Richard Wagamese is a writer and story teller that I find myself often appreciating. He is Ojibwe. He sweetly blends indigenous teaching with contemporary life. As I hear it, to invite harmony, oneness, kindness, and wisdom — all in support of healthy human family.
“One Drum” is a posthumous publication released in April 2020. He died in 2017 where he lived in Kamloops, BC. One Drum was a found collection of writings, musings, ceremonies, and insights. Ah, what a gift. I find with this book, as I did with another of his publications, “Embers” that there is oodles of material to use as prompt to invite so much thoughtfulness, connection, and learning.
From yesterday with a friend, randomly chosen from One Drum (…pick a page number, any page number…), page 62:
Everything begins with humility. The great circle energy that comprises our being is driven by it. Without the guiding energy of humility, all other spiritual principles are diminished. It’s possible to learn them, to practice them, but their vital foundation, their best intent, does not function as highly without humility at the helm. In the Long Ago Time, as the legends say, the Animal People existed with humility at their core. They spoke to each other as equals. They helped each other. When new beings appeared among them they sought to help, to guide, to teach. There was no hierarchy. They did not need hierarchy because the spiritual byproduct of humility was sharing.
The prompt is simple. It isn’t explicit in the book. It is just how I encounter material like this for myself and with groups to bring connection and learning.
“Is there a particular detail from this passage that stands out to you, that invokes a particular part of your attention? A phrase. A word. And image.”
This kind of prompt is so much not about a right answer. It is not about correct summarizing. It is about being a willing noticer — which I see as such a big part of my work with groups — to connect outer seeing with inner seeing.
And then here is the extra prompt — What does that noticed detail have to do with who you (or we) are or who you (or we) are becoming?
I believe, friends, that the invitation to harmony, oneness, kindness, and wisdom — this is critical work for our times. This invitation can be quite simple in practice, and yet so very lasting and impactful in the simple process of being willing noticers.
Enjoy this with the prompt above, or pretty much anything you observe in the “outer” world.
