Focus Questions Chapters 6-10

Mike Smith

6. A - It is important to understand our shadow in order to avoid being too influenced b it. !he dark side" as #eorge $ucas has immortali%ed it" feeds on fear and ignorance. &eing ignorant of our shadow side creates the ver fear that is the main food substance of the shadow and this will onl serve to make it stronger. 'nl the light of awareness can keep the shadow at ba . (ence the usage of the term shadow - like a shadow" when light shines upon it" it disappears" but as soon as the light goes awa it returns - it won)t ever go awa for good. !he tale of the vampire and it)s hatred of light tells the same stor . !o seek the shadow" however" is to e*pend too much otherwise valuable energ in pursuit of something which embodies all things void of goodness. Is it not better to use our valuable energies to seek goodness while merel keeping a watchful e e on the omnipresent old shadow+ & - !he father,son battle is one of individuation -to borrow a term from .arl /ung0. !he son must establish his own presence in this world b breaking from and" in turn" earning the respect of the father. As the '1ibwa stor teaches us" once this individuation occurs the relationship between father and son changes dramaticall - and it changes for the better. It is interesting that 2a naboo%hoo never actuall strikes his father with the flint. (e onl displa s his willingness and capabilities with it. 2ouldn)t the meaning of the stor be radicall different if 2a naboo%hoo had landed a blow and seriousl wounded his father+ I have a childhood friend who suffered all t pes of ps chological ills throughout adolescence and oung adulthood. As the oldest child he had been the whipping bo -ps chologicall " not ph sicall 0 of his father while growing up. Almost immediatel upon the death of his father m friend)s ps chological troubles cleared" he got a 1ob" met a woman" married and started a famil . (e has been well ever since. !his serves for me as a point blank e*ample of this phenomenon that has been written about b ever one from the '1ibwa to (omer to Shakespeare to 3reud and /ung. 4. A - I will be the first to admit that I don)t behave foolishl often enough. 5erhaps silliness is a better word than foolishness. Isn)t one who fails to see the benefits of silliness a bit of a fool+ I know I feel like a fool when silliness seems to be the order of the da and I don)t seem to be able to full participate. & - !he raccoon teaches 2a naboo%hoo that his bod is the outward" ph sical representation of his inner spiritual self. 'nce this concept is reali%ed" one will tend to treat his,her bod in a more respectful manner. & respecting the bod through eating good food" not abusing the bod and grooming,dressing the bod in a thoughtful manner we pa homage to the spirit housed within. I think this is et another branch of the think global" act local tree. 'nl b taking good care of the things that are

within our power to care for can we hope to influence the world in a larger wa . 6. I struggled 7uite a bit with this 7uestion because I didn)t want to accept the first definition of opposite that presented itself to me after reading about the 4 gifts. After thinking on this for a while I am beginning to believe that the opposites referred to here are not what we would normall consider diametricall opposed opposites - i.e. wisdom,stupidit " braver ,fear" truth,lie etc.. !he dangerous opposite of truth is not a lie" but a nontruth mas7uerading as a truth. !he dangerous opposite of wisdom is not stupidit " but rather something unwise that fools us into believing it is wisdom. !he reason the are so dangerous is that the appear to us not as one of the evil the opposites" but as one of the seven gifts themselves8 !hat is wh the #randfathers warn us so strongl to be on the lookout. 9on /uan of the .arlos .astenada books tells of the four evils" one of which is being into*icated b the gaining of new knowledge and therefore becoming blind to the true value of the ver knowledge that is into*icating us. M brother was telling me about a ps chologist)s stud for a human resources group that asked people to rate themselves on several topics and then rate their coworkers in the same areas. After tall ing the results it was overwhelmingl consistent that the people who felt themselves to be most wise were ranked lowest in wisdom b their coworkers and viceversa" the ones who ranked themselves low on the wisdom scale were seen as 7uite wise b their peers. I think that the ones who mistakenl saw themselves as super-wise had fallen victim to -at least0 one of the sneak opposites of the 4 gifts. !his stor also makes me think of the : 7uadrant diagram of self awareness,other awareness drawn on the chalkboard at the first class session. ;. I suppose that m reaction was one of no reaction. It seems to make perfect sense to me" especiall in light of the stor in a previous chapter where 2a naboo%hoo)s wife respects his need to go in search of his father and mother - a manifestation of the male)s seeker,hunter personalit . !he men and women in these stories respect each other precisel as men or women and show this respect at appropriate times. !he midewiwin ceremon is a ritual celebration of the life process and in this domain the woman)s role is certainl the more important one. !he image of the #randmother in the moon serves as a reminder of the importance of the woman)s role for both men and women. (onoring the women for this -and other0 important functions in societ seems 7uite right. In return" the women honor the men in their time and wa and even cut us males a little bo s will be bo s slack now and again. It all seems like a ver strainreducing and refreshing alternative to our adversarial men vs. women attitude. <=. Assuming that each of the clans has its own teachers within the clan" I can)t think of an thing that is missing. If that is not the case" then I think that the educators clan would be missing. 'therwise an occupation or role in our societ could,would fall underneath one of these clan headings. I suppose I would have to classif m self as a member of either the fish or bird clans -can one be in > clans+0. As for m fish features" I read voraciousl on topics

like philosoph " science" histor " poetr and art as well as general literature" but I don)t reall think of m self as an intellectual even though those interests tend to be considered in the realm of the intellectual. I strongl agree with /oseph .ampbell that the artists of our culture toda are the onl remaining vestiges of the true spiritual leader or shaman of old. As a composer" musician and artist I sense the weight of that responsibilit and through this I feel a certain kinship with the bird clan as well. 'ur societ normall onl considers priests" ministers" monks and gu s on channel << during pledge week as our spiritual leaders" but ver often it is the poets" painters and musicians that more closel resemble the shaman of the native cultures.