Yesterday I saw an article online that says Wal-Mart is suing a former employee - who is permanently brain-damaged and in a nursing home for the rest of her life - for close to $400,000 in repayment for monies paid out when she was hospitalized after a car crash. This redefines "outrageous", in my opinion, and takes it to a new low in 'art forms'.
But wait! We aren't finished! This woman's husband is just finishing treatment for prostate cancer, so he isn't exactly solid in the make-a-living / pay-the-bills department, either.
And in the This-Wasn't-Needed-Either category, we have some brainless twit of a judge deciding to award Wal-Mart $277,000. Wal-Mart's spokeman said "Wal-Mart feels terrible on behalf of (this woman and her husband) - "but" - the paperwork sez...."
In this Indn's opinion - screw the paperwork! Wal-Mart's profits last year were $90 BILLION!
I divided $90 billion by $400,000, and came up with 225,000 : 1 in favor of Wal-Mart and against this pitiful, sad couple. Therefore, I repeat, to Hell with the paperwork.
I think it's time Wal-Mart heard from YOU who read this. They've already heard from me..
As a business person, this kind of don't-give-a-damn attitude on the part of big corporations embarrasses me. We who do care look bad by association. We who are small corporations - mine is about the size of the period at the end of a sentence - look even worse, simply because we are corporations and we want to grow.
The difference is, some of us - like mine - work to honor Affirmative Action, hire the handicapped, promote and follow Indian Preference, and plan our activities to include handicapped access - because that's real "good business practice".
Last but not least - just because "the paperwork" includes a clause that says Wal-Mart "can" sue one of their employees or former employees to recoup monies paid out for hospitalization, does not mean it "must" or even that it "should". When a company makes 225,000 times the amount involved in the lawsuit, I believe that company has a bigger responsibility to not sue and thereby to help the injured employee.
Call 1-800-Wal-Mart and tell them what you think of this outrageous lawsuit of theirs. Or go to Wal-Mart.com and email them through their Contact Us link. Let them know the "massa / slave" mentality was outlawed when slavery was - in 1862. And then join me in boycotting Wal-Mart until they stop this outrageous kind of action.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Why Is The Economy Slowing?
Yesterday, I noted that gas and diesel prices locally are up again.. Gas is now $3.15 / gallon, diesel is $4. The headline in the local paper said, "Economists uncertain as to cause of economy slowdown." Takoszja, this is no mystery. When fuel for the buffalo pony costs more than a gallon of milk does, the economy is going to slow and it is going to slow quickly. If there is a "why" past that, it is because people must have money for food, housing, clothes and fuel, but when fuel costs $3.15 & $4 / gallon, everything else is going to cost more, too; which means there is not going to be as much - maybe none - for frills. Thus, the economy slows. Quickly. Tain't no mystery at all.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Eco-Terrorists Ought to Be..
I read an article on Yahoo today about "eco-terrorists" burning down several multi-million-dollar, 4,000-plus-square-foot "dream houses" in Washington state. Let's get a few things down about this.
First - NOBODY "needs" a 4,000-plus-square-foot house.
Second - There is no such thing as an 'environmentally-friendly' 4,000-plus-square-foot house. Why? Simple - Every day in the U.S.A. alone, several square miles of Our Holy Mother, the Earth are covered over with blacktop, concrete, and/or buildings, taking them out of the processing of carbon dioxide and associated production of oxygen. Lessee here - global warming is characterized by what?? Did I hear you say "Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the biosphere?" If you said that, you get an "A". If you didn't, shame on you and 40 lashes with something nasty.
Third - Not all "dream houses" are huge and contribute to global warming. My "dream house" is one of the many I've revived using as many recycled materials as I can get - which takes some "digging" sometimes. My current project is an old school that was abandoned over almost 20 years (except by dopers, drunks, vandals, and kids getting each other pregnant).
Fourth - "Green Building Techniques" are better demonstrated by revitalizing existing structures and removing some of the not-so-old garbage built in the 1960's and 1970's that reeks of bad construction practices or any that are unsalvageably unsound, to put earth back into its original function of processing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, thus reducing global warming.
As for those idiots who burned down the 4,000-plus-square-foot insults to our intelligence - I can't help but wonder - how much did their bonfires add to global warming? To poisoning our air, sky, and water? The land itself? Did they do anything of value in the long run? Wasting resources is just plain wrong, no matter how it's done, and last I heard, it is still a truism that two wrongs don't make a right.
I think both the "eco-terrorist" arsonists AND the ostentatious-monument builders ought to be staked on a fire ant hill for awhile. Both make me ill.. Neither of them has contributed one iota to healing the Sacred Hoop of the world.
So - What have you done, today, to help heal the Sacred Hoop of the world, of which you, too, are a part?
First - NOBODY "needs" a 4,000-plus-square-foot house.
Second - There is no such thing as an 'environmentally-friendly' 4,000-plus-square-foot house. Why? Simple - Every day in the U.S.A. alone, several square miles of Our Holy Mother, the Earth are covered over with blacktop, concrete, and/or buildings, taking them out of the processing of carbon dioxide and associated production of oxygen. Lessee here - global warming is characterized by what?? Did I hear you say "Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the biosphere?" If you said that, you get an "A". If you didn't, shame on you and 40 lashes with something nasty.
Third - Not all "dream houses" are huge and contribute to global warming. My "dream house" is one of the many I've revived using as many recycled materials as I can get - which takes some "digging" sometimes. My current project is an old school that was abandoned over almost 20 years (except by dopers, drunks, vandals, and kids getting each other pregnant).
Fourth - "Green Building Techniques" are better demonstrated by revitalizing existing structures and removing some of the not-so-old garbage built in the 1960's and 1970's that reeks of bad construction practices or any that are unsalvageably unsound, to put earth back into its original function of processing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, thus reducing global warming.
As for those idiots who burned down the 4,000-plus-square-foot insults to our intelligence - I can't help but wonder - how much did their bonfires add to global warming? To poisoning our air, sky, and water? The land itself? Did they do anything of value in the long run? Wasting resources is just plain wrong, no matter how it's done, and last I heard, it is still a truism that two wrongs don't make a right.
I think both the "eco-terrorist" arsonists AND the ostentatious-monument builders ought to be staked on a fire ant hill for awhile. Both make me ill.. Neither of them has contributed one iota to healing the Sacred Hoop of the world.
So - What have you done, today, to help heal the Sacred Hoop of the world, of which you, too, are a part?
Saturday, March 1, 2008
NOW Have We Heard It All?
Hanh mitakuyapi.
Recently, I was sent to work for a local window-manufacturing concern on a temp-to-hire assignment. On my second day, I told someone that I have a college degree. (Strike 1) They asked "in what?" and I replied, "Chemistry". (Strike 2, and possibly, 3. Read on, and you decide.)
This person then asked, "Then why are you working at a job like this?" and I replied, "I was in heart research for 9-1/2 years and decided that was enough. I had a small-jobs contracting and property-maintenance business for 20-some years; but when my man died during a mugging, I didn't have the energy to push a business any more. No one wants to hire me permanently so far because they figure I'll quit and go back to business, so I work temp. I have bills to pay, same as anyone else, after all."
One of the office people heard this exchange and suddenly, the plant manager acted as if I had Grand Mung and the assistant plant manager acted as if he were so0o sad for me and them, and the HR guy acted as if he wished he could be friendly but he "had to be careful"...
Are we all wondering "what's really going on here?" (The third of my Four Favorite Questions, I note..) I expect we are.
Eventually, I got someone to spill the beans about the sudden change of attitude.
It seems the company has a patent for its window-making process. Patents being expensive and North Dakota being part of the Land of Backward, the "brains" in the front offices "thought" that since I have a degree in a hard science, and especially since I already knew how to build a window (it isn't rocket science, takoszja..), I was in a position where I could easily steal their patent and their market. "I know too much."
If this isn't duh-uh thinking, I don't know what is. But I can't help wonder if now we haven't heard everything..
I feel no great sense of loss here, though.. Production can be very, very bor-ing, and this job was.
More importantly, though, is their attitude that "everyone is a thief at heart but them". Or maybe, that "everyone is thief at heart, including them, so they 'must' go to extremes to protect their investment". While it is true that it's only paranoia if someone isn't out to get you, I find their perspective offensive.
Whichever - I don't want to work for anyone with an attitude like that, so I spent last week chopping onions in a food-processing plant or cleaning in a school district, and one day kneeling on a folded towel, cleaning vomit off the floors of an elderly friend's house with a putty knife, before I scrubbed them with bleach and Spic-n-Span, because she has The Ultimate Vile Flu which is currently coursing through this area (1400 cases and counting; it can put you on the bedroom-to-bathroom trail for up to a week!), and she was too weak to get to her bathroom in time, and therefore of course too weak to clean her floors, poor thing..
All of which were more interesting jobs than making windows for the silly group with their patent-and-thieves-in-every-corner fantasies.
Let's hope my angel-of-mercy activities are rewarded with my not getting TUVFlu.. I live alone, too.. and then perhaps we can find me either the last $1500 I need to get my tiny company back in the market, or a real job so I can save up the $1500 and get my tiny company back in the market - no paranoid fantasies. Mitakuye oiasin.
Recently, I was sent to work for a local window-manufacturing concern on a temp-to-hire assignment. On my second day, I told someone that I have a college degree. (Strike 1) They asked "in what?" and I replied, "Chemistry". (Strike 2, and possibly, 3. Read on, and you decide.)
This person then asked, "Then why are you working at a job like this?" and I replied, "I was in heart research for 9-1/2 years and decided that was enough. I had a small-jobs contracting and property-maintenance business for 20-some years; but when my man died during a mugging, I didn't have the energy to push a business any more. No one wants to hire me permanently so far because they figure I'll quit and go back to business, so I work temp. I have bills to pay, same as anyone else, after all."
One of the office people heard this exchange and suddenly, the plant manager acted as if I had Grand Mung and the assistant plant manager acted as if he were so0o sad for me and them, and the HR guy acted as if he wished he could be friendly but he "had to be careful"...
Are we all wondering "what's really going on here?" (The third of my Four Favorite Questions, I note..) I expect we are.
Eventually, I got someone to spill the beans about the sudden change of attitude.
It seems the company has a patent for its window-making process. Patents being expensive and North Dakota being part of the Land of Backward, the "brains" in the front offices "thought" that since I have a degree in a hard science, and especially since I already knew how to build a window (it isn't rocket science, takoszja..), I was in a position where I could easily steal their patent and their market. "I know too much."
If this isn't duh-uh thinking, I don't know what is. But I can't help wonder if now we haven't heard everything..
I feel no great sense of loss here, though.. Production can be very, very bor-ing, and this job was.
More importantly, though, is their attitude that "everyone is a thief at heart but them". Or maybe, that "everyone is thief at heart, including them, so they 'must' go to extremes to protect their investment". While it is true that it's only paranoia if someone isn't out to get you, I find their perspective offensive.
Whichever - I don't want to work for anyone with an attitude like that, so I spent last week chopping onions in a food-processing plant or cleaning in a school district, and one day kneeling on a folded towel, cleaning vomit off the floors of an elderly friend's house with a putty knife, before I scrubbed them with bleach and Spic-n-Span, because she has The Ultimate Vile Flu which is currently coursing through this area (1400 cases and counting; it can put you on the bedroom-to-bathroom trail for up to a week!), and she was too weak to get to her bathroom in time, and therefore of course too weak to clean her floors, poor thing..
All of which were more interesting jobs than making windows for the silly group with their patent-and-thieves-in-every-corner fantasies.
Let's hope my angel-of-mercy activities are rewarded with my not getting TUVFlu.. I live alone, too.. and then perhaps we can find me either the last $1500 I need to get my tiny company back in the market, or a real job so I can save up the $1500 and get my tiny company back in the market - no paranoid fantasies. Mitakuye oiasin.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Insight vs Elephant in Living Room
We all know about the elephant in the living room.. I realized a couple of days ago that I've been tripping over one for nearly 2 years now. This is more than a tad embarrassing, mitakuyapi..
