During my 17 years in South Dakota I was fully integrated into the indigenous society of the Lakota Sioux on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In this time I functioned as a ceremonial Helper and was deeply educated in natural medicine and spiritual understanding, diving into these ancient traditions will all my heart, mind, body and soul. In this time I also worked for the tribal ambulance service, providing modern emergency medical care to the people of the reservation. In almost every way possible I was absolutely immersed in the native society.
Then in 2007 I left my home in South Dakota and moved to Arizona. I moved from the beauty of the pine forested Black Hills and windy northern Great Plains to an urban metropolitan area with over 14 million people, located in one of the hottest and driest places in the United States. I travelled faraway from all I had known during my adult life – relocating to a foreign environment. It was a shocking adjustment on many levels.
I ended up in Phoenix Arizona. After the initial shock of the move subsided I began to understand the current state of modern life. I slowly began to realize the differences between the indigenous society I had originated from and the contemporary one I was now living in. I started to clearly see the dissimilarities and see how the indigenous perspective could truly help people living in this modern age.
You might be asking yourself “How is it possible that a “primitive” people could possibly help the modern world?” Or perhaps you’re a person that senses that the indigenous wisdom holds the answers – but the question is still, “What is the wisdom?”
The answer it this, the indigenous perspective is based on survival and how people relate to the Earth. Because they recognize that their life depends on a number of essential factors (connections) – they hold these to be sacred components of life.
The first sacred connection : How do you relate to the natural world, the environment, and the living Earth?
The second sacred connection: How are you in relation to yourself?
The third sacred factor connection: How do you relate to your fellow human beings?
These are the three points of connection that indigenous life styles and philosophies continually reinforce. The natural mind recognizes that we have to consider these three factors every time a decision is to be made. Decisions that are healthy will positively reinforce these connections; decisions that are unhealthy will weaken the connections.
What I witness on a continual basis in the modern world are individuals and groups making decisions that are dis-connective. Dis-connective patterns quickly lead to dis-ease, which if not resolved will eventually lead to physical, mental, emotional or spiritual disease. Many people in this modern life are living in a perpetual state of dis-ease. We are all familiar with this state of being. It has become the norm in so many ways. The modern world makes it easy to disconnect. Dis-ease is now considered a standard part of life. I know personally I have to be very careful not to fall into patterns of disconnection and dis-ease.
But there is a cure for this dis-ease and it is fairly simple….. do not confuse simple with easy. The essence of the cure is found in the 3 connections points written about above. We must consciously integrate the enhancement of connection in our daily activities. We must make decision/choices base on what empowers connection and avoid things and actions that disconnect us.
There are many ways we can integrate connective process into our daily lives and activities……..
In the next blog post I will talk about some of the ways we can enhance connection and speak about how ceremony fits into empowering connections.
