Blessing a Nuclear Bomb?
Back in the late 1980's I immersed myself in the intense study of Lakota spirituality. I studied under a pipe carrier (holy man) who had studied under Wallace Black Elk, the grandson of the Lakota holy man, Black Elk. I underwent dozens of sweat-lodges, vision quests and other sacred ceremonies. I also studied all the literature I could find about Lakota spirituality and Lakota culture.
While this utterly turned everything I knew upside down and provided me with a life-changing education, I eventually moved on to study other spiritual traditions. I have intensely studied several spiritual traditions but I have never stuck with any one. I continually move on to new and different learning. To pick one form of spirituality and stick to it is to block out all other perspectives and I have always wanted to remain open to them all. I wanted to learn from them all and not become encapsulated within any one of them.
It was about a decade later that I had the supreme privilege of meeting Wallace Black Elk himself. It was a very small gathering of light-workers (about 15 people) and the gathering was in honor of Anna Mitchell-Hedges, who then was the caretaker of the famous Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull. (She has since passed on.)
While Anna was there with her famous crystal skull, it was Wallace Black Elk who stole the show, so to speak. I sat there just two seats away from him utterly mesmerized by his incredible energy. He was a very wise spiritual teacher and he was a profoundly gifted storyteller. He was also a very gifted comedian. He had all of us in stitches with his stories.
As one of the most prominent spiritual leaders of the Lakota Nation during his time (he has since passed on) he was constantly being asked to do favors for the U. S. government as well as various corporations. Once, a U. S. corporation that manufactured perfume paid him to come to their factory to bless it. He went and once at the factory he refused to bless it. He told the corporate sponsors that the industrial perfume negatively altered the vibrations of those who wore it, that he could never bless such a thing. It simply was not natural and very detrimental. The corporation refused to pay his way back home and he had to hitchhike back home to South Dakota.
On another occasion representatives from the U. S. Army came to him and asked him to come and bless a brand new weapon they had created which they told him would end all war as we know it. That sort of sounded good on the surface but he asked what kind of weapon it was. The government officials told him it was a new kind of bomb called a nuclear bomb and it was capable of incinerating an entire city. Once the army dropped one of these bombs then all war would end.
Incinerating an entire city? When asked how many people it would kill, he was told at least a hundred thousand. He was indignant, "You want me to bless something so heinous as this? You obviously don't understand what blessing something means." He refused the American government's offer and he was never asked to bless anything again.
Upon hearing this I was utterly befuddled as to why the American government would even ask a Native American spiritual leader to bless something so profoundly evil. Why did they feel the need for a spiritual blessing from a people they had helped to decimate? This has confused me ever since. Was it some sort of guilt for having wiped out a people? But how could the blessing of those wiped out people in any way assuage the forthcoming guilt of wiping out another people? I have never been able to look at the American government the same since.
I could feel the shock in the small group as Wallace Black Elk told this story. He went on to explain that he learned that he had been asked to bless the nuclear bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. He concluded the story by saying, "The White Man has no understanding of what it means to bless."
Someone in the small group asked him, "So what does it mean to bless?"
Wallace smile and replied, "To understand blessing one must understand the teaching of White Buffalo Calf Woman."
And that is all he said.
Having studied most of the world's spiritual traditions I have to say that the teaching of White Buffalo Calf Woman is the most utterly profound teaching I have ever come across. Personal experiences have confirmed it beyond any doubt. I instantly knew what he meant.
Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved.
Read my retelling of the White Buffalo Calf Woman story here
While this utterly turned everything I knew upside down and provided me with a life-changing education, I eventually moved on to study other spiritual traditions. I have intensely studied several spiritual traditions but I have never stuck with any one. I continually move on to new and different learning. To pick one form of spirituality and stick to it is to block out all other perspectives and I have always wanted to remain open to them all. I wanted to learn from them all and not become encapsulated within any one of them.
It was about a decade later that I had the supreme privilege of meeting Wallace Black Elk himself. It was a very small gathering of light-workers (about 15 people) and the gathering was in honor of Anna Mitchell-Hedges, who then was the caretaker of the famous Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull. (She has since passed on.)
While Anna was there with her famous crystal skull, it was Wallace Black Elk who stole the show, so to speak. I sat there just two seats away from him utterly mesmerized by his incredible energy. He was a very wise spiritual teacher and he was a profoundly gifted storyteller. He was also a very gifted comedian. He had all of us in stitches with his stories.
As one of the most prominent spiritual leaders of the Lakota Nation during his time (he has since passed on) he was constantly being asked to do favors for the U. S. government as well as various corporations. Once, a U. S. corporation that manufactured perfume paid him to come to their factory to bless it. He went and once at the factory he refused to bless it. He told the corporate sponsors that the industrial perfume negatively altered the vibrations of those who wore it, that he could never bless such a thing. It simply was not natural and very detrimental. The corporation refused to pay his way back home and he had to hitchhike back home to South Dakota.
On another occasion representatives from the U. S. Army came to him and asked him to come and bless a brand new weapon they had created which they told him would end all war as we know it. That sort of sounded good on the surface but he asked what kind of weapon it was. The government officials told him it was a new kind of bomb called a nuclear bomb and it was capable of incinerating an entire city. Once the army dropped one of these bombs then all war would end.
Incinerating an entire city? When asked how many people it would kill, he was told at least a hundred thousand. He was indignant, "You want me to bless something so heinous as this? You obviously don't understand what blessing something means." He refused the American government's offer and he was never asked to bless anything again.
Upon hearing this I was utterly befuddled as to why the American government would even ask a Native American spiritual leader to bless something so profoundly evil. Why did they feel the need for a spiritual blessing from a people they had helped to decimate? This has confused me ever since. Was it some sort of guilt for having wiped out a people? But how could the blessing of those wiped out people in any way assuage the forthcoming guilt of wiping out another people? I have never been able to look at the American government the same since.
I could feel the shock in the small group as Wallace Black Elk told this story. He went on to explain that he learned that he had been asked to bless the nuclear bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. He concluded the story by saying, "The White Man has no understanding of what it means to bless."
Someone in the small group asked him, "So what does it mean to bless?"
Wallace smile and replied, "To understand blessing one must understand the teaching of White Buffalo Calf Woman."
And that is all he said.
Having studied most of the world's spiritual traditions I have to say that the teaching of White Buffalo Calf Woman is the most utterly profound teaching I have ever come across. Personal experiences have confirmed it beyond any doubt. I instantly knew what he meant.
Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved.
Read my retelling of the White Buffalo Calf Woman story here
