Saturday, July 20, 2013

Flight Maps of Stardust Voyagers


Sky Woman

This image was found on google, credited to greatpeace.org. In the Iroquois tradition, it is told there is a world that exists high above the world we know, where life is much as it is on earth. Sky Woman fell to earth from this Sky World, the first human being to live on earth.

Above, Sky Woman stands on the back of a giant Turtle, who provided his shell for her to rest.

This reminded me of a time, when I worked at a First Nations treatment center on an island just outside of Tofino, when as an exercise during group training, we were asked to write our own Creation Story. This is what I wrote. I miss those times. I so loved living and working among the First People, in our area called the Nuu Chah Nulth First Nations.

                                *****     *****     *****     *****

Out of swirling gases, spinning for eons, particles forged in a celestial furnace were puffed into being by the god of fire. Gathering substance as they swirled across a timeless sky, fire and gas clouds scattered fragments that through the ages, galaxy upon galaxy, glittered across the velvety black canopy. Over millennia, planets, stars, suns and moons slowly fell into ordered composition. One of these specks was Earth.

Over millions of years, Earth grew, from primordial ooze to a lushness of green that carpeted land masses slowly emerging from the swirling seas. These masses changed forms and locations over time and, under the water, the friction of the obsidian shelf pushed huge mountain ranges up into the sky.

From protozoa that crept out of the sea onto land, from ape to Cro-Magnon man to us, through millions of years of non-human development, to humankind's arrival, our story took millennia to develop. Only in the last hundred years, with ferocious determination and greed, have we managed to do harm to every species on the planet. At the same time, our seeking souls, knowing we have lost our way, still look skyward, singing.

In my heart and through my being, Sky Woman sings, a song of the sea, a song of the sky, inspiration to keep looking up, to envision the world as it is meant to be and to live towards that truth and that vision.

I believe in everything: the Big Bang theory, evolution and creation. Because of the intricate beauty, precision, and interrelation of everything in the cosmos, it feels to me divinely guided, provided by an intelligence vaster than our human minds can comprehend. Every scientist, trained in facts, I am certain, must feel the touch of this mystery.

Primitive people felt the Presence of this force, and paid homage. The human spirit is designed to question, to seek the meaning of life. When we listen to it, it is this inner voice that yearns towards a higher purpose for our brief time on this earth, this lifetime that is our spirit's classroom.

I find no conflict between evolution and creation. The creation story in Genesis was interpreted according to the understanding of the people of those ancient times in language they could grasp. The "seven days of creation" easily might have been seven million years in the unfolding. 

We carry within us flight maps of stardust voyagers. It is in our DNA. This keeps us yearning towards the nighttime skies. It is what makes us strive for meaning with which to fill our empty spaces. We are all star travelers here, arriving on the planet still bemused by the Mystery.

We understand more easily the earthly component of the paradigm. I believe there are no limits to the possibilities, that there is so much more to us than this one lifetime in our earthly bodies.

We have been Sky Woman, we have been trees, we have soared with eagles, and sung with whales. We are singing still, that mournful song of living on this planet in a way that has strayed so far from the teachings of the Old Ones. Our prayers rise on the Old Ones' breath, to the listening ears of whatever gods may be, Wakan Tanka among the First People.

There is room for it all - by many roads we travel to the same source, which is called by many names. This same Intelligence which set sun and moon and earth spinning in their orbit, programmed into the DNA of every cell the unslakable desire to develop. To us was added the free will to reason our way through all the possibilities, and to choose our pathway through this life according to our highest truths.

Without belief, what would give our lives and our deaths meaning? If we were only living, like every other cell, would the ordered beauty of the world be enough to accept the pain and struggle of being here? Does a simple cell feel joy or despair? What gave us reason and intelligence and choice, and why were we given it, if not to somehow prove ourselves worthy of the gift?

When I look up at the stars, I feel connected, some of their dust light-years ago somehow having become incorporated in my being.

My belief in this Intelligence helps me view myself and my fellow travelers with compassion, knowing whatever our fates on this plane, there will be a balancing out on the scales of a much truer justice than we find here, so that no one's life and death is meaningless.

I dont use one word to name whatever set the thousand galaxies spinning; I only know something cannot come from nothing, that before the swirling gases had to be the space they traveled in.

Looking inward at the teeming life of a single cell, its structure is too perfectly ordered to be random. Looking outward exponentially, spiraling across time and space on a cosmic journey, each star, each galaxy, with its programmed pattern, I believe all theories contain some truth. The only theory I find difficult to understand is that all life is random, that we live, we die, and it means nothing. I cant find anything in the human experience to support that.

Traveler, there are no limits to the possibilities, only perhaps in our capacity to understand them. I believe the soul is part of the story of creation, that it does not die, and that "there is a landscape larger than the one we see," and so much more than to survive that we are meant to do.

The Tree of Peace

I found this back in the archives of 2011, and am posting it for the Poetry Pantry at Poets United
this week.

32 comments:

  1. It's funny. As I read your creation story a Jehova Witness came to my door. I marvel at the various beliefs we have developed. Mine are much like yours. I guess mostly I think there's mystery and truth. Def I know we are not just a random accident. I like how you were able to write this story and sum up your beliefs. I'm so often at a loss for words when it comes to this.

