13. Revelation Has Been Made to Many Pagans… . The Old Pagan Virtues Were from God.
13. Revelation has been made to many pagans… . The old pagan virtues were from God.13
It is clear from the sentence above that Aquinas is a deep ecumenist, a man of interfaith commitment open to learning how the Spirit works through all religions and cultures.
I am particularly moved by this observation from Aquinas because I have been so richly blessed in my life by so-called “pagan traditions.” For example, the Native American tradition—the Lakota tradition, in particular—has grounded and strengthened me and helped keep me on my spiritual path. I have never considered this gift to be anything but supportive of deepening my own Christian roots. I am speaking of sweat lodges that purify and heal the soul, mind, and body and challenge us to dance to the edge of death and return with a deeper gratefulness toward life. I am speaking of a vision quest that I was invited to undergo by Buck Ghosthorse, my friend and mentor, and how in that vision quest I was visited all night long by many spirits who, he explained, once lived on the land where I was praying and who, he declared, “would support me even if many two-legged ones would not.”
I am speaking of my first sun dance, when I was invited to dance within the sacred circle and underwent a world-shattering event when the white sun in the sky beamed like a host at a Mass and the sacred tree—to which sun dancers attached themselves in generous but painful giving—appeared as the cross. The moment grafted my Christian roots with my Lakota roots—they came together with a crash like cymbals rendering a loud sound. Visits from deceased relatives and friends were not unusual in the sweat lodge. (I have spoken at greater length about these and other experiences including my vision quest in my autobiography, Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest).
I am speaking of lessons taught me by Buck Ghosthorse such as this one: “In our tradition fear is the door in the heart that lets evil spirits in. Therefore all real prayer is about strengthening your heart so that fear remains outside the heart, knocking at the door but not coming in.” Or this lesson: “Do you want to know how sacred water is? Go without it for three days.”
I am speaking of lessons taught me by Sister José Hobday, a Franciscan sister and a Seneca woman who was raised by her tribe as a storyteller, who taught in my programs for many years and was beloved by students. She introduced me to the Four Directions. She introduced me to many rituals that opened the heart, including circle dancing to the drum, the heartbeat of the universe. And the marvelous ritual of pelting with flowers, which we enacted on a number of special occasions. One of these was the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of M. C. Richard’s classic work on art as meditation, Centering: In Pottery, Poetry, and the Person. M. C. was so deeply moved by the ritual that she wrote a poem, “Pelted by Beauty,” describing the event as a “magical ecstasy moving, as the poem sings, through the body into a new behavior.”16
Sister José taught me deep lessons by her very life and response to life. She had nine brothers, was the youngest child (and the only girl), and was raised on an Indian reservation in Colorado. Eight of her brothers were killed in wars—World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. One brother remained, and he was a brilliant engineer who was hired by the government to work on the stealth bomber. One day Sister José received a call from a general who said, “Your brother is dead. Do not pursue any inquiries.” It turned out that many persons who had worked on the stealth bomber suffered mysterious deaths after the task was finished—no doubt to keep it all secret. She was very scared and got into her car and disappeared for two weeks. Notice the lesson: Her family gave all its sons to America. Have the native people received anything comparable in return and in gratitude?
One day as a young teenager, José was in a foul mood and acting grumpy all around the house. Her father said: “Get an apple and a blanket and follow me.” She disgruntledly obliged and got in the car where he drove her to a cliff in a particularly desert-like part of the reservation. “Get out,” he said. “And take your blanket and apple with you. Until you can learn to live with yourself, you are not fit to live with anyone else,” and he drove away. She exited the car, blanket and apple in hand, and was so angry that she threw the blanket down the cliff. And the apple followed. After a few hours she got hungry. She climbed down the cliff to retrieve her apple. Then she got cold and climbed down the cliff again to retrieve her blanket.
A wise story about solitude, wouldn’t you say?
Yes, so-called “pagan” teachings are not without deep truths that lead to transformed hearts, as well as to actions, stories, and practices that can transform others.
Another so-called “pagan” teacher in my life has been Starhawk, who identifies with the Wicca tradition. She was on my faculty for a number of years and taught courses on ritual-making, which always had a strong component of play and celebration—elements often lacking in Christian worship of late. She also wrote some fine books, such as Dreaming the Dark, which treats the Via Negativa in considerable depth, and The Spiral Dance. Starhawk was raised in an orthodox Jewish tradition, but as a teenager she discovered the women’s movement and all it might mean to girls and women (and men, for that matter). It took great courage to enter the study and practice of Wicca, but she has touched many people’s lives for years—mine included. Her spiral dance at the solstice draws hundreds of people to a lengthy ritual of celebration and seriousness in the passing of the seasons.
She also has worked prophetically in both the permaculture movement and in Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking. Though a Jew herself, she lived for many months with a Palestinian family in Gaza while active in the peace movement. Her close friend, Rachel Corrie, with whom she had trained in non-violent action was murdered by being attacked by a bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier while engaging in nonviolent peace work in Israel. In short, she is a prophet who has walked her talk and continues to do so.
One of the objections from the Vatican about my work was that she was on my faculty in my creation spirituality program. Whenever Cardinal Ratzinger wrote to my provincial about me, he would add “And he has a witch on his faculty.” I once told Starhawk that she was clearly keeping the Vatican up at night. To which she replied: “I don’t know why they are threatened by us. We didn’t burn any of them at the stake.”
I also want to acknowledge the wisdom and knowledge received from the teaching of Yoruba priestess Luisah Teish over the years, who taught African dance and ritual, and who especially opened my heart and mind to the depths of the meaning of “ancestors” and of the goddesses of Africa. Her book Jambalaya, as well as her other writings, hold some of the rich teachings of her African tradition.17
All this and much more Aquinas is telling us when he says: “Revelation has been made to many pagans. … The old pagan virtues were from God.” Many “pagan” teachers have taught me virtues by the example of their lives, as well as wisdom from their teachings and rituals.18
Every being
is a name for God;
And no being
is a name for God.