Hi Ray,
Thank you for the piece below. I resonate with much of what is here. I especially found the bit about dreams fascinating. It appears Jung may have borrowed heavily from this knowledge base, but the part that Jung didn't connect with was Original Instructions. Below it is implied that the Instructions convey the knowledge of the basis of creativity. The one's who studied with our people and our systems were not the Jungians who were grounded in European Archetypes but the Gestalt folks who actually studied with Algonquin philosophers in Canada. F.David Peat and Rupert Ross have continued those studies. Edward T. Hall and Proxemics also has a lot of the principles used in waking states. I even find Clifford Geertz effected by it but I'm not sure why. If you want an introduction, there is an old work by a woman named Barry Stevens who wrote a book called "Don't Push the River" in which she speaks of those connections between Gestalt Dream Therapy and our systems. Correct me if I'm wrong in my interpretation--that we create with the minds we share with, and were given by, the Creator. Initial problem. The Creator is the foundation and substance of all. The late Anglican Bishop John A.T. Robinson "got it" in the sixties when he realized that all of the ways of thinking about deity were inadequate. We don't "share", it is not a statement of competence but a statement of being. The Creator for Robinson was the "Ground of All Being." We go one step further. We say that the Great Mystery is the only proper way that we can think of the Creator. Paul Tillich and Martin Buber also "got it" when they came to the conclusion that all human concepts of the divine are simply the core structures of human personalities. The central core that connects the person to the Great Mystery. But our minds are so bound by our environment that we are helpless to escape our own inferences. Tillich called "faith" "Ultimate Concern." A neat phrase if you must be bound by English. It's found in the big four. Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotence and Eternity. Ontology flows from these but they are not encased by being. We don't "share" with the Great Mystery, we are a part of the Great Mystery. We, to Equa Usquanigodi, the Great Mystery are Like the characters in our own dreams. We flow from, have a life, and then are absorbed back into. The Four Directions of learning includes what you call Creativity but it is simply the realization of our evolving competencies and then passing it on to the young. >From my studies, in our dreams we are shown that whatever thoughts come to mind appear before us immediately. Happy dreams are sustained by perpetuation of further happy thoughts and reactions. The moment one thinks up a fear thought, even ones such as "how long can this possibly last?" or "I know this is just a lucid dream", the dream will shift to accommodate whatever fear or guilt one harbours. It is the most direct learning tool we have been given to help us understand that our thoughts have immediate consequences. As with real life, so called, dreams allow us to experiment freely with all manner of form or illusion, though not in content--which would be unnecessary and unthinkable in the sole reality of the Creator--eternity. I can only tell you the system I was taught which is different from what you describe. The problem of negativity is the same as the problem of rose colored glasses. Neither are complete enough for the truth of the system of "life". Homeostasis is the desire. It was put this way by an Aleut friend. Every village needs every point of view. Even the dark side. My father used to tell his counselees that to tell him the "bad" thoughts was as important as the good thoughts. That to share was an honor to the person being shared with. That only "all" of the thoughts would be enough to seek solutions to the problems they came to solve. Homeostasis requires harmony and balance. Harmony requires the consonance of repose and the movement of dissonance for life to exist in the music of the universe. It also requires balance or symmetry for grace and beauty. Like the Greeks said: Truth and Beauty. Artists are the Indians of the White World. I've heard you mention a few times that according to your understanding, we arrive here (jump down) by agreement with the Creator, and choose our birthplace/parents. According to our cultural systems and beliefs it makes sense to us that we chose to come here. If we didn't and life is an accident then there is no meaning other than short term gain and ultimate defeat. I choose to think that which gives me the greatest motivation to live life to its fullest. All of the pleasures and purposes of existence indicate to us that there is intentionality to life and meaning to the Universe. Not in the simple creationist terms but it is a sense and a trust that gives us permission to make happy choices in life. Happiness is the way animals[ and we believe plants], know the difference between good and bad decisions both in space and in time. But life is always about temperance and balance. I'm curious how your teachings reconcile with the unfortunate tragedy of millions of babies born into poverty and hunger, abuses unspeakable, etc. The Spirit is eternal. I believe the lessons of this place are why we are here. One of the big lessons is how the seeds of our learning are not carried very well by the affluent and the super wealthy. Sometimes the greatest lesson is microbial. Sometimes it comes from the Picher, Oklahomas of the world where I came from. The test for the wealthy is that with all of that plenty they still have to find significance and develop their own competencies in the world. That they must learn to shape capital in a way that frees the genius of the ghettos and the gutter to rescue their inadequacies from making this cycle of the wheel meaningless. The dynamic of the progressions of poverty is the failure of the spirits of the affluent to remember where they came from and where they will return to. No one needs a billion dollars. As for the children, the little spirits? If they are oppressed than that is an opportunity. If they are abused that is an opportunity. If they are hungry