Michael's Wisdom

Responsibility

I take responsibility for what I do to others

I take responsibility for what I do to myself.

If I see and believe myself to be inadequate, ugly,

Stupid, weak-willed, unlovable,

That is my responsibility.

If on the other hand I see and believe myself to be

Adequate, attractive, intelligent, strong, and lovable,

That too is my responsibility. And last but not least,

I take responsibility for what I allow another person

To do to me. If I allow someone to aggress me,

Manipulate me, confuse me, convince me that I am nothing,

A nobody, when in reality I am somebody,

That too is my responsibility.

Mostly I don't believe in using words for anything other than the clear expression of one's experiential state of being.

Explaining, blaming, or complaining is a merry-go-round of words which doesn't change anything.

Words are but chaff upon the breath of life.

Michael

"The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal.

The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.

It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled,

but it is a calamity not to dream.

It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal,

but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture.

It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars,

but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for.

Dr. Benjamin Mays

"What I am trying to say is hard to tell

and hard to understand. . . unless, unless. . .

you have been yourself at the edge of the

Deep Canyon and have come back unharmed.

Maybe it all depends on something

within yourself,

Whether you are trying to see the Watersnake,

or the sacred Cornflower,

Whether you go out to meet Death

or to seek life."

An Elder of the San Juan Pueblo

Silam Inua, The Soul of the Universe

Silam Inua "the Inhabitants or Soul of

the Universe" is never seen,

it's voice alone is heard.

"All we know is that it has a gentle voice

like a woman,

a voice so fine and gentle that even

children cannot become afraid."

What it says is Sila ersinar sinivdluge,

"Be not afraid of the Universe."

Najagneq of North Alaska

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can
you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?"

"Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people."

"We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family."

"The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father."

"The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the kindness you would give any brother."

"If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers."

"Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth."

"This we know; the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."

"One thing we know; our God is your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator."

"Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say good-bye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival."

"When the last Red Man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?"

"We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and live it, as God loves us all."

"As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we know; there is only one God. No man, be he Red Man or White Man, can be apart. We are brothers after all."

Excerpt from "Chief Seattle's" speech