And the message from passing soul to soul is this - the
healing task which confronts us at this moment is to make life
whole again.
Fractured by false notions of who we are; by the mystification
of our collective Being by 'individualism' and 'private
ownership of the earth'; by false boundaries imposed on life
be they fences between neighbours or checkpoints for nation-
states; by brother killing brother and people making media and
arms fortunes out of the practice - fractured in this way by
the madness sweeping the planet - we look for a cure.
And part of the cure to a world gone crazy with self-centred
decision-making is by a simple practice - to cultivate
altruism.
You learn of this cure HERE, NOW, FOR FREE. Make of it what
you will.
Cultivate altruism - find your self as life in other parts of
life. Cast of the fiction of your identity which is a cultural
construct crafted by the motivate interests of others, Find
yourself as life - a living force in a cosmos of eternal life
cycles.
The soul material is endlessly recycled. You will not come
back as a whale next time - in eternity you (as life) already
are a whale. Or a lamb in a slaughter house.
And so, when you act to put an end to the unnecessary
suffering for one part of life you are doing making a
wonderful investment with your resources.
One part of our greater self causes suffering to other parts
of our greater self. When you see life suffering, understand
that you are suffering. Take healing action to alleviate that
suffering. Non-violent action.
It is a simple truth. And when you put it into practice you
come closer to being in tune with the Creation which generates
us.
While you merely know it, intellectually, and fail to act on
it - to use it as a guide for action - the healing messages
are not released into your life.
These truths have been kept alive by many people in different
places. The people who have lived their lives by these truths
include the First Peoples of Australia. My understanding has
been obtained by the simple process of seeking to make sense
out the truth inscribed in their lives as evidenced by their
practices. That is life's text.
The cultivation of altruism informs their every practice. They
reinvest their life energies (ceremonies) into maintaining the
eternal lifecycles - cosmic order - upon which we all depend.
Western forms of State approved reason have produced
stereotypes of 'Aboriginals' which make a mockery of the lives
and values of Australia's First Peoples.
These forms of reason have been produced by some State
sanctioned craftspeople to complement the separation of First
Peoples from their living countries.
The story of the struggle of Australia's First Peoples for
recognition of who they are and what they do is of epic
proportions.
Recognition means recognition of the contribution their
practices make to maintaining cosmic balance (call it life
balance or land administration if that makes you feel more
comfortable. I use "cosmic" to mean "social plus ecological
orders")
The grip of Western reason - the confusion which allows
motivated forces to plunder the world - probably has you
scoffing already despite the truth you have just been exposed
to. Suspend that prejudgment and escape from the process of
remote control for a moment.
Transcend the localised limits of interpreting experience
which we call "culture" - it is these limits which allow our
wholeself to be governed by alien ideas. Intellect can be as
much a trap as it can be a means of liberation.
It is a source of great weakness when it operates to exclude
that flow of life's messages which Western reason relegates to
mere 'feeling'. The whole of life's experience can talk to us
through our gut reactions!
Trust your gut reactions - they do not seek to make profit at
your expense.
End of rave.
NOW HERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO PUT THE CULTIVATION OF ALTRUISM
INTO IMMEDIATE PRACTICE - BUT ONLY IF YOUR GUT REACTION SAYS
"YES - DO IT NOW!"
Giving voice to First Peoples in Australia who are in remote
places in of fundamental importance. This remoteness can be
both geographical and socio-economic.
It is amongst these people that many of the wonderful values
which inform life have survived.
These people do not qualify for positions in Westminster style
organisations. Their language (be it broken English or the
singing original voices of the country) is treated with
contempt.
They are denied resources despite the now billions which are
spent in their name.
In 1993, the Anglo-Australian Parliament passed the Native
Title Act. In the name of recognising the importance of the
relationship between First Peoples and their living countries,
this Act legislated to protect European and Asian commercial
investments by proclaiming that the issue of pastoral leases
extinguished native title rights.
Many First Peoples in Australia have been told by their elders
that the same country is theirs by the Dreaming law which is
the law of the land.
The relationship between First Peoples and their living
countries is a transcendental relationship which is not
annulled by Acts of Parliaments not in dialogue with Dreaming
law.
A great injustice has been carried out. The bloodlessness of
means that the attention of the world's media will not focus
on it. The same people who own the media own pastoral leases.
First Peoples will continue to suffer - as the appalling
Australian health record shows - from this denial of the core
of their Being. No amount of Western commodities can
substitute for being in your place, eating the sacramental
foods of your country and performing the maintenance
ceremonies of your eternal soul. The land is the eternal soul.
The cultivating altruism task is to restore Australia's First
Peoples to their place in life.
HEALING ENERGY IS NOW URGENTLY REQUIRED TO REPEAL THOSE
PROVISIONS OF THE NATIVE TITLE ACT WHICH PLACE THE INTERESTS
OF CATTLE OVER THOSE OF AUSTRALIA'S LANDLIFE PRIESTS.
One of the provisions of that Act requires the Aboriginal
Social Justice Commissioner to report annually to Parliament
on the workings of the Act. He has expressed his concern about
the leasehold extinguishment provisions.
Those people not familiar with the process by which the Native
Title Act was rushed through Parliament last year may not know
that it was virtual rewritten by Australia's Foreign Minister
Gareth Evans, being advised by stressed bureaucrats, while it
was receiving its Second Reading in the Senate.
What sort of deliberation law-making process is this? Little
wonder that the Act is faulty and open for review.
It is important that the issue of working for the recognition
of the co-existence of native title and pastoral leases is
taken up as soon as possible - before the Act is 'fossilised'
by those who obtain a short tern advantage from it (for it is
a disaster for everyday Australians).
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
You can help by;
1. making a submission to the Aboriginal Social Justice
Commissioner by the 31 July. Address: Mr Michael Dodson,
Aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner, GPO Box 5218, Sydney,
New South Wales 2001. Phone 02 229 7600 fax 02 229 7715.
2. You can lobby your local politicians for peaceful co-
existence of native title and pastoral leases (a marriage of
interests in place of habitual rape).
3. You can write a submission to the Parliamentary Joint
Committee on Native Title. Contact, for guidelines, Committee
Secretary, Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title,
S1.108, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600 Phone 06 277 3598
Fax 06 277 5794
4. You can form a Reconciliation study and support group.
Write for a free Reconciliation Study Circle Kit (now over
2000 groups formed). Address: Australian Association for Adult
and Community Education, PO Box 308, Jamison Centre ACT 2614
Phone 06 251 7933 Fax 06 251 7935.
(or if you want me to run a weekend workshop in return for
donation to Warumungu Defence Fund write to Bruce Reyburn PO
Box 257 Thirroul 2515 e-mail reyburn@peg.apc.org )
5. Make a cash donation to the Warumungu Defence Fund to
assist me lobby on behalf of First Peoples in the remote
Barkly Tableland-Tennant Creek area of the NT.
I intend to visit remote people to make a video submission
with them putting their story in their own words. Donations of
over fifty dollars will receive a copy of the resulting video.
(A few places open to accompany me on this trip (in August?)
for those who can make a substantial donation. My video
submission budget is $5000 for travel and production.)
Contact reyburn@peg.apc.org or Warumungu Defence Fund, PO Box
257 Thirroul NSW 2515.
6. Do your own thing to give voice to people in remote places.
Remember, you are ultimately doing it for yourself.
How's your gut reaction? Time to give a little.
In Songlines Solidarity, Bruce. 4 July 1994