| |
Ana
SHAMANS
of
SAN DAMIANO
J. Lamah Walker
Cedar Crest, New Mexico
2001
SHAMANS OF SAN DAMIANO
by J. Lamah Walker
Copyright © 2001 by:
Joseph L. Walker, Jr., Ph.D.
All rights reserved under International
&
Pan American Copyright Conventions
No
part of this book may be reproduced
in
any form—except for brief quotations
(not to exceed 1000 words) in a review or
professional work—without permission
in
writing from the author.
Library of Congress
Catalogue Card
Number: 2001-130969
Printed in the United States of American
on
acid free paper
Cover image by Lawrence W. Lee
http://www.jcgltd.com/search/artist_details.cfm?artist_id=63
To:
The
ailing
And the
lonely
who are
too often in
a
hopeless search
for
healing
and
love
Dr. J. Lamah Walker
J. Lamah Walker, a graduate of the
University of Miami (B.A. in Psychology & Religion) and Georgia State
University (B.A. in Sociology/Criminology), received his M.Ed. from West
Texas State in Community Counseling and his Ph.D. from the University of
Oklahoma in the Administration of Higher Education. While at the
University of Oklahoma, he was the recipient of The Robert E. Ohm
Dissertation Assistance Memorial Award for outstanding scholarship
as an advanced graduate student in the field of higher education and
general administration. He last served as a clinical psychotherapist at
the Student Health Center at the University of New Mexico. Outside
those protective confines of that academic ivory tower, Lamah has been a
general contractor and real estate broker in New Mexico for some thirty
years and was ordained as a minister of the Gospel at the age of
nineteen in his parent’s inter-denominational Christian church,
New Age Church of Truth. This dynamic and resourceful Renaissance man
more than anything else dramatically represents the old Stoic aphorism
that: "Life makes philosophers of us all." Besides all the other
accomplishments of this unusual man, he is also a storyteller
with this one very inspiring tale to share that is only enhanced by his
having been duly initiated as a Medicine Man under the spiritual and
loving direction of a Native American who was a humble member of the
Bear Clan.
Thanks to…
John for his enduring
love
Barbara
for always being my sister
Lynn
Andrews for a wonderful future
Lawrence w. lee for fine artistry
Marsena,
My spiritual mother
Dennis
for his friendship
Loving, Caring
Friends
NONA,
don, Jan,
Rita
Age of Reality Synopsis
Thomas Jefferson had encountered great
difficulty in the establishment of the "first" University in American
that was not church and/or religiously sponsored or related. He
obviously had the properly conceived notion that, where religions and
their consistently and doggedly insistence that the truth lies only
within those narrowly defined tenants of its own faith, it would be
almost impossible to achieve a true atmosphere of academic freedom and
thought as well as the scientific establishment of new discoveries.
That more than noble effort of Thomas Jefferson, resulting in the
founding of the University of Virginia, was the quintessential essence
of that ideal socio-political circumstance where there would exist a
distinct separation of the church and its mostly conservative ideologies
from that of a modern civil state that should rightly foster individual
achievement and growth over which there should be NO moral authority.
Only in that ideal of circumstances would it be at all possible to
actually have what is aptly called freedom of religion wherein
every single individual remains equally free to pursue the truth
according to his own beliefs and personals needs.
As a great man of letters, I
am very confident that Thomas Jefferson, in the light of modern day
knowledge and scientific realities, would be amusingly appalled at the
present state of affairs where so many individuals still so blindly hold
fast to these embellished religious mythologies that have been so
totally challenged and dispelled by modern discoveries and science
dramatically beginning with those far-reaching theories of Nicolaus
Copernicus (1473-1543) and that were so dramatically confirmed by
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) with his masterful and most timely invention
and use of the telescope. For Galileo's courageous contribution to the
knowledge of his day that we were NOT the center of the universe and
therefore most likely not the singular focus of creation, he was hastily
placed under 'house arrest' by the head of the Catholic Church, and that
atrocious and malign decree was only lifted in the last decade of the
Twentieth Century, some three hundred and fifty years after his death.
Reality has not changed in
its essence from the very first time that man began to explore his
ever-expanding universe; the difficulty lies with man's ability or
inability to successfully and realistically integrate his
antiquated mythologies with the hard sciences of our modern times. The
beginning of any age of mankind is appropriately marked not with just
the simple discovery of some previously undiscovered reality that had
always existed, but most appropriately when the tangible fruits of that
revelation or discovery have actually entered the mainstream of
mankind's day-to-day world. From our own Western culture perspective,
the singular event that might well mark the beginning of this great Age
of Reality could possibly be focused on Pope John Paul II, when on
October 31, 1992, when the Vatican 'revisited' its initial indictment of
Galileo's scientific confirmation of Copernicus' take on our universe's
heavenly bodies and their actual relationship to earth.
