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Transformation+ Living Lineages: SacredRoad Runner

Living Lineages are an essential component in catalyzing the opportunities of our individual and collective potential by re-integrating on ecological, social and spiritual levels.  In order to truly engage with these lineages, we must first enable ourselves to be transformed by them, not simply understand them.  It is with much gratitude to Kosmos Journal that we share their publication of my article on the subject.

How do you engage with living lineages?  What are the opportunities and places where you see these lineages transforming modern life?

Communities around the planet are dealing with crises resulting from the complicated and complex web of problems that have emerged out of our modern society.  Whether viewed through the lens of climate change, wealth disparity, food security or any other inter-related issue, we have an opportunity to address the fundamental cause: the disconnect  between our human designs and the wisdom of nature.  The scale, complexity, and global nature of these problems require a transformation at a proportionate level of depth, simplicity, and local-rootedness to create the conditions for appropriate solutions to emerge. Living Lineages are experienced in the translation and application of natural wisdom, providing an essential key so that we may reintegrate, individually and collectively, at ecological, social and spiritual levels.

 

Living Lineages: Simplicity, Complexity and the Deepening Eco-Social-Spiritual Integration

As we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, we have an opportunity to recognize the immense sacrifice that has been made by Indigenous Peoples around the world to retain their identity, sacred places, languages, knowledge and wisdom.  Here we will focus for a moment on the wisdom of Indigenous Peoples, and its immense importance at this time.

True knowledge and wisdom can not be bought, nor can it be sold.  It can not be owned or patented, it is a gift of the creator that comes to us, lives within us, passes through us.  But it can be respected an honored.  To do this, we can honor the source of this wisdom, and the lives it has traveled through to reach us.  We must care for it, take responsibility to do the best we can with it, to make the lives of those around us better by fulfilling our purpose in this life.  With this, we can not look to extract knowledge and wisdom from a people the same way we have extracted land, resources and lives from them.  We can not take the gifts we have received and look to sell them for profit, as it will turn this gift of wisdom into dust.

Today, let us remember the sacred knowledge, the wisdom that has been bestowed upon us, and be grateful for what we have received.  Let us honor the path this knowledge has taken, and those that have sacrificed to keep the lineages alive.  Let us remember that not long ago, we all lived as Indigenous people in all parts of the world, and by supporting the Indigenous people of today’s world to remain vital in their lands, with their languages, cultures, knowledge, and wisdom we help to keep alive hope for our collective future.

Please take a moment to read this excellent piece by Naomi Klein interviewing Leanne Simpson in YES! Magazine:
Dancing the World into Being: A Conversation with Idle No More’s Leanne Simpson

The existing paradigm of development, particularly for “underdeveloped” nations, continues to fall apart as it fails to create a fundamental shift in conditions that foster the well-being and evolutionary development of both people and place and instead breeds cycles of materialism, dependency and extractivism.  We must challenge assumptions and change the way we view the world to change the future we are creating. Here is an article by Charles Eisenstein in Kosmos Journal discussing the failure of existing development frameworks, and pointing towards Indigenous cultures and living lineages to guide us going forward.

If we were to reframe our development goals as seeking to integrate more deeply with a natural order to support the co-evolution of people and the living, natural world around us, how different would things look?  Where do the opportunities lie for us to embrace the wisdom of living lineages, as they reflect the natural wisdom of our planet and universe, and to integrate that wisdom into how we organize our human activities and systems?  What are the numerous examples of where this has happened in our collective history, and where it continues to occur in our present time?

Thanks to Sonja for sharing this article with us:
Development in the Ecological Age

So, this Monday morning rant features an article that leads me to think about the need to restore the continuum in our stories of human experience.

Often, archaeology, as a result of the modern cosmologies within which it operates, creates a narrative that disconnects the current human experience from the richness of our collective history.  Ancestral people, like the Maya, are said to have “disappeared” and to have had little to no connection to civilizations of the past, let alone hold the keys for recognizing the developments they have brought to the planet that remain unseen.  Disconnecting a people from their own history helps to create the conditions that enable their exploitation.

