One of the retreat directors mentioned Malidoma Patrice Some when someone asked about reading to begin to explore what he was talking about. I guessed at the spelling and followed up. Malidoma has been a great find.
Malidoma has experience in both the Catholic tradition, in which he was initially in training to be a priest, and deep knowledge of his own indigenous tradition, which he returned to and was trained in as an adult. His story is told in Of Water and Spirit.
Here are some notes from some brief remarks last year.
–Marie
Einstein said imagination is more powerful than knowledge
Knowledge can help us engage imagination and realize the huge opportunities that every moment gives us and not wait for some redeemer
It boils down to the capacity to see the capacity and genius in each one of us and draw from that a lot of gratitude and excitement.
Re: Commodification in the world today:
What is invaluable seems to be ignored, the value of the gifts each of us bring, the genie waiting to be engaged to go to work, for us, not in the sweaty fashion but the labor that is construction from monumental love. The kind we can mirror, in which we can see ourselves.
There are no words to express the human genius, words that change things and shift reality. WE have to be ready to wonder every day. What is the nature of the lexicon we are using? The words we tend to recycle in ourselves – do they contribute to our expansion or our contraction?
Are we trapped in a merry-go-round vocabulary while the forces that fed us that are enjoying a certain type of prosperity?
We have to use the gifts the ancestors gave us, the capacity for discernment, the capacity to see behind the cosmetic painting of beauty toward that which is beautiful unto itself, needing no repair. That we are all-purposeful people who are here for a grandiose reason. Anyone who tells us we don’t have anything to give this world, we really should take offense at that, and report them to the ancestors! (Laughter).
We have a responsibility to the young ones. Speak to the same issues from different angles. The concept of citizenry that is laid upon us. The identity that is assigned.
What we carry within us is much bigger than the notion of belonging assigned to us in a particular locality. We are all children of this earth. We’re all stuck here. The only way out is by rejoining the ancestors.
What we are invited to do is to try to narrow the space between each other, make it a sacred one.
This place can become close to heaven/a garden/the kingdom or closer to a penal colony. Living our purpose is unleashing the genie from the prison house. We must figure out ways to address…
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