II. The Form and Power Principle (The Power Lodge)
A sacred and formless power, which may or may not possess its own vast personhood or intelligence of a mysterious type, underlies everything.
This power is timeless; it does not have a beginning or ending- in one sense, it is appropriate to call it eternally "youthful", "fresh" or "vital". It is not a compounded thing, for all compounded things have origins and necessary endings- what is compounded must eventually change and come apart.
This "power" can coalesce into forms and patterns, and can take on conscious patterns, or persons. It is the origin and matrix of every person, every compounded thing.
This sacred and formless power is a non-corporeal reality which, taken as a whole, is beyond the comprehension of human persons, and possibly of most non-human persons as well; many sacred stories tell of the origin of the compounded world and the first beings, and the first beings often say something to the effect of- "At some point I simply existed; I was." They do not rationally understand the true mystery of their own origins, for at some point, when conditions of power came together properly, they simply appeared as conscious persons. This coincides perfectly with the human experience of "coming out of unconsciousness into consciousness and memory" as we pass from the womb and infancy into childhood.
Some primal peoples encounter this "power" in terms of a non-human person; they pray to it or experience it in some personal religious manner, similar to what some Westerners may call a "supreme being"; others do not bother or hope to conceive of it in that way, and simply experience it through the interactive totality of the beings and persons and natural phenomenon that arise from it.
The beauty of an organic tradition is this: when dealing with such a power, experienced by so many different peoples, any perspective or vision of the sacred is appropriate within a certain context. There is no real conflict here in worldviews- there are no "either/or" dichotomies, only "both/and" complementarities when attempting to come to grips with such a profound reality.
One might say that "It"- the power- is both a theistic and a non-theistic reality. It does not choose "one people" to be favored over another, though this attitude of tribal elitism was prevalent in many parts of the ancient world, for easy to understand reasons. People are naturally prideful about their kin, and always seek to feel closer to reality than others.
The sacred power does not give special scriptures to just one group of people, and it does not send people to eternal hells. These attitudes are rightly and wisely absent from the consideration of primal peoples, or at least primal peoples outside of the Near East.
Supreme Danger
Despite what many Westerners have concluded, I contend that it is not entirely honest or safe to think of this power as the "supreme being" of the world's primal peoples; it is not some "universal supreme being" that can be found across the board in the world of animistic beliefs- the animistic world defies over-simplification and homogeneity of ideas or beliefs. It is safer to consider "it" in terms of a "supreme reality" or "supreme power"- so long as you consider "supreme" to mean something closer to "essential", rather than "authority".
This "power"- called by me (as by some primal peoples) the "sacred power" or the "great mystery" or the "sacred incomprehensible"- is a far more subtle and sublime concept than it may seem at first appearance. This "power" that underlies our patterns and persons is the source and depth of life; it is a living power, and thus, all "things" live in some manner, and all things have a share of this power.
This power can be "used" by living persons as an act of will- one can assert their own personal power in many ways, and bring it to combine with or contend with other powers. In situations of combination, conditions are created for new powers or situations to arise; in situations of contention, the stronger manifestation of power will overcome, just as when spirits contend with one another, stronger spirits prevail.
Human beings, and all persons, have a share of power, and can perhaps be described as conscious beings of power. Even phenomenon which do not evidence "personhood" in the ordinary or extraordinary sense (normally because they choose not to reveal themselves in that way, or because they cannot be experienced that way for some reason) are still accorded a share of power- and power, generally, is always related to the "mysterious" or the category of things that are difficult to understand.
The power of a person or another being can be increased; power can be found, discovered within or increased through relationships with powers that are seemingly without; power can come through communication or vision, through sickness, suffering, joy, dream or realization or deed. Power can be lost in like ways- the system of interactions is very massive and complex. Power connects us; it unites us, and is the most subtle and essential basis and provider of our kinship.
Powers and Power
The most influential or storied of non-human persons in any animistic sacred tradition or pantheon are often fluidly combined with the "sacred power" or the great mystery of origins- the Sky or Sun as a non-human person is normally accorded the position of a 'chief' or ruler of other powers and they normally gain a theistic-type position very close (but not perfectly identical) to the standard western notion of "God".
