Ómahkapi'si, Kiááyo and the Animal Spirit

Although I have never been good at languages I have always found them fascinating. I have been doing some reading in North American indigenous peoples' language. The ones I've encountered have such melodic sounds to lots of words.  I mean, ómahkapi'si just sounds nicer than wolf.  Of course all of the tribes with which I'm familiar have a great affinity to animals. I can easily relate to that. For example, some indigenous people in North America leave a gift where they kill an animal to thank the animal for feeding and clothing them. Out of respect they use every part of the animal and will often wear pieces of the animal or totems to show their respect for the animal. This long-standing relationship with nature - which my European ancestors sadly relinquished millennium ago - obviously found me reading about tribal religions. The metaphysics and social structure surrounding the animal guide and animal totem is as complex as any western religion and is likely older.

This all lead me to take several of the so-called "tests" to determine my spirit animal. Each of them had very different questions and approaches nevertheless they all determined that the Wolf was my spirit animal.  I have a tremendous admiration for the Wolf (ómahkapi'si) and would be proud for it to be my spirit guide but this manifestation was not only a bit unnerving it made me feel like I was being unfaithful to my beloved Bear (kiááyo).  You can imagine how unsettling it is to have 100% of the tests taken come to the same conclusion when your confidence level in all of them was zero. 

Our first Grizzly encounter

You have to understand, since I was first introduced to the bear it has held a special place in my heart.  I wear a bear totem on a daily basis. I have studied the bear and I talked the powers-that-be into letting a mere volunteer attend Bear School II - the advanced wildlife management program. 

Being the existentialist/skeptic one has the right to ask me how I can consider the indigenous American concept of spirit animal when I have trouble with just about everything religious. Religions, including those of North American indigenous people, started as a way of explaining the unexplainable which, at that time, was just about everything from rain to fire to seasons to life and death. Now that we know why it rains, why the seasons change, and more about life and death than ever before, religion seems not only superfluous but detrimental.  But that, I propose, is different from a spiritual connection. I firmly believe that religion is not a requirement for spirituality.

Two cubs Mom ran up a tree so she could nap.
She was sleeping a few feet below. 

I know that 'spirit' is used in religion, but let's consider it in a non-religious, non-metaphysical context. One definition of spirit from this perspective is "An incorporeal but ubiquitous, non-quantifiable substance or energy present individually in all living things."  (Wikipedia)  It is as good as any definition because none of them really work well. Of course, I can't do any better, so I can't be too critical.  The great psychologist, C.G. Jung, said“The connection between spirit and life is one of those problems involving factors of such complexity that we have to be on our guard lest we ourselves get caught in the net of words in which we seek to ensnare these great enigmas." (1)   

So, do I have any idea what I'm talking about?  At least I have an idea what I mean. It may only be relevant to me, but I can't help but believe that when I use the term 'spiritual connection' I'm referring to a manifestation of the oneness which I believe binds us all.  If quantum physics is right, spirit might not be incorporeal but ubiquitous and perhaps even quantifiable.  Perhaps the connection I feel with animals is spiritual in a quantum way.  As the writer of the Spirit Walk Ministry web-site writes, "The people who can not hear the rocks and trees may be the ones with the problem." (2)

Native Americans teach that one does not pick their spirit animal or animal totem but are picked by the animal. With all due respect, I believe that this is a convenient way of dealing with the fact that not all people feel connected to or are visited by an animal spirit. Perhaps, in light of all the criteria the "tests" used to determine that the Wolf is my spirit animal, were I to know the Wolf more personally we would have the same strong spiritual bond as I feel with the Bear.  But I know the Bear.  I have been near the Bear. Sometimes I've been closer than I should have been, but that was never because I planned to be or out of disrespect for her/his space. It was always the result of unexpected circumstances and ended with us going our own way in peace. Yet for a moment our worlds had collided in the space-time continuum, like two sub-atomic particles observed by the quantum physicist going off in different directions yet partially or totally changed by their encounter. Neither of us will be the same again.  

FOOTNOTES:

(1) Hull, R. F. C. (1960). THE COLLECTED WORKS OF C. G. JUNG Vol 8 Chapter "Spirit and Life". New York, New York: Pantheon Books for Bollinger Series XX. pp. 319, 320.
(2) http://www.spiritwalkministry.com/spirit_guides