Living in modern times has turned us into watchers, placing a sliver of distance between us and everything we meet. It is this watching that disheartens our days, that takes the colour out of the earth and makes the songs of time sound flat.
The Native American view on this is healing. With respect for all aspects of Creation, we are asked to honour whatever we see – rocks, rain, fence, or stranger – as a member of our family.
By honouring all things as living, the courage to join with the Universe becomes a manner of being that can happen even while sitting still. In knowing the world this way, there is no such thing as a metaphor. The wind is not like God’s voice. The wind is God’s voice. Memories are not images of loved ones returning to us. They are the spirits of loved ones visiting us.
It takes courage to remove the sliver of distance we carry around our necks, but the reward is a world alive and not dead. Such courage lets the juices of the world flow.
