| YOU
DON'T TAKE THE JOURNEY. The journey takes you. Nearly twenty
years ago two unlikely and unknowing white journalists--ourselves, or those we thought ourselves to be--set
out on what we've come to see now as a spirit-journey, a
simultaneous exploration of outer and inner worlds. We thought
at the time that we were going out on a magazine assignment
after a good "story" - the supposed demise of the last
generation of Native American spiritual elders, or Wisdomkeepers.
But something happened to us along the way. We set out on the
path of the Wisdomkeepers and we've never quite gotten back. We
find ourselves shuttling between worlds, not quite part of
either. We've become unwitting and at times unwilling
messengers, or "runners," between those worlds. We
crossed an invisible boundary, passed through a kind of mystic
membrane between what most people think of as North America and
what others think of as Great Turtle Island.
These
wonderful men and women don't simply preserve the old wisdom.
They live it. And, yes, they share it and teach it, too--not
only with their words but with their example, their presence,
their lives...lives always lived for others, never for
themselves.
We make no
pretence to being wise or in any way holier than thou. Indeed
our very imperfection has saved us time and again. Without it,
we'd never have discovered the path of the Wisdomkeepers even
existed. From the Wisdomkeepers themselves we've learned that
you don't have to be perfect to do holy work. You don't even
have to be holy. You can be a couple of contraries, a couple of
shape-shifters like ourselves, and still lead a life worthy of
being called human. We're not saying we've done it; but we're
trying . . .
Harvey Arden
and Steve Wall
|
