Osiyo my brothers and sisters in this group

[suzydoll]

I AM NEW TO THIS GROUP AND TO THE SITE. MY ENGLISH BIRTH NAME MEANS ADMIRED-LITTLE CHAMPION. IF THERE IS AN ELDER OUT THERE WHO CAN TRANSLATE THIS INTO CHEROKEE FOR ME I WOULD BE HONORED.

I'VE BEEN STUDYING NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY, CULTURE, & TRADITIONS FOR OVER A YEAR NOW AND HAVE FOUND THAT MY SPIRITUALITY HAS EVOLVED INTO SOMETHING I CAN FINALLY UNDERSTAND, FEEL, AND ACTUALLY APPLY TO MY LIFE ON A DAILY BASIS.

I HAVE BEEN ACTIVELY RESEARCHING AND STUDYING ENERGY AND HEALING FOR OVER 8 YEARS AND WORK AN AN ENERGY WORKER, HEALER, LIFE COACH AND COUNSELOR. MANY NATIVE AMERICANS HAVE CROSSED MY PATH AND RECOGNIZED ME AS BEING A SHAMAN THEY TOLD ME.

I LACK THE KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM CONCERNING SHAMANS TO KNOW IF THEY ARE CORRECT OR NOT. AGAIN IF THERE IS AN ELDER OUT THERE WHO HAS INSIGHT INTO THIS I WOULD BE HONORED IF YOU WOULD SHARE.

THE VISION THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME BY THE GREAT SPIRIT WAS TO DO THE HEALING WORK THAT I DO.

IN MY DREAM TIME I AM A TRAVELER AND IF YOU CAN RELATE TO THAT I WOULD WELCOME COMMUNICATION WITH YOU AND SHARE EXPERIENCES.

ALSO SPIRIT HAS GIVEN ME THE GIFT OF VISION (NOT MEANING PHYSIC ABILITY)

TWO YEARS AGO SPIRIT LED ME INTO RESEARCHING AND STUDYING ANIMAL MEDICINE.

I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE INFORMATION AND SPIRITUALITY OF THIS GROUP AND I WOULD BE HONORED IF YOU WOULD ACCEPT MY INVITATION OF FRIENDSHIP HERE.

I LOOK FORWARD TO DEEPENING MY UNDERSTANDING AND EXPANDING MY KNOWLEDGE FROM YOU ALL.

MAY THE WARM WINDS OF HEAVEN BLOW SOFTLY ON YOUR LODGE AND THE GREAT SPIRIT BLESS ALL WHO ENTER THERE.

Yigaquv osaniyu adanvto adadoligi naqvv utlogasdi nihi (May The Great Spirit's Blessings always be with you).

Suzydoll

[blackfootedgirl]

`Hello Suzydoll,
I absolutely do not want to sound flippant, but you don't need to worry about how you will find those with the knowledge you seek for the continuance of your spiritual learning and/or of your teachings to others in need of guidance.
Those experienced beings you seek will just happen into your life at the right time with the right information,but they come in all appearences,shapes,ages, ,genders,and demographics. It could be anyone and you might even consider dismissing them when you first meet.
Remember how you have come across those who needed you and that feeling that came across you two upon meeting.
Keep out there in a state of open mindedness so you can be found.
Regarding your concern as to the authenticity from whom you receive knowledge or teachings,keep and use teachings that feel right and archive the other information for later consideration as you gain experience. There is an old Buddhist saying that kind of relates to this situation and it kind of goes like this......
"If when on the road you meet a man claiming to be Buddha, kill him because the true Buddha would never admit to being as such."
I have down the basic meaning of the old saying but not the exact wording.
Many times I have crossed paths those having the knowledge I needed at that particular time in my life, there is something to learn from everyone not only titled people and the process never ends.
P.S. Welcome here!

