Sitting in...

Sitting in: to observe what you’re not really a part of, to play with a band not your own.  A lot of things are sitting in when you get right down to it, in the most technical sense of the thing a whole lot of modern entertainments qualify.  I listened to a radio show this morning hosted by two ladies who, it would seem, are members of slightly different facets of the Native American pagan community speaking out to others whose beliefs don’t descend from the tent of Abraham.  The content of their talk covered a variety of subjects where there might be common ground between them.  The soon to arrive solstice commonly marks a time for celebrations and rituals in many belief structures, it seemed an appropriate time to sit in as it were and hear what they had to say. 

Just for references sake, I am an ex-patriot Mormon who does not really subscribe to any of the formalized belief structures but rather simply acknowledge that there is a consciousness beyond that known to the humans.  I am, in simplest terms, simply a deist. There is an entity known to humanity through the ages as God, a self aware immortal thought force that intersects with our reality as a single omniscient and consummately benign being to whom I offer my allegiance in the common cause of survival as self.  Since this entity abides in realms beyond the limitations I perceive concerning my own thought and perception it then follows there is a valid possibility for a progression of other points of that thought force structured in varying degrees of complexity and motive which may well exist in part or in total beyond the limits of my direct perception. For me matters of a spiritual nature resolve to an ever more delicate quest to determine an answer to a most simple, and in that simplicity exceedingly deep, question: could this be true?

There is no doubt in my mind that whatever might be revealed concerning the literal and absolute truth of what exists in the realms of the spirit it is a true statement that humanity uses the thought of the spiritual as a screen against which it projects its’ perceptions of itself.  The personalities seen in the interactions of the various Gods and Goddesses one with another, one or the other with the humans, the totems and talismans, the rituals and the ceremonies, all of these things are clearly of human construction.  They are, to borrow a concept from Dr. Asimov’s awesome work of imagination The Foundation Trilogy, variables defined within the algebra of humanity  that mankind uses trying to reduce the equation of self  into some meaningful and useful form.  I am not belittling these efforts, far from it.  Each system is a branching of mankind’s efforts to understand, the history of the peoples and cultures who embrace each such effort a test platform for discerning any truth carried within that structure, for as it is said several places in the Bible: “By their fruit you will know them...”

No matter the (meta)physics involved there is a primal polarity involved with all changes to a life, and for my purposes that is by far the more critical understanding.  Regardless of the mechanisms involved all things show the ethical polarity of motive.  Yes, I did, I just paired the word ethics from the humanities with the word polarity from the sciences.  Sue me, it’s a valid concept the ladies also touched on in a most interesting, and actually rather optimistic, manner. 

Their approach to the thought involved the Native American meaning to the word “medicine.”  To the world of science medicine is an external thing brought to bear against some affliction, some disease, while if I understood correctly (no promises, just best effort) to the Native American traditions the word “medicine” also includes influencing internal perceptions, attitudes, designed to effect the psychology of the soul.  The concept is fully valid, science is documenting ever more evidence that the deep levels of psychology, the deep levels of conflict induced stress do indeed play major to massive roles in the overall health of an individual.  Most likely the Medicine Man of the old ways actually understood this before the Medicine Man of the modern had a clue.  Modern medicine is very powerful, and yet the medicine of the old ways has the potential for it to be needed far less often than is commonly seen. 

What the ladies said concerning “medicine” is that it will impact health for seven generations.  This factoid of their beliefs caught my ear, for I’d always associated the number seven to the generations, to be specific I’d (mis)remembered the Bible verses concerning the sins of the father would reach out even to seven generations.  But no, when I looked up the verses they all said four generations.  I find it a strange coincidence that my error equaled their belief.  That “medicine” in their sense has a seven generation range while the sins that most likely gave rise to the need for such medicine are reported as only impacting four?  Hmmm.... an interesting difference, that one is.  It implies that at the deepest levels the wholesome will out endure the profane, and I find that a fine thought indeed.