When Ancestors Weep

When Ancestors Weep
Author: James A. Houck Jr. Ph.D.
Publisher: Abbott Press
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2018-11-08
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1458222128

We are all beautiful souls made in the image of God, full of inherent value, dignity, and worth. Yet we may struggle to accept this truth because our attention is often diverted to focus solely on outward appearances and behaviors. In other words, we all live with some degree of ignorance of our soul consciousness. We may get glimpses of it, but we never attain the full extent because physical, emotional, and psychological issues cloud our vision of who we truly are. For example, diseases and illnesses do afflict us in the body. We do feel physical and emotional pain with so much intensity at times that we believe it is going to break us in two. At times, our lungs may struggle to take a breath, or hunger and diseases cause our stomach, intestines, bones, muscles, and blood to scream in agony. These experiences might make us question whether or not we are the soul whom God has created. However, this illusion lies not in the suffering, pain, and agony we experience, but rather, it is in the perception that there is nothing more to us than an emotional, intellectual, and physical body. Indeed, physical and emotional pain and suffering can temporarily drown out the cry of our soul, but our soul is never silenced. Furthermore, the truth is that the greatest strength of who we are as souls lies in our ability to transform and transcend physical, emotional, and psychological limitations. The greatest effect hearing the cries of our ancestors has on us not only comes from getting in touch with our own soul’s voice but also awakens us to hear the cries of those who have no voice today. There has always existed in society a pattern of disenfranchising the weak and wounded—people who have been labeled as unlovable, untouchable, and therefore, unreachable. For some, disenfranchisement was due to their disease or illness. For others, it was due to their poverty. Still for others, it was due to their gender, race, religion, politics, or social class. Many in society preferred such people not to be seen, let alone heard from. However, just as the cries of our ancestors and those who have been the victims of crimes against humanity can never be silenced, and so, too, are the cries of the disenfranchised heard above the din of everyday life. Their cries are not only heard deep within the soul but their pain is also given a voice through those who speak for them.

The Smell of Rain on Dust

The Smell of Rain on Dust
Author: Martín Prechtel
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2015-04-14
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1583949402

"Beautifully written and wise … [Martin Prechtel] offers stories that are precious and life-sustaining. Read carefully, and listen deeply."—Mary Oliver, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Inspiring hope, solace, and courage in living through our losses, author Martín Prechtel, trained in the Tzutujil Maya shamanic tradition, shares profound insights on the relationship between grief and praise in our culture--how the inability that many of us have to grieve and weep properly for the dead is deeply linked with the inability to give praise for living. In modern society, grief is something that we usually experience in private, alone, and without the support of a community. Yet, as Prechtel says, "Grief expressed out loud for someone we have lost, or a country or home we have lost, is in itself the greatest praise we could ever give them. Grief is praise, because it is the natural way love honors what it misses." Prechtel explains that the unexpressed grief prevalent in our society today is the reason for many of the social, cultural, and individual maladies that we are currently experiencing. According to Prechtel, "When you have two centuries of people who have not properly grieved the things that they have lost, the grief shows up as ghosts that inhabit their grandchildren." These "ghosts," he says, can also manifest as disease in the form of tumors, which the Maya refer to as "solidified tears," or in the form of behavioral issues and depression. He goes on to show how this collective, unexpressed energy is the long-held grief of our ancestors manifesting itself, and the work that can be done to liberate this energy so we can heal from the trauma of loss, war, and suffering. At base, this "little book," as the author calls it, can be seen as a companion of encouragement, a little extra light for those deep and noble parts in all of us.

The Earth Shall Weep

The Earth Shall Weep
Author: James Wilson
Publisher: Grove Press
Total Pages: 500
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780802136800

Provides a Native American perspective on the history of North America.

Ancestors

Ancestors
Author: Ra Ifagbemi Babalawo
Publisher: Athelia Henrietta Press
Total Pages: 72
Release: 1999
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN:

Exactly who are the Ancestors? This book discusses the role and function of the Ancestors in our everyday lives while detailing the proper way to propitiate them. Included are Offerings, Prayers and Reverence as well as the procedure for establishing the ancestor altar.

Weep Not, Child

Weep Not, Child
Author: Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Publisher: Heinemann
Total Pages: 148
Release: 1987
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780435908300

"Two small boys stand on a rubbish heap and look into the future. One boy is excited, he is beginning school; the other, his brother, is an apprentice carpetner. Together, they will serve their country--the teacher and the craftsman. But this is Kenya and times are against them. In the forests, the Mau Mau are waging war against the white government, and two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, and the rest of their family, need to decide where their loyalties lie. For the practical man, the choice is simple, but for Njoroge, the scholar, the dream of progress through learning is a hard one to give up"--P. [4] of cover.

A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Volume 1

A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Volume 1
Author: Hamid Naficy
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2011-09-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 082234775X

DIVSocial history of Iranian cinema that explores cinema's role in creating national identity and contextualizes Iranian cinema within an international arena. The first volume focuses on silent era cinema and the transition to sound./div