Native American SpiritualityWritten by John Cali
Native American Spirituality John CaliA member of our Chief Joseph discussion group recently wrote me asking if Joseph would talk about Native American spirituality in one of our newsletters. Here’s her letter: “Hi John, “I have no clue as to whether this would be an appropriate topic for a future newsletter, but I thought I would share this thought with you anyway. “I have read a fair amount, but I know I am very ignorant with respect to Native American spirituality. So perhaps sometime Chief Joseph and you could share some of unique aspects of Native American spirituality.” My response: “Thanks for your posting, and for your suggestion about Native American spirituality. It's an excellent suggestion. Joseph and I don't usually make a distinction between spirituality, as a general concept, and spirituality as practiced by any particular group of people. Whether that group be Native American or any other people. “But Native Americans certainly did have spiritual values many humans today have lost sight of--respect for our Mother Earth, respect for animals, respect for one another, respect for sovereignty of each individual. “I don't know as there's anything unique about these Native American spiritual values. They're really human values. And it would behoove all of us to pay more attention to them, and to what's really important to all of us on this beautiful blessed planet of ours.” And Joseph’s response: Chief Joseph What you might call Native American spirituality is not essentially different from most other forms of human spirituality. It is not unique in its essence. It may, however, be unique in its practice. Basically, Native American spirituality is simply a reverence for life, a respect for divine spark in all life, in all beings. In that way it is pure, as contrasted with dogma, theology, and laws which often drag other forms of spirituality away from their roots, if you will.
| | Bi-LocationWritten by Robert Bruce Baird
BI-LOCATION (PADRE PIO & PYTHAGORAS): - But I do have some experience with an even more 'fantastic' occurrence that ties in with dematerialization. Some approaches to Bermuda Triangle might even be part of a dimensional shift and time/worm hole science, which String Theorists and chaos science are able to provide arcane formulations to prove. My own experience is not a physical 'bi-location' so it would have astral or other simpler connections. Still, what difference is between physical and metaphysical might be a large part of whole reality we are struggling to conceptualize. Whether we call it 'The Theory of Everything’ like Stephen Hawking and Einstein or Unified Force Field of Tesla and Michael Faraday we are treading in some truly exotic territory. Though that is true, there are many exotic realities to be considered and 'denial' isn't a river in Egypt. That is one of places that Pythagoras (born to at least one acknowledged Phoenician) went to learn some very amazing things from Pyramid. There are numerous people who reported upon his 'bi-location' experiences. These same people are considered credible when they report other things. Michael Grant is arguably top modern classical history scholar and he writes that Pythagoras had some 'weird' ideas, even as he acknowledges he knows little about things that were so well by and about a sage who affected all areas of life in his time. He reports these stories as fairly as can be expected for a person who has no basis to judge such things. The idea of 'bi-location' certainly is 'weird' but so are parallel universes, dark matter, intelligent design, cold fusion and a whole host of genetic, robotic and other scientific realities starting with computers which are about to include quantum teleporting gates. For those who want a little more insight to Pythagoras and Pythagorean Brotherhood we have an entry under Croton. The issue of 'bi- location' itself relates to a variety of other concepts and mysteries but if it is a purely physical experience it might involve time and dimensional shifts, both. "After Saint Therese Neumann, Padre Pio {Carmelites are very psychic Christians whose learning may include things of Enoch and Jasher, which sadly were removed from Bible.} is perhaps most widely observed Western saint to demonstrate divine powers of healing and regeneration. The first signs of his extraordinary qualities occurred unexpectedly on September 20, 1918. Then a 31-year-old Capuchin monk, Padre Pio was sitting alone in monastery chapel, praying after mass. Outside, Padre Leone heard a scream within chapel and ran in to find Padre Pio lying unconscious on floor, bleeding profusely from five wounds of stigmata. Several monks carried him to his room, where he begged them to keep his condition a secret. But word spread. The Church quickly put a ban of silence on Padre Pio, concerned that this untested monk might be manifesting symptoms of hysteria. He was forbidden to write or speak in public--'yet over next five decades, Padre Pio would prove to be one of most remarkable Western saints in history.' Like Saint Therese Neumann, Padre Pio bore for his entire life wounds of stigmata that never healed. And thousands of individuals - from ordinary Italian peasants and fellow clerics to high public officials and pilgrims from around world - witnessed and testified to his powers of telepathy, prophecy, bilocation, levitation {Like Theresa de Avila and John of Cross}, and healing.
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