Reflections on the Rights of All Beings
An ancient lineage of Wisdom from the Apache and Yaqui Lineages
Yesterday it was a beautiful fall morning in Salt Lake City Utah. The clouds were a mesmerizing pink and blue as the sun peeked over the east. I went outside to put my feet on the ground and welcome a new day with the soil, birds, plants, and fresh air all around me.
Then I went to set up my yoga mat in my room, joined a zoom link, and was connected to Láné Sáan Moonwalker, Wisdom Carrier of Apache and Yaqui Lineages. The event was the Rights of All Beings, a video series set up by 7th Generation Labs and Stephanie Nestlerode.
This event wasn’t just another informational zoom that made you say “huh, that was nice”.
It was a portal into the circle of life, a sacred, reciprocal way of being.
A way of being that starts with a deep breath. I invite you to take it with me, as Grandmother Moonwalker invited us to take it with her.
As you breathe in, feel the life force, unconditional love, and true altruism (the highest outcome for all human and non-human life) that is carried through your breath.
As you breathe out, feel that life force, unconditional love, and true altruism get breathed in by everything around you.
As we breathe, we are breathed.
This exchange forms the foundation of life’s sacred exchange that we have the immense blessing to participate in.
However, the blessing doesn’t always come in a form that we can recognize.
To embody the sacred exchange or circle of life, we must first recognize the Right to Be, inherent in all things.
“Even mosquitos and Covid-19” as Grandmother Moonwalker put it.
Even pesticides have the right to be.
and oil companies.
and violence.
Why? Because they are.
How does reading that make you feel?
If you feel frustrated, that’s okay! You have a right to not like any of the things I just listed. You have the right to work towards a world where they exist in a more balanced and healing form.
But we can’t enter the sacred exchange of life if we don’t recognize the Right to Be for ALL beings. This recognition requires witholding attachment to judgments.
Once we embrace the Right to Be (representing the eastern direction and morning), we can move to the next point of the circle of life, the Right to Learn and Grow (also expressed as the Right to Work), expressing the southern direction and midday.
As beings of life, we all feel the calling to do some form of work. To expend effort to “give” to the circle of life. Our dominant culture in the west (aka white supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, etc) has long favored a very narrow-minded definition of work. However, work includes the little things you do to keep life in order.
Some work that I take joy in is stretching, intentional breathing, caring for relationships, washing the dishes, making dinner for my family or friends, making music, processing emotions, reflecting on my experiences, and of course, advancing my career.
We as humans all have the Right to Learn and Grow through this work. That means we have the Right to Be even if there’s things we’re doing that seem imperfect, flawed, or even downright destructive. If we don’t give each other the Right to Learn and Grow, we restrict people’s ability to work as imperfect beings in an imperfect world, removing us from the sacred circle of life.
To me, when Grandmother Moonwalker shared the Right to Learn and Grow, she was extending an invitation to validate and take joy from ALL the work we do, even if our minds want to judge it as “bad”, “difficult”, or “a SHITE experience”.
As we recognize and give all of our efforts towards Learning and Growth the Right to Be, we can then pick the fruits of our labor, The Right to Sharing and Gratitude, expressing the western direction and evening (wording might be a bit off as I’m writing this from memory).
As we end the day, we have the opportunity to review the things we felt, the thoughts we had, the actions we took. The Right to Sharing and Gratitude suggests that we have the right to feel and express gratitude for things that our mind labels as “bad”, “unfortunate”, or “unpleasant”. Even if it hurts our hearts, we can express gratitude. Because feeling and processing pain is valid work.
Many of us don’t feel like we have the Right to Sharing and Gratitude until we “accomplish” something, or until our work produces financial benefits, social recognition, or a physical product.
This mentality removes us from the sacred circle of life, as all that we do is an exchange with the life around us. The Right to Gratitude asks us to affirm our right to stop working, harvest the fruits of our labor no matter what form they take, and share gratitude (a fruit of your labor could even be frustration that teaches you what you don’t want).
Grandmother Moonwalker shared the definition of success from her spirit Grandmother Tu Moonwalker (paraphrased):
Her definition was that success is when you have a moment to sit and be quiet with beloved ones, to share the tears of losses, the tears of gain, that there is some food and water, shelter, some warmth on your body.
If it is cold outside, then there is a fire and clothing, if it is warm, that you have fire to cook with and enough time to do that, to share that food, to share the laughter and tears of both, and to feel whole amongst beloved ones.
As we embrace the Right of Sharing and Gratitude, we can move into the final point of the circle, the Right to Wisdom. Expressing the northern direction, it represents an expansion of perspective.
A surrender of contentiousness, a deeper trust in the sacred creative forces that organize our reality.
As Grandmother Moonwalker said
We have to engage with the universal laws of acceptance and forgiveness to find enough love in my heart that I can allow love in and to share love back, even in the face of [slavery, violence, and suffering].
Take a moment and breath this in.
Breathe in the unconditional love and acceptance for ourselves, our imperfections, our flaws, and our strengths.
Breathe out this unconditional love and acceptance for all other beings.
Meditate on the wisdom of the circle of life that blesses us with our experience here on earth.
Thank you for reading.
Deepest gratitude to Láné Sáan Moonwalker for her sacred beingness.
Deepest gratitude to Stephanie Nestlerode for organizing this gathering and acting on her calling to make this wisdom more deeply known.
Deepest gratitude to myself, my guardians and ancestors, and my family for enabling me beingness to recieve this information.
Deepest gratitude to you for being willing to read this and apply it in your life.
If you’d like to learn more about 7th Generation Labs, check out their website here.
If you’d like to join a community of people applying this wisdom in working towards wholeness of self and collective, register here.
With love,
Adam
