Close to the Earth

We needed our reverse osmosis water filter for drinking water from the tap replaced so the company sent a man over to do that.  As he did this we talked. I found out that he was Lakota and had been to Sundances and into sweat lodges so we began to share experiences regarding the medicine path of the Native American Tribes. He shared with me that going into a sweat lodge one is reborn as someone new after this visit into the "Womb of Mother Earth" of the Sweat Lodge. Though I had heard many on the Medicine path speak before in this way somehow since this was this man's religion since birth it had more meaning to me than for the many white people I had sweat with in Sweat Lodges led by Native American Medicine Men who believed in Sweating with White People over the years (Not all do). And whether this is a form of reverse discrimination against white people or whatever it is, I believe people have the right to believe whatever they want. After all, freedom of religion (whatever it is is sacrosanct here in the U.S.).

So, as we shared as he changed the water filter we both realized that neither of us was afraid of death because of our nature (mother Earth) experiences which had deeply changed us both to the core of our belief systems regarding the sanctity of all life on earth and beyond.

I told him about my first experiences with the rock people at Garrapata Beach Cliffs near Big Sur over 30 years ago now and asked him if his tribe also believed in the Rock People. He said the experience of the Rock People is pretty universal among most tribes and goes back thousands and thousands of years in their traditions. I suppose if you start with animism which is a belief that literally everything is alive and deserves respect and compassion it is logical that one would wind up with literally everything being alive. I often bemoan all belief systems that have moved away from this way of thinking. Because once you believe (rightly or wrongly) that some things are alive and some things are dead then you also might then believe it is okay to kill things or to abuse things or beings because they are no longer alive to you. And if something is not alive to you it does not deserve your respect. But if you don't respect all life life will punish you. This is my experience throughout my life. For example, the simple choice of deciding to take Ahimsa Vows so I wouldn't needlessly kill anything not even an insect brought incredibly good karma into my life. So, to me, everything is alive even the air I breathe, the water I drink and bathe in, the food I eat and all plants, animals and people and birds and fish and porpoises etc. By respecting everything plant and animal and mineral and air etc. all life respects me and thereby helps keep me and my family alive on into the future in return. What Goes around Comes around.