I consider myself blessed that I did not have to deal with the nightmare many of you did over at Dkos. I find that my spiritual awakening in a culture that is matriarchial and emphasizes the power and beauty of our female counterparts, has made me a better human being. For those of you who did not read my dairy on violence against women, maybe Booman will resurrect it. Prior to my enlightenment, I deemed all human beings with disdain and contempt and especially women as they were easier targets of opportunity.
I will always carry with me the shame of my actions toward women and others in my attempt to increase my own value as a human being.
Today, I know that my value comes from nothing more than the fact I am a human being and that all other’s value comes from the same place.
That Great Spirit has opened my eyes to the splendor and greatness of the human spirit, I will forever be thankful. Am I perfect? By no means. Am I flawed? In many ways. Do I strive each day to offer myself to the world in an open and progressive way?
With every breath I take. I am fortunate that I am married to a woman who is far stronger than myself, one who can see the wonder in others and who sees the beauty within me that I fail to recognize, in myself.
I have been blessed with many great gifts since that fateful day way back on August 30, 1987, when Great Spirit arose within me and deemed that enough is enough. No longer do I live in a doorway, incapable of accepting myself as a human being, no longer do I have to demean others to feel alive, no longer do I have to use violence to make myself feel better than you. I have a long history of abuse and abuser in the 50+ years I have been alive.
I have a shorter history of working to facilitate change in my own life and those around me.
I know that anytime I use language to demean another human being, then I have something within me that needs to be worked through and I challenge myself to clean up the wreckage of my past.
I strive today to recognize that the sexualization of women to promote products and services is a vestige of contempt for women. I have a daughter and son, it is my fervent hope that my wife and I will be able to instill in them the courage to stand up for what they believe, the desire to do the right thing in any situation and the ability to discern good from evil.
I pray that my daughter will have the ability to choose for herself, whether or not she will use birth control, that she will have the right to decide what is in her best interest when it comes to her body, that she will not have to lurk in dark corridors if she chooses to terminate a pregnancy. I don’t know what the future holds, I don’t even want to try to look beyond what is in front of me today. I gave up mind reading and fortune telling when I was released from active addiction.
I want my children to have the opportunity to explore all the glory of being a human being and the wonder and joy that has to offer.
My culture has never referred to itself as Indians.
As far as I know all the American Native cultures have described themselves as the “Human Beings”. I hope that this treatise will help any who desire peace and healing an opportunity to gain them. The culture I have immersed myself within follows the following basic tenets and offers hope and fulfillment within my own life, I hope it offers you many of the same gifts I have recieved in this life so far.
Mitakuye oyasin!
We are all related!
It isn’t too late. We still have time to recreate and change the value system of the present. We must! Survival will depend on it. Our Earth is our original mother. She is in deep labor now. There will be a new birth soon! The old value system will suffer and die. It cannot survive as our mother earth strains under the pressure put on her. She will not let man kill her.
The First Nation’s Peoples had a value system. There were only four commandments from the Great Spirits:
1.Respect Mother Earth
2.Respect the Great Spirit
3.Respect our fellow man and woman
4.Respect for individual freedomWe must all stand together as a force of love. Be united NOW. There is only one way. Communication. Knowledge. Arm yourself with truth, love and perseverence. Extend your family. Join with others in giving. We are all related. People of the earth take back your heritage. I am not speaking of skin color or religion. Our heritage is this earth… Our heritage is also extended beyond this earth into the heavens where the spirit once lived before our birth into this world. You are bound to both.
THE TEN INDIAN COMMANDMENTS!
Treat the Earth and all that dwell thereon with respect!
Remain close to the Great Spirit
Show great respect for your fellow beings
Work together for the benefit of all mankind!
Give assistance and kindness wherever needed
Do what you know to be right
Look after the well-being of mind and body
Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good
Be truthful and honest at all times
Take full responsiblity for your actions…..
something is posted that just fills you up so full, that it’s difficult to speak. This is one of those things.
You may not get a lot of comments on this, at least not right away, but I think you will get a lot of readers… and that each of them will take away something from this diary that is probably needed today.
I read it and for some reason I wanted to go right away and … do something. Write, dance, paint, grow a garden… something, I wasn’t sure what. Am still not, but I’ll figure it out.
Thank you for your heart and your story.
Ghostdancer you filled a special place in my heart this morning with your diary.
I’ll be coming back to re-read more thoroughly…you touch us all with peace and hope at this tumultuous time.
Blessed Be
to the true path for all of us. Peace be within and it will shine outwardly. I have said this before but it may be a good time to repeat this in light of what has occurred these past couple of days. I am a spiritual being trying to be human. What a heavy load this can be at times. Thank you and Namiste my brother!
Driving around the farmlands hereabouts, I caught sight of a sign on the highway — “Native American Church.” I got so excited, thinking I would find my kind of people there. Google found their web site and showed their gift shop and the events schedule with a drumming circle on the first Sunday every month. I drove over expecting to introduce myself to whoever was in the shop.
Pulling into the driveway, I saw another sign, “For Lease.” The house and shop were empty. It was all gone with only a web site to mark what once had been. I came home and cried, feeling lonely and isolated. Then, I came here where my kind of people are only a click away.
Blessed be, Ghostdancer. If we dance together over the internet, can we open the door to the before-times?
I beleive we can and the world will be right once again.
Ghostdancer! I have been awaiting more information about your beliefs. Thanks
Now I shall print out your 10 commandments and stick them up where I can see them every day.
Go softly…
Hey Sven, nice to see you!
Hi, anomalous!
(Too much work – too little time)
http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=85097&c=&search=Munch This is a link to a great poster picture with the Native American Ten Commandments. There are other posters with the same commandments but I happen to have this one as one of my screen savers. This link also has some great Native American art and posters.
