The God

The God

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Pay Attention

Why do we fail to see what is right in front of us until it is too late? Ahhh...what a question. And the answer is, well, the answer is one of three things IN MY HUMBLE OPINION. And those three things are:

  1. We allow ourselves to become so busy and so distracted by stuff that, in the long run, is basically unimportant. OR
  2. We are too stupid to see the truth of things. OR
  3. We see the truth of things but refuse to accept it.

For myself, I would have to say it is a combination of all three!

Regardless of why we don't see it...sometimes Great Spirit smacks us upside the head and says PAY ATTENTION. It's important for us to listen to Great Spirit! Whether through our intuition or dreams or other more non-subtle ways, Great Spirit does not waste our time. I had one of the non-subtle messages from Great Spirit last night and, although I haven't quite figured it out yet, I am focusing on it and trying to hear the message! I was doing a search earlier for some Native American prayers and the first one that really stood out to me was all about listening to Great Spirit and finding the message wherever it is. That prayer reads:

Oh, Great Spirit

Whose voice I hear in the winds,

And whose breath gives life to all the world,

hear me, I am small and weak,

I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold

the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things you have

made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may understand the things

you have taught my people.

Let me learn the lessons you have

hidden in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,

but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.

Make me always ready to come to you

with clean hands and straight eyes.

So when life fades, as the fading sunset,

my Spirit may come to you without shame.

(translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887) published in Native American Prayers - by the Episcopal Church.
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1 comment:

Greg said...

"I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - myself"

GOOD, VERY GOOD!!!

Greg
blog.greggriffey.net

July 20, 2007 at 8:54 AM

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The Goddess

The Goddess

DECLARATION OF THE FOUR SACRED THINGS

The earth is a living, conscious being. In company with cultures of many different times and places, we name these things as sacred: air, fire, water, and earth.

Whether we see them as the breath, energy, blood, and body of the Mother, or as the blessed gifts of a Creator, or as symbols of the interconnected systems that sustain life, we know that nothing can live without them.

To call these things sacred is to say that they have a value beyond their usefulness for human ends, that they themselves become the standards by which our acts, our economics, our laws and our purposes must be judged. No one has the right to appropriate them or profit from them at the expense of others. Any government that fails to protect them forfeits its legitimacy.

All people, all living things, are part of the earth life, and so are sacred. No one of us stands higher or lower than any other. Only justice can assure balance: only ecological balance can sustain freedom. Only in freedom can that fifth sacred thing we call spirti flourish in its full diversity.

To honor the sacred is to create conditions in which nourishment, sustenance, habitat, knowledge, freedom, and beauty can thrive. To honor the sacred is to make love possible.

To this we dedicate our curiosity, our will, our courage, our silences, and our voices. To this we dedicate our lives.

Taken from The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk