Which came first, our Red Road, or Life? I once read a Native American Spirituality book that spoke about the seven rites of passage; it spoke about Praying with The Chanupa, The Sweat Lodge, The Hambleche Vision Quest, and The Sundance.
Why do we feel like we have been on the Red Road before we ever knew that it existed? Our Red Road celebrates Nature and her ways. This is forever felt within one’s heart. The Good Red Road celebrates our origins as human animals as we once were; physically free and spiritually wild. As generations pass we forget what that feels like. So let’s pray to walk this good Red Road in a sacred manner. Let’s pray in our sweat lodge to detoxify and untangle fearful thinking. With respect we can ask for a sacred vision. We can Sundance to clean up selfishness, vanity and self righteousness that has been instilled within since we stopped living directly off our Earth.
Our Red Road as a way for life is to listen to our sacred Elders rather than talk at them. It is to offer each step under our Sun as a sacred dance for life. It is not a club to join because there are no missions. It is not a place to “pick up chicks” or collect self validation. Out Red Road as a way for life is to just simply “be” – in harmony with all living beings as though they are our relatives.
Someone once asked , “ Is the Red Road the same as the Trail of Tears?” I did not answer, but I tried to imagine what it felt like to be one of the First People, kidnapped from Nature and forced to live within four walls. I am so used to these four walls (count them) that I can only imagine… and pray for a Vision. But, the Red Road is not a popularity game, it is a way for life.
Aho,
Makawa