Call of the Great Spirit

[surfingbudda]

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'de share with you a great find I made. Well I have a great resonance towards Taoist teachings, however my other great spiritual passion is the teachings of Native American wisdom; in reality both of these are simply two different expressions of the same thing, true truth is truth no matter how you look at it. Well my find was a book called, Call of the Great Spirit by Bobby Lake-Thom (aka Medicine Grizzly Bear) My link. This is easily one of the best books on true spirituality that I have ever read if not the best and it greatly impacted my perception and way of thinking in an amazing way. While I do not agree with everything that is written, 99% of it is amazing and worth its weight in gold. Just thought I'de share my experience of this book here on this very accepting and friendly forum . Perhaps others would find this book as powerful as I did.

Best Regards,

SB

[Marblehead]

Thanks SB.

 

Anyone interested in NA spirituality might find these little bits of wisdom enjoyable:

 

http://www.sapphyr.net/natam/quotes-nativeamerican.htm

Edited January 30, 2011 by Marblehead

[devoid]

Hi SurfingBuddha and Marblehead,

 

I have been wanting to research this topic for a while and didn't quite know where to start - thanks for providing a few pointers!

[zerostao]

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'de share with you a great find I made. Well I have a great resonance towards Taoist teachings, however my other great spiritual passion is the teachings of Native American wisdom; in reality both of these are simply two different expressions of the same thing, true truth is truth no matter how you look at it. Well my find was a book called, Call of the Great Spirit by Bobby Lake-Thom (aka Medicine Grizzly Bear) My link. This is easily one of the best books on true spirituality that I have ever read if not the best and it greatly impacted my perception and way of thinking in an amazing way. While I do not agree with everything that is written, 99% of it is amazing and worth its weight in gold. Just thought I'de share my experience of this book here on this very accepting and friendly forum . Perhaps others would find this book as powerful as I did.

Best Regards,

SB

thanks for sharing. when zhong xuechao aka bing ,moved from wudang mountain to usa/in (2006)your area if i am not mistaken?! he said one of the things he noticed and was surprised by , is that native american practices, ceremonies,religion...contained taoist elements, ideals,strong similarities. he went as far as to say a taoist priest was practically equal to a native american medicineman.

[surfingbudda]

thanks for sharing. when zhong xuechao aka bing ,moved from wudang mountain to usa/in (2006)your area if i am not mistaken?! he said one of the things he noticed and was surprised by , is that native american practices, ceremonies,religion...contained taoist elements, ideals,strong similarities. he went as far as to say a taoist priest was practically equal to a native american medicineman.

 

Yes, Ya Mu on this forum has trained under several Native American Medicine Men as well as Finally learning under Chinese Taoist Masters. He said that he found many of the healing techniques used by the Native American Shamans were identical to medical qigong techniques used by the Taoist Masters

[johndoe2012]

Does this book describe Native American techniques?

 

If not, could anyone recommend books on the above subject?

[Elohim]

have you try Chief Black Elk books?

[Elohim]

http://api.ning.com/files/SNzKRCFuYgz1AWhVVSPxX0hminFRbeBph0GMWhzyarJKsxlYIzuB3i1E8BYUudpX5bx4zNBpSu*DqiwhuujW27vU65C7UjP*/black_elk002.jpg Edited January 30, 2011 by Elohim

[surfingbudda]

Does this book describe Native American techniques?

 

If not, could anyone recommend books on the above subject?

 

The book I posted is more of the authors personal journey to becoming a Medicine Man and the wisdom that he leaned along the way, which is definitely well worth the read in my opinion. In the back of the book he describes the rules and simple steps of how to live a life of good health and balance and harmony with God/The Great Spirit/Tao, which personally I intend to follow to the best of my ability. The rules he describes are not just his personal beliefs, nor are they simply traditional native american beliefs but are universal laws of the universe to follow in order to be at one with it, of course though this is still a matter of opinion and I will not argue with anyone. Always follow whatever feels most true in your true heart and you can never go wrong.

 

In general though I would recommend not looking to books or even DVD's as teachers, but as supplements to better understand teachings. No DVD or book could EVER get you as far as a true teacher would and even a true teacher can only show you the gate, it is up to you to make the journey yourself as true knowledge is always experiencetial as in you can only truly spiritually progress through direct experience.

Edited January 30, 2011 by surfingbudda

[johndoe2012]

The book I posted is more of the authors personal journey to becoming a Medicine Man and the wisdom that he leaned along the way, which is definitely well worth the read in my opinion. In the back of the book he describes the rules and simple steps of how to live a life of good health and balance and harmony with God/The Great Spirit/Tao, which personally I intend to follow to the best of my ability. The rules he describes are not just his personal beliefs, nor are they simply traditional native american beliefs but are universal laws of the universe to follow in order to be at one with it, of course though this is still a matter of opinion and I will not argue with anyone. Always follow whatever feels most true in your true heart and you can never go wrong.

