Good Day,
I come from American Indian decent and when I was very young I was fortunate enough to actually meet my great, great grandmother on my fathers side of the family. She was full blooded Indian with dark hair, jet black eyes and a club foot. Her appearence was at first quite frightening, but when she spoke you could hear the wisdom and kindness in her voice. I was very young and I only remember this one faint visit, but the memory has lasted a lifetime.
My Great Grandfather (papaw as I called him) always talked of her and the struggles she endured in her lifetime. He was a great storyteller and always had a book set aside for me as a gift when I visited. On one extended visit he shared with me a story passed along to him from my Great Great Grandmother. It was a tale about Chief Joseph and his ability to look into the souls of mankind. The story goes something like this:
Sitting by the fireside in the cold desert night, the sky above him infinately clear and full of brillant stars, a lone Chief reflected on who he was and the troubled times that were unfolding all around him. He was known throughout the land as Chief Joseph. Possibly the greatest of the Nez Perce Indian Tribe.
On that dark night by the fire, he wrote these words.
Let me be a free man.
Free to travel. Free to stop.
Free to work. Free to choose my own teachers.
Free to follow the religion of my fathers.
Free to think and talk and act for myself.
Then he began to contemplate upon what this life might mean. If he had to share what was in his heart with others what would he say? Staring at the fire, it spoke to him.
Your inner fire is the best part of you. It’s who you are inside. It’s who you want to be on the outside.
Every time you dream of what is possible for you, it sparks. Yet man always reacts to this spark with fear. This is why, more than anything else, the world had reached it’s current state.
It’s not the major events—the wars, the poverty, the sickness, and death that imposes its burden upon us all. It’s the numbness of those who aren’t paying attention, who have food, shelter and want for little. It’s the unfortunate who move from day to day as shadows in their own lives, for they must be tended to like sheep or children and we all must asume the roles of herders and parents.
If these unfortunate ones would step outside the hopeless swamp of mediocrity, step outside their never ending dream, then we could all put our energies towards the real issues and heal the wounds of war, hunger, and sickness. But alas, their genius and their collective will has been trapped in the not-quite, the not-yet, and sometimes the not-at-all.
These poor beings have let the heroism of their life fall to waste, whle they chase the impossible. They are lonely for their own comfort, when in truth there is none to be found. They are frustrated with life and with each attempt to get what they want they receive what they feel they don’t deserve.
These beings are not able to see that inner completeness that makes them whole. They do not wage the battles against the ignorance that keeps them locked into their prison they call life. Yet, there is another way.
It is authentic.
It is possible.
It is within us all.
We can wake from our endless dream.
When we awaken to the truth that the world lives inside each of us, then we can find the way to heal that world. When we all awaken to this reality then you every man, woman, and child can be free.
Happy Halloween!
Peace and Love, Jim
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