too, but we need to be sensitive to particular lives and spirits of Nature.
Then, there is recognition, which is a recognition of the Great Spirit expressing uniquely through this particular life. The unique quality is still acknowledged and respected, yet this uniqueness is recognized as a spiritual expression, having its source in the One Great Spirit. One is recognizing the radiant beauty of Spirit beaming through this person or tree or whatever life. And finally we come into reverence for this being, a reverence and deep appreciation for this expression of Spiritual Love, Wisdom and Power. We recognize the spiritual radiance and intelligence coming through this being, and we revere this radiant expression as we would revere any sacred, divine incarnation. For we worship the Great Spirit in Its invisibleness and in its Mystery, through our faith and inner feeling of Its Presence, but we also worship and revere the Great Spirit in Its visible and individual forms, and we give appreciation to the various inter-related manifestations of Spirit.
This sincere appreciation for manifested Spirit naturally brings forth a caring and responsible kind of love, and this care and responsibility needs to be directed to whatever lives around us. As we walk through Nature we walk through particular environments and are surrounding by particular trees, etc. We walk upon particular parts of the land. So wherever we walk, and wherever we are, there is a local circle of life around us and this circle is made of individual lives, each of which can be respected and appreciated, cared for and loved. So the great Teachings say, Wake up to who and what is around you, and acknowledge the spiritual presence within the circle of your vision. Respect and appreciate the particular land you walk on or live on, as well as all the natural relations within that circle or locality. Respect and care must begin with the particular circle surrounding you, wherever you are, and with the particular people and relations of nature which are in your local circle of life. If we could look around and build a cooperative and caring circle of relations with the lives immediately surrounding us, then there would be many interconnected and interwoven circles of love and community throughout the whole planet. So the Native wisdom says to begin loving and caring where you are at. See and acknowledge a circle of life surrounding you and local to you, then help strengthen the cooperation and caring within this circle and nurture the beauty of diversity within this circle. The Native American culture was and still is especially concerned with the building of cooperative social communities, not based on material greed or the ideal of economic superiority, and this cooperative ideal of community is fundamentally rooted in a deep appreciation for the local natural environment and an intelligent care for its resources. The ideal for community is to be mutually cooperative with the local ecology of Nature, whereby the local environmental circle of natural relations is given to, as well as received from. For in the Native Earth Wisdom, the fundamental spiritual law is the inter-relatedness of all life, and the fundamental ethical law is the balance of giving and taking.
So, it is vitally important that we each, and as community, help strengthen the inter-related web of life around us and all that is within our particular circle of relationships. We do this by developing friendship, trust, caring, and cooperation. This strengthens the life circle and nurtures prosperity for all within the circle. Cooperation and friendship within any circle, or within any environment, may involve other people, other lives of Nature, and various nature spirits. The same kind of respect and cooperation is applicable to spirits and trees, as it is to human beings. Any circle or community is not just about human beings, but must necessarily involve the land and the lives there on, as well as the nature spirits. Teachings on the Sacred Circle tell us that we each need to develop our sensitivity and caring within a small circle of relations, and then extend outward this sensitivity and caring, by expanding our circle, or opening up to the greater interconnected circle. Our consciousness, sensitivity and care extends out more and more, and so the circle of care and cooperation grows ever-wider. It is possible for consciousness to comprehend the whole circle of life, or the whole of Mother Earth relations, though we must remember that we can only do so much, practically, as one person or as one group. The Native Wisdom tells us to be practical, as well as visionary, which is not merely an abstract caring, but involves caring and service in very particular ways, for particular people and things. In some way or another, we give our respect, our recognition, our thankfulness, our sensitivity and our caring to our immediate circle of life, while opening to and doing what we can for an even greater circle of life, and so on. We can also remember the spiritual law that the quality of our giving to any small circle of life, or even our quality of giving to any individual life, has related effects to the greater circle. So every gift of love is like a pebble dropped into the sacred lake of life, and its vibrations ripple outward in all directions, expanding outward into the greater circle. Meditate on this spiritual law and have trust in it. This helps expand our recognized relatedness to the whole of life.
