Some time ago, I spent much more time on Reservations (in what is now called the United States) than I did among the “Boat People”. In those days, I was taught Ancient Traditional Wisdom & Prophesy. And given permission to talk with others about those lessons. ~Following is a very short telling of a very long teaching.
A center part of what the Elders spoke about was, … Why are we here and what is our purpose? The Elders said that originally, … Great Mystery was whole and complete and was the Unity. And was happy in wholeness. Until realizing Great Mystery only knew half of everything. Great Mystery did not know Separation. So it was decided to break into pieces and learn the lessons of being apart. Great Mystery decided there would be seven different Lessons to Learn, and how in the various ages of Earth, those different Lessons would unfold. The Elders recounted how we have now learned the first four lessons, and are now leaving the Fourth World, a World of Separation & Control. In that world, we learned everything there is to know about separating ourselves from each and all others. We see this in our separate dwellings, separate languages, separate religions & ideologies, and separation from Spirit and life and animals and Earth itself. We see it every day in our many failures to abide each other, and how it often seems easier or more enjoyable giving time to the devices we separately pay heed to so many hours a day. We have even separated from each other and all of Nature by covering our faces so we can not see each other. We have learned all there is to know about Control & Separation. It has been a good lesson learning to be pieces, but it is time to begin the journey back to wholeness.
But even though that Lesson has been Learned, there are people, who for various reasons, enjoy that kind of separate life. And perhaps many of them will do what they can to keep it. This has become so pronounced that we have now reached a period when the people who like the Control & Separation of the Fourth World, are fighting very hard to keep their control. This struggle to keep the Fourth World will get more and more noisy as it gets harder for those “control people” to keep power.
Unfortunately, it may even be that they could be successful. And be able to continue their ways. If they do and there is no one left who would help usher in the next lesson of the Fifth World of Illumination & The Hand Out-Stretched to Each Other, then that next World does not necessarily have to come into being. There can just be an end.
So it becomes the Elders of Traditional Wisdom, and perhaps of folks like those at IC, to understand what is coming, and how to help it along. Having learned Separation, we can now begin to re-learn Unity. We can begin to learn about Relationships and Community. And begin to re-learn how we were all once Whole, have learned Separation, and can be Whole again.
Just what is that Fifth World? Many people already believe the world is moving into a new age, or maybe a different vibration. But few really know what that means. Mostly we think of the changing in human relationships. But, if we are indeed moving into a next age, the Elders I spoke with believe perhaps we might consider a much broader world than just human people. Perhaps in a next World of the Hand Out-Stretched, we will be reaching out to much more than just us people. Even we, in the Intentional Community Movement, generally spend so much time and effort to form community with other human people, that we tend to forget about, or maybe never even consider, all the other communities around us. It isn’t just the human world that will change, but all of life on the planet. It is with those other communities of beings that we spend so little time thinking about, or relating to, where we miss wonderful opportunities to learn and grow. Both now and in the coming changes. It is in those other communities that we will learn much of the Fifth World Illumination.
-So, who or what are those others? How can we have a relationship with them?
The Ancient Traditional Wisdom of the Senecas, and of other Original Peoples, teaches of the Four Peoples of Earth. The oldest and wisest are the Stone People. They have been here the longest and know all the history of Earth. They know every single thing that has ever happened. You can ask of the Stones any question, and they may be the most able to answer. The Stones stand strong, and don’t really need others in order to continue as they are. The next is the Plant People. They know a great deal and are nearly as strong and knowledgeable as the Stones. But they don’t know quite as much, and they need a place to set their feet and need the food they receive from the Stones and the Soil of the Stones. The Plant People also need and enjoy the companionship of the Stones. Just two of the many things the Plants can teach us is co-operation, just as the Three Sisters help each other to grow and prosper. And they can teach so many lessons about healing and being well in the world. The third of the four Peoples are the Animal People. The Animals have been here a very long time, and they know a great deal. But not quite as much as the Stones and Plants. And they are somewhat more dependent on others for life. The Animal People need places to make their homes, food to eat, the companionship of the others before them. But they know quite a lot and can answer many questions if asked. Including many lessons about sacrifice, and family, and sharing, and medicine. The fourth and last of the Peoples are the Human People. The Humans are the weakest and most dependent of the Peoples. They need everything from the Stones, Plants and Animals, in order to live. Companionship, wisdom, food, shelter, clothing, a place to set their feet, sometimes loyalty even love, and warmth. The Human Kind don’t know nearly as much as the Stone, Plant and Animal Peoples, but you can ask, and you might learn a good thing.
