Weaving the Web

Humankind has not woven the web of life

We are but one thread within it

Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves

All things are bound together

All things connect

This beautiful quote is usually attributed to Chief Seattle, pictured above in the only known photo of him, taken in 1864.  However the folks over at  snopes tell us it was really written by Ted Perry, a screen writer, in 1971.  Regardless of the author or era, these profound words remain true today, and always will.  

"Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves"

I believe the opposite is also true:

 Whatever we do to ourselves we do to the web

So be compassionate with yourself.  Make compassion your connecting thread to the web.  Weave it over, around and through everything you do for yourself.

Take time for yourself.  Do the things that feed your soul.   Yes, you can.  In fact, you have to.  It's like the flight attendant says before take off - you have to put your own oxygen mask on first, before you can help anyone else.

Nomad in Two Worlds

N is for Nomad

I met a real nomad!  Okay, “met” is maybe too generous a word.  More accurately, I was in the presence of a real nomad.  I went to a small, local “support the arts” type bar to hear Tibetan musician Amchok Gompo.

He played a traditional Tibetan dramyin (long-necked lute) and sang in his native language.  He played an assortment of Tibetan folk songs and music he had written himself.  The music was haunting, almost chant-like, and at times even toe tapping - very unique and quite enjoyable.   During the break between sets the local “support the arts” type bar-owner pulled a chair up onto the stage beside him and asked about his life in Tibet.  It was quite candid and intimate and even members of the audience were allowed to ask questions.  It was surreal, listening to someone younger than myself talk about his nomadic lifestyle.  To me, “nomad” is a way of life described only in history books – not a lifestyle that coexists in time and space with smart phones and Wii.  He told us, in broken English, he had no formal schooling in Tibet and learned music by memorizing the songs his uncle used to sing.   He said he likes the weather here in Canada (loud groan from the audience) because it reminds him of home, except in Tibet he lived in a tent (loud sounds of audience admiration).  (It’s a Canadian birthright to complain about living through the winter weather and we’re down right impressed by anyone doing it in a tent!)  He is very proud of his heritage and what is most important to him is to share his culture with the rest of the world.   He left just a few days after I saw him, gone on a one-man world tour.   And as much as his life has changed since he left Tibet, he's still a nomad.  No longer following the seasons, but following his heart and his music.

Watch and listen here

Find out more about this unique musician who has played for the Dalai Lama

To Tell the Truth

Scientist and shaman use a different language to tell the same story.  Both are truth spoken from a different perspective.

Current popular ideas in theoretical physics are attempting to explain the energy in the universe.  String theory tells us that unimaginably tiny vibrating strings of energy (in nine different dimensions!) are the building blocks for every particle of matter.  Another theory tells us we live not in a uni-verse but a multi-verse, an unimaginably giant place that has an infinite and ever growing number of universes contained within it.  The scientists tell us the mathematics behind these two theories support each other.  Trouble is, they don't currently have a way to test and prove these theories.  Until they do, their ideas can't be considered hard science.  But that doesn't stop those scientists from continuing their research.  They toil away, hoping that in a hundred years or so we'll have a method to prove their theories right.

We need the same kind of determined patience in the field of the healing energy arts.  While a limited amount of science has been applied to measure healing outcomes (e.g. reduced blood pressure) we have no objective way of proving the theory behind the healing.   To tell the truth, I really don't know why Reiki and Shamballa work.  What I have received as explanation are the centuries-old stories passed from master to student.  But from experience I do know it works, and I will keep using it to heal people while I wait for the scientists to figure things out.  In the meantime, I have the language of the Shaman.

Ojibway Healing Prayer

Working with the energy arts has lead me down a rather unexpected path.  At least unexpected to me.   Questions I thought I had answered for myself years ago crop up again and again.  And each time the answers are different - sometimes subtly different, other times radically different.   Leaving, I hope, my understanding more expansive and inclusive than before.  One thing I have learned is that, while a lot of very smart people are doing a lot of impressive research, we really don't understand any of the interesting stuff.  Stuff like:  "What is the true nature of the universe?" or "Is there life after death?"

Tom Harpur's book "There is Life After Death" is a thought provoking and mind expanding journey through scholarly research and anecdotal evidence that leaves one wonder-struck by the possibilities.   Though he was an Anglican priest, Harpur gives fair coverage to many of the world's faiths.  In the chapter he calls "Amerindian Religion" he quotes Art Solomon, an internationally respected spokesperson for Native religion.  Art is an Ojibway elder who explains that his people see "the continuum of life and the universe as a sacred, delicately balanced harmony and whole."

I don't pretend to know anything about Native traditions other than what I've read in the incredible book travels in a stone canoe.  But the Ojibway prayer on page 235 of Harpur's book struck me as a something everyone can relate to:

Grandfather,

Look at our brokenness.

We know that in all creation

Only the human family

Has strayed from the Sacred Way.

We know that we are the ones

Who are divided

And we are the ones 

Who must come back together

To walk in the Sacred Way.

Grandfather,

Sacred One,

Teach us love, compassion, and honour

That we may heal the earth

And heal each other.