I design things all the time. Beadwork patterns, powwow outfits, solar heaters, ways to improve the mileage of vehicles while cutting emissions without computers, bale buildings, and on & on. More than one person has asked if my mind ever shuts down.. The answer is, probably not. I know I'm a restless sleeper.. High energy people are like that, I guess. Regardless, I am.
About 2 years ago, I doodled a design for a passive solar heater that would hang on the outside of a wall. I built some for myself, then filed it under "the 2-year plan", which means I might get to "doing something positive" with it in 2 years or so, or I might never, or somewhere in between. This was before $2 and $3 / gallon fuel, obviously.
Then about a year ago, I read an article on someone else's design for a passive solar heater that hangs on the outside of a wall, and while it felt awfully familiar, it didn't ring any loud bells for me. Until a couple of days ago, when I was looking for something else, and came across my old design doodles in my files.
Em-barr-ass-ing! No wonder the article and the design of the units seemed awfully familiar.
Not to mention - I've been racking my brain for ways to get the tiny company I founded in 2000 back in the market we had to withdraw from due to inability to meet demand for our product with the equipment we had, and insufficient money to build or buy the equipment we need to meet demand.
It has never been a matter of "need to make market" with us; it has always been a matter of "how to meet demand". Yes, lucky us on one hand, and pity us on the t'other. Funding Indn projects is not popular in the U.S, no matter what the hype says.
Please, don't say "write a grant" - I'm a good grant writer, but we've struck out repeatedly with that approach of late because we insist we plan to hire non-drinking, non-doping people with a strong bent towards other ITI (Indigenous Turtle Islanders. You call us Indns or "Natives"). Indn Preference is federally mandated and there are gobs of incentives for it, not to mention, if we don't preferentially hire our own the way majority-culture types preferentially hire whites, I believe we're kicking ourselves in the shins. That's stupid, so we try hard not to do that.
I've been out of work since early November 2007, and out of 'spare' cash since about mid-January, 2008. I've heard more ridiculous excuses for not hiring me than I can shake a stick at. My current favorite is, "we don't want to hire you because you have a college education, and our process is patented. Our belief is we must do everything we can to protect our patented process from thieves." Takoszja, I don't want to work for any company that believes 'everyone else is a thief', and that includes me..
Personally, I - like nearly everyone else - find the making of windows to be supremely boring work. I want a job, not a career, so I can pay my bills & build the equipment I need to get 'my' company - with one food product and two non-food products - back in the marketplace. Period. I could give a flying damn about stealing anything; especially something as expensive as a patent. They have an offensive - and stupid - attitude. There's a lot of that around of recent times, as we all know.
I was searching through my notebooks for an old design the other day and found my design for passive solar heaters. Bells rang, things banged, and I saw the elephant! Right there where it had always been, smack in the middle of my living room! Or in this case, my office.
I had recently figured my personal carbon footprint at an online site, and found it to be between 6,000 and 7,000 lbs. of carbon per year (compared to an average of 20,500 lbs/ year for most people in the U.S.).
The passive solar heater would not only cut that for me, but it would cut the carbon footprint of everyone who heats. Lessee, now, that's most of the country, sooner or later, isn't it? I believe it is. Up here in the northern tier states, it's 5-6 months of every year.
Now this is exciting, takoszja! For about $500, I can put together a web site, information brochure (preferably email, not paper), and manufacture and sell enough units to get my tiny little company back in the market(s)! We can support the 501c3 I also head at a level it has only dreamed about for the 35 years of its existence. We can make a Difference!
I am a Sun Dancer, therefore, a Pipe Carrier. The prayer that orients my Channunpa, and therefore, my entire life, is called the Prayer of The Four Winds. I am the woman who Dances The Four Winds. This prayer is a prayer to heal the Sacred Hoop of the world. If anything would help heal the Sacred Hoop of the world, it would be something like these passive solar heaters, which cut the carbon footprint of everyone who uses them because they cut the amount of fuel needed to heat a building - be it a house, a shop, a chicken coop, a trailer / mobile home, or an apartment.
