2003 Spring

January 18, 2003

Today, people all around the world are gathering to communicate a simple message: PEACE. In fact, every day, nearly everywhere on earth, people have been doing the same thing for many millennia, though usually without needing to resort to massive rallies. Since at least the middle of the last century, our species has possessed the technical capability to ensure its own nearly total extinction--and yet the common desire for mutually beneficial coexistence has, for the most part, prevailed, and the worst-case scenarios have not occurred. As we face what appears to be an attempt to instigate a perpetual, ever-expanding "war against evil" by the current US administration, I find some comfort in remembering that most people want to live in peace, and will not consciously take steps that escalate the threat of violence to or violation of themselves or others.

IN-DIG-E-NOUS: adj. 1) Occurring or living naturally in an area; native.
2) Intrinsic, innate.

"We see in the present best efforts of groups of non-Indians an honest desire to become indigenous in the sense of living properly with the land."
-Vine Deloria. Jr. (Sioux historian)

One does not take as good care of a place when they imagine they are only visiting. In this age of constant migration, the best hope for the suffering environment may lie in people of every race and culture settling down and committing to a place that speaks to them, heeding the implorings of its spirit and tending to its needs. The survival of myriad other species, and the future of humanity as well, may hinge on the degree to which we are able to set aside our comfortable habits, preconceptions, and assumptions--and re-become conscious participants, discovering what it means to be native again.

My first memory of "council" was at summer camp. I was seven. We were told that Sunday night was to be Council Fire. It was my favorite part of camp. We filed into the circle around the fire to the beat of a tom-tom, two lines of girls from the tallest to the shortest. We prayed to Great Spirit as the fire was lit and three older girls uttered sacred pledges as they lit red, white, and blue candles to love, health, and happiness. The director gave a talk, many girls received awards, and we sang together into the night sky.

Those moments in circle were magical for me and set the course of my life to work with groups. The kind of community that develops when people sit together in a circle over a period of time has become essential to my well-being. I now sit in many such circles-praying, singing, listening, making pledges, and striving to find ways of communicating at a soul level. For years I have pursued a question: what enables a community to develop soul connections with one another and keep those relationships flowing, loving, honest, current, and clear? And further, when things get rough or people get hurt, how do you heal the wounds, the slights, the misunderstandings, and the differences of opinion that inevitably arise in any group or relationship over time? In short, by what means do we fulfill that dream of living together well?