We all have our own ideas on what is sacred or not. Many justify their rape and pillage by not viewing nature or even other people as being sacred. In my view, everything is sacred. EVERYTHING! It was all created and manifested from spirit and as such it all has significance, value and should be held in the highest esteem.
Photo taken somewhere in Saskatchewan during our recent train trip across Turtle Island north of the 49th.
Where I struggle most is dealing with the emotional and spiritual impacts of people who engage in violence and other acts that desecrate the sacred, especially our youth and women. There is a lot of disclosure coming forward about pedophilia, rape and other evil acts being done against children and women. There is even attempts to lower the age of consent to make it legal to engage in sexual activities with those as young as 10 or 12 years old.
To be clear, when we are growing up, we are physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually vulnerable and immature. It took me 33 years to acquire emotional and mental maturity and others don't acquire any level of maturity even when they are 80. So to expect a child to be able to fully comprehend the consequences of their actions when they are 10 or 12 is completely unrealistic and down right wrong.
That is why it is absolutely critical that we start learning how to govern ourselves. It is impossible to establish a law form box that everyone can fit into. It requires a discerning individual to evaluate and determine the situation they find themselves in and make sure that their actions don't infringe on the rights of others.
When we see all life as being sacred, that helps with that discernment greatly. But when we start to justify our actions in an attempt to desecrate that which is sacred so that we can then engage in harmful behaviours, that should be a huge flag to warn us all! That is where we all have a duty to one another to confront such behaviour that desecrates that which is sacred.
Every life form is sacred. Period. No debate! I don't care how you or others justify the point. All life is sacred. So too is water, air, land, plants, animals and other people. It is all sacred. So now how do we live when we must eat that which is sacred and kill sacred plants in order to provide clothing, shelter, water and food?
Those are the questions I face every day as I explore my relationship with Creator and Mother Earth. That is why I give thanks and offer tobacco, do smudges and pray. That is why I am very discerning when it comes to how we live, as I try to minimize our foot print as much as possible. Praying and giving thanks to other life forms for making the ultimate sacrifice to feed and cloth my vessel is an important component of honouring the sacred life that I just consumed. It requires that I give something in exchange so that I don't just take, but instead offer something in exchange. That is why we started to grow tobacco, so that we have something to trade.
Nobody can ever justify to me that it is okay to harm a child, beat their spouse or clear cut the forest. If you cannot control your urges and must act out on others, then the problem is yours and I will stand up for those who are vulnerable and need protecting from those who desecrate all that is sacred.
The state will not do this protecting as it is the worst violator. It has no spirit and is a fictional construct, so it is incapable of recognizing anything as being sacred. Many people who wear the masks get lost in that fictional construct and lose the capacity to see all life as being sacred as well. So they are all incapable of protecting life.
"The state represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the state is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence." - Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869 - 1948)
I have a lot to learn yet. But this is the premise that my journey is taking me as disclosure continues to unfold and all kinds of evil acts are being exposed. People at the highest levels of wealth, power and fame are being exposed for their acts. We all will also face the consequences of our participation or silence about all this too. But as we explore our actions and re-evaluate the boundaries, we will find peace in the knowing that everything is sacred and how we govern ourselves while respecting the sacred will change the world. That cannot happen with the current infrastructure and systems that we have in place right now. Those must be abandoned for other alternatives.
That is what I AM working on. That is my purpose in life. Learning and teaching about what healthy relationships are all about.