Shabot
Obaadjiwan
“Sharbot Narrows in the Rapids”
The official
website of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation Membership.
Formerly Known
As: Sharbot Mishigama Anishinabe Algonquin First Nation Membership.
Respect
Respect, Elders and Elder Spirits
The
word respect will be defined and explained more clearly. This teaching will
explain what Elders are and how they are placed in Society by the Creator God.
This is a spiritual writing and is meant to be read a minimum of four times.
This is only a partial teaching of the wisdom of Respect.
Respect Life
Respect is taking into account what effect any thought, word and deed will have
on life before you move to take action or open your mouth to express your
thoughts. Respect is taking into consideration whether your decisions to act
would be beneficial or detrimental, to all forms of life. Respecting all life
shows you love and care, for life. Love is respecting All Spirits in the
Universe, and understanding you are related to All Life in Oneness.
Respect is consensus. Consensus is not a political process or a game wherein
you get to hold up your hand, until you have been coerced to agree with others,
through a form of philosophical persuasion, or by simply being out-waited, or
having your arm get tired, forcing you into compromising your convictions, by
being forced to agree to things you know in your heart are wrong. Consensus is
showing you respect life and that you will take into account, the effects your
decisions and actions will have on every form of life. Accept only good
thoughts, words, and deeds, which will bring forth and generate a life of
beauty and love.
Respect is accepting the order of life, knowing there will always be Greater
Spirits than yourself to guide and protect you, throughout all of your
lifetimes. It is the Creator who is the Source of all knowledge and the Source
of all life and the Center of the Universe. You are merely a Spirit who
emanates from the thoughts of the Creator God. Knowing from whom you are
descended, holding this in your mind and heart makes you humble, not the bowing
and scraping or the wearing of rags that most believe defines humility. Humility
is a form of respect and a sign of great intelligence, for everyone can see
that the Universe does not revolve around them. To be humble, is to accept
humility.
To be Human you must accept humanity. You are one of a kind, this is your kind
and you are one of them. Humanity is the acceptance your spirit emanates from
the Sol/Soul of the Creator. The Creator is a being of Light and you are a
being of light. The Creator lives forever, you live forever. The Creator is
perfect, and you made in his image, is perfect, for no other kind of spirit
emanates from a perfect being except a perfect spirit. Saying "I am only
human" is an excuse to do wrong and a denial that you are descended from
the soul of the Creator God.
Respecting yourself is accepting who you are. You are related to all the
Spirits in the Universe, whether they be as numerous and small as blades of
grass or as singular in oneness as the Sky. You are related to all of these.
They are "All your/my Relations." What you do to one, you do to yourself
and all of Mankind. Like a seed you were given the potential and the power to
generate life, through God. For from one seed, a tree will grow, which will
grow into a forest and if allowed to grow uninterrupted would blanket the Earth
in trees, providing small worlds for life, likened unto the Universe. A Mouse
knows the Order of the Universe because his World is likened unto the Universe.
Mice are equal in importance in their world as Mankind is, in their World.. At
this time they are more than equal to Man in this respect, for they live in
harmony with all Creation, unlike Mankind who goes against Creation, destroying
all life for the making of material possessions and for the maintenance of
their own personal empires. The seed, tree and forestation of Earth provide
life for living Beings and all of these Beings are beneficial to Mankind.
You are a Spirit that emanates from the Creator and you are born through Earth,
your first and true Mother. You are a Spirit flowing through a Body. You are
some One, not some Body. If you want to meet Somebody, go to the morgue and you
will meet some Body there. With the breath of life, you become some One, one
spirit that flows through a body, here on Earth to learn how to love and grow
greater, in the greater ‘Body of Oneness’. Your spirit is born only once, for
like your Father, the Great Spirit, you live forever, flowing through many
bodies throughout your many lifetimes. Spirits regenerate every seven years,
never becoming older, making them forever young. There are no old spirits, only
spirits that pre-date other spirits. The closer your spirit was born to the
beginning of Creation, pre-dating all other spirits that came into existence at
a later time, would make you the Elder of a Tribe upon your return. The Creator
is the only one that makes you who you are, an Elder or Pre-dating Spirit.
All Elder Spirits returning to this world are reborn in the physical bodies of
babies and when they are recognized, are to be respected and treated as the
Elder Spirits that they are. These ‘small ones’ are very powerful beings, as
they are pre-dating spirits. Having to enter this world in the same way as
other spirits, flowing through a new body, doesn't change the fact that they
pre-date others. Do not let their appearance or size fool you.