Mankind and his innate noble
spirit, has for too long, been held totally captive and spiritually
enslaved to these archaic and notoriously oppressive religions and their
often-time radical leaders who all too frequently subjugate that very
loving nature that every individual man and woman should be equally and
universally heir to. We are so very fortunate to be living in an age of
such magnanimous discoveries. And in most every instance mankind
continues to challenge the spiritual impact of these modern discoveries
and in too few cases might even be able to successfully dispel many of
those notoriously and conservatively held points of view.
There is in reality nothing
new under our own life-giving sun; mankind has only to accept and
broaden his fundamental knowledge of what is already most evident in
nature. Mankind is most fortuitously and finally leaving behind the
very infancy of his once political, social, psychological and spiritual
development, and with this ever-immerging social and spiritual maturity
mankind is fastly entering this most progressive Age of Reality. And,
above all, mankind is seemingly achieving much of this newly discovered
maturity most notably with or without the blessings of many of our world
religions, most notably that multitude of Christian faiths.
These rather large number of
spiritually oppressive churches, temples, and mosques need not be
totally dismissed or even left behind in the dust of modern discoveries;
they should, however, all, so to speak, come clean about the ghastly
multitude of their mostly bogus and certainly mythological claims.
Then, and only then, should these now spiritually irrelevant mythologies
have the greatest of obligations to become more spiritually relevant to
the real needs of their congregations. I would suppose that this
metamorphose could be easily achieved by simply redefining their various
spiritual and social roles to reflect an ideology that truly and
sincerely fosters the love and acceptance of all mankind as well as the
infinitely and most magnanimous beauty of this naturally occurring
diversity of mankind that has been manifested in this wonderful Garden
of Eden.
This great diversity also
carries with it the reality that not all individuals will posses either
the desire or ability to recognize and/or even accept the fundamental
precepts of this wonderfully freeing age; they are equally free to
experience their own life's joy in any manner they see fit. Mankind,
for far too many reasons, has remained in the infancy of his deeper
spirituality and it has only been the purveyors of these now terribly
archaic mythologies that have selfishly profited far beyond any
reasonable or authentic concern for these often blindly led followers’
spiritual wellbeing. It is a reasonable expectation for the infant to
believe in a Santa Clause, BUT to continue these fabled and mythological
beliefs into the mature adulthood is a grave travesty that only feeds
the despots of these infantile mythologies despite all the social order
and good behavior that many of these old religions and mythologies are
totally and rightfully given full credit for fostering.
So, you tell me; what should
these now outdated and benign religions be doing to correct their
misgivings. Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote a book entitled, Why
Christianity Must Change Or Die that only scratched the benign
surface of the problems with America’s number one religion that claims
the same God as is depicted as part of our country’s heritage as
reflected in the expression, “One nation under God.” I am appalled that
we as free Americans still hold to this now failed expression as
we have the most horrid statistical records when it comes to human
failure as in; the broken homes, alcoholism, every crime under the sun,
drug dependency and those countless and growing numbers of what is
presently called “street people” or “the homeless.”
Jesus, as the greatest and
most certainly profound humanitarian that ever lived on this planet
spent most of his adult life seeking some reasonable answer for
mankind’s pour plight and then sharing it with those who cared enough to
try and did so until the troubled times of Constantine the Great.
Elaine Pagels explains the problem in the very first chapter of her best
seller book, Beyond Belief. The title of this first chapter
truly sez and defines it all, From the Feast of Agapé to Constantine.
The operative words here are “Feast of Agapé” as this was the
only real action required in order to respect and reflect the one and
only commandment of Jesus and that is to, “Love your neighbor as I have
loved you.” You see, Constantine had absolutely no need of this
singular power of love, but instead Constantine demanded “Absolute
Obedience” of those slaves that constituted 90% of the population over
which he ruled. That is precisely why the Nicaean Creed is so totally
devoid of even the very mention of Love, which was the one and only
commandment of Jesus of Nazareth that we should learn to “Love” our
neighbors. You tell me, where in the hell did Constantine ever show any
love for his slaves or those countless hordes of enemies that were
ruthlessly murdered and slain under his ruthless and military command.