Now all I have to do is get a job so I can put the $500 or so together & get this out there. I find this so exciting I don't feel embarrassed any more for having not seen the elephant in my living room (OK, office) for so doggoned long. All of this will happen because I doodle and I save the doodles. Pilamiyaye! Wopila tanka!, Takuskanskan.
I design things all the time. Beadwork patterns, powwow outfits, solar heaters, ways to improve the mileage of vehicles while cutting emissions without computers, bale buildings, and on & on. More than one person has asked if my mind ever shuts down.. The answer is, probably not. I know I'm a restless sleeper.. High energy people are like that, I guess. Regardless, I am.
About 2 years ago, I doodled a design for a passive solar heater that would hang on the outside of a wall. I built some for myself, then filed it under "the 2-year plan", which means I might get to "doing something positive" with it in 2 years or so, or I might never, or somewhere in between. This was before $2 and $3 / gallon fuel, obviously.
Then about a year ago, I read an article on someone else's design for a passive solar heater that hangs on the outside of a wall, and while it felt awfully familiar, it didn't ring any loud bells for me. Until a couple of days ago, when I was looking for something else, and came across my old design doodles in my files.
Em-barr-ass-ing! No wonder the article and the design of the units seemed awfully familiar.
Not to mention - I've been racking my brain for ways to get the tiny company I founded in 2000 back in the market we had to withdraw from due to inability to meet demand for our product with the equipment we had, and insufficient money to build or buy the equipment we need to meet demand.
It has never been a matter of "need to make market" with us; it has always been a matter of "how to meet demand". Yes, lucky us on one hand, and pity us on the t'other. Funding Indn projects is not popular in the U.S, no matter what the hype says.
Please, don't say "write a grant" - I'm a good grant writer, but we've struck out repeatedly with that approach of late because we insist we plan to hire non-drinking, non-doping people with a strong bent towards other ITI (Indigenous Turtle Islanders. You call us Indns or "Natives"). Indn Preference is federally mandated and there are gobs of incentives for it, not to mention, if we don't preferentially hire our own the way majority-culture types preferentially hire whites, I believe we're kicking ourselves in the shins. That's stupid, so we try hard not to do that.
I've been out of work since early November 2007, and out of 'spare' cash since about mid-January, 2008. I've heard more ridiculous excuses for not hiring me than I can shake a stick at. My current favorite is, "we don't want to hire you because you have a college education, and our process is patented. Our belief is we must do everything we can to protect our patented process from thieves." Takoszja, I don't want to work for any company that believes 'everyone else is a thief', and that includes me..
Personally, I - like nearly everyone else - find the making of windows to be supremely boring work. I want a job, not a career, so I can pay my bills & build the equipment I need to get 'my' company - with one food product and two non-food products - back in the marketplace. Period. I could give a flying damn about stealing anything; especially something as expensive as a patent. They have an offensive - and stupid - attitude. There's a lot of that around of recent times, as we all know.
I was searching through my notebooks for an old design the other day and found my design for passive solar heaters. Bells rang, things banged, and I saw the elephant! Right there where it had always been, smack in the middle of my living room! Or in this case, my office.
I had recently figured my personal carbon footprint at an online site, and found it to be between 6,000 and 7,000 lbs. of carbon per year (compared to an average of 20,500 lbs/ year for most people in the U.S.).
The passive solar heater would not only cut that for me, but it would cut the carbon footprint of everyone who heats. Lessee, now, that's most of the country, sooner or later, isn't it? I believe it is. Up here in the northern tier states, it's 5-6 months of every year.
Now this is exciting, takoszja! For about $500, I can put together a web site, information brochure (preferably email, not paper), and manufacture and sell enough units to get my tiny little company back in the market(s)! We can support the 501c3 I also head at a level it has only dreamed about for the 35 years of its existence. We can make a Difference!
I am a Sun Dancer, therefore, a Pipe Carrier. The prayer that orients my Channunpa, and therefore, my entire life, is called the Prayer of The Four Winds. I am the woman who Dances The Four Winds. This prayer is a prayer to heal the Sacred Hoop of the world. If anything would help heal the Sacred Hoop of the world, it would be something like these passive solar heaters, which cut the carbon footprint of everyone who uses them because they cut the amount of fuel needed to heat a building - be it a house, a shop, a chicken coop, a trailer / mobile home, or an apartment.