Through example, an Elder and Great Spirit, the Skunk, reminds you to see
beyond the obvious. For every time you encounter the Skunk, in his smallness,
he quietly demands your respect and if you think you are more powerful, try to
bully or harm him. When he sprays you, you will walk around alone for quite
awhile, contemplating his lesson, marked by his ‘teaching of respect’. Having
demonstrated your lack of respect to all others, marking you for all to smell,
this great spirit shows that he was even given the power to banish you from
your own people. The Skunk will force you to take the time away from your kind,
to rethink your actions and correct your way, before your actions are copied by
others, multiplying becoming a greater wrong.
Having been an effective teacher, you will give the small one and his relatives
a wide berth on your next encounter. The skunks reputation as a great teacher
rides before him on the wind, saving many in the family of Man, from this up
close lesson on respect. The skunk wears the colours of his conviction, black
and white, much like robes of office for all to see. Black is the colour one
wears when requesting respect, when one asks to be taken seriously and white is
the colour of spirituality, showing the pureness of purpose. This great spirit,
the skunk, faithfully teaches all others a lesson of respect, fulfilling their
purpose given to them by the Creator God.
Elder Spirits are the Leaders and the Spiritual Mothers and Fathers of their
Tribe and are far wiser than any Younger Spirits, for they have gained
knowledge from living many more lifetimes. Younger Spirits in older bodies are
not the Elders of the Tribes of Mankind. You are not the Body. Bodies are
merely the vessels through which your spirits flow. Elders are called Grand
Mothers and Grand Fathers. The word grand means great, not old or gray. It is
the title given to a Pre-dating Spirit who has generated many offspring,
through whom their spirit flows. This is what an Elder Spirit is. They are not
elected but elevated by the Creator.
This does not take away from the need to respect our physical Elders, as they
too are deserving of our respect, for their experience in this lifetime. Having
fulfilled their obligation of supplying you and your spiritual relations with
bodies to flow through, it is your duty to respectfully listen to all they are
to teach you. Therefore they are to be listened to with respect, treated with
kindness and honoured as your spiritual guides on Earth. Your Mother represents
the Earth and your Father represents the Sun, as your physical family is based
on the Order of the Universe. Whatever you do to the Lesser Order in the
Universe, you do to the Greater Order of the Universe. You are to honour and
respect your physical Mothers and Fathers. Do this willingly and out of love
for one and other. This will make your Earthly family strong in oneness.
You were born once as a Spirit at the beginning of time, and before you were
ever born as a human being, you were many other beings first. You were supplied
with a different bodily form in each lifetime. In this way the Creator taught
you how to live in harmony with one and other and all life. Whatever beings you
were, you still are. If you were an Ant in a past lifetime, your spirit still
flows through an Ant in this lifetime. You are descended from many spirits.
They form your spirit system. Some peoples still have records of the major
spirits they are descended from, for they were recorded on their family
shields, crests, flags, heraldry, totems, etc. You must always remember that
you live forever, for in remembering this, you are motivated to cherish all
life, for you return continually to share in life with all others. What you
teach your Children becomes the World you return to!
Should you disrespect the life of a lesser being and harm them physically, know
that you may be harming yourself or someone dear to you. You are a spirit that
lives forever, for you exist continually throughout all time, on every level of
the Universe that you have ever existed on. Whatever existed, still exists
because if it didn't you would not be here now. Destroy one level of the
Universe closer to the beginning of time and you will destroy all levels of
life that were generated from that level in time. You are related to every
living thing. Do not kill Lesser Beings indiscriminately. We are all related
through the Oneness of the Universe. Care for all of Our Relations!
Listen respectfully to your teachers in life, speak respectfully of life, act
respectfully toward all living things. Know that you have the power to cause
the future of every living thing, and it would be wise to make your decisions
based on the respect for all life. Respect all Life, for You are Life. Those
who do not respect life do not deserve to share in life. You are the Children
of God and the Reasons for Creation. Life Should Respect Life. Listen with
respect, speak with respect, act with respect, for respect creates harmony and
causes closeness amongst you. When you respect one and other, you produce
harmony, which shows caring, becoming love, growing greater to Oneness. In
Oneness, we will sing the Song of the Universe, "One Heart, One Mind, One
Soul" and share in Peace and Heaven on Earth.
Spiritual Teachings Info