"That which we put into the ground she returns to us."
Big Thunder (Bedagi) Wabanaki Algonquin ChiefTaken out of context it is difficult to say exactly what Chief Big Thunder meant by this, but in keeping with the Multiverse theme, he is just as likely to have been alluding to planting bodies as seeds. In the case of bodies, he is telling us that the Earth will return the dead; in the case for seedlings, his message is that the Earth produces what we cultivate and what we consume of it becomes part of us (see,
finally a circle, I heard you calling for one and here it is
Mr. or Ms. 0.866025404; and have a slice of
pi while you're browsing)
The Native American view of returning from the dead as well as the case for Multiple Dimensions is echoed by Chief Seattle.
"There is no death; only a change of worlds."
Seattle [Seatlh] Suquamish ChiefAnd the case for putting anything else into the ground (the body, or the environment) is also covered.
74
Al Mudatthir (The Enshrouded One)
وَالرُّجْزَ فَاهْجُرْ 74:5
74:5 And all pollution shun!
There are compelling reasons why revelation is often dispensed in multi-faceted sound bites; the savings in paper and ink alone is one simple consideration faced with how much it would take to have to sit down and spell it all out until the recipient reaches their final moment of clarity (and No! Deliberately poisoning someone is still not an option, all you ‘
Where Have You Been Lord Randall, My Son?’ fans!)
Lately, I’ve needed to come up with examples, so in order not to tax my simple mind I have picked a readily accessible ‘for instance’ and leave it to you, dear reader, to challenge yourself with finding better ones. The injunction to avoid eating pork is in every Judeo-Christian-Muslim scripture and is not only a matter of taste.
On the surface you might think what follows is a lame attempt to make you part with that ham and cheese sandwich; but that’s just your first impression and you would be well served to keep an open mind. You don’t have to do anything, but ask yourself ‘Is it right to inflict my own poor judgment on my children?’ Can’t we just stop at having already polluted their Earth, Sky and Bodies and launched them into certain astronomical debt for the rest of their existence--without the benefit of even a good education to help them get themselves out of this mess?
Mayhaps the angst that caused all this was what Chief Many Horses (Navajo) foretold;
” … I will prepare the way for my children, and their children. The Great Spirit has shown me - a day will come when they will outrun the ‘white man’ (read, not necessarily some Caucasian-but any Oppressor) in his own shoes."I think the Chief gave the oppressor too much credit, not realizing the kids needn’t bother to even strap on their shoes since they can do it with only their flip-flops on.
'What do you have against pigs?' you wonder. Well, nothing—Jesus found them very useful. But the fact remains, even today, while reportedly less than 1% of all slaughter pigs are infected with trichinosis parasite, this still carries a significant risk since it represents about 40 million potential meal exposures each year in the United States. (The pork industry need not get all up in arms about this; people still are gonna wanna eat pork and for those who don’t there is always chicken).
And while it may be true that less than 150 human cases of trichinosis are reported annually, less than 1% of the cases are clinically diagnosed. By some estimates 10 to 15 million people in the United States have been infected with trichinosis and about 1.5 million Americans carry the parasite; it is further estimated that there are between 150,000 and 300,000 new infections occurring annually.
Pigs are not native to America, having been brought over by ‘New World’ explorers as early precursors to ‘meals on wheels.’ But that is understandable, since many things were brought over including Africans as slaves to work plantations.
It is widely known that pigs will eat just about anything; I am hard pressed to think of anything they won’t eat. And the first dozen or so pigs that made it to these shores were the progenitors of all the domestic pigs that go to market today.
Until recently what has not been as widely known, (probably due to its having besmirched our Nation’s history), is that African-American slaves brought here to work died by the thousands. There are
indications that the “mortality rate of black children on the South Carolina and Georgia coastal rice plantations was astonishingly high – nearly 90% of all children died before they reached the age of 16 years. Even on more interior cotton plantations it is likely that nearly one out of every three slave children died before adulthood. Death was certainly a way of life for African-American slaves and they had ample opportunities to make the trip from slave settlement to cemetery for their friends and family.”
Careful deliberation would make one think that if the above findings are true, slave owners had no time for anything else but to make or purchase coffins to bury their dead slaves, but
“Very few planter diaries recount the events surrounding slave burials.”
There is a slave song lyric that goes “
Graveyard aught to know me” and the author ventures to guess that it may be an allusion to the many trips slaves took to the graveyard to bury their dead. While admitting this is only a guess on her part, the alternative meaning is all too horrific but must be presented.
Given that slaves were not thought of as even being fit to eat the food given to the pigs, were discouraged any forms of worship, and the high cost of coffins--is the reason for this lyrical lament that the singer knew he was not likely to ultimately get to know the graveyard at all because there was a more sinister yet efficacious way to get rid of his body? Is this where the saying “
Feed him to the pigs” comes from?
What are we to conclude now that we know where pigs come from, what historically they have been given to eat, and that you reap what you sow and you are what you eat? How does this speak to the attributes of God that include 'Restraint In Judgment' tempered by 'Mercy' that make the many think He is MIA or something, when a modicum of Reflection tells us He is 'Ever Present'?
Is that you
gasping at this simple-minded thoughfulness or your ham and cheese sandwich?
Posts