There is great value in understanding the narratives of our human history, even as told through archaeological or anthropological lenses.  This shifting context of discovery can change the way we think about how we have arrived in the present moment, as well as the potential that we can realize in the future.

Our history is continuous, and the more we can realize this the greater our sense of purpose can be heading into the future.  This article is a great example of the transformation that is possible, even within archaeological perspectives, that begin to recognize the unbroken connection between peoples and their ancestors.  Although this example is specific to Indigenous people of the Americas, there are stories of our ancestral experience upon this planet being told around the world, and we can each recognize our place on a deeper continuum of life in this universe.

New Discovery Confirms Native American Views on Their Ancestry

SacredRoad Runner, September 2014 is here!  We just sent out our latest newsletter, full of information about what is happening in the world of Saq’ Be’, including information on stories, the Cholq’ij calendar and ongoing/ upcoming efforts to keep living lineages vital.  You can sign up to receive the newsletter on our site.  You can also view it online (below).  Here’s the intro:

You’ll want to read this!

SacredRoad Runner – September, 2014

What role can filmed documentation play in ensuring the living lineages of the Maya tradition remain vital? The tradition of the Maya has persevered for millennia through lineages of transmission that have endured conquest, colonization, war, globalization, evangelization and countless other, continued threats. We are in a moment in which Elders and Cofrades (traditional community leadership group) are open to share their wisdom and their vision with the world, willing to leave a filmed record to spread and preserve their culture.

We have the great opportunity of beginning this preservation project with the Elders Don Mariano, who is an expert calendarist and knowledgable of Maya epigraphy, Don Tomás who is a wise elder and part of the Indigenous mayorship of Chichicastenango, Don Manuel who a Cofrade member from the Cofradía of Chichicastenango and Don Juan Manuel from the Cofradía of the Ri Laj Mam (Maximon) of Santa Cruz in Santiago Atitlan. They are all willing to share about the tradition and their wisdom of their Maya cosmovision. Some of the knowledge they will be sharing with us includes Wach (Maya Writing) and the Cofradías.

Wach…Maya Writing of the New Dawn

For centuries after western civilization came to know the Maya civilization there was no idea about the meaning of Maya writing. It was not until the middle of the last century that Knorosov, a Russian scholar, made the first attempt and discovered that the Mayan glyphs were ideograms.

Maya grandfathers and grandmothers say that Maya writing is a living writing which they call Wach – this could be translated as “the eye in which a vision is found.” When you are in contact with this vision, it sees you and transmits ideas. For this reason, Maya writing is difficult to understand.

There have been many advances in understanding Maya mathematics and astronomy, mostly through the codices. However, there has not been much progress regarding the interpretation of the so-called glyphs. Two elders, Don Tomás, who inherited the knowledge of understanding the glyphs and who has an interpreter, Don Manuel, who can help him share this knowledge in Spanish. Don Tomás is an old man who is willing to leave his knowledge on record, it is therefore important to film him.  Then there is a wise Maya scholar, Don Mariano, who is also an Ajq’ij (Maya spiritual guide), and may be one of the few calendarists who has deeply maintained the tradition. He is an heir and scholar of Maya writing, also willing to share his vision, which just like Don Tomás’, differs from the western academic understanding. The valuable vision and objective of Don Mariano is to make Wach understandable for any person.

The problem that both Don Mariano and Don Tomás see is that Western culture is trying to understand Maya writing based on the grammar taught at school. None of the scholars has learned a traditional Maya language. They have mainly adjusted to the contemporary understanding, without taking into account that today’s Maya language is different from pre-Columbian Maya language.

The Cofradia (Brotherhood), Shelter of Maya Spirituality

After the invasion and persecution from the Spaniards, especially from the inquisitor priests that came with the conquerors, there was a persecution and extermination of the spiritual guides of the Maya tradition.

Catholic priests brought the structure of the church through the Cofradias, which they had inherited from Arabia.