When we begin to understand our actual place on Earth, and all the Wisdom and Knowledge of All the Peoples of Earth, then we can perhaps begin to form real Community. Not just the community of Standing Upright People working, loving, talking with, sharing with other Standing Upright People, ~but community with All Peoples. And that is when life really begins to be complete. It is from the other Peoples that have been here so much longer than the Humans have been, that we people can learn so much more about how to live here on Earth. With the giving and sharing of all the Peoples of Earth. No longer as competitors or objects to be used or sometimes abused. But as equals learning lessons, with little need of anger or disappointment, and much more appreciative of love. This is something the Elders, Indigenous of all lands, knew. The real Lessons begin, when you are a part of All, the Unity. Having learned Separateness, in order to better know Unity.
So the question becomes how to speak and learn from the Stone and Animal and Plant People. One way to do this is to simply be Still. Be silent and listen. If you sit with your back to Stone, sooner or later Stone may decide you have an honest question, and they may answer you. It might take hours, maybe weeks or months. Sometimes years and often even lifetimes. But if you just listen, sometimes an answer will come. This is the same with the Plants and Animals. They have so much they can teach and share, but we Humans rarely listen. But Entering into the Silence may help you along your way. Helping us, guiding us, from separation to wholeness.
Another way we can learn is to ask. But ask in a way that is not so noisy and loud as humans generally are. And ask in a language that is not quite the same as common human language. An example of this is, … One time I was driving with a companion. I saw a number of deer standing in an old apple orchard. So I stopped. The deer didn’t seem to mind, they just kept munching away on an easy meal. So I rolled down the car window and watched some more. Finally, I said to the deer something like a simple, “Hello.”. Their heads snapped up and off they ran. I said, “Too bad”. My companion replied, “You spoke the wrong language. Deer don’t speak English.”. That was to lead to a decades long practice. Learning how to speak with heart and with intent. It’s actually very much like being silent with another. And waiting to hear a good thing. But it’s a bit more directed. You ask with intent and with heart instead of language. ~And maybe you will hear a good thing. I’ve often thought that if I had just been silent, and maybe watched, and maybe listened, or would have spoken with heart, -how much more I could have learned from those deer on that day. Maybe I would have learned something other than separation.
Or maybe in another story. One time I was sleeping in the deep woods. In the middle of the night, I woke up. It was very dark, but an even darker trail or path stretched away from where I lay. I knew there was no path there in daylight, but because it appeared in the darkness, I got up and walked down the trail. And some little ways there sat a bear. We looked at each other, and I wondered what to do. I could run and maybe the bear might chase me and eat me. Or I could sit down, and the bear could eat me. Or maybe we could talk. -So I sat. And we talked. And I learned what I had not known. The next day or two I returned to Seneca land and spoke to Grandmother. Before I said a word, before she heard anything from me about where I had been or what had happened, she smiled and asked, “Did you see the bear I sent you?” It was a very clear confirmation that there is a great deal more to the world, than what we commonly see in our busy lives.
Or maybe. -A long time ago a man dug the graves of Original people. Several generations later, his family brought me the bones of those graves. So several of us choose herbs and objects that were right, and wrapped everything in a deer skin and took the bundle to the national forest nearby. We walked thru the woods, with the Trees Whispering in the Wind. To a particular spot beside a Stream, surrounded by huge Standing Stones, with Hills all around us. As we began to dig a place for the bundle, many deer came and stood on the high ground watching our Ceremony. ~This time, we did not call out to them. We, the deer and us people, just spoke in the Prayers we were saying. When we finished and were ready to walk home, the deer dipped their heads in agreement, then disappeared to their own home. And the remains of the once breathing humans were at rest again. Maybe, after having been silent for several hundreds of years, having helped to teach a Lesson once again of Community and Hands Out-Stretched.
It is when we begin to develop relationships with all the peoples of Earth, we can begin to “talk” and learn from each other. And then we may be able to enter into complete Community. Living with all the Peoples of Earth. Learning from each other. Protecting each other. And understanding there is so much more than just the using of each other. There is Caring and Relationships and Community and Communication with all Others. When we are able to do all this, then we begin to learn the lessons of the Fifth World, the World of Illumination and the Hand Out-Stretched. Leaving previous well learned other lessons behind, and growing into what is next.
—So that is the very short telling of a very long teaching. Maybe perhaps us IC’ers can help with the birthing of the next age. And maybe, in the meanwhile, someone might like to stop by on some cold snowy day like today and, with our backs to Stone, talk more of an Ancient Story.
Jim
Stone Garden Farm.