Constantine was, to the contrary the very epitome of the antichrist and
yet he is hailed by many as the founder of the great Faith. It is no
wonder that Christianity has followed in the footsteps of its founder
and absolutely showed no love for the countless neighbors put to death
and its auspices of serving the one and only vengeful God. This death
wielding God has no place in my universe and that includes the
mythological Jesus created by this devil worshiper, Constantine the
Great.
The reality is quite simple;
Constantine created Christianity to meet his own carnal needs and it was
his Spiritual Mafioso, those bishops that met at Nicaea at Constantine's
demand, that created heaven and hell as a reward or punishment to the
slaves as a means of obtaining from those slaves, their absolute
submission to the dictates of the newly formulated religion (then the
Catholic Church) as well as their absolute obedience to their
slave-owners (the evidence of which was easily supplied by the slaves’
confessions to priests). That is precisely why the Catholic Church’s
FIRST rule over its own parishioners is governed by that one singular
word "obedience" rather than Jesus of Nazareth only commandment of
"love."
So, my good friends whom I
love enough to share this historical reality with; I wish that all of
you who are freed by the inherit truth of this fundamental knowledge
will accept my most humble dedication of these six modest treatises,
that in each instance and in their own unique manner affirmatively
proclaim that mankind has, for his spiritual betterment as well as his
most affirmative future already embarked on that arduous journey that
will hopefully and eventually bring all of mankind entirely into this
truly wonderful and most freedom imbued AGE OF REALITY.
PREFACE
We all struggle just to subsist in this
often-crazy world of ours that is all too recklessly full of innumerable
illusions that we have simply come to accept and too easily believe that
they are all actually established, believable and well-founded
realities. This present bit of rather intriguing and inspiring oral
history has been in the most thoughtful and critical formulation for
some sixteen years before it was ever and finally committed to the
written page. This otherwise quite extended and previously unexplained
passage of time was due in large part to the indispensable manifestation
of many of the story’s more current revelations, discoveries and events
that serendipitously needed to have ultimately and inevitably manifested
themselves as well as the perceived self-imposed necessity for the
author to have conclusively resolved his own ethical/moral struggle
dealing with the possible appearance of serious incongruence between
that of relating a story with such authoritative certainty on the one
hand and at the same instance my having no real sources of information
that may have in any manner actually substantiated or authenticated the
historical elements or characters of this intriguing tale. One might
easily suspect that there has been entirely too much literary license
employed in certain affected portions of this story; I can only assure
you that those particular incidences that are often related so
dramatically and may even appear to have no true-life historical basis,
may in fact, be far more compelling in their essence than many of those
more convincing but often totally unsubstantiated illusions that all of
us are repeatedly subjected to on such a commanding and relentlessly
consistent basis. After all, what is reality? And, aren’t we all too
often guilty of simply choosing that path of least resistance just so
that we won’t remotely appear to be “rocking the boat’ or possibly
disappoint some loved one by choosing a road less traveled?
This
rather poignant tale is in essence a story that is all about the power
and significance of love that may have well had portions of its earliest
development deceptively cloaked in what our Western culture might refer
to as some form of carnal lust and passion. It all begins in the very
closing years of the Eighteenth Century and had its final and most
poignant installment of inspirational and spiritual muse dramatically
manifested during the mid-Nineteenth century. The source and
inspiration for this most loving tale is, for the lack of any other
rational explanation, this earthbound disembodied soul of unprecedented
spiritual substance. This loving soul remained in spirit close to the
geographic origins of this prophetic story until the very end of the
Twentieth Century, where several conspiring and sometimes even tragic
circumstances brought together two initiated and spiritually gifted
Medicine Men whose actual lives in this living Garden of Eden were
necessarily separated by the passage of more than a hundred or so
years. Only that most poignant expression of love has that immutable
power of transcending any and all obstacles of life if aptly yielded to
in that true character of giving and charity. Its rightful consignment
in each of our individual lives has perhaps too often and so sadly been
covertly subjugated to those conspired and grand illusions that have
otherwise been deviously created only to enslave our free-born spirits
and that naturally imbued appetite for the lust of a bountiful life that
should be so naturally full of personal contentment. These gifted
Medicine Men of San Damiano dedicated most of their modest lives to the
healing of others’ spirits through that immutable power of love, a love
that was and should always remain necessarily unconditional and always
boundless.
