[sunbug]

All these conversations remind me of
Hono Pono: Hawaiian tradition.
I learned about it many years ago from a friend. Looked it up again to refresh my memory. The articles today say it is about having a responsibility to everything/one/being around you. ? and the planet.

But what I remember the most the first time I came across it was Hono Pono was also about healing. (That when one helped others, that would help heal them.) Thought that was really beautiful. So my first impression was Hono Pono was a practice and ritual of well being.
Of course I can understand the opposite as well when one does not take care of their own health and well being, then it’s harder to be physically present for others. Guess balance is the key.

[sunbug]

Ok only writing a 3rd post because I can’t erase the long-winded 3rd that was here just a moment ago. Oops! So I’m just going to leave a space of

 

silence. wry grin.

[Kristina]

Lovely to hear from you sunbug.

And yes, I did a piece on thresholds last year.

Really interesting what you write about two different mythic forms. Another way to look at it could be myths that reference universal archetypes – or in your words, a universal order – and how they’re expressed culturally – in your words, social orders. So yes, some myths are certainly specific to a place or culture (say the Rainbow Serpent, which is considered one of the most powerful ancestral beings of Aboriginal Australia), but I feel it’s the universal order that all myths are referencing consciously or unconsciously, even if they are born out of a specific social order.

Be well, Kristina.

[sunbug]

Thank you for your response Kristina!
Oh Rainbow Serpent yes! I’m fascinated by the stories of Aboriginal Australia! The thought of the Song Lines what a beautiful was to express story, tradition and memory!
Yes what you say makes sense…specific images in certain regions but it’s the universal order we are all referencing consciously or unconsciously (regardless of social order.) 

I like the way Robert Mirabal represents this in his show Music From a Painted Cave.

“I try to imagine who they were…these ancestors across the world  making the same images.”

 

[jimdollar]

Everything I do is a ritual. I follow a prescribed procedure brushing my teeth, shaving, getting dressed, preparing breakfast, writing,.. Nothing is haphazard about the way I live. One day looks a lot like yesterday and tomorrow. I don’t wonder where I am or what’s next ever. I have developed my own rituals that carry me through my life. To follow someone else’s rituals, doing it the way they do it or tell me to do it would not be right. And to submit to someone else’s idea of what should be a ritual for me to submit to is also not on the table. Where does the community take over for the individual, know better than the individual, tell the individual what to do when, where and how?

What, when, where and how constitute essential knowing and are the grounding foundation for living aligned with the Tao, in accord with the Tao, and that is an individual act of knowing that cannot be taken over by the corporate body. Martin Palmer interprets the Tao Te Ching’s “The Tao that can be told/said/explained is not the eternal Tao,” to say, “The path that can be discerned as a path is not a reliable path.” Leaving the individual to fall back on their own sense of what is called for and what needs to be done about it. This connects with Jesus’ saying, “The spirit is like the wind that blows where it will,” which I take to mean “Not even the spirit knows what it will do next, and certainly not what it will do after that!” We wait and see, wait to see, not knowing what we will do next, and it certainly cannot be spelled out in some liturgy or order of service. Spontaneously doing what needs to be done is of the moment, not imposed on the moment as a hoop to jump through.

The rites and rituals that carried ancient peoples through their day/month/year would not fit our world or our life. But we have those that work for us, reading the newspaper, or streaming it, getting on the subway, etc carries us through our day/month/year. And we each have to approach The Mystery in our own way. Artificial rituals designed by someone else won’t deliver us to the Source. Worship cannot be called to order. It is a spontaneous response of the seeker to the sought, the moved to the mover, the known to the knower. Beyond corporate control.

[Kristina]

Jim, I really take your words to heart. So inspirational! Thank you.

[Author]

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