I am doing some reading right now by Heidegger (a German philosopher) who emerges from Greek and Christian mystical traditions.
Heidegger talks about thinking at only the surface level and how it’s dangerous. I have been thinking a
lot lately about my friend (who is also a Shaman) and how I looked at the moon the other day and said: “Oh, tonight
must be a full moon?” Then I said, “Oh wait, not it’s not quite full. It must be tomorrow.”
And she said: “No, I just looked at the calendar and no, it is a full moon!” I told her how not all
of it was exposed and she said it must be a cloud in front of it.
Well, most people would not be so concerned
with all this and in the whole scheme of things it might not really matter. But, to a Shaman the full moon means that
we must do a full moon fire ceremony and that it is an opportunity to pray for a shift or an awakening in our life and the
life of others. It actually does not really matter if we do it on the actual day the calendar says or a day or
two prior of after, but I was really contemplating her comments.
You see, her comments meant she was not actually
looking at the moon. She was relying on what the calendar said. The thing is, is that Shaman’s are to self
source at some point. This means that we need to observe things and think beyond the surface level. I got home
and asked myself why she didn’t just pop her head out her window or door of her apartment and simply look at the moon?
Heidegger talks about how “the nature of thinking can be seen only by looking away from thinking.”
I think
this was a biggy for me because it really made me think about my role as a Shaman. If I don’t take notice and
think deep how can I call myself a Shaman? But, if I don’t think deep and observe what is all around me then I
am also no better off as a person. I think I will be asking myself often as my personal metaphor for this: “Did
you actually look at the moon?” Heidegger says that deep thinking contemplates the meaning, which reigns in everything
that is.
This makes my mind wonder and gets me thinking deeper. It makes me think of gardening.
I grew celery, tomatoes, kale, and eggplant for the first time this year and what a way to provoke thinking! First of
all, when the sprouts come up and start to have the first resemblance of what you grew up seeing in the grocery store you
get excited and say: “Look what I did!”. Then as they get a bit bigger and you go on with your life you
think a bit more about the fact that you merely put them in the ground and that someone or something beyond you was responsible
for their care. Afterall, how did they get so big? Then you are about ready to pick them and carry them inside
and wash them. They suddenly have a whole new meaning to you. You watched them grow and watered them and now you
are harvesting. I actually cry each time I go through this cycle. I now talk to them and thank them for giving
their life for me and my friends and family to enjoy. I share them with my yoga students and I bless them with healing
energy and love. I actually have been sitting with my eggplants all summer and talking to them and crying that they
know their purpose is to be in my belly! I cry when I think about the love they have. Do we really always think
about this when we go out to dinner? Growing a garden is an incredible spiritual connection!
Heidegger talks about
how we must develop the art of waiting, releasing our hold and trusting in a spiritual process that is natural and spontaneous.
He talks about how deep thinking must be able to bide its time to await as does the farmer whether the seed will come up and
ripen. He also says that "deep thinking emerges organically from our own patch of ground, our own garden, from simple
seeds".
