When you sit in silence with a Big Story
(its texts, practices, ceremonies, heartfelt actions, etc.) you “take
it on its own terms,” that is, you work against
any quick reactions or shallow interpretations.
You open yourself to sense clearly what
and how the Big Story says it is on its own terms. Great effort must
be taken to understand a Big Story on its own terms, through its
own self-evaluations and interpretations—it’s
self-professed “tradition.” Then,
as when peering at a work of art, you pause
to see what is not said, not revealed, not heard, not able
to be sensed through the
Big Story’s own traditional presentation. At this point, you surrender yourself
to the presence and knowledge of the Big Story’s deeply
embedded dark revelations.
Most people have had an experience similar to sensual
immersion. Consider: Someone asks you to “really
look” at, say, a photograph which is quite familiar.
“Do you see what I see?” the other asks. Quizzically, you
look and concentrate and then, “Yeah, I do see that!” You
were so familiar with the photograph that you had not processed all
the information it contained. You simply kept “seeing it”
as you saw it in terms of the information it first gave you. Earthfolk
suggests that a certain emotion was attached to your
original “traditional” vision of the photograph,
and that to slip into another perspective you had to adjust
and attune your eyes— but more importantly, your
feelings.
Peering and sitting in silence, then, is how you ready
yourself to be seized by deeply embedded
insights and emotions. Realize, moreover, that you may feel ill or depressed,
angry or outraged. Equally, profoundly ecstatic, even aroused. Realize
that this practice is not a superficial
or casual exercise.
Be forewarned: If you truly seek to
tap into the deeply embedded emotions that ground a Big Story, all
heaven and all hell might break loose!
Continue—Immersion