This structure came to Maya spiritual guides as the perfect way out of the persecution. The Cofradias allowed them to take the image of a saint to a member’s house, which served as the domicile through which their organization revolved. This was accepted by the priests, who thought the Mayas were being converted to Catholicism. It was also a source of income to the church, since the Cofradias had to pay donations and collect charity. The Confradias are composed of the Mayor or Council Ruler, scribes, principals and assistant Cofrades. They were the perfect shelter that kept the hierarchical order of what was left of the Maya royalty and the spiritual guides, or Ajq’ij.

For centuries the essence of Maya tradition and spirituality was preserved in the Cofradias. Until recently, Maya spirituality was persecuted and treated as sorcery. It was only in the mid 90’s that there was more receptiveness to the living Maya culture. It was then that the Great Circle of Elders started to spread the knowledge and make public Maya ceremonies that attracted the interest of the western world. During that time the President of Guatemala, Ramiro De León Carpio participated in a traditional Maya fire Ceremony, which was broadcast by the media. This brought respect and the freedom to publicly practice our tradition.

The Cofradia was the shelter that helped protect Maya spirituality for several centuries, but when the persecution was over and we could publicly practice our spirituality, the Cofradias attracted less people. For this reason it will most likely be lost. However, the Cofradía of the native saint of America, Ri Laj Mam (also known as Maximon), might be the only one to be persevere as it does not follow the church. Both its origins and essence form part of the spiritual organization of Maya Elders.

We believe it is important to make a filmed record of this institution, to preserve the secrets that were kept there up until today, and to understand the way in which a connection was made between Maya deities and the Catholic saints. It is also important to leave a record about the Cofradia of the Ri Laj Mam, its importance and value for Maya people. This is the first time that we will have the opportunity to have the Cofrades talk directly to us, without any intermediaries, about their vision.

Saq’ Be’ works to keep the living lineages of the Maya vital. To this end, we have raised funding to support the first of a series of filmed documentation efforts. An edit of this filming will be made available publicly, while a more complete version will be made available as an archive to Maya communities. This work is only possible through the financial support of readers like you. Please consider making a tax-exempt donation to Saq’ Be’, either online or contact us to discuss other means. Thank you for helping us to support the continued vibrancy of these rich and important traditions!

Mayan Ajq’ij Gerardo Barrios discussed prophecy, the Mayan calendars, cosmology and more with interesting insights into the Maya cosmovision.  This article is based upon an interview with him in 1998.  Gerardo is the brother of Lina and Carlos, and sadly, passed away a few years ago.  We are glad that some of his knowledge was passed on in the contents of this interview.  Good Friday reading!

The Elders Wisdom Page

Saq’ Be’ works to support the movement of living lineages into modern times.  Many may wonder what “lineages” mean exactly, and why they are relevant?  We view this as the transmission of knowledge and wisdom, over time and generations (and often place) from one set of keepers of a tradition to a next generation.  It is essential that these lineages trace back to their origin.  We consider the lineages themselves to be alive, representing the present manifestation that contains the cosmology, ontology, knowledge, wisdom and energy of ancient traditions, that have evolved into their current form, serving to guide the evolutionary path of humanity within the cosmos.

If all this sounds confusing, don’t worry.  It’s an attempt to explain something simple and somewhat intangible through intellectual means.  The beauty of these lineages lies in their wisdom of simplicity.

For those of you who may be technically inclined, here is an amazing example of tracing lineages over time.  The Tibetan Buddhist Resources Center collects and digitizes Tibetan Buddhist texts from around the world to preserve and further the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.  They have discovered a clear record in those texts that delineates the lineages of the tradition.  Have a  look, and let us know what you think about living lineages in the comments here and on social media.

The Lineage Transmission Knowledge Model

Here are some images from Lina and Denise’s July, 2014 visit to Santa Fe, NM.  As the fire ceremony ended, thunders came and the sky opened up on us, ending the ceremony with a bang!