Now all I have to do is get a job so I can put the $500 or so together & get this out there. I find this so exciting I don't feel embarrassed any more for having not seen the elephant in my living room (OK, office) for so doggoned long. All of this will happen because I doodle and I save the doodles. Pilamiyaye! Wopila tanka!, Takuskanskan.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Character of Love
The character of love is derived from a wide variety of things and has a wide variety of aspects. Butterflies in the stomach, n-n-nerves, becoming tongue-tied, feeling so0o klutzy when you ordinarily feel coordinated, sweaty palms and dry mouth, the warm fuzzies.. the list is long. We've all had some - maybe all - of these symptoms at one time or another. If you haven't, keep looking - you haven't run out of time yet. There is no set age for any of this to happen, and it isn't "only" for physically young people. Sixty is the new forty, after all, so what does that do for the other decades, hmm?
What constitutes real love, anyway? What happens to and between two people when they hit the jackpot and find true love?
Not everyone is built for great emotional highs and lows, but most people feel a definite rise in their feelings. The phrase "walking on air" is common, and people in love often begin dancing to the music in their hearts even though there is no music anyone in the vicinity can hear.
The Irish say that "love that isn't madness isn't love". But then, the Irish are "the men that God made mad, for all their wars are happy, and all their songs are sad" (G. K. Chesterton; The Ballad of the White Horse). Still, the Celts, the Picts, and the Irish all have contributed great things to the world of love and romance.. Remember Gene Kelly, "just singin' and dancin' in the rain"?
The Italians say that amore (ah-MOR-ay) - love - is a gift from the gods to men and women, of "a delightful insanity".
Johnson Last Horse was my sister Linda's father, and he taught me, "Love is not a barter thing. It is not a case of 'I'll love you if you'll love me'. Love is a gift to the lover and the loved." I think that is probably the most profound piece of truth anyone has ever taught me, because it covers every kind of love, not just romantic love. Yawahshte miye / You bless me. And everyone you or I have passed it on to. Wopila tanka, Johnson. Profound thanks, Johnson.
One of the chief characteristics of real love, regardless of kind, is that it empowers everyone involved. It makes them stronger inside. It makes them kinder. Love heals. Real love 'shouldn't' hurt, but just as in the legend of the Sleeping Beauty, sometimes you both have to labor mightily to get past the thorns to get to the 'happily ever after' part. Love is never greedy or pushy or arrogant. Love is kind, and real love is eternal, because "love is not a barter thing" and our spirits are eternal.
These denote the character of love.
What constitutes real love, anyway? What happens to and between two people when they hit the jackpot and find true love?
Not everyone is built for great emotional highs and lows, but most people feel a definite rise in their feelings. The phrase "walking on air" is common, and people in love often begin dancing to the music in their hearts even though there is no music anyone in the vicinity can hear.
The Irish say that "love that isn't madness isn't love". But then, the Irish are "the men that God made mad, for all their wars are happy, and all their songs are sad" (G. K. Chesterton; The Ballad of the White Horse). Still, the Celts, the Picts, and the Irish all have contributed great things to the world of love and romance.. Remember Gene Kelly, "just singin' and dancin' in the rain"?
The Italians say that amore (ah-MOR-ay) - love - is a gift from the gods to men and women, of "a delightful insanity".
Johnson Last Horse was my sister Linda's father, and he taught me, "Love is not a barter thing. It is not a case of 'I'll love you if you'll love me'. Love is a gift to the lover and the loved." I think that is probably the most profound piece of truth anyone has ever taught me, because it covers every kind of love, not just romantic love. Yawahshte miye / You bless me. And everyone you or I have passed it on to. Wopila tanka, Johnson. Profound thanks, Johnson.
