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GOOD MEDICINE FOR THE JOURNEY
by: John H. McMurphy
Things come about in this way. We see our needs and then make our prayers for good medicine.
Each day we work toward our goal and thank the Great Spirit for the gifts of that day.
We accept and acknowledge our place in the universe, and we take
responsibility for it.
Sun Bear, The Bear Tribe's Self-reliance Book
Sun Bear captures the essence of Native American wisdom for conducting contemporary human affairs in a few simple,
unpretentious sentences. lt is appropriate that such wisdom is simple, for modern society's overly complex lifestyle can be transformed only by moving toward simplicity, not by our continuing to march lemming-like along our present path.
If we explore several key phrases that he presents, perhaps this simple, yet profound, wisdom will assist with our life journey.
We see our needs:
Sun Bear seems to agree with Thoreau that we must know what are our needs (items that support the continuance of life)
and that we must be able to distinguish them from our des ires (items that make life more stylish, comfortable, or convenient).
If we begin our daily affairs without seeing our true needs, we may expend vital life energy fervently pursuing nonessential items. We may squander energy providing ourselves with comforts and conveniences that could be directed more appropriately toward spiritual growth and enrichment.
Make our prayers for good medicine:
,,Good medicine," according to Sun Bear, ,,is something that should serve you every day of your life. It is not something that you make only on Sunday." Good medicine is the vital spiritual energy that comes from living each moment of our lives in harmony and balance with Nature. Once we experience this harmony, we begin to feel our oneness with all things. Thus, when we make prayers, we unite ourselves with all things. We will know that plants which provide us with food and water which quenches our thirst are merely extensions of ourselves. This sense of unity with Nature creates good medicine which flows throughout our environment and helps us with the task of providing for our life' s necessities. Providing our life necessities will become a joy, not something to dread.
Each day we work toward our goal:
Contemporary society emphasizes that the goal of our work is ,,the pursuit of happiness," not provision of our basic necessities. For most of us, the pursuit of happiness means providing ourselves with the best comforts and conveniences that our work efforts can purchase: expensive cars, homes filled with modern conveniences and electronic gadgets, fine clothing. dinners in fashionable restaurants, vacations in exotic places, etc. Because these luxuries have become ,,necessities" for many of us, we no longer work towards the simple goal of providing ourselves with the necessities of life.Instead, we consume our life energy in the pursuit of luxuries with little, if any, awareness of our true needs. Both Native Arnericans and Thoreau realized that ,,life" can be lost in the pursuit of happiness, if happiness primarily means providing ourselves with luxuries.
Thank the Great Spirit for the gifts of that day:
When Columbus landed in the Americas, his first log entry referred to the people living here as ,,savages having no apparent religion of their own." Granted, Native Americans had no lavish cathedrals in which to worship. Nor did their various languages contain words to express the concept of ,,religion" as a means to overcome original sin in order to find salvation. They did, however, have a profound spiritual relationship with the Great Spirit whose presence they knew to be manifest in all creation.
Native Americans, because they have felt themselves intimately related to the spiritual reality that permeates all things,
continually ,,worship" the Great Spirit, unlike Westerners who have pre-set times to worship. They need no ornate cathedrals,
because wherever they happen to be is a spiritual place in which they can feel the Great Spirit' s presence. lt would be
natural, therefore, for Native Amencans to offer thanks to the Great Spirit for receiving ,,gifts of that day" from their activities such as planting, hunting, or harvesting. They appreciate the Great Spirit's presence in their lives and give thanks for the love they feel in each ear of corn they harvest or each fish they pull from the river. Giving thanks to the Great Spirit is as natural as breathing to Native Americans.
We accept and acknowledge our place in the universe, and we take responsibility for it:
Modern psychologists confirm that one of humanity's most prevalent ,,ills" is a pervasive sense of purposelessness in life.
Even people who have challenging careers occasionally suffer from an awareness that life could have more meaning than what
they have encountered through their work and other daily activities. Many people resort to a plethora of ways to cover-up the purposelessness they feel: drugs, addiction to material pleasures, workaholism, superficial spirituality, etc. Rather than confront the true source for any lack of purpose they may feel, they divert their attention away from it altogether.
Sun Bear suggests two related means to confront this dilemma.
First, we can accept and acknowledge our place in the universe.
This may be a difficult task for many of us, because we are so far removed from the universe's pulse that acknowledging our
whereabouts within the universal plan will be a formidable challenge; however, the challenge presented by finding our place
will be an important step toward overcoming any purposelessness we may experience. Once we have found our role in the
universal plan, then we can work toward accepting it- even if it seems at first to be different from what we had hoped it would be.
A second measure that we can use to increase our sense of purposefulness is that we take full responsibility for our lives.
Through living in harmony with Nature, Native Americans long have understood their place in the universal plan. They also know that each person must accept full responsibility for his or her own life. Many of us in contemporary society have difficulty accepting full responsibility for our lives, because we often place blame for what we encounter in life upon ,,circumstances beyond our control." We parcel out responsibiity for our lives to other people, to the government and other institutions, or to fate, rather than assuming full responsibility ourselves.
The primary reason for shirking our responsibility is our isolation from Nature, for if we felt ourselves to be an integral part of natural interrelationships, then we would understand how humans must interrelate with each other and with Nature to create harmony and balance. Isolated and divorced from Nature, we have little choice other than to avoid assuming responsibility for our own lives, for life makes little sense without feeling ourselves to be part of Nature and her spiritual energies.
Creating Good Medicine
Sun Bear's simple, yet profound, presentation of Native American wisdom can initiate a transformation in our lives.
If we ally ourselves with Nature and her spiritual energies, we are more likely to distinguish between life' s necessities
and luxuries which will enable us to conserve our energy for further spiritual enrichment. In addition, once we feel Nature's
harmony and balance operating within and around us, we will be more likely to accept our place in the universal plan and
accept responsibility for our own lives. We also will feel sincere gratitude for the Great Spirit's presence in our lives.
One thing is certain, however: this transformation in our life joumey begins with an intimate alliance with Nature.
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