What is it I always say? Oh yeah - that everyone is a shaman. When I make the argument for this belief of mine, I always use silly examples of the way in which people sense energy then dance in alignment with it, for instance at the supermarket when everyone rushes to queue up at the cash registers at the same moment.
I love watching birds follow currents of energy, such as when they suddenly take flight from a tree, fly in a big circle, then come back to the same tree, perhaps even landing on the same branch (I don't know that's true - I always wonder).
I guess birds are shamans, too.
But back to the humans - here's what I'm wondering about. I'm curious about whether wars are like storms that pass through our hearts and psyches en masse. We feel threatened, or we feel we must prevail no matter what. Even we pacifists feel the energy of war. It's our singular reaction to hope and pray that the peace will be kept, while others take up arms and walk willingly into the battlefields. Everybody feels it, though. At least, everyone felt WWII.
I wonder if there's any way to let the storm pass without acting out the energy. I wonder if any culture has ever tried to do so.
The thing is, we have always waged war. We are a warring, violent, aggressive species. Back in the days before guns, we did a lot of damage, but nothing like the kind of carnage we've been able to manage since the invention of guns. Guns, bombs, drones - they are like crack cocaine for the violent streak in our nature. We always make up a good story about why we have to wage war.
I'm not suggesting peace at any cost. In WWII for instance, I am very happy that Hitler was defeated. Good lord. I'm not that much of a pacifist! As a shaman, though, I'm curious about the energy of that war, the dark, world-wide storm. Was it backwash from WWI? I need to think about it some more.
Where is a time machine when you need it?
Happy Wednesday. Shalom.
Martin Luther King, one of my big heroes. Wow.
5 comments:
The Sufi acupuncturist says that the divine nature which of course includes the world, is both merciful and wrathful. Mercy precedes wrath, he says - it is first, and closer to the source. But wrath and violence are also divine.
I just wish we didn't have so many weapons. It's a big problem.
Pam if you come visit - I'm so sorry about your father's dementia - sounds awful. I wish I could comment on your blog but the captcha is impossible to read. I've tried listening but I can't make hide nor hair of what they're saying. I removed mine - so frustrating!
I wonder, too. Were ancient matriarchal cultures warlike, as well?
How about the Amazons, Meri? I don't think gender is a determining factor.
I often think about what I would have done if confronted with a Hitler. I don't think I'd have picked up a weapon -- like you, I'm a pacifist, and I just can't see myself shooting a gun or joining the Army. But there are many ways to work against evil. I think I would have hidden and fed the persecuted, or joined an underground resistance type movement.
There are too many weapons -- in militaries and just out on the streets. It's astonishing how many weapons there are, all over the world. We see people in countries where they don't even have adequate food shuttling around truckloads of machine guns. It's crazy.
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