of water and the spirit

I'm beginning a re-read.  I do that with my favorite books. And movies.  Jeremy can't understand it at all!  Once is enough for him.  Onward and upward! 

I first read this book over 10 years ago, and I think it went out of print at about that time. I still think it is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.  Malidoma Some' holds two Ph.D.'s, and three masters degrees.  He is also a shaman.  This is a very personal work, and the wisdom he shares is logical on a very atomic level.  It is spiritual in the truest form of the "spirit."  Until I finish my re-read, I'll be occasionally sharing little pearls that I find particularly uplifting. 

A snippet from the introduction: "In the culture of my people, the Dagara, we have no word for the supernatural.  The closest we come to this concept is Yielbongura, "the thing that knowledge can't eat."  This word suggests that the life and power of certain things depend upon their resistance to the kind of categorizing knowledge that human beings apply to everything.  In Western reality, there is a clear split between the spiritual and the material, between religious life and secular life.  This concept is alien to the Dagara.  For us, as for many indigenous cultures, the supernatural is part of our everyday lives.  To a Dagara man or woman, the material is just the spiritual taking on form.  The secular is religion in a lower key-a rest area from the tension of religious and spiritual practice.  Dwelling in the realm of the sacred is both exciting and terrifying.  A little time out once in a while is in order.

The world of the Dagara also does not distinguish between reality and imagination.  To us, there is a close connection between thought and reality.  To imagine something, to closely focus one's thoughts upon it, has the potential to bring that something into being.  Thus, people who take a tragic view of life and are always expecting the worst usually manifest that reality.  Those who expect that things will work together for the good usually experience just that.  In the realm of the sacred, this concept is taken even further, for what is magic but the ability to focus thought and energy to get results on the human plane?  The Dagara view of reality is large.  If one can imagine something, then it has at least the potential to exist."

Peace to you.

Comments

[Tracy]

It seems we were reading each other's blogs at the same time!

I reread some things too. Definitely. My husband doesn't really get it, either. But then again, he doesn't read much, and when he does, it's totally different stuff than I do.

[suzanne]

oh i love this ... just when i am beginning to be not so much a worst case scenario girl and i am looking at the world as a more half full glass & seeing that indeed, if you imagine it,(things working out for the good) it has the potential to exist. serendipitous timing!