Our respect and care is Equal to all, though not necessarily the Same since each is unique. Remember that true respect is acknowledging the uniqueness of each being and responding in a way appropriate to their unique needs. In the Way of the White Buffalo, we give our respect and appreciation to everyone and everything, and this is in response to our recognizing their unique gifts to the circle of relations. Appreciation acknowledges what is given, though before this is possible there needs to be the recognition and awareness of what is given, which is only possible if we wake up and really see what is being expressed in the world. For without awareness and sensitivity, we would never be able to recognize all that is given. If you’re mind and senses are closed off, then you won’t see all the many gifts of Spirit, and then gratefulness will not resound within you, and then you won’t respond to life with care and reciprocity. So many people live in such a closed way, without really seeing, without appreciating, and without really caring about anything other than their own trivial concerns. These kind of people may be involved with business and worldly energies, but their hearts and minds are really closed off to any life-circle beyond their own self-centerdness. Let us not just focus on criticism, but we do need to be honest and see that life can be lived in a closed way and self-centered way, or we can live open-hearted and open-minded and as a conscious dancer in a larger circle of love-relations, while always reaching out our love to an ever-widening circle of life.
We make a spiritual intention to give love and respect equally to all people and all relations of the Earth Mother, recognizing more and more the various talents and gifts being expressed in the circle of life, and helping to nourish those gifts. Not all of us have the same talents, and some express their gifts in a more complete way than others, so praise is not equally given, but each talent is equally respected for what it is and each person can be equally respected for who they are without comparison to others. It can be said that each of us are potential artists in our own way, and all the many ways can be respected, assuming those ways do not infringe upon other ways. What we really respect and appreciate is what is uniquely given to the circle of life-relations. And the more one gives to the greater circle, the more one is respected and appreciated. This simple truth is basic to Native Wisdom. Respect comes to those who give positively to life, and when we recognize the gifts uniquely given, by a person, tree, or spirit, we give back our appreciation and praise. So as good energy is given, good energy is given back. This is the realization and the Way of the Medicine people, those who recognize good Medicine, good energy, and who give back with heart-felt appreciation and love-offerings of thankfulness. Remember that these feelings of appreciation, gratitude, thankfulness, and spiritual reverence are powerful good energies, which radiate out to that particular life or spirit, and adds to their presence and radiance, just as good food and good herbs increase the health and vitality of people. Appreciation and love are real energies, which nurture the well-being of animals, trees, vegetation, and spirits of the land. We say that good feelings are good medicine, because good feelings nurture healing and well-being. If you are loving, joyful and grateful, then this good energy radiates out to other relations, and it also nourishes your own body and spirit.
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We revere the Great Spirit as an invisible Mystery and a feeling of Spiritual Presence, but we also revere the Great Spirit in Its visible and individual forms, and we give appreciation to the various inter-related manifestations of Spirit.
This sincere appreciation for manifested Spirit naturally brings forth a caring and responsible kind of love, and this care and responsibility needs to be directed to whatever lives around us. As we walk through Nature we walk through particular environments and are surrounding by particular trees, etc. We walk upon particular parts of the land. So wherever we walk, and wherever we are, there is a local circle of life around us and this circle is made of individual lives, each of which can be respected and appreciated, cared for and loved. So the great Teachings say, Wake up to who and what is around you, and acknowledge the spiritual presence within the circle of your vision. Respect and appreciate the particular land you walk on or live on, as well as all the natural relations within that circle or locality.
Respect and care must begin with the particular circle surrounding you, wherever you are, and with the particular people and relations of nature which are in your local circle of life. If we could look around and build a cooperative and caring circle of relations with the lives immediately surrounding us, then there would be many interconnected and interwoven circles of love and community throughout the whole planet. So the Native wisdom says to begin loving and caring where you are at. See and acknowledge a circle of life surrounding you and local to you, then help strengthen the cooperation and caring within this circle and nurture the beauty of diversity within this circle.
