Moral commitments

Duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; Old French: deu, did, past participle of devoir; Latin: debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment or obligation to someone or something. The moral commitment should result in action; it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition.     (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty)


So, of course I went looking for a definition/etymology of duty to help focus my thoughts.  I like the idea that we have a moral commitment to love one another, to love the Earth, to love all of Creation.

The reason I used duty is because I used to be good friends with a man who was very interested in Haudenosaunee culture.  The Haudenosaunee were the people who lived where I live before the Europeans showed up and claimed this land!  My friend was so curious about the people and the culture that he went to live with them for several years, and learned to speak their language.  He taught me that the Haudenosauneee believed that each species had its duty.  That was the word he used.  He described the strawberry as having the duty of providing the first fruit of the year.  And humans, he said, had the duty of maintaining the celebrations throughout the year.  The first celebration, if I remember correctly had to do with maple sap flowing or else it was the first strawberries.  Our job is to notice and to to rejoice.  Simple, isn't it?  But we aren't doing a very good job of it!

And maybe our job is also to notice and celebrate each other.  Sort of like this weekend - noticing and naming each other's gifts.

But, my friend is a charismatic speaker and I loved the way he spoke about our duties, and so the words stay with me.  The last time I saw him, he told me I am a beautiful woman...charismatic! 

I think maybe we are like a sponge.  We are curled up trying to absorb heat or healing or warmth or love or attention, or whatever it is we need to help us discount what happened to us, to balance it and allow us to heal.  But it takes a long time to solve the riddle of why we don't heal.  We are not supposed to absorb, to create black holes.  We are supposed to channel and reflect.  We become the star, emitting Light out in every direction.  You are supposed to look into my eyes and see the joy I feel in knowing you are my sister.  You are supposed to see how amazing and whole you are.  That doesn't work if all you can see is my backside...!!!

And the effects of religion...we were born with a dirty soul.  I remember Sister made us take a blank piece of paper, and put a mark on it.  That was us at birth.  Our souls were already marked with sin.  If we had not been indoctrinated with this understanding that we are bad as infants, toddlers, children, we would have seen the humor and the flaw.  Then we had to make a lot of marks.  That was us now, because we lied and we fought with each other and we had impure thoughts.  (Actually we didn't have impure thoughts until Sister told us about them...)  We were dirty, marred little sinners who would have to suffer in purgatory because God could not accept us the way we were.  Then we got to color the whole sheet.  She wanted us to be sure that never happened to our soul, because the person who looked like that was bound for Hell.  And now we wonder why we are so ashamed, why we are so convinced we are a mistake.

I do wish I had been able to watch my beautiful niece on stage.  She has such presence, I'm sure she shines. 

Hugs and Smooshes,

Clare