Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church
1948 The Alameda
San Jose, CA 95126
San Jose, CA 95126
I have been reading (re-reading, after a great deal of time) Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. In his section on Solitude, he writes the following:
Society is commonly too cheap. We meet each other at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war. We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other's way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications. Consider the girls in a factory - never alone, hardly in their dreams. It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mild, as where I live. The value of a man is not in his skin, that we should touch him.
Spirit is an invisible force made visible in all life. In many African religions there is the belief that all things are inhabited by spirits which must be appeased and to which one can appeal. So, for example when a master drummer prepares to carve a new drum, he approaches the selected tree and speaks to the spirit residing there. In his prayer he describes himself, his experience, and his expertise; then he explains his intent. He insures the spirit that he will remain grateful for the gift of the tree and that he will use the drum only for honorable purposed.
I believe that Spirit is one and is everywhere present. That it never leaves me. That in my ignorance I may withdraw from it, but I can realize its presence the instant I return to my senses.
It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable. I cannot separate what I conceive as Spirit from my concept of God. Thus, I believe that god is Spirit.
Ever since I was a boy in Northern Minnesota I have read Native American legends. Some of them are very similar to scripture, some are vastly different. They seek to answer questions, as do our stories. Recently I have decided that I would like to share some of my favorites with you (or at least some that I have read recently that I find to be interesting). This time:
Quan-ants, the eagle, sat on a ledge high up on the face of the cliff and talked to his young ones. "This," he said, "is the best home in the world. We can see everywhere, and nothing can come here to harm us or steal our food. I saw a rabbit run into his holes under the ground. That would be an awful dark place to live. We have the best home in the world."
Far down on the ground below, a rabbit chased by a hungry coyote, ducked quickly into his hole and laughed at his escape. He said to his little ones, "This is the best home in the world. When our enemies chase us we are safe if we can get home. At night we can huddle together here and nothing can come in to harm us. I saw an eagle's nest away up on the cliff. If his young ones fell out they would be killed. This is the best home in the world."
The eyes of both the eagle and the rabbit looked out upon the same world, but they did not see the same things because their heads were not the same.
It is even so with Tobats and Shinob, the gods. Their heads do not think the same because their eyes do not see alike. Old Tobats is a lazy fellow who hardly every leaves the big cave he lives in at Tobats-kan. He likes to make things but when they are done he is satisfied and he troubles himself no more about them. He always calls to Shinob and tells him to go and see that thing he has made.
In his work old Tobats thinks only of strength and endurance. He wants all of his creations to last forever. It annoys him always to have any of his works perish or have to be fixed over.
Tobats is the old god and Shinob is his younger brother. When Shinob goes to see the thing Tobats has made he usually comes back with irritating suggestions and criticisms. The older god doesn't like that, but still he always says, "Go and see that thing I have made."
Shinob cares little how long things last. He wants everything beautiful. All that he does is lovely, but everything he touches must perish. He put grace in the willows, warmth in the sunshine and song in the throats of the birds. When Tobats complains that all that the young god touches will perish, Shinob answers, "Well, Tobats, if they do you can make them all over again."
One time when Shinob had been sent to look at tu-weap, the earth, he came back and said it was good and strong but it was all the same color. "It is all gray and cheerless. Why don't we put some colors all around down there? That would make tu-weap very beautiful."
Tobats was good-natured that day so he said, "All right, Shinob, you go and put all the colors you want on tu-weap. Make the flowers that are there red and green and blue and yellow - put all the colors there are in them.
"How am I going to do that thing?" Shinob asked. "I don't know how to put all these colors in the flowers down there."
Tobats said, "You go out to all the mountains in our country. There are lots of mountains and every one is a different color. You bring back a little soil from every one. Then we look them over. We will see how many kinds of colors you will take to tu-weap."
Shinob went out and brought in the samples. There was red dirt and white dirt and black and yellow and green and blue. There was every kind of color that there is, and Tobats picked them over to see which ones should be taken to tu-weap. He did not intend to send every one of his colors, but Shinob said they were all lovely and he wanted to bring every one.
"All right," Tobats said, "you can have every kind. You go now and make a lot of big strong sacks from buffalo skins. Make them as big as you can carry full of dirt. Make one sack for every color you want to take to tu-weap." When the sacks were made ready Tobats told Shinob to take them out and fill them and bring them to Tobats-kan, their home.
Shinob worked had and after a long time had all the sacks of soil assembled in front of Tobat's cave. The old god then gave him two seeds to plant in every sack. Shinob was to look in the sacks every morning and put a little water in.
The seeds grew in every sack and each sack held a different kind of plant. Some were little and some were big. Some had leaves and some were like grass. Some were smooth and soft and some were thorny like the cactus and prickly pears. They were of every shape and kind and size, but they were all very interesting to look at. Then, too, they bore flowers of every imaginable kind and color for the flowers had taken the colors of the soil in which they grew.
Shinob looked at them and he was so happy he said to Tobats, "They are all so beautiful. Let me take them right now to tu-weap." Tobats answered, 'No, they are not ready. You must wait another year."
After awhile the plants bore seeds, then withered and died. Tobats told Shinob to gather all the seeds and mix them together in one sack. When he had done that, the old god told him to take all the sacks of soil and empty them in one pile and mix the soils together.
When the springtime came Tobats told Shinob to put that mixed soil back into his buffalo sacks. Then he told him to put a handful of the mixed seeds into every sack. Every morning again he was to look in the sacks and pour in a little water.
When the plants grew this time, there were every kind and every color in every sack. Shinob was enraptured with their beauty and he said to Tobats,"Let me take them now to tu-weap just like they are." Tobats answered, "No, you must wait longer yet."
Shinob did all that hard work and then Tobats told him to sack it all up again and carry it to tu-weap. "When you get there," Tobats said, "you scatter that soul and seed all over the face of tu-weap. Go everywhere."
Shinob came and sprinkled the seed-infested soil all over the land and from that day to this, when summertime comes, there have been flowers here of every kind and color. The plants draw the colors for their blossoms from the soil that Tobats sent from the colored mountains of Tobats-kan.
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