Before I could study with Medicine men or women I had to understand Non-Dualism

 How would I describe non-dualism?

I think the best way to understand non-dualism is to compare non-dualism to the weather.

Is the sun Good or Bad?

Is Wind Good or Bad?

Is rain Good or Bad?

Is Snow Good or Bad?

That's Right! it is neither and both.

IT depends who it is happening to and where on earth what it is on any given day.

Can you survive the weather?

Usually if you have somewhere like a cave or tent or house or place to survive the weather to take refuge from it.

But, is the weather Good or Bad?

It is both and neither at the same time depending upon what it is and who is being affected.

If you are realistic enough you begin to see that all aspects of life are not usually just good or bad but shades of gray. When you see this you begin to understand how an adult viewing reality sees all these shades of Gray rather than saying anything is ultimately good or bad.

To try to put anything in life as being either Good or Bad in some ways is Childish and only for Childish or PTSD minds when people do this.

It's the main problem I see with fundamentalism in all religions when people get extreme (sort of like children having tantrums on the floor in a market because their parents won't buy them candy.

There is a story about a Zen monk in a place like China and the people of his village all listened to him because he was wise.

One Day a boy in the town won a horse in a raffle or something like this and all the people in the village said, "Oh. This boy is so fortunate to win this horse". The Zen monk said, "We'll See"

Then one day the boy fell off the horse and the people said, "Oh. This boy is unfortunate to fall off the horse and break his leg."

Then there was a war and all the boys of the village except the one who broke his leg went to war and died.

Then the people of the village said, "This boy who broke his leg is the last boy alive in our village. He is so Lucky!"

And the Zen monk said, "We'll See!"

The Zen Monk's approach to all these things is a non-dualistic approach to life which often is the wisest long term approach to everything in life in real time.