The Native American culture was and still is especially concerned with the building of cooperative social communities, not based on material greed or the ideal of economic superiority, and this cooperative ideal of community is fundamentally rooted in a deep appreciation for the local natural environment and an intelligent care for its resources. The ideal for community is to be mutually cooperative with the local ecology of Nature, whereby the local environmental circle of natural relations is given to, as well as received from. For in the Native Earth Wisdom, the fundamental spiritual law is the inter-relatedness of all life, and the fundamental ethical law is the balance of giving and taking.
So, it is vitally important that we each, and as community, help strengthen the inter-related web of life around us and all that is within our particular circle of relationships. We do this by developing friendship, trust, caring, and cooperation. This strengthens the life circle and nurtures prosperity for all within the circle. Cooperation and friendship within any circle, or within any environment, may involve other people, other lives of Nature, and various nature spirits. The same kind of respect and cooperation is applicable to spirits and trees, as it is to human beings. Any circle or community is not just about human beings, but must necessarily involve the land and the lives there on, as well as the nature spirits.
Teachings on the Sacred Circle tell us that we each need to develop our sensitivity and caring within a small circle of relations, and then extend outward this sensitivity and caring, by expanding our circle, or opening up to the greater interconnected circle. Our consciousness, sensitivity and care extends out more and more, and so the circle of care and cooperation grows ever-wider. It is possible for consciousness to comprehend the whole circle of life, or the whole of Mother Earth relations, though we must remember that we can only do so much, practically, as one person or as one group.
The Native Wisdom tells us to be practical, as well as visionary, which is not merely an abstract caring, but involves caring and service in very particular ways, for particular people and things. In some way or another, we give our respect, our recognition, our thankfulness, our sensitivity and our caring to our immediate circle of life, while opening to and doing what we can for an even greater circle of life, and so on.
We can also remember the spiritual law that the quality of our giving to any small circle of life, or even our quality of giving to any individual life, has related effects to the greater circle. So every gift of love is like a pebble dropped into the sacred lake of life, and its vibrations ripple outward in all directions, expanding outward into the greater circle. Meditate on this spiritual law and have trust in it. This helps expand our recognized relatedness to the whole of life.
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The Way is to become more harmonious and balanced, within ourselves, and with the natural world around us. We become more attuned with and expressive of natural wisdom, sensitive love, and creative power. This wisdom, love and power are the three fundamental qualities of Great Spirit, which are reflected in our own inner potential or human soul.
We must return to our soul, to our inherent seeds of spiritual expression, and we must nurture our inner soul with love and recognition, and allow these qualities to come forth. Just as any seed or plant needs a good environment for which to grow, we each need the energies of Nature to nurture our own soul and its emerging expression. There is a profound relationship between our soul and nature, which one can try to explain and prove, but this will be useless unless you discover the relationship yourself through experience. You must discover your deep relationship with Nature and the spirits of nature, by your own experience, and the best that the Teachings can do is to help lead you to this experience of conscious relationship. If you have already made good progress in this, and already have a good understanding of this, then know that this understanding and conscious relationship can be ever-deepened and made evermore profound. Carry on to greater and greater wholeness and harmony of being.
But because freedom is an inherent spiritual quality of the human species, there is the unfortunate possibility for humans to take too much from other lives and deplete the given natural resources of the earth and create pollution and upset the natural balance of the Earth Life. This is the unfortunate problem we face today in the world, and it stems from man’s disrespect of the Earth and his greed which takes from life much more than is given back. The Native Teachers say that each of us must take responsibility in restoring health and balance on Earth, and to disassociate ourselves, as much as possible, from the stupid, greedy cultural establishment which values money and possessions more than spiritual and ecological balance. They say we must return to the earth, return to respect and reverence for the earth, and return to a simpler, though more fulfilling, way of life.
