I, personally, don’t look up to the far-skies for God – i rather look down to the earth, and sees the great spirit in everything – even when i look up (like in the picture which i took many years ago when i was doing all that hiking in the wild), i primary focus my perception to the level where bees and flies and gnats buzzes around – i don’t believe in looking far upwards, but rather focus on the divine aspect of the ground, first… As to the ground, is where you should look to find solace, find the holy divinity of earth.
i got not that kind of interest in the far space, as seeing God, THERE – but i truly believe in the great spirit – i still believe the smoke carry the prayer UPWARDS…BUT, you don’t need to look upwards to find IT..
I can’t amplify enough how much i believe in the notion–a notion i share with philosopher Nietzsche–of looking down to the ground rather than up into the sky.. It’s in looking, firstly, DOWN, how i find solace..
AND, “Bob” is DOWN HERE not UP THERE- the earth/ground is MY SKY…i see Wakan Tanka in every leaf on every tree, in the ground beneath my feet, the ground is where i look firstly, at a spiritual world..
Wakan Tanka is my kind of god; ‘THE GREAT MYSTERY’– IT’S ONE BIG MYSTERY, there’s just no way around earth’s mysticism…earth is holy…
I totally see, it makes total sense to me- HOW anyone could carry a notion of THE SMOKE carrying THE PRAYER upwards to the divine spirits, or carrying that divine prayer all the way to “Bob”, from above to him- AND The-Prayer-which-is-consciousness– it’s like an automatic all-time-active PRAYER, just existing
The smoke is like a holy transmitter to lead the prayer along to the ether of the divine spirit-world, above, or just OFF into the ether, to be like a paintbrush stroking the divine weave..
When the American Indian pray, he prays in every direction – and there’s a herb involved, that he holds, as he indicates a homage to the spirit by lifting the herb up in every direction – then throws the herb onto the fire and let the smoke lead the prayer upwards
I think, if praying seem banal and silly– just think of it as making a thank-you, to the great spirit, for taking your prey from nature and breathing the air, and being alive in nature’s embrace, and just make a prayer as gratitude..
Don’t get me wrong…i still believe in the sky being DIVINE – after all, the SMOKE carries the PRAYER UP/UPWARDS – it’s just that the earth is closer, and just as much divine and full of holiness, BUT I LOOK UP FOR SOLACE. too, like in that picture – OR look at THIS picture…
I find myself getting slack from fantasizing while staring at this pic?:
I mean, imagine you’re standing in some small little glade, having your little tent set up, fire cracking, there, and the camp all set up and your just feeling settled-in and slacked from the surrounding– the bushy thick forest, the glade forming like a bubble in the vegetation…then your gaze up into the sky, there. It’s a bit psychedelic, the picture, in some way
