Heritage. Inheritance. Heir. These words in one way or another are about the flow of life, energy, and meaning into our lives from others who have gone before us. Too often, these words are reduced to sums of money. This month, we want to push back from that reduction and consider all that has flowed into our lives from the living and loving (and maybe not so much loving) of others.
Our heritage may be about ideas.
Our heritage may be about genetics.
Our heritage may be about experience.
Our heritage may be about space, time and relationships.
Our heritage may be about culture, inter-cultural experiences and trans-cultural vision.
I was part of a gathering of men once who were investigating the practices around honoring our ancestors. The teacher suggested this simply prayer to use when honoring our ancestors: I honor my ancestors, those I know, those I don’t know, and those who know me better than I know myself.
Over this month of October, which culminates in a number of cultural observances that include the beloved Dead in our lives, our look into heritage may very well demonstrate the things we know to have flowed into our lives from others, but much more likely are the discoveries of those things we did not know were flowing into our lives and benefiting us. We may even have some glimpses of ancestors who seem to know us better than we know ourselves. While it might be a precarious journey, exploring heritage in all its facets may be quite a gift.
~Robert Patrick
This concept of Heritage is wrapped up in the Catholic belief called the community of saints. Those that have passed “forward” are still spiritually present in our time and our place . The Catholics that I know pray to their “passed” family members as though their spirit’s are ever present. Personally, I don’t share in this community of saints but I believe those that do have a wellspring of comfort and security as they move toward their own passing. As move in that direction, maybe I’ll change my mind!
Yes, Catholic and other Christians honor the “communion of the saints” but this is not an idea original to Christianity. Many cultural, spiritual and religious traditions hold the beloved dead in honor, often offering prayers or other kinds of offerings to them. I have just begun reading Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing by Daniel Foor, PhD. I hope it will add to my own personal practice of honoring my ancestors.