First, we must heal ourselves, not just physically but emotionally, mentally and spiritually. True spiritual healing is the return to wholeness and balance. This means to once again realize the inner wisdom and love deep within our natural being, the Great Spirit within, and restore the balance and harmony of mind, emotion and body, under the inspiration of Spirit. We must return to our natural Spirit, and let the inner Spirit guide us, not the conditionings and forces of an unhealthy, materialistic culture. And part of this return to balance involves our recognition of the natural world as the manifestation of spiritual truth and beauty. For all things are connected and all life is inter-related, so there is no real separation between your inner spirit and the spirits of nature, or between the Great Spirit within you and the Great Spirit around you.
Thus, we need to continually deepen our respect and attunement with our own inner spiritual nature and with the greater Nature around us as well. Become more attuned and present with your own spirit and more attuned and present with the divine earth nature around. All of which leads us toward greater spiritual realization and greater ability to give more, in a Quality way, to the greater circle of life.
We return to Nature, the Natural world and the natural being of ourselves. Our spiritual self is the same as our natural self. This is what makes Native Earth Religion different from many other religions. Our spiritual self is not in opposition with our natural self. So we don’t find our spiritual self through some book or by denying our natural being. We find our spirituality by learning from our natural feelings and passions, and allowing this natural truth to be expressed. And we find our natural spiritual self reflected in all the many lives and forms of the natural world, in the Earth Nature. We don’t deny the natural self nor deny the natural world around us. So the spiritual ideal is found right here on Earth, in Nature, and within our natural being.
We believe that God is right here on Earth, and in Earth, and within each life and form as found on this planet. The animals are manifestations of God, not just creations but actual manifested expressions of the One Great Living Spirit, the Great Mystery Power of all Life. Each animal is a particular expression of Great Spirit, and so is each plant or tree or insect or rock. For the Native Earth man or woman, God is all around, everywhere, through everything and everyone. And of course this includes human beings.
Yet human beings are even more special, because humans can speak and sing in many ways. Humans can think and act in many ways. The human spirit, as part of the Great Spirit, is free, and be many things, almost anything it wishes to be. The animals, plants, trees, and rocks are all beautiful manifestations of Spirit, in a particular form and particular pattern of being, but the human being is not limited like these other lives of Spirit, for the human can, potentially, become whatever it wishes or imagines is possible. The human being has this potential freedom to dream or vision the yet-to-be and to behave and pattern its life in any number of possible ways. So in the human family there is much diversity, because the human has been given this special freedom to grow and flower in all sorts of ways, not being limited by particular instincts as are each of the animal and plant beings.
In animals there is a natural instinctive intelligence for adapting to environmental conditions and to a greater ecology, and the natural world of plants, trees and animals have slowly evolved together in a growing cooperation and symbiosis, where there is a give and take which nurtures the overall eco-system and keeps the Earth-life in a relative balance and harmony. This instinctual sense of adaptability and cooperation is also within the human intelligence, but it has been suppressed and virtually lost because of the western culture which has emphasized the superiority of the human free will and has falsely believed that the spiritual self is something alien from this Earth world. This is why we must return again to Earth spirituality and to the natural adaptive intelligence inherent within the human soul.
The Great Spirit within is the spiritual will of the soul, which is ever seeking to express through the mind, emotions and physical actions. This inner soul, or spiritual will, is the true You. And you will know yourself as this spiritual being, when you let go of conditioned thinking and all the limited ideas you have about yourself. Predominately, it is the thinking mind and conditioned beliefs, as well as our emotional reactive patterns, which hold us back from realizing and manifesting the Great Spirit within.
Therefore, we need to sacrifice and let go of these old beliefs and patterns, in order to make room for this greater Spirit to emerge from within. From this purification and sacrifice of the limited mind, our true spiritual nature, our true soul, can be allowed to come forth into expression.
Our inner soul is naturally loving, naturally wise, and naturally creative, and in its purity it is reflective of the Great Spirit. The soul is our deeper will and inspiration, which is given by Spirit. This will of the soul has three main aspects: the will to know the truth, the will to be in love and in harmony with the rest of life, and the will to creatively express truth, harmony and beauty. Meditate on these three aspects of the soul, and discover them within yourself.
