Wakanda and the idea of God
Came across this, which you might be interested in reading. People sometimes say the Indians worshipped various gods before the coming of Christianity, or that Wakanda was simply our name for God, the same concept as in religion today. In researching these things, I came across an interesting passage from "The Omaha" by Fletcher and La Flesche, talking about the idea of Wakanda (the Omaha spelling is Wakonda) in a different and more ancient understanding before the white man came. The words in brackets [ ] are my own.
"An invisible and continuous life was believed to permeate all things, seen and unseen. This life manifests itself in two ways: First, by causing to move -all motion, all actions of mind or body are because of this invisible life; second, by causing permanency of structure and form, as in the rock, the physical features of the landscape, mountains, plains, streams, rivers, lakes, the animals and man. This invisible life was also conceived as being similar to the will power of which man is conscious within himself -a power by which things are brought to pass. Through this mysterious life and power all things are related to one another and to man, the seen to the unseen, the dead to the living, a fragment of anything to its entirety. This invisible life and power was called Wakon'da"
[Thus Wakanda is within all things, both visible and invisible, things that are matter/structure/solid and things that are movement/energy/power. Wakanda is like our will, our spirit, and in this way it is similar to when the Bible says God created created man in His own Image, as both God and man have mind/will/spirit, not necessarily both having a physical appearance (two legs etc.) the same. And therefore it is also so that the Indian saying "All My Relatives" that we are all related through Wakanda is also true. We are connected to our ancestors, though they are no longer living. And a physical piece of something is connected to that as well, as when people save a lock of hair to remember people by. This is all connected through Wakanda]
While it [Wakon'da] was a vague entity, yet there was an anthropomorphic [human-like] coloring [aspect] to the conception, as is shown in the prayers offered and the manner in which appeals for compassion and health were made, also in the ethical quality attributed to certain natural phenomena -the regularity of night following day, of summer winter (these were recognized as emphasizing truthfulness as a dependable quality and set forth for man's guidance) -and in the approval by Wakon'da of certain ethical actions on the part of mankind. [So although Wakonda did not look like an Old Man in the Sky, Wakonda still had a human-like ability to listen and respond to prayer and in the expectation that people behave the right way].
Human conditions were projected upon nature, and male and female forces recognized. The Above was regarded as masculine, the Below feminine; so the sky was father, the earth, mother. The heavenly bodies were conceived as having sex; the sun was masculine, the moon feminine, consequently day was male and night female. The union of these two forces was regarded as necessary to the perpetuation of all living forms, and to ma's life by maintaining his food supply. This order or method for the continuation of life was believed to have been arranged by Wakan'da and had to be obeyed if the race was to continue to exist. In order to keep this belief alive in the minds of the people, it was symbolized in religious rites and in social usages and organization." (Fletcher and La Flesche, The Omaha, pages 134-135).
[Thus while the Great Mystery Wakanda was above, beyond, within everything, this is the idea that Mother Earth and Father Sky, Moon and Sun, Night and Day sustained our lives and life of everything on earth that we might live. And our arts, ceremonies, clan structures and all were to remind us of this interrelationship, and keep us connected, and behaving rightly and ethically to each other and everything on this earth that we depend on, so that Life on Earth, including we human beings, would continue to live. -Lance Foster]
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PS. I was just sent this article on FB about the Zero Point Field in physics:
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/8/the_amazing_promises_of_the_zero_point_field/
Shoot, we Indians knew about this long ago. Remember, "We called it maize?" Well, " an energy field that connects man and matter and continually affects everything and everyone" ...we called it Wakanda :-) Only we went a little further. Wakanda was also intelligent and had will. Give scientific physics a little time. It will get there too ;-)
This also has a hand in why magic can work in many cases. Am I kidding? ;-))
"An invisible and continuous life was believed to permeate all things, seen and unseen. This life manifests itself in two ways: First, by causing to move -all motion, all actions of mind or body are because of this invisible life; second, by causing permanency of structure and form, as in the rock, the physical features of the landscape, mountains, plains, streams, rivers, lakes, the animals and man. This invisible life was also conceived as being similar to the will power of which man is conscious within himself -a power by which things are brought to pass. Through this mysterious life and power all things are related to one another and to man, the seen to the unseen, the dead to the living, a fragment of anything to its entirety. This invisible life and power was called Wakon'da"
[Thus Wakanda is within all things, both visible and invisible, things that are matter/structure/solid and things that are movement/energy/power. Wakanda is like our will, our spirit, and in this way it is similar to when the Bible says God created created man in His own Image, as both God and man have mind/will/spirit, not necessarily both having a physical appearance (two legs etc.) the same. And therefore it is also so that the Indian saying "All My Relatives" that we are all related through Wakanda is also true. We are connected to our ancestors, though they are no longer living. And a physical piece of something is connected to that as well, as when people save a lock of hair to remember people by. This is all connected through Wakanda]
While it [Wakon'da] was a vague entity, yet there was an anthropomorphic [human-like] coloring [aspect] to the conception, as is shown in the prayers offered and the manner in which appeals for compassion and health were made, also in the ethical quality attributed to certain natural phenomena -the regularity of night following day, of summer winter (these were recognized as emphasizing truthfulness as a dependable quality and set forth for man's guidance) -and in the approval by Wakon'da of certain ethical actions on the part of mankind. [So although Wakonda did not look like an Old Man in the Sky, Wakonda still had a human-like ability to listen and respond to prayer and in the expectation that people behave the right way].
Human conditions were projected upon nature, and male and female forces recognized. The Above was regarded as masculine, the Below feminine; so the sky was father, the earth, mother. The heavenly bodies were conceived as having sex; the sun was masculine, the moon feminine, consequently day was male and night female. The union of these two forces was regarded as necessary to the perpetuation of all living forms, and to ma's life by maintaining his food supply. This order or method for the continuation of life was believed to have been arranged by Wakan'da and had to be obeyed if the race was to continue to exist. In order to keep this belief alive in the minds of the people, it was symbolized in religious rites and in social usages and organization." (Fletcher and La Flesche, The Omaha, pages 134-135).
[Thus while the Great Mystery Wakanda was above, beyond, within everything, this is the idea that Mother Earth and Father Sky, Moon and Sun, Night and Day sustained our lives and life of everything on earth that we might live. And our arts, ceremonies, clan structures and all were to remind us of this interrelationship, and keep us connected, and behaving rightly and ethically to each other and everything on this earth that we depend on, so that Life on Earth, including we human beings, would continue to live. -Lance Foster]
---
PS. I was just sent this article on FB about the Zero Point Field in physics:
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/8/the_amazing_promises_of_the_zero_point_field/
Shoot, we Indians knew about this long ago. Remember, "We called it maize?" Well, " an energy field that connects man and matter and continually affects everything and everyone" ...we called it Wakanda :-) Only we went a little further. Wakanda was also intelligent and had will. Give scientific physics a little time. It will get there too ;-)
This also has a hand in why magic can work in many cases. Am I kidding? ;-))