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I don’t know a whole lot about it, probably barely more than a typical Anglo (and that mostly from the fiction of Tony Hillerman and David & Aimée Thurlo), but something intrigues me about the Navajo Way. It’s more than a religion, it’s a complete lifestyle that extends from the spiritual outward.
The whole point is to “walk in beauty”, to have a sense of harmony with yourself, your family, your total environment in such a way that you fit like a key to a lock into your place in the universe. Any disharmony causes sickness, though it may not always be an obvious physical illness, or even an obvious mental disorder.
I thought about this because I occasionally design my perfect house in my mind, and I realized I wanted a room that was something like a chapel – dedicated to beauty, quiet, comfort, and contemplation. I even saw it, with soft blue walls, subdued lighting, perhaps a fireplace. A true sanctuary. Perhaps now, the fact that it exists that concretely in my mind is enough to make it such a sanctuary.
It isn’t very often I come out of a dream with an insight that has me going “Oh, wow.” but I did tonight.
I fairly vaguely remember most of my dream, but like usual, it was like a movie that held snippets of something like my life and that at different times, I was taking part in.
The last bit, though, was a discussion in a college literature class, and that’s what solidified the insight for me. Apparently, the earlier part of my dream was a book (or maybe a movie based on a book?) that the class was now discussing.
One of the things that struck the class (led carefully to this by the prof, of course) and struck me in particular, about various parts of Part A of my dream (for lack of better term) was that throughout, the family featured revolved around what they thought were rooms of their physical home. At times like Christmas morning, the center was the living room with the hearth and the tree. Many other times it was the kitchen. The conclusion the class was led to was that really, at various times, the center around which they revolved was made of different people.
I was thinking about my family when I came awake, and the biggest conclusion I came to was that at its core, an ideal marriage is the center around which a family revolves—in many ways, literally its sun.
An ideal marriage is the center around which a family revolves—in many ways, literally its sun.
I kind of remember (perhaps through the rose-colored glasses I habitually wear augmented by the even more vermilion lenses of looking back to a fairly happy childhood) that my parents’ marriage was like that early on. Still half dreaming, in my memory, I definitely felt the warmth emanating from my parents as a unit. Granted, this was about pre-7 or so.
The point moved from there to have me realize that in a truly ideal marriage, that feeling for the children never goes away, though it may dim and lose its all-encompassing importance, especially as children move on to form their own families. It still provides the warmth, perhaps like a central bonfire in a camp with many campfires. The fire you’re closest to provides the most warmth, but the light and the knowledge of the warmth of the bonfire is still there, still held close.
With that meaning of marriage, to me, gay marriages strengthen the marriages of all of the hetero couples. Each and every marriage entered into with truly loving intentions to stick it out through the long haul and make things work does, if only to provide another little campfire to provide warmth and light to all.
I don’t know exactly what got me thinking about it, but I woke up considering the idea and possible reality of heaven.
To me, heaven boils down to one thing. The most basic, bedrock choice is already made. It’s the choice to live without the artificial separations we have on earth. Economic, religious, idealogical… anything that separates us and allows us to put ourselves above or below or even merely differentiate ourselves from each other.
It seems it’s basic human nature to find the divides. Even when we find our commonalities, it’s part and parcel of finding a difference with another group. I think that heaven is the resolution of that dichotomy. We won’t need to find our individuality by comparison. It will simply be. Once we’re beyond the differences, we can simply enjoy the infinite variety of the universe.
Now that I have time…
Of all the beautiful Celtic prayers, one of my absolute favorites is St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Somewhere, I can’t remember precisely where, I found it in the form of an Anglican Rosary prayer. It ends up being a perfect meditation tool for me when used with my Anglican rosary.
In general, the Anglican Rosary is thirty-three beads plus a cross or crucifix. Five of the beads are usually a little larger than the other twenty-eight. The beads are arranged as shown here:
The Cruciforms, obviously, form a Cross. Usually, a prayer is said, similar to a Marian (Roman Catholic) rosary, grasping the cross or crucifix and each bead in turn. There is an adapted Marian prayer to the Anglican rosary – the familiar “Hail Mary, full of grace, pray for us sinners now and at the our of our death.” – but there are many other prayers, and more being written, I’m sure.
Most people simply use slightly smaller beads and/or beads of a different color to the Cruciforms for the “week” beads. I use four different colors, one for each week. They have special significance to me. Going clockwise from the cross/invitatory area: blue is for the medieval alchemical element of Air and is associated with the East and the Archangel Raphael; red is for Fire and is associated with the South and the Archangel Michael; green is for Water and is associated with the West and the Archangel Gabriel; and black or brown (or sometimes a very dark green) is for Earth and is associated with the North and the Archangel Uriel or Ariel.
Raphael is a messenger and companion, and is often considered the head of the guardian angels, since he was Tobias’ companion in the book of Tobit.
