"I don't think humans write and rewrite myth, it's an interactive process. Perhaps humans are being rewritten by myth. The dynamic relationship is everywhere."
Joy Harjo
Muscogee Nation
Yellowstone is an absolutely magical, mythical landscape, and when I
hiked and camped there this past Labor Day Weekend, I could not help but
contemplate the importance a Native American worldview has had on my
spiritual journey. One of the things I appreciate about living in the
wide-open spaces of the American West is the fact that this landscape
STILL contains the magic of the myths and stories of the people who
lived - and still live - here before Euro-Americans arrived. For me
here in Northern Colorado, it is primarily the Arapaho and Ute peoples
whose influence I feel on my psyche in innumerable ways.
Indigenous peoples understand that the paradoxical, poetic language of story contained in myth is the best way to get at the Ultimate Reality in which we are all so intimately embedded. And this myth, they realize, both arises from the landscape - the place from which their languages also have arisen - AND remains in the landscape long after the original storytellers have passed on. It is this respect for the power of myth which prevents me from adopting wholesale the position of some mystical traditions that view language as bankrupt in describing the Ultimate. For I understand that word, image and language - when used poetically, mythically and paradoxically - serve as a sort of "microscope" or "telescope," enabling us to see through to the Ultimate Mystery present both beyond and within them. Even though I may not know most of the Arapaho or Ute stories that were told about the place where I live, I can daily sense - and am profoundly affected by - the indigenous mythical milieu in which I live, breathe and have my being.
Photos: Yellowstone National Park, WY, September 5-7, 2015
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I am available for spiritual direction / mentoring sessions via cell phone or Skype. The fee for each hour-long session is $65. If you are interested in inquiring about this, or would like to host a talk or workshop in your area, please contact me at canyonechoes@gmail.com .
Indigenous peoples understand that the paradoxical, poetic language of story contained in myth is the best way to get at the Ultimate Reality in which we are all so intimately embedded. And this myth, they realize, both arises from the landscape - the place from which their languages also have arisen - AND remains in the landscape long after the original storytellers have passed on. It is this respect for the power of myth which prevents me from adopting wholesale the position of some mystical traditions that view language as bankrupt in describing the Ultimate. For I understand that word, image and language - when used poetically, mythically and paradoxically - serve as a sort of "microscope" or "telescope," enabling us to see through to the Ultimate Mystery present both beyond and within them. Even though I may not know most of the Arapaho or Ute stories that were told about the place where I live, I can daily sense - and am profoundly affected by - the indigenous mythical milieu in which I live, breathe and have my being.
Photos: Yellowstone National Park, WY, September 5-7, 2015
- - - - - - - -
I am available for spiritual direction / mentoring sessions via cell phone or Skype. The fee for each hour-long session is $65. If you are interested in inquiring about this, or would like to host a talk or workshop in your area, please contact me at canyonechoes@gmail.com .
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