In the last blog, Indigenous Wisdom for the Modern Age, I wrote about how native cultures are based on human beings survival upon the Earth. I went on to explain that there are three sacred relationships (connections points) that determine if human beings survive or perish in the world.
These are sacred connection points are:
Connection to Oneself
Connection to Nature
Connection to People
Here are couple questions to ask which helps to clarify these sacred relationships:
- What dose survival mean to a person who fully understands their dependence on the earth, nature, and all the plants and creatures of this world?
- What dose survival mean to a person who fully understands their interdependence on other people?
- What dose survival mean to the person who truly knows their place in the world, their place in their community, and their sacred purpose?
When viewing life from the perspective of how to survive and flourish on the earth in a sustainable existence it becomes very obvious that our interactions with the environment will determine both short term and long term survival. To survive and extend life human life beyond one’s own existence it is very obvious that we need to interact with fellow humans to accomplish this – most obvious when it comes to procreation. To survive we must also know who we are as individuals. What gifts do we have, what weakness do we have, and what is our sacred purpose?
Understanding nature, community and self is something that many people from the modern experience have never truly considered, because they never had to. Many, many people in this day and age in the United States have never truly been hungry, never truly been alone, and never truly realized their dependence on nature. This has led us to a state of semi-consciousness of reality. And it is time to wake up!
The full awareness survival is almost absent in our modern times. The result is a flawed decision making process which is taking us to a very dangerous place. The balance of human life is quickly approaching a point of no return. Only when we truly understand our intrinsic need for healthy interactions with nature, fellow humans, and ourselves do even start to become conscious, mature and responsible. Through this understanding we can return to balance. Being aware of how we are connected is essential before we can make healthy decisions.
How do you know if you are making healthy decisions that will ensure survival and the regeneration of human life?
Decisions that are healthy will positively reinforce the sacred connections; decisions that are unhealthy will weaken the connections. This is how we can analyze any choice. Healthy judgment will increase healthy connections; unhealthy choices will negate or destroy healthy connections.
You now have a ruler to which determine whether your choices are being made from a place of negativity and trauma – or from a place of understanding and the desire for regenerative life.
Understand this – if your mindset strengthens healthy relationships then your actions will become healthy, and then your reality will become healthy – because your reality is created from within yourself. This is a tool to help you create a healthier and happier reality!
Indigenous cultures have taken this understanding of survival and connection to a much higher level of understanding and integration, without losing sight of the original sacred connections. Native culture is built upon the three pillars of connection (nature, community, self). Included with in indigenous cultures are technological processes which provide humans with connective (sacred) experiences and methods which maintain and reinforce this sacredness. This is what we call ceremony.
Ceremony provides the mean for people to establish and build upon sacred connections. This applies to a wide variety of ceremonies; from rites of passage to healings. At the core of each ceremony are the sacred pillars of connection.
I call the ceremonies a technology because that is what they are. Technology as defined by Webster’s Dictionary: 1) the practical application of knowledge 2) a capability given by the practical application of knowledge 3) the specialized aspects of a particular field of endeavor
This definition is a very accurate description of ceremony.
You now have the basic technological knowledge from which all ceremonies are engineered. The foundation of life AND ceremony is the knowledge and understanding of our connection to the Earth, ourselves, and each other!