Not for everyone this one, and some may question the wisdom of praying whole-heartedly according to another religion, but I think there is something that can be learnt from looking in depth at every faith, seeing the similarities with our own, and deciding which bits to accept and use to enhance our own faith journey, and which to reject as being unhelpful for drawing us closer to God.
Over the last four weeks, I've been studying on the the 'Aboriginal Worldviews and Education' course at the Ontario Institute for Studies of Education at the University of Toronto, and have learnt a lot about aboriginal peoples around the world, and specifically in Canada - their mental, spiritual, emotional and physical journeys, focussing predominantly on the interplay between different First Nations groups and education undertaken (some forcibly).
Over the last three days, I've lived, breathed, dreamt and eaten 'aboriginal' as I've been desperately trying to finish the course before the final deadline (tomorrow). I've almost finished. I was struck by various issues and have learnt a lot. (Do feel free to chat to me more about any questions you may have! I can't promise to know the answers, but I may be able to point you in the right direction.)
Tonight, as my brain was so taken over by all things aboriginal, I decided to further my thinking and enhance the homework reading experience by using the text in prayer. (It was an introduction to aboriginal prayer anyway, so I didn't have to be too independently creative tonight). So I found the two texts I was to read (a setting to the prayer and the content of the prayer) and proceeded to set up my prayer situation.
I want to point out that this is not a widely recognised form of aboriginal prayer - as formal prayer takes different forms; is individualistic to a particular person, tribe and place; and is often much more carefully set up and organised, using trained medicine chiefs. Do research this further (using websites and sources constructed by trained, authentic aboriginal Canadians) if you want to know more; it can be dangerous to miss the careful groundwork required for entering a time of prayer in the aboriginal style.
First I had to collect seven objects that represented seven directions of the medicine wheel (a mental summary of the spiritual and emotional worlds all beings find themselves in throughout their lifetime). These are east (land of the rising sun and all things grown), south (place of passion, fire and creation), west (land of the setting sun and water), north (place of deep quiet and stillness), mother earth (source of our sustenance), sky (angelic realms and countless stars) and soul (our innermost beings).
I used the following objects (in the same order): bread (some medicine wheels refer to the east as bread), thyroxine (gives me energy and fire), a bottle of water (no surprise really), my aboriginal carving (deep stillness of my honeymoon in Malaysia), the bible (source of my spiritual life in some ways), a balloon (to represent all those gone [up] before) and my phone (represents all my relationships). I also had a holding cross to make it more Christian and remind me that in all things is God.
Finding the objects is part of the prayer, so is calling on the spirit of God to accompany you through the journey (using a rhythmic drumbeat). Then you meditate on each of the places, reflecting on how your soul feels, using quotes from great chiefs, variations of the rhythmic drumbeat and exploring the meaning of each of the sectors using guidance (which I was provided in the form of my homework text). Some of the words, phrases and impressed thoughts can be very animalistic, but I also found that it could be very easily altered to focus on God, whoever your god is.
I found the experience extremely profound and was touched to my core. I also felt a great life force coursing through me and helping me to connect with God in a deeper way than I usually do. An activity that needs a lot of unpacking, reflection and spiritual interaction. Something I want to return to, but not to overuse, and for which I need to devote adequate time. I feel more bonded with my course-mates, the content of the course, and discovered that I don't need to pray in an outright Christian way to find myself getting closer to God.
Not to be too quick to judge, but to see what each religion and faith journey can share, being careful to follow God, but also give myself the cognitive space to explore my faith and break through some of the pre-defined boundaries imported from aspects of religion that have less to do with Christianity, and more to do with unchanged stereotypes. But I also think it's very important to work within the confines of what's comfortable to you, not to unnecessarily follow another's example and to always feel safe in who you are and what you do.
For those who are interested, here are the links to my homework texts (for setting up a version of aboriginal prayer): http://www.whisperingtree.net/articles-and-media/how-to/148-calling-the-directions and http://www.davidbouchard.com/mtw/sst.pdf.
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