Protocols of respect and honour
Years ago I watched a video of a debate in the US House of Representatives. What struck me was that each member asked the other member for permission to ask a question before posing the actual question. The other member would then grant that permission to the question to be asked. These individuals are acting like sovereigns as they recognize that they cannot take or demand anything from anybody else. Rather, they respect the sovereignty of the other individuals in the room and govern themselves accordingly.
When I asked Sweetgrass Sitting Bear if I could speak to an elder about the work that we are doing, the protocol was to give tobacco and prints. The gifts are a sign of respect and honour for the wisdom that the Elder holds that we all want to learn.
When we demand answers from another individual, we are showing disrespect and engaging in covert violence against them. Somehow this is now seen as normal and acceptable social behaviour, but I would like to point out that it causes stress and harm on an emotional, mental and even spiritual level. Gone are the days where protocol, honour and respect are practiced. We pose questions to one another and demand that they get answered. If people don't answer them, then they are treated with contempt, mistrust or even guilt.
I grow tobacco and sage for this very purpose, as gifts to give others. I even have cedar that was given to me and I found sweetgrass growing on the land that we steward. I'm trying to grow cedar here as well, that way we have all four of the sacred ceremonial plants that is used by the people of this land. We smudge with sage and sweetgrass all the time.
I must admit that when I held my last workshop, I had one individual give me some tobacco and another gave me some hemp. I treasured those gifts far more than anything else that people gave me to attend the event.
Protocol is tough to remember and I often forget myself. But when I do remember, protocol tells the other individual that I respect them, honour them and I ask for permission first. That way I am not taking or demanding from them, which is violent. Instead I ask for permission and leave it up to them to give with their own free will.
If we did that in all our interactions with one another, we may find peace breaking out. The state does not function on that level as they will engage in violence and coercion at all times. But we don't need to live like that or stoop down to their violent level. I suggest we rise above the violence and engage in protocol with one another so that we can learn how to have relationships that are peaceful, respectful and honourable.
I will work hard to remember that, even here! <3 Why? Because I love you.
Great words of wisdom, I have found myself demanding for answers, but you are correct in that is not peaceful. My friend was upset when I asked for a friends phone number and got upset when she beat around the bush, and I didn't understand why. This gave me some clarity though, and helps me live wiser for sur.e
Bravo! <3
Relationships built can help a lot in maintaining what is left of our humanity.
I remember you, you helped me once on a post i commented on once, thank you much. I do remember
It was touching, i have not had such a kindness in a long time, from the bottom of my heart im thsnkful.
It touches me that you, out of abundant love from the heart, put down culture supremacy and humbled yourself to honor cultural protocols of indigenous people. (Usually, those who from a culture with stronger military power and economic power would expect the other way around.)
I applaud you for what you do! This world would be a better place for all when we have more people like you. <3
I learned that from my taekwondo master. He was from Hong Kong and so I learned some Korean words, protocol for respect, honour, hard work and dedication to the sport and art. By exploring the art of another culture, I learned a lot about myself. I do the same with the indigenous as the experience is teaching more about my self than I ever would have considered. We shun other cultures when in fact we should be embracing them and learning from them all. I think it is ignorance, greed and hatred that prevents us from learning the most. I work hard to embrace other cultures, beliefs, customs and experiences. I've been enriched through the protocol. <3 Thank you for recognizing that which I have not shared with many people. You are observant.
Thank you for your compliment! I appreciate you sharing your life experience. Just like Jesus in Philippians 2:4-13, only after we have emptied and humbled ourselves that God can really use us to be a vessel unto honor, and prepare us to do every good work.
That is what is missing in our world today, respect and honour. We take each other for granted and when our demands aren't met we take what we want. Not what we need. I am interested in smudging. We have had our house smudged once but I am not sure that the person was completely trust worthy. I heard things later from people I trust that she was not what she represented herself as. Could you do a post on this sometime?
Sure. I'll meditate on that and consider doing a post on it.
That would be awesome. Thank you for considering it.
Hello @wwf thank you for shearing this wisdom with us. I believe we have to respect and love ourselves first. That is a process it take time. When we have the right relationship with our self we can be truly respectful to others. Today when you write about this native tradition - protocol it really makes sense to me what you say about mutual respect and sovereignty. It means if you want to know something that have to be relevant and significant to a certain degree. And there is a certain "price" for it at nothing happen by chance. And we should be respectful and ask permission in advance that way chances are much higher to get what we want. I am saying it with my own words :) I think this is universal principal, if we want something we have to give first in advance and there no guarantees in life but when we have faith things happen.
I agree Mihail, it starts within first. That is why I focus on self healing, self governance, self sustainable, etc. I like your take on it and agree that there is a 'price' we must pay in order to interact with others. Giving rather than taking is a core principle to peace. I like what you said!
Life is a mirror of our vibration at any given moment. We atract people toutghs and events that are in resonace with our vaibrtory state. We live in atraction base universe when we give our attention to something we make it grow and we are attracting it to us. That why the personal self heal (to let go your resitance) and self empowring(true focus on what excite you) work is of hiest priorty before everting else. Happiness is a inside job. And It is not just getting high but to be able to sustain it that make you an adept of the spirit or a mystic "strange person" for manny but people are attracted to you. I am talking in general this can be applied by any one.
I like your work @wwf and dedication you put in this platform and communty this is what create that real value we are in same bote here and in life also.
Thank you for what you doing @wwf
wow..its a great post..
keep it up
thanks for your importance blog.i am always follow your blog sir @wwf
What language is your native tongue? If you feel more comfortable using your native language, I can always use google translate to translate it to make it easier for you to communicate with me. I am open to doing that to help you.
sir my mother's language is bangla. ok i am use google translate. thanks for your tips @wwf
Hmmm. Bangla is not listed on google translate. that is fine. Let us work with your English. I respect that and will work with it. Thank you for sharing and letting me know.
sir I am always follow your blog. and i am new for steemit. please help me sir @wwf
I will do what I can. I've checked out your blog and it appears you are just copying other peoples work. I recommend that you write your own content, post pictures, share your life, country and issues that need to be worked on. The better the content, the more attention you will get and as such, the upvotes will come. I'm also running a debate each week with the award being all the SBD from the post. You can also comment on other peoples posts to get known and the better the comments the more noticeable you will be.
A single sentence does not engage people and this is a platform that demands that people engage. It is for content, art, music and other forms of expression. Find the expression you are best at and give it a shot. But if you continue to copy content from news sources and that sort of thing, people will flag you for plagiarism (copying) and your time here will be short. I recommend you do some research regarding how to get started on steemit. There are some really great blogs to explain it all.
I will keep an eye on your blog to see how you are doing. Keep in touch please.
sir.I am really happy for visit my profile.and thanks for your tips sir @wwf
good post.
hi @wwf
i hope we help both us in steemit.
I am waiting for your next post.
your post is so good,
i invite you to visit my profile,
wish you very good luck for your future
thank you