In his foreword to The Book of Hopi (Author: Frank Waters), Frederick H. Howell, Director, Charles Ulrick and Josephine Bay Foundation, says:
What is meant by this sense of proportion? And how does it help us to develop a better set of values as indicated by the above quote? I am presenting before you, these paragraphs below from the The Book of Hopi which describe a ceremony that is done once a child is born in the Hopi household. This gives to us a clue to understand what Frederick H. Howell, means by a sense of proportion.
The above paragraphs from the Book of the Hopi, are clear indications of the sense of proportion, which Frederick Howell mentions in his foreword. The Hopi people, from a very young age, learn to measure themselves and what they do in relation to their Creator. They, hence, acquire a sense of proportion of what they are and what they do by measuring them against the Creator and His work.
When, in their mythology and philosophy, Creator is established as the originator of everything and the controller of most things in the world, all work done by the human being becomes much smaller and insignificant. This helps one to develop the value of 'humility' which is a good virtue. Whatever work that a man might undertake; however big the task might be in relation to other human beings; it will still be small when compared to the Creator's work.
Hopi's believe that it is their responsibility to carry out the Plan of Creation of their Creator. This belief forces the Hopi people to evaluate all work against their conception of the Plan of Creation. Any work that is not a part of the Plan of Creation, is simply an irrelevant work. This type of evaluation sets apart 'good work' from 'bad work' and helps people to prioritize their work. Hopi people, like others, are good observers and gather data from their observation in order to understand the Plan of Creation of their Creator.
We can see how the sense of proportion can be a guiding force in looking at work and deciding what role work plays in one's own life. Thus the "Mapping Process" which I mentioned in my previous post must make matches in such a way that the values are in right proportions so that works can be guided towards their desired outcomes.
Ponder about the above. You will find more than what I have been able to say!
[We have lost] the whole natural language of the spirit, with the result that we no longer have a certain basic sense of proportion... lacking that sense, we are endangered by a false set of values that may make our Road of Life very rough indeed.
What is meant by this sense of proportion? And how does it help us to develop a better set of values as indicated by the above quote? I am presenting before you, these paragraphs below from the The Book of Hopi which describe a ceremony that is done once a child is born in the Hopi household. This gives to us a clue to understand what Frederick H. Howell, means by a sense of proportion.
With the pristine wisdom granted them[by their Creator], they understood that the earth was a living entity like themselves. She was their mother; they were made from her flesh; they suckled at her breast. For her milk was the grass upon which all animals grazed and the corn which had been created specially to supply food for mankind. But the corn plant was also a living entity with a body similar to man's in many respects, and the people built its flesh into their own. Hence corn was also their mother. Thus they knew their mother in two aspects which were often synonymous - as Mother Earth and the Corn Mother.
In their wisdom they also knew their father in two aspects. He was the Sun, the solar god of their universe. Not until he first appeared to them at the time of the red light, Talawva, had they been fully firmed and formed. Yet his was but the face through which looked Taiowa, their Creator.
These Universal entities were their real parents, their human parents being but the instruments through whcih their power was made manifest. In modern times their descendants remembered this.
For seven or eight years he led the normal earthly life of a child. Then came his first initiation into a religious society, and he began to learn that, although he had human parents, his real parents wre the universal entitis wo had created him through them - his Mother Earth, from whose flesh all are born, and his Father Sun, the solar god who gives life to all the Universe. He began to learn that he too had two aspects. He was a member of an eartly family and tribal clan, and he was a citizen of the great universe, to which he owed a growing allegiance as his understanding developed.
The above paragraphs from the Book of the Hopi, are clear indications of the sense of proportion, which Frederick Howell mentions in his foreword. The Hopi people, from a very young age, learn to measure themselves and what they do in relation to their Creator. They, hence, acquire a sense of proportion of what they are and what they do by measuring them against the Creator and His work.
When, in their mythology and philosophy, Creator is established as the originator of everything and the controller of most things in the world, all work done by the human being becomes much smaller and insignificant. This helps one to develop the value of 'humility' which is a good virtue. Whatever work that a man might undertake; however big the task might be in relation to other human beings; it will still be small when compared to the Creator's work.
Hopi's believe that it is their responsibility to carry out the Plan of Creation of their Creator. This belief forces the Hopi people to evaluate all work against their conception of the Plan of Creation. Any work that is not a part of the Plan of Creation, is simply an irrelevant work. This type of evaluation sets apart 'good work' from 'bad work' and helps people to prioritize their work. Hopi people, like others, are good observers and gather data from their observation in order to understand the Plan of Creation of their Creator.
We can see how the sense of proportion can be a guiding force in looking at work and deciding what role work plays in one's own life. Thus the "Mapping Process" which I mentioned in my previous post must make matches in such a way that the values are in right proportions so that works can be guided towards their desired outcomes.
Ponder about the above. You will find more than what I have been able to say!
