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The man climbed to the top of a high mountain, spread his arms
wide open, and cried, "O Lord! Fill me with spirit!"
The Lord replied, "My son, I fill you with spirit every day. But
you keep leaking!"
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I try to keep in mind that we are all potential vessels of Spirit;
however, it is impossible to gather pure water if the vessel is
damaged, and most of us are damaged in some way. This includes
medicine persons and other spiritual leaders, legitimate or otherwise.
Therefore, this makes it difficult for any of us to choose a teacher.
The arguments I've heard in this discussion pretty much have made
one of two opposing points: either Europeans should stay away from
Native spirituality completely, because it does not belong to them,
or else "the body is merely a shell" and it is possible for any
person to experience spiritual enlightenment from any other, regardless
of heredity.
It is my view that both of these points are mostly true; however,
neither is as simplistic as the way they have been presented.
Part of the reason Daniel Medina and others have insisted that an
outsider cannot "join" a Native religion is because, for one thing,
it is inherent in many tribes' spiritual beliefs that power is passed
on through lineage. You may scoff at this idea if you are a believer
in reincarnation and think therefore that the body is irrelevant;
however, many Arctic tribes even go so far as to state that their
people voluntarily reincarnate into their own families, and can
provide plenty of evidence to this effect. Tradition and ancestral
memory DO play a large part in the Indian way; therefore it is not
enough for a non-Native person to have been raised or conditioned
among Native people, to ever be considered a legitimate medicine
person by his or her tribe (though I'm not sure where all this leaves
those hordes of us who are of mixed blood!).
Another integral part of Native spirituality is, of course, the
relationship to the land. A person of Native bloodlines who had
spent all his time in cities or schools, away from his land and
people, would also not be a likely candidate for a tribally endorsed
medicine person.
All that having been said, I would now like to comment on the
"plastic medicine man" lists which are currently circulating through
the Indian community. I know of two such lists: one was
published in Akwesasne Notes (and has been previously mentioned here)
and compiled by leaders in the Iroquois Nations; the other was
put together by the women of AIM.
As I understand it, the criteria used to determine whether someone
was a "plastic" medicine person were mainly: 1) if the person has
charged money for ceremonies, 2) in the case of a man, if he has
shown disrespect toward women, and 3) if the person has broken
away from the tribe and operates alone, giving nothing back to his
original land or people.
The first criterion I agree with wholeheartedly. I don't believe
that any genuine Native spiritual teacher would even presume to call
him or herself by that name, much less charge money. It is the Indian
way for one who wishes to learn to voluntarily go to one's chosen
teacher and OFFER something as a show of respect and a sincere wish
to learn; it is never the place of the teacher to arbitrarily charge
a fee. To do so automatically violates the very sacred principle
the person is claiming to uphold.
While the other two "plastic medicine" criterion are certainly
valid ones, they are much harder to prove or disprove and have led
to much infighting, even between the two groups who published "lists".
It's notable that while Rolling Thunder is included in AIM's list,
he is not on the Iroquois list, most likely because he is Cherokee
and the Cherokee and Iroquois, both matrilineal Eastern tribes, are
longtime allies. There are many other such discrepancies.
We are therefore back to the "damaged vessel" parable. In the case
of Native Americans, it is very difficult to find a true spiritualist
because, as most of us know, Indian religion was officially illegal
until 1978 and still suffers from intervention by the U.S. government.
Further, the government and church embarked on a campaign to rob all
memory of said religion from Indians by forcing them to attend Christian
schools. Therefore much of today's Indian religion is a bastardization
of both watered-down traditional spirituality (which in many cases no
longer even applies because the tribe has been relocated to an entirely
different environment) and "Christianity" (I use this term loosely, because
in my opinion the version of Christianity foisted upon Indians was about
as Christlike as Hitler's).
All this hybridization has produced an equal amount of divisiveness
among Indian people themselves, even within the same tribe. Hardly
anyone has such tangible evidence of ancestral power as, say, Arval
Looking Horse of the Lakota, who carries the sacred pipe given to the
tribe by White Buffalo Calf Woman more than twenty generations ago.
Also, most individual Native people, especially those on reservations,
are still struggling to overcome the collective inferiority complex
hammered into their heads by whites. This means that internal gossip
and resentment are widespread. As soon as a medicine person begins
to attain recognition outside the immediate tribal group, this will
cause bitterness within certain factions of the group who are jealous
or reverse-racist.
So someone's name can end up on a "plastic medicine" list because
a few women decide to start a rumor that he tried to take advantage
of them sexually during a sweat lodge, or some such gossip (I am a
woman and have never had this happen, even with at least one person
whose name is on the AIM "list" for that reason). Or someone will
be ostracized for teaching non-Native people and leave the reservation
as a result, then find himself on a list because he "abandoned his
land and people".
I'm not saying there are no legitimate complaints against the people
on these "lists"; only that lack of endorsement can be for less than
spiritual reasons.
Is there such a thing as a "real" medicine person in all this mess?
Sure, as long as you realize that he or she is also a "leaking" vessel
in some way or other. I think it's reasonable to steer clear of
anyone who asks for money (except for voluntary donations which are
customary anyhow) in exchange for spiritual knowledge, even if the
money is supposedly going to a good cause. The "good heart" principle
mentioned by other posters definitely applies here, and keep in mind
that there is such a thing as someone who begins with a good heart
and later becomes corrupted, and sometimes even vice versa.
Also, I have no problem with a non-Native person endorsing Native
spirituality, especially if it will help them learn proper respect
for the land on which they live. However, I agree with Daniel and
others who say that just because someone benefits from such knowledge
does not authorize them to repackage and sell it. Passing on something
that has been learned should only be done on a casual basis to friends
and relatives - certainly not under the auspices of a "teacher" or
"shaman". I believe this role SHOULD be reserved for those who have
the ancestral memory and power.
Beyond these guidelines, it's simply a matter of getting past the
sometimes vicious gossip. For this part of the equation, I think it's
very much a matter of listening to our hearts, to the Great Spirit
which eternally tries to fill all of us, to what the Christian mystic
Edgar Cayce called "the still, small voice within". As Indians and
non-Indians alike all seem to recognize, there is still a connection,
somewhere, between us all. Even a broken circle must still have a
center.
= Lee =