Five years ago I had the privilege of meeting and having several conversations with Tiokasin Ghosthorse, executive producer of First Voices Indigenous Radio and a member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation. I continue to chew, taste and digest those conversations as their nuances have unfolded in my experiences living around the world.
There is a “truism” that “people around the world are all essentially the same.” In a life of living around the world since my first weeks of life I have not found this to be true, not even among my own Belgian and Polish families, except at a very superficial level.
What both of my families of origin did have in common was a very deep and embedded presumption that it’s alright to hurt, speak harshly to, and physically isolate or attack whoever they say they “love.” This is a common presumption in many cultures that result from prior conquest.
On the other hand, I know, have lived with, and love People whose way of relating does NOT proceed on that presumption; People who have a profoundly different way of BEING and RELATING than those so generalized among post-conquest Europeans.
People are defined by the Quality of their Attention and their Care-FULL-ness or Care-LESS-ness, and who/ what/ where/ how/ why/ when they care and pay attention to.
Some Peoples’ love actually causes their “loved ones” to flourish in the fullness of their Aliveness, Self-Mastery and Intelligence. Other peoples’ love cripples their young ones and has them still wading through the internal confusion long after all their hair has turned grey, still waiting for that fundamental welcome, still stuffing the hurt with any damn piece of the world that they can shove down the hole in their soul.
In Lakota, for example, and in the speaking of a number of Original Peoples I have spent time with, there is no way to say “I love you.” Their way of loving is their way of being People, of being Lakota, of being Related to each other. They don’t need a separate word to convince each other of what they ARE, or aren’t and pretend to be.
There is a very rich invitation to Seeding Attention and Caring in what Tiokasin shares with us in this talk. If you listen care-FULLY to his music at the end you will HEAR that way of SPEAKING-IN-SINGING as well. I hope you are enriched in your SEEDING by the Wisdom Tiokasin is SEEDING.
Tiokasin’s First Voices Indigenous Radio program gives voice to the Original Peoples of the world. There are True Wisdom Treasures being shared there by People whose voices speak sense and rarely get heard today.
This is an hour-long interview. It invites care-FULL listening to receive its Wisdom. I share it as a Treasure for YOU.
If you’d like to stream and listen to the mp3 file directly it is HERE.
Dave Shea
Hey O….very cool…Robbie Robertson has been a favorite of mine since the 70’s…listening to The Band always uplifted me when I was down….I also have a deep respect for the Native American especially after I moved to Oregon and started reading books on the Indian wars before Oregon became a state and how the army and the white man did what they did to them…I’ve been to a 3 day pow wow in Joseph, Oregon for the Nez Perze and was totally awesome….your mind and soul take on a whole new outlook from such an experience…Hope you are well…Dave
Also…I love you are the 3 most abused words in the English language
Journeyman O
Thank you Dave, here’s a song for you by Robbie Robertson. Keep your spirit bright!