Shaman speaks

A smirk crossed the features of my face as I stared to the wizened out man seated on the ground in front of me, “ watch mean I'm deaf, blind, hand bound and have my head in the ground, I uttered in a sarcastic tone at him.

“I have eyes, ears, hands and I am wiser then you, old man”,

“I’m rich, got a cool car, nice house, good clothes, why, old man, I'm the cream of the world”, The aged Indian just sat and watched back at my pompous strutting, his silver crowned head of grey hair nodding as I blew out my chest and stated my claim to him.

He remained silent for a few moments then spoke again,” yes, you have your tepee of life cluttered with the junk jewellery of the false world, it is the chains around your neck that will drag you down”.

My laughter filled the inside of the tepee and echoed outside across the desert,

I reached into a pocket and withdrew a hand full of $100s and $50s, waving in his face, I snapped “ see this old man, cos this is power, it is the right of me to have this, cos I'm not stupid, old man, I got the world at my feet old man”.

The Indian just sat in silence, rocking back and forwards, chanting softly,

My sarcasm lost on the shaman, for he could not be hurt by my words, my words were these of the foolish man, empty words of desert wind and I couldn’t hurt the wise man of the people.

I swore again at him and turned to the flap on the tepee, leaving a departing remark, “ 7 bloody hours of coming out here to hear the wisdom of the wisest man and all I hear is the senile muttering of an old git”.

The roar of the twin exhaust of my car filled the air with a deafening roar and dirt and I spun the wheels, pouring on the gas as I drove away from the plain in the middle of the desert, music blaring with 34 speakers in the depths of my 97 corvette.

“Bloody Indian” I thought to myself and I drove at a riskless 95 miles an hour

Though the desert on my way back to the city, swearing and cursing the old man as I drove, “ all the damm way out here seeking truth and wisdom and I get some bull about me being a loopy loonies, hahahaha, what the hell would a crispy old Indian know about the real world, I got everything I need to be cool.

And these thoughts echoed through my head as I roared across the desert

The shaman smiled to himself as my car roared away, dust billowed out in all directions, rocking back and fro softly, as a figure moved in the gloomy depths of the tepee, a figure that I had never noticed, for my pompous outburst was directed at the old man and I was too absorbed in my verbal attack on him to notice anything else in the interior of the tepee, to notice the shadow that watched me intently from the hidden depths.

Shaman watched as the figure kneel by the fire in the centre of the floor, nothing more than a shadow in the light of the dancing flames of the fire.

His chanting still soft and unbroken as the fire sparked and died then roared up in an awesome flare of light, an immense fireball. Then nothing, emptiness

For when it fireball dissipated the tepee was gone, no sign of shaman nor tepee, fire nor tire marks, gone from this place as a swirl of wind whistled through the

Desert sand disturbing dust and rustling trees, nothing more.

My carefully manicured hands grasped the steering wheel as I neared the outer city limits, ray bans nestled upon my face as I stared out of the windscreen, out into my world, the real world of money and power, where people were counted and sorted, decisions made each day that would affect lives and daily living

For hundreds of people, not that I cared, I mean, why should I.?

The brakes screeched as I pulled into the garage below my apartment, slammed the door and stormed up the basement stairs to the first floor of my multi-level apartment, the maid was nowhere in sight as I angrily slammed doors and kicked cupboards in the kitchens.

“Damm hired help” I swore as I banged and crashed around, making myself a coffee, “ I pay her $ 4.60 a hour for a 65 hour week and she thinks she has the right to leave my apartment and do her own stuff, well that's it, she's fired

I grabbed the phone and dialled her number, waited til the answer phone kicked in and in abusive tones, terminated her contract with me.

“ I can always get another wench to scrub up” I growled, some dumb broad from the temp agency, holding the phone, I dialled another number and barked down my orders to the lady on the other end of the phone, she replied in soft tones that sorry, but they had nobody left, willing to work for me and that she was so very sorry. “Sorry, my butt” I thought as I slammed the phone down, “ I'm worth $450,000 a year, and people should lick my boots “

I saw myself as above everybody at that stage and I was about to learn that my life was going to take on a whole new meaning for shaman spoke

Let you tell you about me first, my name is Matthew Patrick Alexander the 4th

Matty the meataxe to my friends, I'm the top executive of Brice, Samuels, Williams and matter son, the top accountancy firm in the world.

I command respect, for I'm the best in my field and I have no equal in the world

Raised of good solid bloodlines, I was born with a platinum spoon in my mouth

The world is my oyster and I walk all over people every day, cos I'm the best.

I live in a 3-story apartment, I throw the best parties in the country, my friends are of the right breeding and I take no disrespect from anything.

I get the best ladies to share my bed and I have the world at my fingertips, well I did til the day that I met a lady by the name of shawnee, and my world came crashing down around my ears and I learnt the true meaning of life

I saw her at a company outing and she caught my eyes, something about her beckoned to me and I made my way over to her, and spoke, my words and promises could get me anybody if I wished and this time again, I spoke with the same words, painting a picture of money and fast cars, parties, rich people and companies, all that a person could wish for.

Shawnee smiled a most captivating smile that shone through her eyes and softly replied, “ no thanks”, I find no pleasure in that.

