Friday, November 20, 2009

Be the greatest at being Humble, You are superb.

Here I am being Humble with my very beautiful and smart baby girl. It's easy to be humble when you have such a great kid!





When you enter a Sweatlodge, you have to crawl in and you won't stand in the Lodge. You enter in a good way and in a humble way. You are just as good as the next person, no better and no worse. You are one of the Creators gifts. In some Teachings it is the Wolf that carriers that Humility Teaching. I am no Teacher so I can not pass on information that I have no real knowledge about. I just know that with the representation of what the Lodge symbolizes, I wouldn't be standing in there as well. You must have heard of the fetal position.mmmm? :-)

It is a difficult thing to be humble. We all look at ourselves in the mirror, check our hair, make sure we look good in our duds. I wish I knew the real Teaching of Humility. I know what humility means but to be truly humble. In the way the Teaching wants us to understand. It's hard. We all think we are better than someone else. We know that we try harder than other people. We've earned what we have. We have the beautiful wife/husband, the great kids, the good life. So how can we be humble when we have so much, so much to be proud of? Being proud is also a Teaching.
I guess the answer is to balance the Teachings. The way we carry ourselves. So be humble but not too humble? Or be humble when people are looking and be proud when we are at home. I don't know. Be humble or something will happen that will really humble your for sure. In any case, it's difficult. No one said that living with the Teachings was easy.

I assume most people know what a Sweatlodge is and what it represents. There are many reasons the people go into a Lodge. There are many different reasons that a Lodge is used; cleansing, healing, teaching, learning. You can look up the Sweatlodge on the web and find many examples, pictures and explanations for the Lodge. You can even find directions on how to build one and where there are Sweats being held. It seems that anyone and everyone holds Sweats these days. I will not link to Sweatlodge information on here because of how I see the Lodge being used by some people. From my own view, the Sweatlodge should not be used a commodity; a part of the market economy. But that's only me. If you find peace in paying for the privilege to go in a Lodge, well that's your choice. I remind you that some people have paid the price for going into a Lodge. I am not talking about the six thousand dollar people paid to go into the James Arthur Ray (author of the Secret) Lodge, but the price that they paid with their lives.

I know societies have been using Sweat-lodges, Sweat-bathes for eons. I saw Fedor Emelianko taking part in a Russian Bania. He was steam sweating before his big fight. He of course went on to win his fight over a giant. If it is good enough for the greatest Mixed Martial Art fighter of all time, well I think it's good enough for me. So I think I will go back to the Sweatlodge. Not necessarily the bania, but the Teaching Lodges (another type of lodge). I don't know how to hold a bania so I will not try. I don't know the Teachings behind it. That is for someone else to hold.

For those people that really don't buy into the healing properties of the Sweat. Let me fill you in on something. You've heard of negative ions. Those things that get pushed into the air when you are in a Las Vegas casino? Well the SweatLodge has negative ions and lots of them. In addition heat to your head is known to relieve some ailments. So if you are not going into to feed your Spirit or for cleansing or for Teachings, than perhaps you can go for the scientific medical properties of a steam, heat and meditation.

In any case, be humble when you go in. And be the best humble person you can be.

4 comments:

  1. It's almost impossible to be humble today in this "me" society. You are told in/on all media to think of what you want and you need. Ophra's show, not too long ago was telling women to step back from all their duties and take time for themselves. I've always thought taking care of your spouse and children was what you should be doing...I never felt like I lost "myself" when I was in that situation.
    I'm new to reading your blog...and like it. I found it by looking for directions on how to make a small, doll size cradle board. I've been trying to make a color book of cradle boards and their beautiful designs...but I'm not getting very far..haha...lazy, I guess.

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  2. Yeah, thank you and good success on your project.

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  3. Hi, Steve!
    I just wanted to thank you for your very interesting and beautiful blog, for sharing your amazing culture with your readers.
    I'm russian and know how to hold a bania. It's one of the greatest things in life. But till now i thought bania and sweatlodge have different purposes. Bania is more for washing yourself, and taking sweatlodge has a more spiritual meaning i thought. But your comparison of these two things has led me to an idea that bania as well can be healing for our souls, not only for bodies. Haven't taken it for ages, and now i'm kind of want to.

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  4. Thank you Shimanati for your nice comments. I do believe that there is a path for everyone. The Bania I saw looked like it was a spiritual experience as well. Take care. Steve

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