Great Spirit, Who is the Creator and Pervading Presence of this Universe, gave man and woman the sacred power of free will, which is the power to make personal decisions and the power to be freely creative. So Great Spirit gives us the divine power to be creative and to freely choose our personal path in life. This power of freedom also carries with it a responsibility to be sensitive and respectful to the rest of life. So we can enjoy our creativity and freedom, but should also respect the creativity and freedom of others.
We wouldn’t want to deny or repress our freedom, which is part of the purpose of the Great Mystery. Yet we must see that a certain responsibility necessarily goes with this freedom. This responsibility is to respond intelligently to other lives and to the greater whole of life, in order to nurture and maintain an overall balance and harmony on this planet in which we all live.
We can be creatively and spontaneously free, but at the same time we need a developed sense of responsibility for nurturing and protecting the greater environment of which we are a related part. This involves a caring sensitivity to other lives and an intelligent sense of adaptability to the natural environment which physically and spiritually nourishes us. We can allow ourselves to be free, but we must also recognize the inter-relatedness of all lives and energies, and so any freedom needs to be balanced with a sensitive responsibility toward the greater whole or interconnected circle of life.
We need to remember that we each are equal parts of the greater circle. We each are unique, but within the one Spirit and circle of life, and we each are nourished by the one central Spirit within the circle. If we form a circle with others and face each other, we can realize our interconnection and realize that we are each fed by the same center power of the circle. This circle is the Native Medicine Wheel, formed by the diversity of life, and at the center of the Wheel is the power of the One Creative Spirit.
We all must remember that we share in this One Great Spirit, and be grateful for this, and grateful for the connecting circle as well. And we can also realize that we can enter into that great center and be as the center itself, with the Four Winds of Spirit around us, nurturing and protecting us, and all of life around us. And we can move freely and creatively in life, as the center of Spirit, or as Spirit springing forth from within and giving to all life. Know and meditate upon these two perspectives in the wheel of life. Know that you are part of the interconnected circle, and equal to all others of this circle, and allow yourself to be nourished by the One Great Spirit at the center of all life.
Receive from this One Spirit and give back your gratefulness and appreciation. Then enter into the spiritual center of life, and live from this center, radiating out your love, your wisdom, and your creativity. This is the realization that the Great Spirit is within you and springing forth spiritual love, wisdom and power, through your own self-expression. This is not mere ego-expression, but is the expression of Spiritual Truth as it emerges and flowers uniquely through you. Take some time to meditate on being the Medicine Wheel, both as being the center and as being part of the circle.
We might even gather people together to form circles or Medicine Wheels so that you can experience in community this wisdom and power. Later, more will be said about the Medicine Wheel, its significance in spiritual life and its power in Nature.
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We are all like trees in a wonderful forest. Each tree is unique. Each tree has its own individual power and unique beauty, and its own special presence. And yet, all the trees form a whole forest and an overall ecology. We can realize our own special uniqueness and have our own self-respect, and we can each express our unique seed of potential and stretch out our branches in creative freedom. But we also need to realize humbly that we are each just one tree in a greater forest, and we are nourished by the same soil, water, air and sun. We live by the same resources of life and we live in the same space together. The beauty of the forest is made by all the individual trees, so one can appreciate the overall forest though also appreciate each individual tree. So too in our relations in life. We can appreciate and give to the overall ecology of life, to Mother Earth as a whole, and we can also appreciate and give to particular expressions of the One Life, which includes giving to ourself.
The earth person, attuned with Nature, can give to the greater life in many ways, both physically and with spiritual love offerings and blessings. We might pray that we can give to Mother Earth and to the whole circle of life, and meditate upon various ways of giving our appreciation and love. And of course, we can also give to individual people, to animals, plants, trees, and to particular places on the land. We can show our respect and give recognition and appreciation to individual trees. So we can direct our sensitive attention and love to specific lives and places of Nature.
If we can remember to give love and respect to the greater whole, and to individual spirits as well, then we are truly part of the spiritual path. We ask to be of service and know how we can give back to the Earth Life. This is the Way of Love, which is the essence of Great Spirit. For Great Spirit is essentially the Spirit of Love, which is the Great Power and Wisdom pervading life and within your own soul. When we discover this Great Source of Love-Power, we become evermore radiant with love and evermore wishing to give to the awakening of Spirit everywhere.
