Prompt 265. The Sacred Center
An essay and prompt on creation by Jasper Young Bear
Hi friend,
This week, the overwhelming amount of suffering in this world has knocked the wind from my lungs and left me breathless. I’ve been meditating on how to use my voice in a way that is helpful—that illuminates and supports rather than confusing things, that promotes peace rather than sowing discord, that reinforces our common humanity rather than pushing us farther apart.
I feel certain that the starting point has to be gathering the air back into my lungs. So rather than rattling off a hastily composed hot take or hollow opinion, I’m watching and I’m listening. I’m holding space to mourn the loss of innocent life and to grieve with those who are hurting. And it’s with the hope that the Isolation Journals can be a place where we come together, find respite, and take a breath that today I’m resharing a piece by the Arikara medicine man Jasper Young Bear.
Called “The Sacred Center,” Jasper’s essay and prompt are a reminder to summon even the tiniest amount of faith—that we can change things, imagine new ways of being, and create a new world. It asks us to compose a prayer, not in the empty-thoughts-and-prayers-but-no-action way, but as a prelude to peace, reconciliation, and healing.
Sending love,
Suleika
Some Items of Note—
We’re meeting at the Hatch, our virtual creative hour for paid subscribers, today—that’s October 15, from 1-2 pm ET. Carmen will be hosting, and we’ll be meditating on celestial happenings. Find everything you need to join us here!
Every Friday in the Isolation Journals Chat, we send up our small joys in a chorus of collective gratitude. Small joys are what I lean on in my most difficult passages—they lift and carry me from day to day. This week’s was so full of goodness and generosity, and it restored me. If you’d like to add yours, you can do so here.
Prompt 265. The Sacred Center by Jasper Young Bear
In my tradition, our story of creation is one that takes four days to tell.
Often people think this is a quaint little story, but it’s not. It’s a sacred truth, and at its center is this most crucial concept: that you are the universe, that everything the creator went through, you’ve gone through too.
Most people struggle with this. Most aren’t ready to accept that they are the sacred center. But it’s an important shift to what’s called whole-to-part thinking, where all the dichotomies of the universe are cast aside. Where there is no male and female, no black and white, no political divide.
When you use whole-to-part thinking, the sense of self is much deeper, more expansive. In our sacred ceremonies, we play this out starting as a baby, when we get an Indian name. In this ceremony, they put us in the center of the universe and have us turn to face all directions. When we get named, we are the light. We are the beginning. We are one with time and space. We go forth, and we vibrate with our names, attracting what others have instilled, attracting what is already inside of us.
Right now, people feel trapped by the systems. The current political system. The distribution of land. People don’t feel like they have enough. They don’t get to see a rolling river; they can’t go pick juneberries, plums, or chokecherries, which all grow wild here where I live, or go fishing in Lake Sakakawea. Nowhere are they told how nature and community can be in harmony.
But we can create a new world—we must create a new world. All it takes is a mustard seed of faith. We must believe that we are not separate, we are not John or Amy or Ken. I am not Jasper Young Bear. I am the creator, and believing that I am the creator is the only way I can do this work. It’s the only way I have the strength to say, “How dare you hurt the earth? How dare you hurt my people? How dare you hurt each other?”
If there is any time that God is listening, if there is any time to pray, it’s now.
Your prompt for the week:
Imagine you are the center of the universe. Imagine that you are the creator. Imagine that your power and your prayers have no limit, and all things moving and in motion, all things static and sitting are affected by your prayer. What is your prayer?
Today’s Contributor—
Jasper Young Bear, whose Indian name is Lucky Man, is a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. He is from the Hidatsa Water Buster Clan on his father’s side and the Arikara Bear Society and Arikara Medicine Lodge on his mother’s. He is the founder of the Running Wolf Wellness Center and Cultural Survival School. He is pictured here in conversation with Pharrell Williams.
For more on how we get through, see—
A Creative Heart-to-Heart, where my husband Jon Batiste and I answer questions about life and the creative process and share about how we use a creative practice to marry our sorrows and our joys
Letters from Love, a video replay of our workshop with the beloved author and speaker Elizabeth Gilbert, where she teaches us her decades-long spiritual practice for combating hate and tapping into an ocean of unconditional love
Lighting the Way, a special installment of Dear Susu in which the community shares wise words for getting through the hardest times (429 comments worth of them!)
Let us hear the stories of each other. Let us sit around a fire, wrapped in warm blankets, sharing a warm cup of (beverage of choice) and taking the time to see one another, to witness the suffering , the joys, and the dreams of each other. And when the fire dims, let us carry the light we have garnered inside by gathering peace.
Perpetual Motion: A Prayer
It is no mistake that our hearts beat in rhythm with the earth all in these heavenly starlit bodies. And our hearts are the Universe of being woven like Sweetgrass at the center.
As above so below and we belong to each other. The Sequoia has seen many wars. Trees talk to one another so listen and they will talk to you. Oak tree does not say you are separate from the Maple tree and these acorns are the beginnings of new ways. We all are made of water and space. Bloom in a way that nourishes you and your so called enemy and you will discover we are a network of interconnected being-ness.
The heart listens well so listen to the music of peace. This is where Love dwells. Love does not require answers to ancient questions or solutions to quell the horrors of war. Listen to your center. Put down the news feed and the internet and notice your sisters, your brothers all seeking….
This is my prayer:
Expand
Put down your bombs, your drones, your rage unwieldy
Embrace new ways of being
These old grudges are like poison
War serves no one
May live in harmony like the Sequoia
It’s time
Time to realize and put down the idea that this earth is ours to divide and conquer
Time to release old grudges
Time to put down the maps of ancient divisions
We belong to the earth
There is alchemy in dreaming
There is alchemy in the act of letting go of the old
There is synergy in the practice of wisdom
We are here to learn to love
May we create art and release the need for rage-filled battles
May we cook meals for our neighbors and listen with open hearts
May we begin each day with an intention of peace
May we release the need to own the earth
We are her tender keepers
So May we keep our hearts gentle and wise, curious and brave