There is relatively common recognition in many traditions that all "great" non-human persons or powers are also "The" sacred power- the Sun becomes not only a fatherly figure in many native cultures, but also, somehow, the "great mystery" itself; the Sky takes on that role often, too- but so do Earth, Wind, Moon and Stone.
A person who can gather together what I have been saying can crack this mystery, at least on a surface level- "There is the sacred, source of us all, and we are the sacred", says the assembly of Sun and Sky, of Earth and Stone in one story. Sky, the repository and dispenser of the greatest collection of the "formless power" is often seen as "closest" to the sacred mystery, but Sun is placed as highest by him: Sun becomes the "sacred power", the very image of the "creator" owing to his illuminating radiance and dispensing of the warmth of life.
But Earth is sacred power, too- so are stones. Fatherly and Motherly roles are given to earth and sky; they can be experienced in that way. "We are the superior sacred" they say- but the inferior sacred are no less parts of the sacred, no less a part of power. Before the interference of missionaries, it was far more common for Native Americans (for example) to pray to the "Sacred Powers" than to any white man's notion of a monotheistic-seeming "Great Spirit".
Modern cultural pressures and expectations from the outside have a way of influencing Native concepts and peoples towards an idea of a nearly monotheistic "Great Spirit" divinity; it was, and still is, far more convenient and non-challenging for traditional peoples to say "we believe in God too, we just call him Great Spirit" when talking to whites, than to engage in a hopeless debate dealing with a subtle animistic worldview and organic philosophy that white people long ago lost the ability to have or comprehend.
Even when certain native cultures had such a being as a "Great Spirit" in their belief systems previous to European contact, it was normally not at all close to resembling the Christian notion of "God". What most people hear of today regarding the Native American "God" is more "white projection" and wishful thinking than it is authentic, historical Native American belief. One need only read the words of the first Christian missionaries among various native peoples to see just how alien they found the aboriginal American beliefs to be. We tend to forget those years, now that we’re all trying to get along.
A World Without Solid Shapes
Overall, this way of seeing and understanding power defies being truly "summed up" in words, and it does not fit well into simple categories of "monism", "pantheism" or "polytheism"- it doesn't deny the true individuality of the sacred powers, but it also does not neglect their deeply united relationship within a ubiquitous web of or field of power, a web or field which is, in some sense, the core spiritual concept. Around that core, any manner of sacred experience is possible.
The sacred incomprehensible may be impossible to fully comprehend, but it can be felt and experienced in partial ways, in dream, intuition, vision, in natural phenomenon, or in sacred story. A relationship with it can be had through these things, and through relationships to other sacred powers.
Knowing what we know of this worldview of essential power, we can now state that "form" and "shape" are both experiences and concepts which are dependant on a fluid, interconnected reality of non-corporeal mystery.
Where the materialistic Westerner may see the world as solid, chunky shapes of matter, locked into their shapes and rationally related to others, primal worldviews tend to go towards a "flow" of morphing shapes and irrational-seeming fluidity of form and relationship. These worldviews are more "magical" or "mystical" in a sense; their sacred stories more dream-like and often surreal, with characters shifting shape and form, animals and plants talking and acting like humans, and everyone performing fantastic, extraordinary deeds that transcend the usual limits of activity.
These are not mere fantasies; they are expressions of how these people viewed reality- as a mysterious, ambiguous, and flowing thing- not a collection of blocks or fixed shapes. It is not too bold to say that "material", as Westerners tend to understand it, is absent from these primal worldviews, and replaced with power and with persons, and with transformative interactions between those things.
The power collected by beings can influence shape and form; shape and form are not ultimately "solid" things- they always change, even naturally, spontaneously. This is how spirits or persons of any kind can assume different shapes, or even states of mind. This is how shamans or powerful persons can bring about changes in the way things "are", or at least appear to be- things are very often (if not always) not what they appear.
