Deep in Our Centerplace

Deep in Our Centerplace

Jim Great Elk Waters ©2012

An excerpt from the upcoming “The Mystic Medicine Lodge.”

Filled with answers to some of the most asked questions

about the First People’s Mystic Ways!

We must never forget that the weakest of our People are more important than the greatest of those beyond our circle. It is our job to protect and if necessary, carry them to the next place we as a People journey to. We are not Shawnee because we have a place, we are Shawandasse because we are the total sum of all the Ancestors that have come before us. Let us honor and respect each other as we do the Grandparents. Let us love each other as they love us, and let us be understanding and use the strength of each person’s fiber to reweave our blanket for the living Shawnee of now… just as our Ancestors have done for the millennium that have past before.

We are Blessed by Creator to know who we are. Let us never forget, or distort that Blessing into our individual vision. We do not have that right.

The vision that has kept the People of the Southwind alive throughout the hundreds of generations before us is that of Creator, not of man.

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Jim Great Elk Waters

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The Futility in Trying to Relive or Obliterate the Old Life

Contemplating Tradition
A series to challenge us as we contemplate our place in history.
By Jim Great Elk Waters©2012

“A human being is not a waxen rubbing, a lifeless imprint taken from some great stony face. Rather he is a … a dog soldier at liberty to use the inclinations of the past as he sees fit. He is free to perceive the matrix, and, within his limits, change from it. By seeing both the futility in trying to relive the old life and the danger in trying to obliterate it, man can gain the capacity to make anew. His very form depends not on repetition but upon variation from old patterns.
In response to stress, biological survival requires genetic change; it necessitates a turning away from doomed replication. And what of history? Was it different?

From Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon (Scot, Irish Osage)

I just finished reading this book, took a half year. Not my usual speed, but I savored it chapter at a time. It was not until I reached page 400 of 412 leaves did I realize why I had plowed through those nearly 200,00 words. It was to lead me to the quote above.
I have been trying to define how I felt about being Shawnee today. What are my traditions? Which from all history was I to follow? Which best fit the world we live in today? How did my great grandparents determine the good’way to live? How did they adapt the woven cloth, iron and wheel to the traditions of their grandparents? Am I to walk in their footsteps? Am I expected by them to move into each day in a new way? Is that day for me to replicate their way, or is it mine to live with my People now?

I realize now that our grandparents lived in the moment, and that they created their code of existence, their traditions from the fabrics and chards passed to them from their grandparents. Shawnee from first history changed and adapted life to the moment in which they lived. Their culture, tradition and lifestyle grew with each generation and were used as their tools to adapt to their day.
We too, as Shawnee in this time, need to use the traditions, the way of life and cultures that our grandparents gifted, us as tools to create anew the proper Indian’way for this generation. As Least Heat-Moon acknowledges, “By seeing both the futility in trying to relive the old life and the danger in trying to obliterate it, man can gain the capacity to make anew.” As he so wisely tomed, Our very form depends not on repetition but upon variation from old patterns. By this method we adapt the old to our needs… and yet do not disrespect the old’way. We must learn from the Elders that they personalized tradition for their time, and we are by their example, to adapt and grow in the light of our day. If we don’t we are doomed to be only a shadow of them, not the promise they expected… that we are their future.

The Romans held the phrase sacred, carpe diem… seize the day… grab hold of the clay of this day and temper it with that which the Ancestors gave us, to make the pots of this time the best Shawnee pots possible. Then we can stand as strong as did our grandparent’s grandparents. We must create anew for this time, the culture and traditions that made life good for us, as did those before us… and to make good temper materials for the children not yet born from the first clay. It is our job.

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Jim Great Elk Waters

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Thoughts on a Tattered Road Map Called My Life

Today I am setting at my desk with a monumental task

Soon the X on the calendar will mark the 69^th Circle of Seasons. There is no time for slowing down, or a comfy chair and lovely sunset…  I am at the peak of my creative drive.

As the kids say, “What’s with that… Seriously?”  Who knows?

In reflection I find that a great portion of the past squandered on things trivial and self indulgent. At this mile marker, there is an acute awareness that time is now finite, and my invincibility shield has some serious flaws developing. What? I’m no longer Captain America?

The old health, it is about as it should be, reflecting upon the abuse heaped upon this carcass the past three score and nine. Yet, upon reflection, I find an incredible list of experiences illustrating the joy of a life filled with great times, pathos and whimsy. Those who know, understand that I have wandered about in a epoch filled with Legion of adventures, that most only dream about.

No complaints.

The journey on this trail, is not near the Threshold of the Veil.

Therefore… I have chosen today to be the mark in time, when I create the goals that will place my course for the next 21 years. This will be a chore, for here is a lot yet to do. STOP… this not an average “mid life crisis syndrome,” trying to make up for time lost… that is impossible. This goal-setting is about getting real value from what remains.

Here is a sampling. There is the task of finishing over two dozen books and making them available as pBooks (books in print), aBooks (audio), eBooks (online), and some as DVD and CD’s for public consumption. 

“Why not just write them and let that be that,” you might ask?

Like so many “pre-Boomers,” we need income beyond our meager pensions. Thus the aforementioned are called in the business world… products. 

Beyond that, are planned a series of paintings and drawings, as well as over twenty fours, speaking presentations. These will be on subjects of my Native Heritage, life experiences, art, theater and film and TV. We can explore how the creative process works, it’s benefits and disabling qualities.

We have but scratched a peremptory mark upon the veil of our tomorrows. Only that time and place to come will reveal what will be next.

Yes, today is the day chosen for setting the course for the next score of years.   

I will keep you apprised of the progress.

Oh, why the “next 21 years…?”

Well a long time ago, when I was a lad of 4 or 5, my grandfather “Big Dad,” came to me and said, “Jimmie, I had a vision last night…. I was at your 100^th birthday party.”

“Oh wow,” I replied, “How old did I live to be?’

In a terse reply, “How the hell do I know, I didn’t vision that?”

My grandfather’s visions almost always came true. Taken from that exchange, I must assume that I will live to be at least one hundred years old. 

That is the “why” of this note to you my friends… Being yet moderately functional, I still have a fifth of my life ahead. 

It is my job to make it count...  Will you?

With love and respect, your humble servant, the elk

 Jim Great Elk Waters ©2012

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Jim Great Elk Waters

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