Human Spirituality and Nature with Aboriginal Eyes - Literature review Example

Human Spirituality and Nature with Aboriginal Eyes Religion is natural to the life of humanity. Virtually, every type of people has a certain religion to which they ascribe. Books written in different cultural orientations affirm this fact. Rice's Seeing the world with Aboriginal Eyes, Yiwu's God is Red and Benton- Banai's The Mishomis Book are some of the books that illustrate the struggles of people to attain spiritual perfectness through diverse ways. Such religion involves the belief in spirits or supernatural beings. It is the duty of every human being to act in accordance with the teachings and demands of the supernatural beings to enjoy internal peace and harmony with nature. Failure to adhere to the dogmas as required by the supernatural beings leads to calamities in one's life. Therefore, every individual is a spiritual being with the nature playing an enormous role in perfecting this spirituality. Individuals will thus act to attain spiritual perfectness as a duty and nature of every being. Consequently, the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of individuals could be read and understood through a spiritual lens regardless of their culture or other affiliations. Rice's Seeing the World with Aboriginal Eyes delves deep into a people deeply rooted in religion and spirituality a deeply rooted culture among the aborigines. The book opens with the seeing path or the eastern door, which brings out the fundamental cause of the world and nature including the beliefs and knowledge that results from spirituality as experienced through vision. As such, the environment plays a significant role in spirituality, which ensures sustenance of this spirituality within individuals throughout their life regardless of their immediate location. For instance, Rice explains that as a result of the immigration of the aborigine people into urban centers, the urban youths have more access to their traditions than ever before; the migrating people carry along their cultural heritage, making the urban youths cement their cultural values rather than defy it (Rice, 3). The strong effect of nature in determining the spirituality of individuals is further brought out in Benton-Benai's The Mishomis Book. From chapter one, the author narrates how the earth is a woman and water is her life blood. A woman is significant in that she symbolizes productivity of nature while water sustains life in the universe, the same way blood sustains life in humans. The author further insists on the role played by nature in the life of man. He explains how the creator sent birds carrying seeds in four directions and then placed fish on water and animals on land, before creating man. As such, nature had to be formed first before a man could exist, which could suggest that man owes his life to nature itself. Later, man started to learn about the earth and its importance in his existence. He realized that the plants were safe to eat so as to preserve life and for use as medicine. In addition, Mishomis, in this case, is the Ojibwa word that means a grandfather. The interpretation of a grandfather could mean the male energy or the male spirit as has been amerced in many years. As such, the spirituality of masculinity energy and the feminine energy are responsible for creating a balance in the natural world. Consequently, such the Mishomis even believe rocks are inanimate objects. The spirits of their ancestors live in his rocks, and the spirits have a role in guiding the living. Yiwu's, God is Red, though set in more modern times than the other two novels, the book brings out the power of spirituality and the sacrifices that people have to make in ensuring they are in accordance with this spirituality. For instance, the author expresses his astonishment at seeing an experienced and educated persons abandon their careers to follow ‘an awkward' way of life. The author interviewed Dr. Sun, a medical doctor who left his career for the sake of Christianity. The doctor confessed being living a humble life and even invited the author to his dwelling place to experience the humble and lowly life, a contrast of the life he lived as a medical doctor (Yiwu, xvi). Such is a great sacrifice by an individual hell bent to perfect his spirituality by abandoning all luxuries to live a humble life in the mountains. The mountains symbolize the relationship between nature and spirituality. A similar form of sacrifice is observed in Wang Zisheng, a man who underwent cruel trials and solitary confinement in prisons but refused to dishonor or leave his calling in Christianity. In fact, as Zisheng remarked, "In our society today, people's minds are entangled and chaotic. They need the words of the gospel now more than at any other time." (Yiwu, 115-116). This great sacrifice could be compared to the sacrifice of Waynaboozhoo in The Mishomis Book. Just as the priest in Christianity left his luxury for the sake of others, Waynaboozhoo saved himself and some animals from being consumed by floods by having them float on a log. Moreover, only Muskarat prevailed to get some earth under the great floods and in the process sacrificing his life to save others. Similarly, the Christians in God is Red defied all odds and persecution to save others by preaching salvation as a way to attain spiritual perfectness and as the sole destiny of man to have a duty to others. The strength to continue despite all the obstacles could be related to the burning fire that each and every one possess. One has to ensure the fire continues burning as illustrated in The Mishomis Book under the Grandfather's teaching located on the medicine wheel in chapter eight. It is the same fire expressed in Seeing the World with Aboriginal Eyes. In this case, the person's unconscious parts have a role in improving the aboriginal consciousness and are vital to ensuring the aboriginals are in harmony and balance with all existence (Rice, 66). Besides, in all the texts, sharing and togetherness is glorified as a worthy cause in spirituality, "They believed that faith was a valuable gift, and they wanted to share this spiritual awakening with a guest" (Yiwu, 78). Similarly, the aborigines are on a search to know themselves in a better way and improve their relationship with their world. Such a mission would entail improving their relationship among themselves first through mediation and prayers (Rice, 85). The same aspect of communion with one another as the best way to understand self is also illustrated in chapter eight of The Mishomis Book. Here, Waynaboozhoo returns to his people and feels proud of his family, an experience that taught him the importance of balance in life. In summing up, spirituality is tightly tied to the lives of individuals and people are usually willing to sacrifice greatly as a way of exercising this spirituality towards attaining perfection. While spirituality is not entirely about religion, many cultures are molded about the same concept of spirituality with nature playing a major role in the exercise of this spirituality. A universal aspect of the different methods of practicing spirituality is caring for one another and understanding one's self as the beginning to improve the relationship with others. The various practices view the world as chaotic and hence great sacrifice from individuals is required to save it by saving others. For instance, The Mishomis Book stresses the need of strong values such as courage and humbleness, values that are shared in a similar way in the other two books. Life is viewed as Holy and a gift from a supernatural being and hence has to be respected which necessitates the tendency of self-sacrifice for others. It is the willingness to preserve this life that ignites a burning fire within individuals, a fire that keeps on burning strong as one strives towards spiritual perfectness. This makes it possible to read the thoughts, actions and beliefs of people through a spiritual lens, a major bearing that drives them in life. Work Cited Benton-Banai, Edward. The Mishomis Books: The Voice of the Ojibway. Brunswick, NY: Red School House, 1988 Brian Rice, Seeing the World With Aboriginal Eyes: A Four Directional Perspective on Human and non-Human Values, Cultures, and Relationships on Turtle Island. Winnipeg: Aboriginal Issues Press, 2005, Yiwu, L. God Is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China. NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 2011. Read More