My Wheel
The Wheel of my Life I Call "The Four Red Roads Medicine Wheel"
My
Wheel is finished - almost finished - I am not dead yet and
there may be things I have yet to discover.
For now, all the parts I have are finally together. I did not set out to
invent a wheel for my life. I discovered it and as I went, I picked up
the
pieces. It has been like putting together the pieces of a jig-puzzle.
Bit by bit - Line upon line. In my wheel is the history of my spirit
journey and the history of world religions I discovered as I went my
way. This History has shown me that "ALL
TRUTH" has come from the same source.
It is sad to me to see that the expression of that same universal truth
has lead to so much discord and civil strife.
The Hub
At the hub of this wheel are the principals of walking a
path of Prayer and Study with Selfless Sacrifice in Service, Surrendering to the Peace or Will of God. To represent these
principals is the Native American Sundance Medicine Wheel. The Sundance Medicine Wheel has shown me (I
think you could see it also if you looked) the path to know the "God With In" and
it also contains many more principals of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. I have found it a
marvel as I have looked around The Sundance Medicine Wheel and saw the
scriptures jumping out at me.
The Rim
The rim of my wheel is the world I see around me. To illustrate this I have
used the twenty two cards of the Major Arcana of the Tarot. Following the Path of the Fool, as The Spirit
Unmanifest, around my wheel, I find the journey of this temporal life. This journey is about becoming and
about those we meet along the way. From
Birth,
represented by the pregnant woman in meditation, the journey begins
with the Magician who takes the inspired knowledge from above and
applies it below. One example of this magic is the Black Smith
as he controls, with his magic, the Earth, Fire, Air and Water to forge a tool of
steel. Another example of this magic is
in the hands of the Potter who forms from the soft wet clay a hard vessel that
will hold water. Around us we can
find many examples of the tricks of magic in our modern world. With Edison, the trick was in finding out how
to keep the lamp burning.
For those who understand the principles of the Restored
Gospel, you will find at the end of this journey of the Fool: Death - Temperance
- The Three Degrees of Glory in the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:38-44), The Judgment
and the Inheritance of this World, in all it's glory, where you also will find
the same Faces of an Eagle, Lion, Calf, and Man that are found in Ezekiel
(1:10), John's Revelation (4:7) as well as in The Sundance Medicine Wheel.
The Spokes
The Spokes in a Wheel of Life are like a ladder. The Spokes of the Sundance Medicine Wheel as a Wheel of Life are Prayer, Study, Sacrifice, and Service. The faster a wheel spins the harder it is to
knock out of balance and the truer it holds to the road straight ahead. In my Four Red Roads Medicine Wheel
the spokes are more like roads, rather than rungs of a ladder, roads between the World of the Spirit With In and the Physical
World around me.
Four Roads Coming From the Center
From the center the cards of the Minor Arcana are use to
show that all things come from God.
Four Red Roads Coming Towards The Center
On the Four Red (Good or Balanced - Void of Strife) Roads I use the symbols for a few of the various paths that men have devised or that have been revealed in some manner to teach the children. All these paths in the beginning had the same basic message to follow in order to lead a good balanced life. I find this same message illustrated in the Sundance Medicine Wheel. I see that these various roads are not separate roads, but rather One Long Road that has been renewed time after time. Each time of renewal "To Again Make Straight the Way" those who will not change continue to follow the ways of their fathers leaving those who change and go back to the original path are condemned, to be labeled a new or false path. How many times has this happened? I can only guess for how can I know what was written and stored in the library at Alexandria.
Who Destroyed Alexandria's Famous Library?
The Library of Alexandria was one of the
best-known of the libraries of the ancient world. One of the interesting facts
about the ancient world that seems to be missing from many history books is that
there were many great collections of books and literature in ancient times and
most were open to any scholar from anywhere in the world.
The library at Alexandria actually competed
with that at Pergamum in amassing the most complete collection of books in the
world. This went on in the 200's B. C., and it is interesting to note that
there were already so many works in existence that obtaining a copy of each
would have been an impossible undertaking even then. The destruction of this
priceless treasure was a stroke of the most unimaginable bad luck. If Byzantine
Egypt had been taken by one of the later Islamic conquerors, this irreplaceable
collection would have been counted amongst the finest of the spoils of war to
fall into a victor's hands.
Early in the year A. D. 642, Alexandria
surrendered to Amrou, the Islamic general leading the armies of Omar, Caliph of
Baghdad. Long one of the most important cities of the ancient world and capital
of Byzantine Egypt, Alexandria surrendered only after a long siege and attempts
to rescue the city by the Byzantines. On the orders of Omar, Caliph of Baghdad,
the entire collection of books (except for the works of Aristotle) stored at
the Library of Alexandria were removed and used as fuel to heat water for the
city's public baths.
This is not the first time the library was
damaged or destroyed. Originally built to house the massive collection of books
accumulated by the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, the library had been devastated
by fire several times. During Julius Caesar's Alexandrian campaign in 47 B. C.,
Caesar set fire to ships in the port. The fire spread to the library, which was
called the Museum at that time.
In A. D. 391, riots instigated by fanatical
Christians damaged the collection heavily. During the years between disastrous
events, the library collection had been gradually restored. In 641, the Caliph
of Baghdad exhibited the same spirit of religious fanaticism in ordering Amrou
to burn the books stored there. The loss of the library at Alexandria was a particularly
grievous blow because the works of so many Roman scholars. literary geniuses,
and historians were destroyed. - Source: (San Jose State University)
Edward Running Bear
I am Edward Running Bear, of the blood of many nation, I am
where the Four Red Roads meet and one becomes the other. In the Words of Al-Quran: "God made you one nation with one
God and it is only you who make distinctions among your selves. Why do you make distinctions because of dead
Prophets, when you have a living prophet."
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. Jeremiah (6:16-19)
It is written that the meek shall inherit the earth. I do not see much hope for any one else. I will leave you with my testimony that there
has been a restoration beginning in 1830, that once again the voice of heaven is guiding those who listen. I have
walked the Four Red Roads and all the signs only have added to this testimony.
Edward Running Bear