One Man?s Perspective on Health, Traditions & Passing Lineage

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??????????????????????? In a general way, we may consider ourselves to be a ?higher life form? on this planet, which brings up the question of how intelligence is measured? All peoples are born with a certain amount of intelligence, what we may call ?Natural Intelligence?. Then of course there is what each of us is taught or learns from our experiences. These two parts of our intelligence are different for each of us & so we have many expressions of what is considered to be intelligence. Some forms of intelligence rank higher than others according to ?social norms? but to accurately measure such things is purely subjective.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? In the old way of measuring intelligence, practicality was the primary measuring stick & this formed a connection to belief structures that were in an ever-evolving state. A person?s ability to care for their self, for their loved ones and their community & live in harmony with their environment, was a measure of their abilities & strengthened or altered the beliefs they shared. In essence, the proving ground spoke the loudest; it grew, developed, & changed in accordance to our collective evolution. Our response-ability was natural and came from the way we lived our daily lives; each day starting over on the proving ground field of life.

???????????????????????????????????????????????????? Local, regional, national & global economies/politics became strange ?bed-fellows- predators? that twisted morals and human shared value structures to unspeakable treacheries. Over time, we sleepily began to accept guidelines, rules & eventually laws that made our Elders not know us, and our Ancestors role over in their graves. Human Traditions were traded in for merchant class deceptions, short-sighted technologies and sacrificial relationships until one day, we put aside our Inner truth & accepted a ?norm? that used ?our sharpest weapon on the ones we loved most?. We learned to casually cut deep with our words, take for granted & take advantage of the ones we call friends & loved ones, and accepted ?reward? for biting the hand that feeds/helps us, we accept empty promises, empty words, that we speak casually each day. Slowly, through the generations, we have learned to accept a fate that is with out response, with out ability to function honestly. We have been led away from exemplary living & the experiential learning that happens in the proving ground of daily life. If you have your ?ear to the ground? even a little bit, you can hear the ?victim- conversations? that moves through every class in society. These conversations reflect the growing questions/concerns of what we may candidly call ?The current state of affairs of a crumbling society?; the human condition as individuals, as a community and as a race of beings.

???????????????????????????????????????????????????? So how is Health, Traditions & Passing Lineages tied together? Our Health or whole-ness is a measure of self ?care, abilities & our individual beliefs. In part, it is a measure of our capacity toward adaptation, it qualifies our effectiveness (what we feel we may give in effort) & ties our beliefs to our actions or lack there of. How we care for ourselves is deeply tied to care we are able to give or share with others. We may argue that we sacrifice our needs for others & tend to give more than we expect back, but we can also see that giving in this way cannot go on for very long before we are in a position to pull-in, and may in fact now need help ourselves; a bit of an imbalance if we see ourselves in the light of helping others. In short, the principle of continuous giving, contains a foundation of maintaining or self care & love. Our own principles of self-care are a smaller picture of our giving or extension to others; the bigger picture of sharing with out breaking down.

???????????????????????????????????????????? Timeless Traditions are based on things that we share in common & in the practicalities of life. The ones who came before us wanted to leave us with a way to ease our journey, not to have to re-invent the wheel so to speak. Traditions have their roots in experience, natural & learned intelligence & the shared beliefs of that particular time period. Perhaps the words ?evolution & tradition? come to mind when we talk about this; we may think that some traditions are no longer useful because we have evolved passed them or that some traditions will never need to evolve because they are true in all times?. It may be that both are true, that both of these points of view are in fact, a function of our particular beliefs, that can change or return back to what worked before.? Our ?Old Ones?, the ones who came before us (who may in fact, have been us), with good intention, care and love, left us some clues and ways to help our selves along the walk of life. These markers, this ?bread crumb trail? was a place to begin, a living map that is meant to help us, not a rulebook, set in stone. Our Ancestors know that life is expressed in motion, in what moves in harmony with all that is; things that stop or stagnate are moving into transition or ending this cycle of their existence and preparing for another expression, another form. And so we may begin to understand that the circle of life contains the principle of motion or continuous movement and that the ?bread crumbs? were left to follow, to create movement, to support this life cycle. This is the formal act of passing the lineage, & is the natural response & ability we have for the care and love we share, for the next generation. It?s not a job or a burden, it?s not over-whelming, it?s our gift back to ourselves, the reward and honor of our lives that we can share together; the great joy of this cycle of life.

????????????????????????????????????????????????? Lineage, Health and Traditions are not stagnant, they are not the past, they represent the expression of the continuous living movement/moment. What is referred to as The Passing of Human Lineage Traditions is alive, has form & returns to formlessness, is ever changing and is connected to the continuity of change, has a natural life-cycle and transforms with out ending. It is the past, present & future in Harmony and the place where we know All Things are Felt in Connection.

??????????????????????????????????????????????? I wrote this to find a bit of clarity and to support the many ways and expressions that exist to help us un-cover our true natures. As Individuals, we share more commonalities that we care to admit, often feeling that our conflicts, problems & difficulties are unique to ourselves. Dis-spelling this illusion is basic to sharing and opening up to one another, eliminating the confusion that we are separated, at the mercy of ourselves, others or any other situation or environment. Perhaps truly understanding Balance is worthy of a bit more attention.

?????????????????????????????????????????????? What can we do, Where can we start? Well, we can start will the most obvious things that ?get in our way?, pains, fears, difficulties that surface every day. We can listen & follow (this may be about starting new & useful habits), engage our greatest dreams. We can face the illusions that show up as fear-trap-thought-forms, go about dispelling doubts, dis-beliefs and dropping useless habits. We can bring into action what it is that we do so very well; ?creation?s gift?, that which is given to each on of us, we can take care of ourselves, share with each other, aspire to live our lives in a natural way. We can listen, follow & when it is our turn, lead. We can be humble, helpful, ?Do what we say, Say what we do?, walk our talk. Our perspective can include that ? All situations are workable? and that can have a range of flexibility. Accommodation (or ?win/win?) can replace compromise. Life can be lived, not ?worked?, allowing it to occur with out a need or the confusion that it must be ?earned?. Do what is in your heart, spent time with your self, with each other, with our children (they do belong to all of us) and Elders (listen to their wisdom), so that when it is time, we may transition from this world with out regret.