In Western Society we are taught to stare into the eyes of those we meet, I do not know why.
In my Native American way of life, we are taught not to look into the eyes of those we meet. We are taught to redirect our eyes elsewhere, or close our eyes, as we listen to the individual tell their story. This behavior is not disrespectful, this behavior is giving the individual respect, honor, and dignity. We listen with our ears, spirit, and every cell of our being. We become one with their breath to truly understand their spiritual entity. Human beings are not the only species we are taught not to look directly in the eyes. We give dignity to our animal relatives by not staring into their eyes as well. Many animals will get aggressive if we stare into their eyes/ soul.
Our elders were wise, knowledgeable, compassionate, courageous, and forgiving. These are essential ingredients to be regarded as the wisdom keepers of our society. They understood the gravity of keeping their community physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy. They gave dignity to all living things, and teachings that have no beginning and no end. They told us as children, “There is only one of you in this universe and there will never be another one just like you.” They taught us that we came to earth for a purpose, and we must fulfill our purpose. They taught us as children that the only thing we own on earth is our mind, body, and spirit. They told us that if we accumulated material things, we didn’t own them, the material things owned us. Their teachings were honest and profound.
We are the children of the Universe, the Earth is our true Mother, we call her Grandma or Mother, she is the Giver of Life. We call the source of life, air, water, food, minerals, fire, (unconditional Love), and wood the true medicines of life. We were taught to understand that we cannot live more than two minutes without air, live more than seven days without water, and more than thirty days without food, minerals, and Love. These are the Medicines of our existence, of our Life. All other medicines are alternative. These elements have all the knowledge and wisdom in their being that transfer into every cell of our body, mind, and spirit. We know everything. If we keep our minds connected to our heart and body, we learn we are and can be the prophet of our Soul/Life. Our grandparents and parents also gave us instructions on what contributes to human disease. We were instructed, “Fear is the greatest sickness of humanity.” The side effects from fear are anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, lack of self-identity, lack of spiritual identity, etc., and we were taught that no human being can make the true medicines of life.
Our grandparents and elders would call us into a circle or sometimes individually and give us verbal instructions. Some of the most profound instructions were to keep us connected to the source of life, to help us understand we are as powerful as the elements of the universe. The sun, moon, stars, wind, rain, and earth give us life. They live in every cell of our being. We are one and the same with them. We were given the stories of how we were one and the same with them, and given the sacred right to learn and attend the prayer and thanksgiving ceremonies for each and every element. We were taught that we were in prayer every second of our being, every thought in our minds were our prayers, every word that came out of our mouths were our prayers, and every footstep we took, we walked our prayers. We were told that we are the creator of our own reality. The elders would say, “Be careful of your thoughts, you are powerful, you are creating your reality with your thoughts, think of the words you are going to say, once the words come out of your mouth, you can never take them back.” There is no “I’m Sorry” in our language.
They would watch us grow as children, they would make an assessment of our beings and that is how we would get our earthling names. They would give us instruction on how to walk on Earth with our names so we could shine where darkness reigned.
Our constant instruction was, “Take care of your Earth Mother, the source of life and the Elements, for they will unconditionally give you all you need to enjoy life. Remember, “Earth is your Home”.
