(no subject)
The past week, the past couple nights in particular, I have had some challenging conversations about 'New Age' spiritual groups in Sedona and issues of land proprietorship with a Hope friend.
When we spoke last night I had a heavy feeling of my role in adding to his pain. I listened and felt, listened and felt, and then I would think, without voicing anything, but my face would reveal that I was processing. When called out I bared voice to the places in between.
I would like to think that my traveling to Sedona is not necessarily bad, that it could be healing, and not just for myself. I would like to think that my intentions factor in somehow, that I am not necessarily taking and leaving, taking and leaving, building the strength of the proprietors of Hope land at the expense of Hope. I am afraid that this may be naïve.
I struggle with my role in oppression with nearly everything. Almost everything is oppressive; our society is rooted in it. What do I participate in and on what terms?
This conversation is difficult to have with someone who is not native. “If I told another native person not to go, they would not go, no questions asked. But white people want reasons and facts. There are not always facts.”
Oh, I see: you don’t want me to go. I thought you just wanted me to be aware…
You are so right that spiritual matters are not always supported with facts. I know this all too well. And yet..
Today, true to reason, I researched some of the facts. Hope Cultural Preservation has not reported any antagonistic relationship with Dahnhak. Yes, there will always be people who consider Sedona to be ancestral land. Please do not intentionally visit any Hope shrines. It troubles Hope when traditional Hope rituals and teachings are practiced by outsiders.
Even with my good intentions, my travel with a respectful organization, honoring the specified wishes of cultural preservation, I will nonetheless be participating in an affront on Hope spirituality and culture. And I am hurting a friend. From this perspective, what I am doing is awful. I feel this deeply.
We decided to break. As our eyes met, I became intent: What is this feeling? What are you experiencing? For that second, despite the firm guard we each had on our emotions and the personal distance to which we are each accustomed, I felt a strong connection, an intensity, love. Thank you. I don’t want to let you down.
I am committed to continuing the conversation. Today I brought the conversation to friends, to Dahnhak, and now here. Please let us continue this conversation. Please do not judge me harshly for deciding to bear witness to Dahnhak practice in Sedona, for bringing the conversation and the awareness to those who most need to have it.
“Dear Friend: I see you, I hear you and I believe in you. And the god within me supports your truth with love.”
When we spoke last night I had a heavy feeling of my role in adding to his pain. I listened and felt, listened and felt, and then I would think, without voicing anything, but my face would reveal that I was processing. When called out I bared voice to the places in between.
I would like to think that my traveling to Sedona is not necessarily bad, that it could be healing, and not just for myself. I would like to think that my intentions factor in somehow, that I am not necessarily taking and leaving, taking and leaving, building the strength of the proprietors of Hope land at the expense of Hope. I am afraid that this may be naïve.
I struggle with my role in oppression with nearly everything. Almost everything is oppressive; our society is rooted in it. What do I participate in and on what terms?
This conversation is difficult to have with someone who is not native. “If I told another native person not to go, they would not go, no questions asked. But white people want reasons and facts. There are not always facts.”
Oh, I see: you don’t want me to go. I thought you just wanted me to be aware…
You are so right that spiritual matters are not always supported with facts. I know this all too well. And yet..
Today, true to reason, I researched some of the facts. Hope Cultural Preservation has not reported any antagonistic relationship with Dahnhak. Yes, there will always be people who consider Sedona to be ancestral land. Please do not intentionally visit any Hope shrines. It troubles Hope when traditional Hope rituals and teachings are practiced by outsiders.
Even with my good intentions, my travel with a respectful organization, honoring the specified wishes of cultural preservation, I will nonetheless be participating in an affront on Hope spirituality and culture. And I am hurting a friend. From this perspective, what I am doing is awful. I feel this deeply.
We decided to break. As our eyes met, I became intent: What is this feeling? What are you experiencing? For that second, despite the firm guard we each had on our emotions and the personal distance to which we are each accustomed, I felt a strong connection, an intensity, love. Thank you. I don’t want to let you down.
I am committed to continuing the conversation. Today I brought the conversation to friends, to Dahnhak, and now here. Please let us continue this conversation. Please do not judge me harshly for deciding to bear witness to Dahnhak practice in Sedona, for bringing the conversation and the awareness to those who most need to have it.
“Dear Friend: I see you, I hear you and I believe in you. And the god within me supports your truth with love.”