[(deleted)]

`
The idea of "killing the Buddha" comes from a famous Zen line, the context of which is easy to imagine: After years on his cushion, a monk has what he believes is a breakthrough: a glimpse of nirvana, the Buddha mind, the big pay-off. Reporting the experience to his master, however, he is informed that what has happened is par for the course, nothing special, maybe even damaging to his pursuit. And then the master gives the student dismaying advice: If you meet the Buddha, he says, kill him.

Why kill the Buddha? Because the Buddha you meet is not the true Buddha, but an expression of your longing. If this Buddha is not killed he will only stand in your way.

Why Killing the Buddha ? For our purposes, killing the Buddha is a metaphor for moving past the complacency of belief, for struggling honestly with the idea of God. As people who take faith seriously, we are endlessly amazed and enraged that religious discourse has become so bloodless, parochial and boring. Any God worth the name is none of these things. Yet when people talk about God they are talking mainly about the Buddha they meet. For fear of seeming intolerant or uncertain, or just for lack of thinking, they talk about a God too small to be God.

Killing the Buddha is about finding a way to be religious when we're all so self-conscious and self-absorbed. Knowing more than ever about ourselves and the way the world works, we gain nothing through nostalgia for a time when belief was simple, and even less from insisting that now is such a time. Killing the Buddha will ask, How can we be religious without leaving part of ourselves at the church or temple door? How can we love God when we know it doesn't matter if we do? Call it God for the godless. Call it the search for a God we can believe in: A God that will not be an embarrassment in twelve-thousand years. A God we can talk about without qualifications.

Killing the Buddha insists that if religion matters at all it matters enough to be taken to task. We believe its high time for a new canon to be created, and that the Web is just the place to collect it. We refuse to accept the internet as a world wide shopping mall. We know intuitively it can be a sort of Talmudic cathedral, a tool of transcendence made of words. Were here to build it. If the end result looks more like Babel than the City of God, so be it. Babel, after all, came close.

[chumani67_PREV (deleted)]

`I think this is all great..but what about the idea that "whats it matter anyway" cause it looks like we're going to go crashing into the ocean in some "apocolyptic" ice melt due to an out of control gaping hole in the ozone in a short time.

I am not being sarcastic here..thats how some of (us) think..and the numbers are growing.

Does it really matter, at this point, if there is a god??

[cello_PREV (deleted)]

Things only matter to us if we want them to.
Life devoid of faith of the mysterious power that creates universes, the masterpiece that is our body, a flower, a thunderstorm ... to me is a bland life.
Nothing great or beautiful or helpful has ever been created by a truckload of pessimists that I know of.
....But a single person who dares to dream of better and remains unaffected by those who say it can't be done ... all doom and gloom ... baa Humbug!......
The list is long .. all through the ages, of those that tapped into that power .. of hope or faith or love, and co-created beyond the feeble comprehension of human logic.

Anyway that's what we get to choose ... glass half empty ... glass half full.
there's always going to be just half a glass of water in this life of contrast.

Die of thirst in a desert ... or thirst be quenched in an oasis?
I go the oasis ... but that's just my thing.

[chumani67_PREV (deleted)]

`I appreciate what you say..very pretty the way it's put. I do like to be though from time to time a devils advocate (so to speak..not that I believe in one or not)..because in the back of my mind these thoughts are there based on my own life I suppose.
Whether I chose to do something good, or see a glass half-full or not has never been influenced one bit over whether I believe in any god at all. It is the person I am. Nothing and no thing can compel me to be any different.
I can only speak for myself...but I really do see where people are getting burned-out. Tired questioning if there is a sacred anymore..and science (although has done good in some areas) has really done much to diminish the sacred and put a logical spin on everything..the MYSTERY gets killed under their need to dissect the evidence to make sense of what they cannot understand because they are not taking in the info. from the level of the soul..they want it to make sense to the physical senses in order to justify whether its worth believeing in. In the process the spirit of the message...the loveliness of it..is left dying on the floor of advancement.
So then people getting "schooled" now ask...why believe??
Because mystery colors life? I dont know the answer.