Unfortunately, the Spirit of Love, or the spiritual presence within all form, has hidden itself away because of our lack of respect and recognition. Much of the spiritual presence or nature presences on Earth have closed down and sleep for now, because there is so little recognition. But the presence and presences are just waiting for respect and recognition, for appreciation and cooperation, and then their radiance will once again be revealed, and mankind will live in the wholeness of spiritual beauty right here on Earth.
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On our unique Path to Beauty and Wholeness of Understanding, we need to learn from All Our Relations and be assisted on our way, but we must find our own way and our own unique expression. We must also learn how to work with other relations, cooperatively, and learn how to serve each other’s path, as well as our own. We each can, potentially, serve the Whole. Great Mystery gives us what we need to serve the Whole and gives us the needed Lessons in life in order to better understand and serve the Whole. We are each unique seeds, unique potentials, planted in the earth body by Great Mystery, for the overall Good of the Whole. So if we can discover ourselves, our unique interests and unique abilities, and allow these to grow and manifest, then we will actually serve the Great Mystery and Totality of creation.
This is the Beautiful Insight, that we can actually serve the Whole by being true to ourselves and express our own creative inspirations.
We each have unique gifts and talents, which need to be shared in our circle of relations. In the Native American tradition, the unique gifts and talents of each person are looked for, recognized and respected, and allowed to be expressed in the community, for there is an understanding that every life has unique gifts which add to the whole beauty and harmony of life. The beauty and harmony of Nature is nurtured by diversity, so the ideal is not mere conformity or trying to be just like everyone else. Each adds their unique character to the whole. The ideal is unity of diversity, and not an imposed conformity or a unity by imposed authority. It is a democratic unity, where freedom of diversity is respected, as long as this freedom does not infringe on the freedom of others. The Great Way is to build harmony and unity out of diversity, rather than imposing one kind of unity on all others.
As we learn to give of our unique talents to the greater Circle, and serve the larger Life around us, we actually express the greater Spiritual Will and Purpose. Then, the Power, Love, Intelligence and Beauty of Great Spirit flows through us and manifests more in the world. The Creative Will and Purpose of Great Spirit expresses through our own individual will, as we allow that Power and Love and Wisdom to emerge from us and through us. But first we must recognize this Greater Spirit within us, this greater Power and greater Love and greater Wisdom. We must discover this within ourself, as well as recognizing it within the creation around us.
Our true inspiration for learning and self-expression comes from the Great Mystery Spirit within, and this guides us toward a unique service, a unique part to play in the Wholeness of Life. The Great Mystery Spirit is a secret Intelligence in all of Life, which mysteriously leads each life to serve the greater Harmony and Beauty. So if we listen and follow our deeper inspiration and inner guidance, we will be on the Great Path of Beauty and we will be of service to the Whole. The Great Spirit gives us the guiding intelligence and vision to serve the Greater Harmony, because Great Spirit is the Conscious Intelligence which leads to Harmony, and Mother Earth gives us the necessary vitality to live in the Spirit and express the Spirit. So we learn from other Relations on Earth, and absorb into us those beneficial energies, and yet we are given unique spiritual and creative inspiration to evolve a greater harmony and beauty on Earth.
We
must contact the Spirit within, which is our soul, our deeper
inspiration, and allow this to guide our way. At the same time, we
can learn from other Relations and from the unique circumstances
presented to us, because everything and everyone is a Lesson
presented by the Great Mystery. We must first accept where we are and
what is presented to us, because this is the present Lesson or Step
on our own unique Path.
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Great Spirit is an indestructible Power, Consciousness, and Wisdom, which is at the center core within you and each life. And yet this Loving Power and Wisdom does not force Itself into full expression. The expression of Great Spirit through us requires agreement and nurturing by the personal will. It is said that humans are closest in likeness to Great Spirit, because we have the power of freedom and creative choice. This freedom is reflective of spiritual freedom, and yet it can turn against itself and deny the growing emergence of spiritual freedom.