 

that sounds very nice in theory but this can only be achieved through cultivation, not just saying this consciously, because 95% of what you do is done by the unconscious. That's why holding to various precepts will only work at the superficial level.

 

In general though I would recommend not looking to books or even DVD's as teachers, but as supplements to better understand teachings. No DVD or book could EVER get you as far as a true teacher would and even a true teacher can only show you the gate, it is up to you to make the journey yourself as true knowledge is always experiencetial as in you can only truly spiritually progress through direct experience.

 

Regarding Native American shamanism there are no teachers here, so what you say is void, that particular knowledge can only be found in books in my situation. True that they all point to the same moon but sometimes you need various approaches.

Edited January 31, 2011 by wtm

[surfingbudda]

[quote name='wtm' date='31 January 2011 - 12:01 PM' timestamp='1296504067' post='239311'

 

 

Regarding Native American shamanism there are no teachers here, so what you say is void, that particular knowledge can only be found in books in my situation. True that they all point to the same moon but sometimes you need various approaches.

 

I was simply saying in general that a true teacher can greatly help along one's path, this applies to both Native American shamanism, Taoism, ect.

[surfingbudda]

that sounds very nice in theory but this can only be achieved through cultivation, not just saying this consciously, because 95% of what you do is done by the unconscious. That's why holding to various precepts will only work at the superficial level.

 

 

I don't quite get what your saying here? If what you mean is that simply saying knowledge and theory of which you don't quite understand is not true wisdom as true wisdom can only come through direct experience, or what you say cultivation; then yes I agree with you.

[devoid]

Hi surfingbudda,

 

I just want to say thanks for this recommendation.

I think it was a great and inspiring book about a topic of which I have little / no knowledge. I found many similarities to taoism and yet also many differences. Whilst I was surprised at the presented orthodoxy of rules to adhere to (e.g. related to women around their "moon time") it was also interesting to get a glimpse at the native American tradition and the beliefs of a hunter / gatherer society.

[The Way Is Virtue]

I personally have found both of these books very good, especially Fools Crow:

 

Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power

 

Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux

[surfingbudda]

Hi surfingbudda,

 

I just want to say thanks for this recommendation.

I think it was a great and inspiring book about a topic of which I have little / no knowledge. I found many similarities to taoism and yet also many differences. Whilst I was surprised at the presented orthodoxy of rules to adhere to (e.g. related to women around their "moon time") it was also interesting to get a glimpse at the native American tradition and the beliefs of a hunter / gatherer society.

 

Ya I don't know if I accept all of the rules he put forth, I believe some of them are definitely more culturally based than spiritual, but the overall book I found to be very beautiful. I actually met an apprentice of his who has been working with him for over a year. She was from mexico and had a Mayan healer background and she said that she even doesn't accept everything he says.

[devoid]

Hi The Way Is Virtue, and surfingbudda,

 

TWIV: Thanks for the tips - I just ordered the Fools Crow based on your recommendation - looking forward to reading it

 

sb: Yes, I agree there's lots of cultural stuff in there too and of course those are things that have helped the peoples of the past survive harsh and less hygienic times - especially keeping in mind that they would often eat their meats dried or smoked rather than cooked.

 

One thing that really got to me though was the occasional mentioning of the grandmother spirits. I am fortunate enough to still have both of mine in flesh and blood despite their advanced age, but I have come across some very strong-minded great grandmothers previously during deep meditation sessions, so this is something that really caught my eye.

 

A thing I really like, is their approach to seeking advice through the meditation / seeking visions rituals. It's not so much the suffering that they go through or the time they spend to achieve this, but rather the principle: I.e. that one has to listen patiently (and for long enough) to attain some answers to ones personal questions - a thing that we often forget in our hectic and pleasure seeking lives.

 

Edit: Typo

Edited April 3, 2011 by devoid

[doc benway]

Thanks for all this great stuff.

One of our members here - Jeremy Harlow, has a lot of experience in Native American traditions and Daoist practices and has developed a beautiful set of Qigong that integrates the two. I don't think he's on the forum much but hopefully he'll stumble across this thread and contribute.

[surfingbudda]

Thanks for all this great stuff.

One of our members here - Jeremy Harlow, has a lot of experience in Native American traditions and Daoist practices and has developed a beautiful set of Qigong that integrates the two. I don't think he's on the forum much but hopefully he'll stumble across this thread and contribute.

 

I know Ya Mu on this forum has a lot of experience working with Native American traditions as well as Taoist qigong practices and I believe also integrates the two cultures together in his practice that he teaches