PROLOGUE
This beautiful and intriguing Land of
Enchantment has for many many years drawn to its intuitively perceived
mystical province, peoples in search of a unique and often
unconventional spiritual milieu. It is a most distinctive land that is
so naturally diverse in both its indigenous and immigrant human
inhabitants, as well as possessing every ecological biome level with the
singular exception of arctic tundra; what a naturally wonderful and
miraculous diversity! The spiritual fabric of this compelling story is
equally diverse and most dramatically illustrates that at the very core
of every human being is a common quintessence that recognizes nothing of
the multiplicity of labeled-differences that are too persistently and
often unjustly imposed upon every human, whether they be in regards to
one’s race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, personal
appearance, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age in their
naturally diverse origins.
The varied social, political, cultural,
spiritual and most certainly the personal elements of this compelling
story could have only been appropriately narrated by one whose own life
experiences so closely paralleled these too often contrasting
constituents of human circumstance. There is no substitute for fully
understanding our neighbor’s uniquely exceptional condition except our
actually standing in their sandals; for many of us, that’s simply a
virtual impossibility. One of Buddha’s reflective instructions to the
judge was most simply and yet profoundly stated as, “do not pass
judgment until you have stood in the defendant’s sandals.” Is this not
of the very same essential quintessence contained in one of Jesus’ more
divine pronouncements on the Mount that one should not judge others less
they should run the awful risk of being so judged themselves? “JUDGE
NOT, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall
be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again.” We will and should all ultimately reap what we so willingly sow
in this often meager and struggling life of ours, and the only assurance
of any real joy comes solely from our exerted ability to knowingly cast
aside our learned and often unjustified prejudices, and in their place,
establish an attitude towards others that is based solely on love.
If I were to have fully accepted some of
the moral condemnations of my own culture’s basic Judeo-Christian
religious despots, I would have already condemned myself to the same
hellish conclusion that is so tragically attended by one-third of all
teenage suicides in American; homosexuality. Many of these same
tyrannical authoritarians also deny the equality of women and relegate
their gender to some lesser station that is necessarily below that of a
man; where would the human race be without this gentle member? There
are certain portions of this story that manifested themselves in such a
dramatic fashion that I was initially hesitant in relating them, most
simply because they might unnecessarily offend the very reader that may
actually benefit the most from contemplating the ultimate message of
this tale. In that light and to those who are too easily offended by
those sometimes perceived misgivings of their own neighbors, may I
suggest that you reserve any final judgment of this bit of intentionally
spiritual literature until you have completely read the entire story to
its most inspirational conclusion.
Come walk with me in my own sandals,
visualizing and experiencing this southwest Land of Enchantment through
my eyes, and even more importantly, walk with me in the buckskin
moccasins of these initiated Shamans as they innocently and sometimes
tragically discover the spiritual mysteries of the human spirit. This
story could have only taken place in this marvelous land of human and
spiritual enchantment and in that unusual period of Southwestern history
where two totally diverse cultures collided head-on and still
miraculously managed to ultimately converge through the shared
experiences of two Nineteenth Century Shamans and an exceptionally
loving Jesuit priest for the singular and compassionate purpose of
uncovering and preserving the Truth; the only ultimate and legitimate
source for our spiritual and personal salvation. Those
boisterous and often righteous claims of religious salvation that is
even partially devoid of any demonstration of unconditional love is
simply the harsh evidence of a creed that is totally unworthy of any
human and/or serious consideration.
The better part of this story takes place
at a time in the history of this southwest territory when English just
wasn’t the prevailing language. In fact, most of the story is centered
on that specific period of history that is referred to as the Mexican
Period following Mexico’s independence from Spain and just when that
infamous Santa Fe Trail was first established as a “trade route” for the
purpose of commerce with a foreign country, Mexico. Were I to have
written this story in the Zuni language, not that these noble people
ever had a written form, and the European Spanish of that period, none
of us would aptly understand the essence of what was taking place at any
given point. Please bear with me in that I have of necessity imposed my
own vocabulary and sometimes that of my computer’s thesaurus to best
relate the intimate feelings and the essence of what these unusually
passionate and intelligent characters so freely shared with one another.
And lastly, is this a true story? You
bet your life it is!
SAN DAMIANO CROSS
With the initial
reading of this book, you will discover the source of my own discovery
of this very special symbol in the form of an artistic depiction of the
crucifixion. The artist is unknown. The actual cross survived and
remained in the nave of the ruined church known as San Damiano (Saint
Damien) that Francesco, who later became known as Saint Francis,
restored at the beginning of his ministry; the
original cross was thought to have been painted in the 12th century,
measures almost 75 ins. high, 47 ins. wide, and is almost 5 ins. thick.
It is housed in the Basilica of Saint Clare of
Assisi.
|
|