We must take responsibility for our personal freedom, and then decide to either nurture or deny the spiritual potentials within us. This is the first and most important choice we must make.
Either we nurture and cooperate with the new spiritual emergence, that is coming forth from ourselves and the world, or we deny these emerging spiritual seeds and remain stuck where we are. The time is now to awaken from our spiritual sleep, and this awakening will require many wake-up calls. We need many spiritual reminders along our way, because we are so accustomed to our usual hypnotic sleep-walking and conditioning of the mind. The Buffalo Call is to now consciously Walk the Earth, in conscious respect to the sacredness of all creation, and consciously nurture the Great Spirit within. Let the Great Spirit within you emerge and express true wisdom and love. Great Spirit is the living, creative force within all creation. Each creation, or life, including ourself, is an Idea or Vision of Great Spirit. Each of us is a wonderful vision or thought-form of Great Spirit. So honor yourself, as well as others, and you will be honoring Great Spirit or Great Mystery. All life comes from the Spirit World, first as a Thought or Vision, and then manifested through the Earth Mother.
Each life is made by Spirit Vision as a unique contribution to the Whole, to serve the Whole Harmony and Beauty of Life. Each life is meant to contribute something unique and beneficial to the Whole Ecology of Life. Each of us is part of the greater Spiritual Vision of a Whole beautiful and harmonious Ecology of Life. Meditate on this and see yourself in this way. Then, you may see your own unique contribution.
We each have a similar purpose for being, which is to make some contribution to the Whole, and yet we each have the potential for a unique contribution. We are all part of one great purpose and one great Path of Life, and yet we each need to discover our own unique way of expressing the Great Path of Beauty. Just as there are different kinds of life which contribute to the Whole Ecology, we are each unique within the One Life, and each of us can experience and express life in our own unique way, which hopefully will be a beneficial contribution to the Whole.
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Our true freedom is not to merely express habits and conditioning and the same reactions to life as last year, but to move on the Path by consciously learning the Lessons and learning more about oneself and one’s potentials. True freedom is following our heart and inspiration and joy and vision of the Good Life. It is the freedom of natural spontaneity and a natural response to life around us, as this naturalness unfolds and grows within us. But it is not mere habit, or the conditioning produced by the sickness and lies of society. Freedom does mean that we remain as we are, and react to life and others in childish ways. Freedom means to grow, to learn, and to express ourselves in new ways, in accordance with a deepening self-understanding and further understanding of life’s relatedness. This freedom is the maturing of the spiritual seed, the truth within. It is an unfolding spontaneity and creativity, which is ever fresh at each step of the Way. This is the eternal emergence of Spirit, where life is new at each moment. Where each moment can be a new Step along the Path, offering a new Lesson and new Insight. And the self-expressive soul spontaneously emerges at each new moment or step along the Way. This is true freedom and eternal innocence. It is not mere childishness. It is mature innocence. It is the maturing freedom of the Spirit within. And it is the growing Path to Beauty and Harmony.
So the first step to true freedom is allowing your Spirit to emerge from under the soil, your spirit of inspiration and creative expression, which seeks to make life better, more joyous, more full and beautiful. This is the Power of Great Spirit coming through you. Allow this Power to come forth from within, like a force coming up from a hidden seed in the ground and rising with strength like the emerging trunk of a tree, and let this Power branch out with freedom into the space of Life. Radiate that Power, that inspiration, and express it into Life. This is your personal power and your Right-to-be. Just like a tree, you have the Right-to-be and the power to express the inspiration emerging from within. You are unique, uniquely beautiful, within the One Great Beauty, within the one Great Mystery. Love yourself and love others. Respect yourself and respect others. This is the Way. Allow your inner being, your inner truth, and your inner potentials to spontaneously and naturally emerge. And allow others to emerge as well, and honor their emerging awakening to the truth and their expressing potentials.
Find the freshness of each moment, and the simple innocence of each moment, and be open to learning more of the Great Mystery.