Post
by nipples » Tue Oct 21, 2003 1:24 pm
When some of you want to learn a little about spirituality, you would do well to respect religious commonalities between cultures rather than deride differences you perceive with eyes shut & ears plugged. If you do not & aprreciate a culture & continue to spout off, you sound like a Luddite arguing with a waffle iron.
If, for instance, you are ignorant on American Indian mythology, before voicing an opinion, you may want to pick up a copy of "Where the Two Came To Their Father" told by Jeff King to Maud Oakes & commentary by Joseph Cambell, with "A Navaho War Ceremoy Given by Jeff King" (ISBN #0-691-02069-eight (won't let me post full #). This is a good narrative.. palatable for even other-than American Indian cultures to digest.
An except from "Commentary", page 57 (I have to hand type this, so bear with me if you read it)
"... The principal hero of "Where the Two Came to Their Father" is a demigod widely known in the mythologies of the Southwest. In a Jicarilla Apache version of (t)his legend he makes a portentous pronouncement to his people, before the moment of his last departure:
"This earth," he declares. "is my body. The sky is my body. The seasons are my body. The water is my body too.... The world is just as big as my body. The world is as large as my word. And the world is as large as my prayers. The sky is only as large as my words and my prayers. The seasons are only as great as my body, my words, and my prayer. It is the same with the waters; my body, my words, my prayer are greater than the waters.
"Whoever believes me, whoever listens to what I say, will have long life. One who doesn't listen, who thinks in some evil way, will have a short life."
( nipples: Sound familiar?!)
Another except, this time from page 58 & 59 of Commentary:
"The first signs to be understood is that of the dual hero- the apperace of not one hero, but of two:....." "..... Such hero couples are well known to the world of myth. We hear of Prometheus and Epimetheus, Castor and Pollux, Romulus and Remus, the Ashvins of the Vedas, Arthur and Merlin, Faust and Mephistopheles. More remote from our own tradition we discover Sumerian Gilgamesh and Enki-du, Tagaro and Suquematua of the New Hebrides Melanesians, Keri and KAme of the Bakairi of Brazil, Lion-boy and Bull-boy of the African Waremba, the popular Burmese Swe Pyin Nyinaung.
"Vishnu, the Lord of the world, plucked from his head two hairs, a darker and a lighter, and the former became the black incarnation, Krishna, whereas the latter became his elder brother, Balarama. Or again: when, by dint of terrific austerities, the prodigious demon Guha had acheived invulnerability even against the two supreme divinities of creation, Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara), then, fearless of all consequneces he went forth and overcame the world; whereupon the two gods, to restore to the universe it's balance, combined their antagonistic essences into a single manifestaion, Harihara: thus having united the whole polarity of the cosmos in one vast paradox of a body (its left side Vishnu the Preserver, its right side Shiva the Destroyer; Vishnu, Lord of the Ryhtym of Time, Shiva, the Master of Rest Eternal)..."
and also on page 59: ..." Wherewith, we recall that our own Christian contest of the Angels and the Devils is closely akin to the Persian, and we understand that Heaven and Hell, as the residences, respectively, of these powers, represents a thesis and antithesis of the cosmic dialectic.
(nipples:) All of which is horribly long wided to someone whom has no interest in spiritual matters, but you know what? I was very glad to see Config UR8's posts in this regard. Most fortunate timing (perfect, of course!), on my behalf, to have read him/her.
What I'm trying to say here is that just because YOU do not like to read about this or that, do not take it as an attack on your being. This is someone whom has stated that he/she is a Shamann. That he/she is attempting to basically "restore to the universe it's balance", to repeat a quote above. Is that somehow a bad thing?!
This is someone facing tremendous spiritual upheavel, selflessly.. is the quest only within his/her mind? Do you contain a Yin/Yang? Will you ever seek such restoration? Is Con FiGUr8's quest less significant than any past or future quest? Not to me. Figure 8's (infinity!) quest is as fine an effort TO ME as were the few mentioned above which I have studied, with interest. How is this in anyway an affront to your being?!!!
Chill. Relax! Everyone ELSE is doing just fine... due in part to ConFiG U R 8? Yes. Yes, a thousand times, yes.
Last edited by
nipples on Tue Oct 21, 2003 3:32 pm, edited 4 times in total.
