sholeh: Giving thanks, the Cherokee way
While I can’t honestly call myself a true Native American, my grandfather was. More than half Cherokee, he was keen to teach his grandchildren what that heritage meant — not only to our family, but to this country.
That’s especially apropos not only as Thanksgiving approaches, but as we stray further and further away from indigenous spiritual roots.
What stood out were the little things. How Granddad taught us to walk quietly and with intention, especially in nature. Partly so we disturbed it minimally, and partly to take it all in. To notice, learn from and leave unsullied the earth and creatures we encountered. To take from it only when necessary, and when we do, to stop long enough to honor the sacrifice surrendered for our benefit.
To understand, in the Cherokee way, the nature of ourselves and our relationship to everything else.
Coexistence: Humans live in natural harmony with all of creation, rather than ruling over it.
Balance: It’s our duty and to our benefit to maintain balance in interactions with other people, other beings and our environment, and the spiritual worlds.
Spirituality, communication and reverence: The Cherokee People as well as other Native American cultures believe the natural world is spiritual, including people, plants, animals, rivers and mountains. On some level, all spiritual beings can communicate or connect with one another. Harming the balance harms ourselves (if not immediately, then in a slow ripple).
Outer balance aids inner balance, but it goes further than that. Honoring that balance and its gifts becomes essential, ultimately, to life itself.
As Granddad said, if we can’t leave what and whom we touch better off for the encounter, at least we should do no harm.
As I matured, I better understood what lay behind those lessons. A deep respect for all natural things and our dependence upon them for survival. It’s poignant to remember that while the rest of nature can get along without us, the reverse means humanity perishes.
That dependence illustrates a humility we have abandoned. And, ironically, a feeling of security that respecting it could provide.
We are gifted with nature’s bounties and one another, not entitled to them. And if we “listen” quietly, carefully and without ego, we can feel these mutual connections (an exercise that, in an increasingly depressed modern society, eases loneliness).
These indelible connections, in Granddad’s understanding, are collectively the Great Spirit.
“The Great Spirit is in all things. He is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother.” — unknown
November is National American Indian Heritage Month, a perfect time to offer them thanks.
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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email Sholeh@cdapress.com.