I was shocked and pressured her til she pulled me aside and said to me, “you can’t speak of true life” I was enraged and indignant” what is more important than money and possessions, they are the most important things in the world.

Shawnee smiled that awesome smile again and her soft, flowing laughter caressed my laughter like silk, “ I'm sorry, sir but you can’t buy the truth of the world and you can’t own the beauty of nature that we are so blessed with, I'm not somebody that anybody can own, I am free to be one with the world and the people of her and spirit is my one true love, for spirit is the purest of my thoughts and no man can fill that part of my life.”

Well I tell you I was hooked, something about her was so simple beautiful and seducing that I felt a burning desire to have it, at any price, I would pay anything to have that, anything in the world to share that awesome something”

Shawnee smiled at me and nodded,” ok, if you truly deserve this which spirit has blessed me with, that I will help you to find it, I know of a shaman who is a child of spirit and he will help you to find the truth in you and not in the world.

And thus my journey began from man of the world to humbled child of spirit

From man of materialistic greed to a simple man of love and light, truth of life

And thus my journey began

“What do ya mean, no job???? I roared at the chairman of the board, “ I have no job??????” , He nodded,” the company has no place for your attitude anymore, I'm sorry”. I swore and abused him til security removed me off the premises

Returned home and “ W.T.F “, the apartment block being sold, well where the ..............................?????

I climbed back into the car and roared back out to where I had first met the old man in the tepee.

My mind raged with abusive thoughts and I roared out into the desert, driving like a man possessed, til 7 hours later, my car skidded in a halt by the tree with the tepee had stood, 3 days ago, I leapt from the car and stood staring around for any trace of the tepee, of the old man, anything to tell my that I had saw him here but there was no trace of them to be found.

I turned back to the car and was about to jump in the driver’s seat when I noticed the pool of water coming from the underside of the car,” oh shit”

I swore as I realised that my reckless driving had busted the engine of the car and now I had a long walk back to civilisation.

600 miles from the nearest person, and I was in the middle of nowhere, I spent the next 30 minutes cursing everything I could as I vented my pent-up rage to the wide open desert, blaming the world for the stupidity of my actions, til I ran out of things to blame.

“ Great” I thought to myself as I sat back in the seat of the car, “just great “ too damm cold to start back now,” I hunted though the car for food but all I found was a pen knife and a lighter and two breath mints.

Needless to say, my language was impressive as I blamed the world again for my ignorance.

Starting a small fire in the lee of a pile of rocks, I huddled tightly as the chill air of the desert night cut to my bones, my first night beneath the wide open span of the sky, stars twinkling like diamonds, set in the oily depth of darkness.

The call of wild coyotes filled the night and the many sounds of the desert night filled my ears as I began to hear the true sounds of the desert.

Morning broke across the horizon like a sweep of flame from a bush fire, bringing light and warmth back to the desert, the early morn sunlight pulling me back to the world of the living.

Imagine my surprise as one of the first things to greet my blearily gaze was the old man sitting cross legged on the ground by my fire silently watching me as I

Struggled to wake fully, I had sand in my hair, on my face and in my $3000 tailor-cut suit, and I was not unhappy, my voice filling the morning air with many different swear words that the desert normally never heard uttered.

The shaman just sat and looked as I made a total fool of myself again

Til at last, I had no more to say and I collapsed in a heap on the sandy ground

Now sobbing with the openness of a young child, I poured out my heart to him and he just sat and listens to me, as I cried and cursed and moaned and groaned

Then he blinked, once, and motioned for me to sit before him and spoke these simple words to me, and now I feel to share these words with you.

Your eyes are blind, til you learn to see with your heart

Your ears are deaf til you learn to hear with your heart

Your hands are bound til you learn to feel with your heart

Your mind is ignorant til you learn to think with your heart

And your heart is closed to life and love til you open it

For a mans life is a desert of endless waste and silent

Your eyes are open when you can see people love you as you are inside

Your ears are open when you can hear people share with you

Your hands are free when you can hug any person with open arms

Your mind is open to life when you can accept people who make

The same mistakes you do

For a mans life is truly a garden of love and life

When watered with kindness and caring, harmony and honestly

I sigh as I rock back and fro in my tepee of life, people for I found that the truth is in me, not in the world.

My life of the desert was fanned by the winds of greed and hatred, money lust and my belief that the world owed me something.

Baked under the sun of ignorance and the fierce burning rays of a bad attitude

I had destroyed me.

But, with a little understanding, my life became the garden of beauty

Roses of love and flowers of kind words, trees of understanding and streams of cleansing and forgiveness, under the soft sun of warmth and tenderness

People walked in the garden of my life now, for I share it with all and now, my garden is our garden of life.

Who is the shaman, he is the wisdom and truth of my heart

Who is Shawnee, ah she is the love that I sought and the beauty of life

The tepee, it is the body of me

The shadow in the tepee, that is the part of me that I hid from

Who am I, well I am your friend

Hugs ya in love and light

PS only when the last tree has been cut down, the last animal been taken for food, the last stream dirtied, will man ever realise the true power of love for money cannot be eaten, drunk or a true way to live