that is an opportunity. Credit goes to the giver not to the receiver. We treat poor people who are on welfare as if they were cheating. That stunts the soul of the society that refuses to seriously take responsibility for each spirit's growth. For me the big law is cause and effect. I believe the book is always balanced. That we cannot escape payment for theft from others. I work with people from all stratas of society and find no superior knowledge or morality with any strata. Some groups are sneaky and try to cheat you as if you deserve it if you can be cheated. That attitude makes it impossible for them to succeed at reaching the full potential of their artistry. I assume that the same thing is true about their elevation in any other aspect of life as well. Does one assume that they all agreed to live very brief horrible lives for the greater good? I believe that the spirit is eternal and that every individual spirit requires group effort to escape the prison of their condition. I've sent futurework members pictures of the town where I grew up and they were appalled. In the middle of disgraceful chemical pollution and horrible poverty, the schools spent their money on the community and developed a way out. It matters not where the failure is. A failure is always a lack of faith, imagination and a willingness to sacrifice. The children sacrifice by simply living. They are an opportunity for the living spirits. I don't know why that choice was made. Everyone forgets the original reason only to spend their life discovering it. The appalling poverty throughout the Caribbean where the fancy cruise ships beach, is the result of a story that has become a rock of many made into a wall. A high school friend left Little Rock to escape integration and came to the reservation where he wouldn't have to live with blacks. The last time I saw him, he was running barefoot as an old man through the lead pools and drinking the heavy metals in the water and seeing ghosts. He was a nice Indian kid but somewhere the story stopped his spirit. Reading about him made me sad but we all have our destinies as we must be free to evolve. Does that mean we don't help the children? Of course not. It means we only get credit for what we do without being paid. Money is the payment. Affluence gathers no credit. You get no moral or any other kind of credit from the universe unless you sacrifice and give back. Constantly. Do they all have shady pasts they must be punished for, or must they, against all odds, somehow pull themselves up out of hunger and countless disadvantages to a state of competence, should they live past year one? I would not assume to judge anyone. I also help when I can both individually and as an American citizen. If so, are they coming from other worlds to arrive in the numbers they do, though I cannot state with certainty we haven't had a highly populated planet through ages past, collectively. All of life is spirit. Spirits are not only human. Spirits evolve. Some people believe that the elevated spirit we call the Creator [that is the sum of our total concept of deity] is one of many throughout the various worlds. I don't like to speculate about the past as certain people here who plot capitalism back to the Paleolithic and beyond. I also don't find that I'm comfortable with speculating on more than one Great Mystery that is all knowing, all powerful, everywhere and not subject to time but can choose to play in all of them. I don't choose to know more than I can experience and work with. What I'm saying is that the concept of the spiritual is plenty for my brain to speculate on. I'm sure this cannot be the case, that innocent children cannot be given even a chance to "atone" for past "sins" or errors, but this belief of choosing our birthplace, I feel, needs elucidation. I feel it leaves the disadvantaged hanging, and I'm sure there must be more to it. The spirit is an expression of the Creator and not separate from the Creator. There is no separation from the Creator. We accepted the limitations and stories of this world for a purpose. We spend our lives here coming to a greater knowledge of that purpose. We are given freedom. What does that mean? Separation? How can one be separated from reality? Freedom means that you don't know and that coming to knowing is your decision. You have the freedom to say no to growth. No to the only genuine universal language of this world, the language of growth. There are mistakes of learning but often those mistakes open doors to greater things. I have a concept of illness. A concept of foolishness. A concept of ignorance. A concept of being stuck. But I'm afraid sin doesn't have much meaning to me. There is just cause and effect. One could call Hitler's Jewish policies sinful or Stalin's policy with the Kulaks sinful but do we call the European Holocaust against my people sinful? The Jewish Magazine Commentary took great umbrage when "holocaust" was used to describe the death and dismemberment of Native Communities here. I understand their sensitivity since they too have benefitted from our loss. The death of our languages, our cultures, our science, our art, our philosophy and our religions. Wade Davis speaks of the loss of languages but few are listening. But is that sinful? No, it's stupid and the people responsible will pay for it if they are not paying already. Just look at the mess. The role of the evil one is highly overrated in its power. Just look at what happens to their humanity. You can only genuinely see the power of evil when you see the human stupidity, illness and vulnerability that motivates the evil. Even discussions on this list have bordered on eugenic answers to such questions as long as it's the other guy. I believe the Creator punishes mistakes. Incorrect things. I don't believe any mistake goes unpunished in the spirit. But the Creator is the judge and master teacher here. My mind is far too small to do more than grieve or whimper. However, often the mistake that is punished is the fertilizer for great advancements. If the person who is punished survives they often become revered. Now tell me what you think about abortion? REH
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