Now I know that Munch was a Native Norwegian 😉 but could you tell me in which category the poster can be found? Thanks
I’ll try this again and hope I get the link right this time..I am not the most computer literate person here which you may have figured out by now. So here goes.
http://allposters.com/ Ok this link should take you I hope to Native American page. If not and it’s just allposters front page, put Native American in their search engine which will give you over 20 links to categories of Native American art…such as Braves/chiefs/N.A. Shamans etc the poster I am talking about are under the category of N.A. Spirituality.
Thanks!
Ghostdancer – thank you for another diary full of courage, spirit and hope. As has happened many times before (and likely many times to come) Nanette has expressed my feelings far more articulately and eloquently than I would hope to.
The only downside to the influx of new members is that I finally got past my work deadlines from the previous week, and wanted to enjoy a leisurely afternoon of looking into all the links in your last diary. But it’s gone. Any chance you could post a link through this diary? If not, I should be able to track it down through past comments.
Thanks again for sharing your powerful words – I feel blessed that you – and many similarly wonderful folks – are part of this great community.
So. . .what’s for lunch? Some tender, white meat Christian kids? ;^) (For anyone reading that comment who did not visit Diane’s most recent Welcome diary – I was KIDDING!)
You should be able to find it by scrolling down the left side and clicking on more diaries, just above the RSS feed. Thank you all for the positive feedback you have given me on these diaries concerning what it means to be an American Native.
Thank YOU – great reading!
(And thanks for the diary tip – I have the most trouble with things that are right in front of my face)
Respect Mother Earth
Respect the Great Spirit
Respect our fellow man and woman
Respect for individual freedom
That’s really all there is to it. Those are the only things we must do, or we aren’t even worthy of sharing this planet with our animal brethren.
Sometimes I feel that the new birth you speak of is one where we may destroy our Mother in the process. We will necessarily be forced to either leave our old ways behind or to leave her and venture out into the world – the universe, in this case. She will survive the painful cutting of the cord (she is mighty resilient after all). But will we?
Thank you for your heartfelt and timely diary, Ghostdancers way. The so called pie wars over at the daily kos were and are painful. Your healing spirit is a welcome relief, and I think a warm welcome to those who are new to this site.
WOW- beautifully said.
Hi ghost, I’d like to add something as beautifully written as your diary to honor what you’ve written but can’t find the words.
I did post a link above to a poster shop to Native American artists and their art and posters. As I said I have one of the Ten Commandment posters as a screen saver on my computer…those commandments are so much more meaningful and all inclusive than any other commandments.
We are human beings…someone yesterday mentioned Sojurnor Truth and her great speech about ‘ain’t I a woman too…so I’m going to paraphrase her and say..and ‘ain’t I human being too?’
and it is good to hear them speak again, as they did in the begining.
Mitakuye oyasin !
Peace be with you brother
Beautiful diary. I’m more the lurker type, but your diaries are so thought provoking to me. I read your Ghost Dance diary Saturday, I think it was. I loved it. I’ve been thinking a lot about that diary and the dance, even dreaming some about being in one.
I used to have really bad nightmares as a child. A frightening warrior was chasing me in a dream and a voice told me to turn into a bird and escape him chasing me, I did (in the dream) and when I woke up, I realized that I could control what I did in my dream, include wake myself up from an unpleasant one. If I have a nightmare, I have simply woken myself up ever since…I’m very grateful for that warrior chasing me.
I look forward to reading more of your diaries. The ghost dance really sparked my imagination and more…it’s past my bedtime and I’m blatering…
You provide much food for thought!
That brought tears to my eyes. I am a mother of an 11 yo daughter. I have prayed over the years that she would not face the same pain as I have. I have instilled in her the feelings of self worth and she has been rewarded at school and elsewhere for being outspoken and self-assured. Women are people with real fealings and real beliefs and needs that differ from men. I love men and I respect their needs, but I will raise my child to seek her own needs first.
As my daughter once said
A Human CARING 🙂
Maybe I would not carry such derision toward Bush if I felt even an inkling of empathy for any other human beings, other than his synchophats and pundits. Bush and company pushes me to the very limits of my patience and ability to not demean and being a human being, I have lost that battle. I believe that as a society, we have an obligation to help others, to provide for the well being of our old, sick and young, to offer to them all the greatness that once was America. I have watch these neocon fascists systematically begin the dismantling of every social program that was designed to insure that our weakest members had what was necessary to live in our society like real human beings. My fervent hope is that bushco and his crony’s lose everything and have to live in a pig barn for shelter, eat scraps from the local dumpster and must go to the salvation army to have clothing. Then lets see how many social programs they want to cut. Bushco’s compassionate conservatism, save the fetus, throw out the child.
I, too, am angry. I’m one pissed off person let me tell ya. 🙂
Should have seen a few of my rants this week in C&J… whooo wheee.
I read “somewhere”…
“If you aren’t angry, you aren’t paying attention.” I can’t remember who said it or where it came from… sorry
Very fitting though. I get so angry because it seems that not many seem to care about… the planet, the children, the … ad infinitum
Anyways, I’m here and enjoying the caring company of passionately awake people.
Take care, Janet
This beautiful diary brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for showing me some new and better ways to see the world.
Your words are a welcome reminder.
Pilamaya yelo
Thank you for this wonderful diary.
I understand your words well, in part because my grandmother is full Navajo. My mother and I visit the rez frequently and I feel strong ties to my fellow “human beings”. Though by superficial accounts I’m just some white chick.
Thank you for posting!
Thanks.
I just finally got through “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” by Dee Brown. That book took 5 or 6 years because every few pages just choked me and filled me with rage.
In some cultures, one things 7 generations ahead when one considers one’s actions.
Oooof.