We yearn for loyalty, but we cannot demand it. It must be instilled in other people -- little different from bonding with a pet. Kindness and decency are absolutes in any relationship.
We see the lack of loyalty in groups where it is every dog for himself and far too much growling and nipping. Wisdom lies in refusing to ignore the basic rights of others. They should have the right to their own opinions, because one person's right ends where another begins.
Life is a two-way street, and no amount of manipulation and control can make it go all one way. But we must remember that we have to be loyal to those we expect to be loyal to us. Everyone finds the right path -- and there is a right path, if we only look for it and we are willing to walk on it.
Courage is like muscle, it doesn't develop to full capacity until it is
used. Courage comes when we stir it up in our spirits and refuse to look at the shape things are in or believe there is nothing we can do about it.
Most of us are timid about facing up to what we know is wrong. It is so much easier to let things ride than it is to take a thorny problem by the smooth handle and shake out the causes. To have courage doesn't mean we have to be aggressive and show everyone we are not afraid.
Some of the bravest men in history were Indian chiefs trying to protect their land and their people. They used their skills in speaking to bring understanding.
~ My friends, your people have both intellect and heart; you use these in what way you can do the best to live. My people . are precisely the same. ~
SPOTTED TAIL
"A Cherokee Feast of Days," Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Each person's gift of seeing, being, feeling is a part of the beautiful and infinite puzzle we live.
The solving goes on, our every effort, knowingly or unknowingly, a part of the greater pattern of resolution.
I can't say this happened because of that, but the influences are clear.
The patterns themselves are alive in purposes surpassing understanding.
All is a process being revealed. Interpretations rise and fall. The mythical songs are sung, tales told, beliefs formed and dissolved. And we travel forward, always on and on whether we step or stand still.
The stream flows. Eddies and backwaters fill with life. Seasons and floods carry everything to the sea.
Experience is absorbed and stored. Comprehension dawns in time.
Contemplation is a slow chisel. The sculptor sees the statue in the stone.
I am the sculptor, the statue, and the stone.
And I am none of the above.
I am the tale I tell, the story I hear, the beauty I see.
We connect and a tale is told, beauty revealed.
Wisdom is knowing this, finally, talking with love, living the mystery, laughing with friends, helping the weak, accepting help ourselves.
Here the mystery flows and awe is the only response.
Eman8tions
Copyright © 2001 by John MacEnulty
10/23/2001, St. Louis, MO
Experience may be our best teacher. But it is faulty reasoning to invite certain experiences just so we can learn. This is no different from intentionally doing something wrong to see if we can be forgiven. No one
should take such gambles. If we have already survived some of our gambles, then we have reason enough to quit. We get by with few things that will not have later effect. Overall, what we put into life is what we get out. If we put in wrong, we get wrong. Believing we are invincible is great if we are on the right track. Gambling is not the right track. Gambling is foolishness, and our being so sure of what we can do is dangerous in the light of all we have to watch out for in these times. Think about it.
~ I wish to send a little message to my people. Tell them that I am dead. ~
SATANK
SATANK (ca. 1800-1871). Satank (Set-Tank, Set-Angia, Sitting Bear), Kiowa warrior and medicine man, was born shortly after 1800, probably in what is now Kansas
"A Cherokee Feast of Days," Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Who doesn't long for a dear and trusted friend? There is one. It is our own inner-person that cares enough never to betray us. It is that untainted spirit within us that waits for us to recognize it, to love it. It is the real of us - our perfect pattern. It has never been too fat or too thin, never smoked too much, never overindulged in anything that would hurt
us.
It renews and revitalizes our entire being for it has the power to bring healing to every memory - or to give us a whole new purpose. Until we tap this inward friend, we are only operating on partial power. It is the Life of Life, our saving grace and our reason for living.
~ Men must be born and reborn to belong. ~
STANDING BEAR
"A Cherokee Feast of Days," Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Echoes are reflected sounds that can so easily fool us. We are confident about where the sound originates, when in reality, it comes from the opposite direction. An echo is a sound that carries across vast spaces and bounces against a far place, only to return and return again. And so it is with gossip. The sound always returns to where it originated - sometimes more than once. This is the price paid for the use of all the space, the idleness, the emptiness, and the lack of anything exciting in the life of the gossip. The worst part, idle chatter echoing back never tells that the tale carrier had nothing to personally judge by - only that it is ridiculous
that the lives of others must supply the excitement.
~ I will make him my friend, but I will not bend my back to his burden. ~
MANY HORSES
"A Cherokee Feast of Days," Joyce Sequichie Hifler
How to know what is right and wrong?
That's why there is life experience. We don't know until it is performed in the arena and we see the outcome. Along the way we think and predict and act accordingly. But we don't really know until the votes are in, the game is played, the battle fought.
Closure comes with consummation in the world. Until then we truly do not know. All is opinion until events define reality.
The vexing thing is the complexity of cycles within cycles, insufficient or even incorrect information that makes false resolution and knowledge one of the main activities of the trickster.
Coyote's job is to convince us that wrong is right and right is wrong, to fool us. In order to do that he takes advantage of our greedy desire to know and to posess before we have earned truth or posession.
Coyote would even have you believe there is no right and wrong. Then if he takes your grain and your eggs you cannot accuse him of anything.
In the pursuit of the divine the patience to be still is everything. It is in the stillness that we are rewarded. In a sense, waiting is the ultimate pursuit. All things come to those who wait. Coyote would have you jump too soon.
Right and wrong dissolve into guidance when we seek the depth of understanding. Forgiveness is as simple as doing the right thing.
It's all love. Right and wrong are just guideposts, measuring cups to help us get the right proportions.
You know you're right when there is forgiveness and love.
Eman8tions
Copyright © 2001 by John MacEnulty
11/17/2001, St. Louis, MO
Each of us have known kindred souls. They are those special persons who understand exactly how we feel and what we think and need. They seldom talk about it. Such relationships have no need for discussion. Their quiet companionship is balm to the spirit and enough without words. Wherever we are, we meet these special people who have known loneliness and have heard the empty echoes but have not let them spoil anything. They are what the Cherokee calls, a ga-li s gv ti tia. They are on the sunny side. Now they mark the way for us, telling us that life is good and we are going to do well – and what we really need to hear, we are not alone. Then, we can reach back and take someone else’s hand to lead them across the lonely places.
~ The monitor within my breast has taught me the will of the Great Spirit …
SENACHWINE
Three things we can do without - jealousy, pride, and a sense of competition that makes us cruel.
French writer, La Rochefoucauld, said that jealousy is more a self-love than a love for another. But more than that, it is a weak ego afraid that someone else is getting ahead. We have no business being where we feel we cannot hold our own.
Pride, it is said, goes before a fall. Pride is so transparent and without scruples. We can say we are proud of someone or something without meaning anything wrong -- but pride that steals our common sense steals our peace. Competition is almost as bad because it contains in subtle ways jealousy and pride.
Little things heal our hurts. Sounds, scents, the spoken word, and music that may mean nothing to someone else can reach into our souls and do a work that ordinary methods cannot touch. Simple remedies can heal the deepest ills – a love that springs from inner wells, the sounds of birdsong and the laughter of children at play. Our work is to avoid the negative side- to think and speak only healing words, loving words. Choices are possible. Though we make many of them a day, we do it so unconsciously that we have not realized their effect- fretting about every little thing, letting the world steal our peace, and lying down when we should be up and doing. Choose to be well, to find contentment and to be a role model for those who watch. Listen for peace
~ Listen! Or your tongue will make you deaf.
CHEROKEE SAYING
