Hozho
Posted in 2 comments
So...sometimes I have this dream. In it, I'm standing in the middle of a dark field and it's raining. The only things around me besides the darkness and the falling water are my arms. In the dream, I have many, many arms. Arms of different lengths and strengths....and in each hand I am holding a bowl of some sort. Some of the bowls are deep and heavy and made of earthen clay, some of them are rusted metal buckets, some of them are pristine dishes that look like they belong in my grandmother's china cabinet. In the dream, I am desperately trying to balance the weight of all the different bowls...trying not to drop one, or lose my balance, or even fall. The rain only complicates matters, changing the weight distribution with every single drop. It also floods the ground under my feet, threatening to loosen my footing and remove my center of gravity. If I spend too much time or energy on one arm, or one bowl, or my feet, the whole system threatens to fall apart. I know if I can't maintain the balance, I will drop all the bowls and be left with nothing, drowinging in the crazy rain ocean of life.
Topic for the day: Balance
If you know me, then you know that I love Indians (American Indians...Native Americans...whatever term you prefer). I love them in a totally romanticized and unrealistic way. I love them in a way that Vine Deloria wouldn't approve of (However, to be fair to myself, I have spent countless hours reading, studying and analyzing the writings of contemporary indigenous people...I have met many Native Americans and learned as much as possible about their ways of life...I have and will continue to try to understand living, breathing native people instead of just imagining them in an idealized way. Nevertheless, I am still a giddy little girl who gets my highs by reading about Indian sprituality, politically incorrect as it may be).
I was introduced to Native American spirituality in an American literature class several years ago, and it changed my life. One of the first topics we discussed in that class was a Navajo concept called hozho (pronounced, I think, like hojo with a soft j). While I could never do justice to the concept of hozho by trying to translate what I understand of it into English, I can tell you that what it has come to mean to me is that life is all about balance. It is the constant attempt to accept things as they are, to walk through this world with a sense of peace and love and harmony with everything in your world, to take what life hands you and find beauty in it, to learn that maintaining a sense of balance isn't really work. It's more like art.
I think that my recurring dream symbolizes my difficulty in marrying certain parts of myself. In some ways, I want to be the typical, type A, All-American girl. I want to be that person who can work hard and get everything done and do it with poise and grace and beauty. That person is a good person...she works hard, and she knows how to keep her head floating above water when things get crazy. She knows how to kick her legs and balance her arms just right and ensure that she will stay alive and that the world will stay rightside up. But there is another part of me that is learning how to appreciate the art of things. This girl is learning that she doesn't really have to work so hard to keep her head above water, that it will happen on its own. She is learning that life is more about letting go and feeling the amazing joy of just being in the water. She is learning that, not only is it okay when the world doesn't stay right side up, it is actually kind of fun.
I probably couldn't make anything happen in my world without both of those girls. I need the overly organized, driven list-maker to keep me on track. I also need the floater, the artist to help me keep things in perspective and realize how beautful this whole life thing really is. The two of these girls together can make something happen...I believe it. It's all about the balance though. It's all about hozho.
Topic for the day: Balance
If you know me, then you know that I love Indians (American Indians...Native Americans...whatever term you prefer). I love them in a totally romanticized and unrealistic way. I love them in a way that Vine Deloria wouldn't approve of (However, to be fair to myself, I have spent countless hours reading, studying and analyzing the writings of contemporary indigenous people...I have met many Native Americans and learned as much as possible about their ways of life...I have and will continue to try to understand living, breathing native people instead of just imagining them in an idealized way. Nevertheless, I am still a giddy little girl who gets my highs by reading about Indian sprituality, politically incorrect as it may be).
I was introduced to Native American spirituality in an American literature class several years ago, and it changed my life. One of the first topics we discussed in that class was a Navajo concept called hozho (pronounced, I think, like hojo with a soft j). While I could never do justice to the concept of hozho by trying to translate what I understand of it into English, I can tell you that what it has come to mean to me is that life is all about balance. It is the constant attempt to accept things as they are, to walk through this world with a sense of peace and love and harmony with everything in your world, to take what life hands you and find beauty in it, to learn that maintaining a sense of balance isn't really work. It's more like art.
I think that my recurring dream symbolizes my difficulty in marrying certain parts of myself. In some ways, I want to be the typical, type A, All-American girl. I want to be that person who can work hard and get everything done and do it with poise and grace and beauty. That person is a good person...she works hard, and she knows how to keep her head floating above water when things get crazy. She knows how to kick her legs and balance her arms just right and ensure that she will stay alive and that the world will stay rightside up. But there is another part of me that is learning how to appreciate the art of things. This girl is learning that she doesn't really have to work so hard to keep her head above water, that it will happen on its own. She is learning that life is more about letting go and feeling the amazing joy of just being in the water. She is learning that, not only is it okay when the world doesn't stay right side up, it is actually kind of fun.
I probably couldn't make anything happen in my world without both of those girls. I need the overly organized, driven list-maker to keep me on track. I also need the floater, the artist to help me keep things in perspective and realize how beautful this whole life thing really is. The two of these girls together can make something happen...I believe it. It's all about the balance though. It's all about hozho.
Posts
2 comments:
I can totally relate with you here, Jordan. I know exactly what you mean about liking both "people" and what they bring to your life, but learning how to balance them in harmony with each other.
Yeah...I definitely love them both, but I find that they often spend more time fighting with one another than actually getting anything done!
On a side note: I was watching FRIENDS last night, The One With Rachel's Sister, and I just kept thinking that you are so so so so much like Ross sometimes. :-)
Post a Comment