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  2. I am glad you are sharing this, Sherry. Some theories may resonate with one person and some may resonate with another; and probably there is one ultimate truth, but until the end of time as we know it we will not know that ultimate truth. Until that time I believe we are all seekers of wisdom and truth and life ,..and I think we are all banking that God finds seeking acceptable, however we seek. A thoughtful write, Sherry.

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  3. I sure feel lucky to know you, Sherry, as your inclusive view of creation and the universe is so expansive and you see more comfortable than many people with "the cloud of unknowing." Questioning, creating, contemplating are all God-given skills to be fully used as long as we are on this plane.

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  4. What a wonderful exercise this is. It would behoove us all to set aside some time to truly think through what we believe and how or why we chose those particular beliefs. You have me thinking on a different plane this morning, my friend. Thank you,

    Elizabeth

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  5. I'm with you all the way on this one, my friend. All creation beliefs boil down to one fact: we are here, we have been given this planet to cherish, to protect (and we're doing a lousy job), and to love. Why people get bogged down in interdenominational arguments is beyond me. There is a Power greater than ourselves. We are only caretakers on this planet.
    That's all we need to know.
    Luv, K

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  6. I'm not much on descriptive words Sherry so I'll just say I feel you on this, well said.

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  7. This is amazing, deep, inspiring and very beautiful. Thank you for this incredible piece.

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  8. I agree this is amazing and should be shared with all dwellers on our planet!
    Beautiful Sherry! I loved all that you shared and the photo-so stunning!

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  9. I love the creative mind and what it is able to inspire

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  10. Many of our holy Hinduisim scripture believe that extraterrestrial life exists.

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  11. " We carry within us flight maps of stardust voyagers. It is in our DNA."-- Overwhelming thought! Excellent narrative, style and language.Thanks for sharing, Sherry.

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  12. "I find no conflict between evolution and creation."

    Ah, reason again why we connect, Sherry.

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  13. we are def seekers of understanding and at times that is hard when dealing with such concepts as creation and where we come from...and we can each claim a truth but the reality is this side of the void we can only just grasp the hem of what greatness caused us....

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  14. So very true - we are "one" and everything is connected and necessary. My fear is how we are slowly eradicating all the little connections...

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  15. You are a very wise woman Sherry - there is much mystery in this universe of ours.

    " Only in the last hundred years, with ferocious determination and greed, have we managed to do harm to every species on the planet. At the same time, our seeking souls, knowing we have lost our way, still look skyward, singing."

    How sadly true this is.

    Anna :o]

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  16. Sherry this is beautiful filled with wisdom and compassion. So much of what you said resonates with me

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  17. I like all that you have said!

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  18. Beautiful and thoughtful Sherry--and I would go further--that if we really understood and felt--We are Sky Woman, we are trees, we are eagles, and we sing with whales. We are all of One really--the pity, the shame lies in the fact that we can't feel that anymore--at least that is what I believe

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  19. beautiful. once you realize this,it puts everything in a different perspective.. and there's so much beauty to be found. after all, we're all made of stardust.

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  20. Sherry, this is a fabulous write. The Sky Women (of, and with, us all) embrace the beauty and form the tales which light our way.

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  21. A lovely creation myth!

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  22. I feel like I've read this, been there before in this beautiful, beautiful story... I really do believe, the best creation story I've ever read, Sherry - I want to reread it often and often to remind myself of what really matters.
    Thank you.

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  23. Sherry, you have such a way with words, peace, continuity, spirit--you carry them like an aura. This is a beautiful piece you created, thank you so much for sharing it :-)

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  24. I know the story of sky woman. The tree of peace I have written a poem about. The picture of the turtle is amazing. This is so rich in spirituality. There is so much wisdom in the words as they spill from your soul for all to understand in their own tongue. I continue to find your writings to be spirit guided. I am glad I stopped by today..so refreshing for my soul. Thank you!

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  25. This is deeply intriguing. I believe I wont ever get over the sky woman theory of creation. And that part when you write that we have been everything, and the sky woman too, lends motion to a great philosophy. Bless you. :)

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  26. "We carry within us flight maps of stardust voyagers."

    I do so love that line ... we are good sisters who agree on so much. Sending you morning hugs.

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  27. Sherry, there's no reason a practicing Christian cannot question the veracity of the OT. You are RIGHT ON in explaining that the tale was told (based on Babylonian creation tales and many others) to suit the limited education of people at that time.

    I am a member of a church that questions, that does not take the Bible as The Only Truth. We follow the good stuff; we do not cherry-pick to suit some need for exclusion. We are wondering wanderers, as much children of Sky Woman, sitting on Turtle's back.

    I love this and I love your spirit. Amy

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  28. there's so much to ponder here.
    "We carry within us flight maps of stardust voyagers." : is that why we are always looking skywards?

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  29. Amazing! I feel like putting my jet pack and wandering through the universe :)
    A mind refreshing writing.

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  30. I read this a few times. Wonderful Sherry!

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  31. Such is life and living and to pursue it requires that extra bit to embrace the unknown and unfathomable too, existing beyond and within us. Glad to know you that way Sherry!

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