Michael is a warrior, and is considered to be the general of the armies of God. There are a few traditions I’ve heard of that consider Michael an alternate name for Jesus.
Gabriel is a herald, and occasionally associated with healing as well.
Uriel or Ariel is a guardian. He’s the one I always think of when I pray “Guide us waking, Lord, and guard us sleeping, that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace.” He’s also associated with death, possibly as the one who guides souls where they’re supposed to go.
The Anglican rosary format of St. Patrick’s Breastplate fits these very well.
The Cross
I bind unto myself today the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord.
The Invitatory
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
The Cruciforms
I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
The Weeks
1. I bind this day to me for ever, by power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation;
2. his baptism in Jordan river;
3. his death on cross for my salvation;
4. his bursting from the spicèd tomb;
5. his riding up the heavenly way;
6. his coming at the day of doom:
7. I bind unto myself today.
1. I bind unto myself the power of the great love of cherubim;
2. the sweet “Well done” in judgment hour;
3. the service of the seraphim;
4. confessors’ faith, apostles’ word,
5. the patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls;
6. all good deeds done unto the Lord,
7. and purity of virgin souls.
1. I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven,
2. the glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
3. the whiteness of the moon at even,
4. the flashing of the lightning free,
5. the whirling of the wind’s tempestuous shocks,
6. the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
7. around the old eternal rocks.
1. I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead,
2. his eye to watch, his might to stay,
3. his ear to hearken to my need;
4. the wisdom of my God to teach,
5. his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
6. the word of God to give me speech,
7. his heavenly host to be my guard.
To me, the last three weeks are especially well-fitting. The second week describes the life of the “Christian Soldier” and the basics of that life, sort of like a boot camp cheat sheet. The third week emphasizes nature, especially the last two phrases, “the deep salt sea around the old eternal rocks” and calls to mind waves crashing against cliffs.
The last week is the best-fitting of all, though. Uriel is the taciturn guardian of the underworld and guide of souls, both to their ultimate destinations and to wisdom.
Or better yet, participate in. It conglomerates The Biggest Loser, perhaps some of The Amazing Race and the Discovery Channel’s Fight Quest.
This was one of those ideas born in that slow waking-up time, off the edges of a dream.
The basic idea is that groups of people would travel around the world to various places (the first two to come to my mind were Japan and Provence, France) and learn how to cook the most healthful dishes from the area as well as a form of exercise (the beginners forms of a local martial art, a local dance) and some of the culture of the area.
I’d like to see something a little less exploitive than a lot of the reality shows out there, both of the “contestants” and the areas in which they travel, so my idea would incorporate the best of what I’ve seen of all three shows (consisting of an episode here and there of the latter two and previews and commercials for The Biggest Loser).
Just a little idea I wanted to get out before I forgot it altogether.
I haven’t updated this in a seriously long time. I finally went through and updated my book list, at least.
Lately, I’ve found myself having a lot less patience with religion in general and the trappings of Christianity in particular. I’m one of the many people out there who is cool with God, but just can’t stand most of his fan club.
My natural spiritual leanings tend to be much more encompassing than the typical narrow Christian view, and fortunately, I seem to have found a path that at least mostly accommodates that.
Perhaps further exploration needs to be made there. Something to think about.
One of the things that inspired me to look into using labyrinths as a meditation tool is the HeartMates of Celta series by Robin D. Owens, specifically the book Heart Duel.
A little background: Some indeterminate time in Earth’s future, humans have spread out and colonized. One group, psionically talented and thus mistrusted at least in part set out to find their own planet and settle. Off-course, they end up finding the planet now known as Celta. Celta has proven over the last 4 centuries since colonization to be habitable, but variably hostile to Earth life. Families regularly have only 2 or 3 children, 4 is considered blessedly, amazingly large. Various other flora and fauna have adapted or hybridized to various degrees. Psionic power (called Flair) has increased. One of the things the original colonists did was use a crater north of the first city to create a giant labyrinth. Those with a certain amount of Flair, regardless of other talents, are able to teleport. Somehow, this labyrinth was created such that one can teleport to the center, but not out. In Heart Duel, the main male character has some issues to work through, things that have upset his view of himself and his place in his family and his world. He teleports to the center of the labyrinth in his sleep, and ends up having to walk out, and this enables him to meditate through some of these issues.
I would love to see a giant labyrinth like that, one where rather than simply a flat pattern laid out in bricks, tile or whatnot, there’s a wall or hedge. Large enough, and at the turning points, there could even be rest spots, as there is in the Celtan labyrinth. Even something as simple as a water fountain and a bench.
For me, it’s one of those things to think about doing if I ever win the lottery.
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Labyrinthine Thoughts  ●Musings
●Opinions
●Meditations
●Occasional Randomness. |
