> In response to your message, Michael, I'm not sure that the issue is one of
> "truth" (to make it so leads us down the exact road you describe, one
> where we ultimately allow a free-for-all in the name of self-actualization
> and personal "freedom"), as much as it is one of RESPECT and inherent
> prejudiced thinking in the practice and replication of native spiritual
> traditions.
Point taken; of course people of good conscience endeavour to express such
respect. Sometimes even their ignorance is difficult for them to overcome,
whether they are aware of it or not.
> As a Lakota friend of mine once asked me, "Do you see people
> buying gold chalices and holding a mass in their backyards?" or "What
> would the Jewish people say if suddenly persons began making their own
> torahs and selling them?" I am in the mid-stages of planning a book on this
> exact topic--several months ago, I got no real response when I posed questions
> around the issues. Maybe now we are ready to express our opinions on it.
I'll be interested to see that book. It's true that many people adopt
the "outsides" of "religion" without understanding the "insides"--though
even the symbolism of the Catholic Mass is probably understood by few
Catholics, at least insofar as its origins in mysticism are concerned--
and commercialism of any religion is offensive, from over-the-counter
medicine pouches to pink plastic Jesuses.
> Somehow that which "belongs" to the Native American peoples (although the
> very notion of possession is unfortunately somewhat imposed upon the nature
> of what we are discussing) has historically been seen as an exploitable
> good for the profit of those who exploit.
I can't evaluate Brooke Medicine Eagle or any of those other books, as I have
not seen them and am not qualified to judge them in any case, except insofar
as I might find them useful --"ringing true"-- or not (I never liked
Castaneda's books, though many of my friends have). I'll certainly agree
that commercial exploitation is not "spiritual". This is a commercial
culture, however. Who makes the money from sales of Black Elk Speaks?
> I have no argument that absolute truth is impossible to formulate in a
> rational-logical-linguistic manner. However, to allow a situation to pro-
> ceed unchecked merely because it deals with persons' personal journeys
> toward that truth IN THIS ARENA also allows us to distort the traditions
> until they become cheap popular culture.
It's been this way about all spirituality ever since ever. Compare what
St Francis said to the popes!
What can we do to help check commercialism and exploitation? Little,
perhaps, since there is freedom of speech and publishing. Perhaps some
Native teachers would consider writing and publishing in their own languages.
That would be instructive for their own people as well as for anyone,
scholars or seekers alike, who wanted sincerely to learn. I know that many
traditions eschew the written word --ancient Celtic teachers did that,
more's the pity for us today-- but without at least the mythological tales
being written down there is in some cases danger that they be lost
to future generations.
> By saying that all can potentially lead
> to the discovery of "truth" is like the complacent, "in everything God
> works for good" that immobilizes persons and provides a smug self-justifi-
> cation for not getting involved and correcting hurtful situations.
> Much like the reincarnationist belief that all people chose their present
> life...therefore why interfere?
Both Buddhism and Hinduism teach that one's PRESENT situation is in many
respects the result of PAST action and causal streams (I leave aside the
philosophical difficulties of temporality criticized by many Buddhist and
Hindu philosophers). Neither teaches that one sit back and enjoy or
suffer the fruit of that; rather, both teach that one accept the present
for what it is while working IN the present for more acceptable or
liberating situations.
> Such extreme positioning sparks moral
> paralysis as far as I am concerned. Yes, all we know today, all we are
> today is the product of all we have known and all we have done in the past
> ..but it does not mean that all that happened was "okay."
Buddhists at least endeavour not to judge the goodness or evilness of
the past. One can act toward change only in the present. It is true that
Californian misunderstanding of fundamentalist Hinduism (the Hare Krsna
movement) is responsible for the proliferation of notions of Good and Bad
Karma. As a Buddhist who has made a study of some texts in the original
Pali, I find this if not offensive at least unfortunate. We come full
circle to the problem of Native American spirituality, which CAN, I believe
be accessible to sincere people of European origin. I had the honour of
being invited to sweat with some Lakota people in Oregon, and with some
Cheyenne people in Wyoming. It was a good experience for me; I learned
a lot, and not just about "Indian sweat lodges".
> A post-note--I have never seen someone who had a sincere heart and a non-
> capitalist attitude toward their practice of native spirituality criticized
> by the spiritual leaders I have known...
Michael Everson
School of Architecture, UCD, Richview, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14, E/ire
Phone: +353-1-706-2745