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SEARCHING FOR TRUTH August 2, 2007 Susan Bates

There is an old saying that you shouldn't believe everything you think. The older I've gotten, the more I've found the wisdom in this saying. How much of what you believe is the truth? All of it? Some of it? Most of us believe the things we were taught in school. After all, aren't the lessons written in our textbooks ancient and "proven" knowledge. But what if the basis for that knowledge is false? How would our understanding of ourselves and how we live our lives change if we were given and accepted the truth? For instance: We were taught that this country was sparsely inhabited and largely unused by a few naked heathen savages. But the truth is that every area of this country was home to many different tribes of man. Because our People didn't see resources as wealth, we didn't rape and pillage the land like the Europeans did. The "New World" was still a Paradise when the white man arrived. When the white colonists came here they were amazed to find that the People had built great temples and Sacred Mounds. There were established trade routes and People decorated their bodies with gold and turquoise and pearls. These were things that European peasants could only dream of. Some of these People, including but not limited to the Maya, had books - although you have been taught they didn't. The Spaniards burned thousands of these books so the Conquistadors wouldn't realize how advanced the Mayans were. And they certainly didn't want the colonists to know what was in them. Some of the books survive. Other tribes have oral traditions that speak of their own written volumes. Some writings survive today painted on rocks. The conquering people were used to advanced civilizations in Europe and Asia and couldn't conceive of these "savages" having the knowledge and skills to do these things. Indeed, here they found great pyramids as massive and as beautiful as those in ancient Egypt. So they thought up the "Lost Tribe" theory to explain it. One of the theories is that this country was uninhabited and that the people who did live here came came across a "land bridge" carrying with them this advanced knowledge. While some People did migrate to this continent via a land bridge, many others "woke up" here. Every Nation of Original People on this continent has their own Creation stories which teach them where they came from. Most of these stories are passed down orally and through the observance of Sacred Ceremony carefully preserved from generation to generation. The problem is that only the stories of one small nation from far across the ocean are spoken of today. And since their creation stories tell them that God made Adam and Eve in a place called the Garden of Eden, then they want you to believe that all men came from there. This has led to much confusion and loss of truth which has allowed whole nations of people to be erased from memory. Do you know what your ancestors believed and how they lived 5,000 years ago? How about 2,000 years or even 1,000 years ago? If your people came to this country many generations ago to become a part of the "Great Melting Pot", you might not have any idea. But traditional Native Peoples do know. Or could know if they want to. Our Spiritual ways have survived in spite of the white man doing everything in his power to erase our memory. The sad thing is that many Native Peoples no longer follow their own ways but instead have adopted the religions and life styles of their conquerors. Many, if not all tribes, still know their own stories and Sacred Ceremonies. In some tribes there are only a few elders clinging to life hoping that their People will return to their old ways before these elders die and take this Sacred Knowledge with them. In this time of the Great Balancing, many People are going back to the Red Path and their own spiritual ways of living in balance with all things great and small. But time is short. If you are sick of the confusion in your life and of the chaos you see in the world around you, take a stand. Go back to your own teachings. They are out there waiting for you to find them. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> "Once we walked the earth and our bodies were strong. Once we started each day with deep breaths and grateful thanks for all around us. Once we used the medicines, ceremonies that cured any sickness we had. Now it is different. We climb an unknown mountain searching for fresh air. We walk among an earth disrespected. We look for plants to heal our weakened bodies. The plants are polluted and dying as we are. We use what is left of our ceremonies to try to catch our breath. We are suffocated. Our Creator breathed life into us. He has a message - "For that which was taken from us will be returned sevenfold. Our Sacred Breath - it's time to take it back." ---Nancy Rac - Jicarrila Apache

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