By Andrew Shugyo Daijo Bonnici, Ph.D. · Doctor of Humanistic Depth Psychology · Master Zen Teacher and Counselor
In the southwestern United States, perched high above northern Arizona, are three isolated mesas — flat-topped hills with steep sides — populated by the Hopi Indians. The word "Hopi" means "good, peaceful, or wise human beings." The archaeological record shows that agriculture was introduced to the Hopi Southwest from Mesoamerica as early as 1500 B.C. The Hopi village of Old Oraibi is the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America.
Below is a Spiritual Calling by a Hopi Elder which has profound significance for understanding the life practice of meditation therapy. Dr. Bonnici's extrapolations of the respected Elder's calling are entirely his own and do not necessarily represent the Hopi Life Practice Tradition.
And there are things to be considered:
Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said:
"This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we've been waiting for."
— Hopi Nation, Oraibi, Arizona USA
These questions were not meant to be answered quickly or all at once. As our life experiences unfold, our relation to each individual question needs to be explored and contemplated anew. The way of applied meditation therapy is an endless and wondrous journey. Our way is to live the path with sincerity and honestly explore the questions ceaselessly — not to attain perfection or exhaust the answers. Just pick one question to set the contemplative tone for the day or for the week.
Where does your mind live? What thoughts are you attached to? Where does your heart live? Do you live in Truth? Does the place where you live, no matter how humble, reflect beauty, care, order, and warmth? How can you create a place where you live that is designed from within yourself so that it reveals your true self? What does the condition of your abode say about you to yourself? Is the place where you are living a good place to die? Does it nourish you? Make it a good place to die and you make it a good place to live. Nothing limits you to do this, no matter where you are, except the limitations you create in your own mind.
How does what you are doing or not doing continue to hold you and your life in a condition of stagnation, meaninglessness, worry, fear, or despair? How does your doing or not doing affect your health and the well-being of others? Can you have Faith in yourself to find other more healthy ways of doing and not doing? Are you being honest about what you are doing or not doing? Do you take time to be honestly and authentically alone with yourself and truthfully clarify the harmful or beneficial effects of your doing or not doing? Can you arouse the faith and courage to do what needs to be done? Can you listen with your whole body and surrender to Vast Wisdom, knowing that this is exactly honoring not doing in doing?
What is your relationship to your life? Do you find yourself bodily present in each moment? Are you showing up for your whole life or are you grasping parts of your life and pushing away others? What is your mind's relationship toward you and your behavior? What is your mind's relationship toward others? In either case, is it judging, argumentative, critical, gentle, blaming, accepting, demeaning, compassionate, controlling? Are you aware of the emotional content that energizes your thinking and your speech toward others? Can you practice being with others without placing them in absolute mental categories? Do you try to listen from your mind or from your heart? Do you listen to both the words and their emotional content while listening to another? Do you have a spiritual relationship with yourself?
Why are you in an intimate relationship? Is it authentic, sincere, truthful, and upright? Does the relationship evidence a mutual respect and caring? Do you treat the intimate other with a seeming kindness to relieve your own guilt or shame? Can you forgive yourself and practice speaking and behaving from truth and authentic being? Do you make time to listen with your whole body to the feeling life of your intimate other? Do you feel worthy in the relationship? Do you feel equal in the relationship? Is your relationship with the Spiritual Integrity of the Whole Universe based upon a bartering system — or upon unconditional faith that there is a Vast Wisdom beyond your personal beliefs, preferences, expectations, and comprehension?
What truly can quench the endless fires of your desire and wanting? Is there a well within yourself that can satisfy your perpetual thirst? Do you feel that the well from within has to be filled from without? Will it ever be filled that way? Is it really empty? Can you drink emptiness and be fulfilled? Can you walk faithfully in a desert barren of all beliefs and recognize that this is exactly the satisfaction of your thirst? What is the original water nature of your heart that always renews itself without effort? Can you practice drinking from that inexhaustible well? Can you acknowledge that the Vast Wisdom that you seek outside yourself is the exact nature of your own only moment body, your own heartbeat, and your own inhalation and exhalation?
Your garden is your life — your relationships, your activities, your inner life, your work. Just as a garden requires daily tending, watering, weeding, and patient attention, so your life as a whole requires daily meditation, mindfulness, honest self-inquiry, and compassionate action. What is the condition of your garden? What needs tending? What has gone to seed? What needs to be composted? What is blooming? Know your garden — and tend it with love.
Are there truths in your life that you have been holding back — from yourself or from others? Are there conversations that need to happen, feelings that need to be acknowledged, commitments that need to be honored or relinquished? Speaking your truth is not the same as speaking your opinion or defending your position. It is the courageous act of giving voice to what is most deeply and authentically alive in you — with kindness, with clarity, and without self-righteousness.
The time of the lone wolf is over. Human beings are not meant to live in isolation — we are social, relational, and interdependent by our deepest nature. Who are the people in your community? Who truly knows you? Who do you truly know? Are you investing in the relationships and communities that nourish mutual growth, honesty, and compassionate care? Can you let yourself be known — not just your achievements, but your struggles, your frailties, your genuine self?
This is perhaps the simplest and most profound of all the Elder's considerations. In every interaction, in every moment — can you be good to each other? Can you extend the same compassion to the person in front of you that you extend to yourself in your best moments? Can you remember, in the midst of conflict and disagreement, that the person before you is also a human being — also suffering, also seeking, also doing their best with what they have?
The leader you have been waiting for is you — your own Vast Wisdoming Nature, your own Original Faith, your own Only Moment Body. This does not mean that teachers, guides, and communities are not valuable. It means that the final authority for your life, your choices, your practice, and your direction must arise from within your own deeply felt, honestly examined, and compassionately held inner life. Trust your own wisdoming. This is exactly what meditation practice cultivates — not dependence on an external authority, but confident, humble, and compassionate self-direction from the ground of your own Only Moment Body.
Dr. Bonnici's counseling helps you navigate the swift river of your life — eyes open, head above water, in celebration.