One of the chief characteristics of real love, regardless of kind, is that it empowers everyone involved. It makes them stronger inside. It makes them kinder. Love heals. Real love 'shouldn't' hurt, but just as in the legend of the Sleeping Beauty, sometimes you both have to labor mightily to get past the thorns to get to the 'happily ever after' part. Love is never greedy or pushy or arrogant. Love is kind, and real love is eternal, because "love is not a barter thing" and our spirits are eternal.
These denote the character of love.
Evil, Atheism, and the Existence of Devils
In the articles so far written about this subject on various sites I've read lately, "arguing the existence of the devil", the level of ignorance of the writers is so painfully apparent it is embarrassing to the rest of us.
Therefore, let us get a few things understood from the outset about Christianity, evil, and the possibility that there is such a thing as a devil:
(1) Christianity is NOT the "only" religion. ITI Traditionalism, is both a spiritual and a religious way; there are many varieties because there are many ITI cultures; there is not and never has been "an Indian culture" on this Turtle Island. Shinto, Bhuddism, Islam, Wicca, and Masonry are all spiritual ways having religious protocols, and name only a few of the many religious ways found among humans here on the earth.
(2) Christianity is NOT the "only valid" religion. To repeat, ITI Traditionalism, Shinto, Bhuddism, Islam, Wicca,and Masonry are all spiritual ways having religious protocols, and name only a few of the many religious ways found among humans here on the earth.
(3) Christianity is NOT the "first" or "first valid" religion. ITI Traditionalism has existed far longer than Christianity, and there are many other spiritual and religious ways that have, as well.
(4) Anyone who does not subscribe to Christianity is NOT "automatically" an atheist. This perspective is so ridiculous it doesn't deserve the dignity of further discussion. It shrieks of the ignorance of anyone who claims that all non-Christians are automatically atheists, though. Such people should do a long, intensive meditation on the old teaching, "it is better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you might be a fool, than to open it and remove any doubt". 'Hoof IN mouth' disease is another name for it, to speak tongue-in-cheek.
(5) Christianity is NOT "the number one" religion - anywhere. Even "if" a majority of people in any locale claimed to believe in the Christian way, that does NOT mean they actually follow its precepts. The behavior of far too many people who claim to be "good Christians" proves that.. The behavior of those who claim to 'follow' the Christian way does so even more.
(6) Simply because a person does not subscribe to Christianity does NOT mean they don't believe in the existence of evil. There are more devout people among nearly every spiritual way in the world than there are among so-called Christians. I, for one, much prefer quality to quantity, any time.
Now to the question of whether or not there is such a being as a devil. We must first answer whether or not such a being has a form, and if it has, does it have more than one form?
Since humans are visual creatures, whether evil ever has a form of its own or not is irrelevant. What is likely is that evil takes any of a variety of forms so that humans can relate to it. Mengele, Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer... all come to mind as candidates for evil taking a form so that humans can relate to it. Since the human being does not exist that can frighten me so far as my considerable experience has shown, then evil for me takes some other form(s). For me, human over-population is absolutely evil, and so is its nightmare progeny, global warming. I am the woman who Dances The Four Winds, which is a prayer to heal the sacred hoop of the world, so it is easy to see how I would see evil through this. For you, it may be otherwise.
Since evil is a reality, and it takes many forms, and evil definitely has strong effects throughout the life of every entity on the earth and has throughout time, then it may be said that at times, evil inhabits some physical entity and that becomes "a devil".
In the Traditional Way of my People, the Lakota, there is no such thing as "a devil", but there definitely are evil spirits. Similarly, there is no "hell"; there is only life here on the earth, which is definitely a place of suffering - often, considerable suffering.
The assaults on all ITI Traditional ways and cultures by so-called "missionaries" of the Christian way are definitely evil. Forced adoption of ITI children to non-ITI people, is definitely evil. Anything that makes an effort to destroy our Traditional spiritual and cultural ways and fabric is evil. Fortunately, we now have the Indian Child Welfare Act to prevent most such non-Indn adoptions, and we ITI have been becoming stronger and stronger in our efforts to not only stop the actions of "missionaries", but to reverse them.
Is there only one way to define evil? Probably. Anything that causes personal or cultural suffering is evil, no matter how 'well-intended' it is said to be. Evil comes into everyone's life because everyone at some time or other invites it in or doesn't do what they must to prevent evil's entry. Is that the work on one entity? No. Just as there are 404 Good Spirits, so there are many nasty ones. It is about balance, and the exact number doesn't matter.
Therefore, let us get a few things understood from the outset about Christianity, evil, and the possibility that there is such a thing as a devil:
(1) Christianity is NOT the "only" religion. ITI Traditionalism, is both a spiritual and a religious way; there are many varieties because there are many ITI cultures; there is not and never has been "an Indian culture" on this Turtle Island. Shinto, Bhuddism, Islam, Wicca, and Masonry are all spiritual ways having religious protocols, and name only a few of the many religious ways found among humans here on the earth.
(2) Christianity is NOT the "only valid" religion. To repeat, ITI Traditionalism, Shinto, Bhuddism, Islam, Wicca,and Masonry are all spiritual ways having religious protocols, and name only a few of the many religious ways found among humans here on the earth.
(3) Christianity is NOT the "first" or "first valid" religion. ITI Traditionalism has existed far longer than Christianity, and there are many other spiritual and religious ways that have, as well.
(4) Anyone who does not subscribe to Christianity is NOT "automatically" an atheist. This perspective is so ridiculous it doesn't deserve the dignity of further discussion. It shrieks of the ignorance of anyone who claims that all non-Christians are automatically atheists, though. Such people should do a long, intensive meditation on the old teaching, "it is better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you might be a fool, than to open it and remove any doubt". 'Hoof IN mouth' disease is another name for it, to speak tongue-in-cheek.
(5) Christianity is NOT "the number one" religion - anywhere. Even "if" a majority of people in any locale claimed to believe in the Christian way, that does NOT mean they actually follow its precepts. The behavior of far too many people who claim to be "good Christians" proves that.. The behavior of those who claim to 'follow' the Christian way does so even more.
(6) Simply because a person does not subscribe to Christianity does NOT mean they don't believe in the existence of evil. There are more devout people among nearly every spiritual way in the world than there are among so-called Christians. I, for one, much prefer quality to quantity, any time.
Now to the question of whether or not there is such a being as a devil. We must first answer whether or not such a being has a form, and if it has, does it have more than one form?
Since humans are visual creatures, whether evil ever has a form of its own or not is irrelevant. What is likely is that evil takes any of a variety of forms so that humans can relate to it. Mengele, Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer... all come to mind as candidates for evil taking a form so that humans can relate to it. Since the human being does not exist that can frighten me so far as my considerable experience has shown, then evil for me takes some other form(s). For me, human over-population is absolutely evil, and so is its nightmare progeny, global warming. I am the woman who Dances The Four Winds, which is a prayer to heal the sacred hoop of the world, so it is easy to see how I would see evil through this. For you, it may be otherwise.
Since evil is a reality, and it takes many forms, and evil definitely has strong effects throughout the life of every entity on the earth and has throughout time, then it may be said that at times, evil inhabits some physical entity and that becomes "a devil".
In the Traditional Way of my People, the Lakota, there is no such thing as "a devil", but there definitely are evil spirits. Similarly, there is no "hell"; there is only life here on the earth, which is definitely a place of suffering - often, considerable suffering.
The assaults on all ITI Traditional ways and cultures by so-called "missionaries" of the Christian way are definitely evil. Forced adoption of ITI children to non-ITI people, is definitely evil. Anything that makes an effort to destroy our Traditional spiritual and cultural ways and fabric is evil. Fortunately, we now have the Indian Child Welfare Act to prevent most such non-Indn adoptions, and we ITI have been becoming stronger and stronger in our efforts to not only stop the actions of "missionaries", but to reverse them.
Is there only one way to define evil? Probably. Anything that causes personal or cultural suffering is evil, no matter how 'well-intended' it is said to be. Evil comes into everyone's life because everyone at some time or other invites it in or doesn't do what they must to prevent evil's entry. Is that the work on one entity? No. Just as there are 404 Good Spirits, so there are many nasty ones. It is about balance, and the exact number doesn't matter.
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