The wisdom of Asol Keesh

His Navajo name is Asol-Keesh-Yi-Ka-Ya, (One who wandered with Spotted Eagle) He is better known as Asol Keesh, or Kee, or perhaps even Francis Burnside. He graduated from Engineering Tech. As an engineer he worked with the company that put up the sphere at Disney World and did the structural and framing at Epcott Center.
He is a also proud to be known as a certified Tribal Peacemaker with the Navajo.

Peacemakers are assigned non-criminal cases by the Tribal Court. "We try to resolve these cases using our traditional ways."

How do you work in traditional ways with disputes? The way Asol Keesh explains it, there is no such thing as enemies on this earth. These are only man-made conceptions, usually based on fear. "Man is so full of fear, especially if he does not have a belief system and know where he is coming from."

In traditional Navajo units the mother is the guide. Why is that? "Mothers nourish us, strengthen us. It is not that way for Euro-Americans. The chain of command society creates followers who are hammered into place, like in schools with the teachers being the boss.

Kee has first hand knowledge about the hammering. "I was raised in boarding schools by stern schoolmasters who tried to make my hair be yellow, and my eyes be blue. They failed. For the sin of speaking my own tongue, I was beaten many times. In Los Angeles, police would pacify me first, and ask those around us if I were the one doing something wrong second." The clubs they used on him broke bones, smashed flesh. And no word was heard raised to say it was wrong.

By giving and receiving even simple things we can change the dynamics of disputes. Asol Keesh feels that some differences can be settled by giving. He often starts the giving process with a simple feather. "Can it hurt to offer a feather?"

To the Euro-American symbols stand for things. To Asol Keesh things stand for symbols. Feathers are symbols of loftier ideals. "We did not come from the monkeys; we came up from the earth with the kachinas. We can settle our disputes by living up to our loftier heritage. We can give -- and we can receive."

It helps that Asol Keesh is also known as a shaman (or a medicine man) who helps others to learn the healing arts. There have been as many as 40 medicine men from other tribes assembled with Asol Keesh in a learning lodge. Each spoke. All learned from each other. The Europeans thought medicine men were practicing witchcraft. "They did not understand what we were doing. Even now, they are afraid of it or worse yet, endorse the outward ceremonies without understanding what we are doing inside."

Lest we forget, it wasn't until the beginning of this century that "modern medicine" began to be more effective at healing than some of the shamans were. Much of that effectiveness originates from the pharmaceutical industry distilling the herbal wisdom of the native shaman.

Today of course "modern medicine" is so effective that most Euro-Americans won't even change their brand of aspirin without consulting first with a "physician."

"Modern medicine" treats the symptoms. If you have a fever, "modern medicine" pounds it down. If your nose is running, "modern medicine" dries it up. If your arteries are clogged, "modern medicine" changes your blood cells so they can elongate and squeeze through easier. Modern medicine achieves some truly awesome healings by pounding on the symptoms.

It is said by some prominent writers that the patient is not part of the healing process but relies passively on the shaman to exorcise the evil spirits. That is the exact opposite of what really happens.

The native shaman works with harmonies. "What we find is all of these opposites coming together, and they come together in varying degrees with some stronger than others, but always part of the harmony. It is like seeing an eagle flying, balanced on the winds. When the eagle flies it brings harmony to your heart. These opposing forces are balanced, understanding can begin; When these opposing forces are balanced then healing can begin."

He adds more insight, "No two ceremonies like this will be the same because the things of this earth are always different, and how each person there feels, thinks and responds affects the ceremony. Our ceremonies are rigid in form; yet they are flexible in style. They are simple to perform; yet the symbols they use are too complicated to explain with mere words. What we find is all of these opposites coming together, and they come together in varying degrees, but always in harmony."

Again, the shaman works with ceremonies, not rituals. Healing the body or the spirit requires insight and vision. Our lives are not separate. Consequently the shaman guides the ceremonies to consider the harmony of the patient, the family, and the surroundings. Balance is not restored by diminishing a symptom gone awry, but by adding to that force in the body or in the family or in the surroundings which has diminished.

Where strength is needed to restore balance, strength is given. "The most important thing we can tell (the patient) is: WE CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU.
Kindness and prayer are our greatest tools in helping these people."

To put this into sharper focus for the understanding of our Euromerican eyes, consider what would happen if our area had a plague of crickets to deal with.
Where our modern society would bring in the exterminator
the shaman would bring in more birds.

Kee's work springs from learning the basic harmonies of the earth. For him, every tree, every stone, every creature has a spirit portion from the Great Spirit. The things he sees are symbols of the spiritual world he walks in harmony with. Each step is sacred. Each breath is a ceremony. Each thought is a balance of universal law. He walks at his own pace. He sees with his own eyes.
"I sit on Mother Earth.
I see the dancing fire.
I hear the rustling wind.
I feel the warming of the sun."

When people sit around fires they can see through their problems. "You sit on Mother Earth, there is water there. You become part of the harmony of earth, water, fire and wind. Understanding grows."

As Euro-Americans, our eyes are faster paced, and often miss the meanings in Kee's words and work. We see a circle he has made and think {Ah, a circle} and look again a dozen times or more and still see nothing more than a circle. Then Kee points here, there, and suddenly the eye slows down and sees it is not a circle we see there for what we have been looking at is a female hogan.

We look closer and see symbols hidden in the very lines of the circle, hidden by the very limitations of our own pace. Here is the symbol of male, there the symbol of female.

Again: We look at Kee's picture of a feather, and think, {Ah, a beautiful feather.} But now we know to look closer, and slower. After many minutes of pondering we might see it is not just a feather, but a very individual feather with detail so incredibly minute that it is almost a fingerprint for the spirit of that feather. The eye of this artist must be as sharp as a finely focused microscope. Not one pixel is put there by accident. After balancing all this we realize the position of the feather is just as important as the feather itself.

"We must always think of ourselves as sacred, as coming from the kachinas. Something inside our spirits does tell us if we get into trouble, or do something wrong. Our spirit will tell us: DO SOMETHING. SOMETHING IS WRONG."

If we don't listen, if we don't respond appropriately, the forces within us can go crazy and we become unbalanced. We feel guilty. Then we start doing crazy things to ourselves like drinking -- or misbehaving in even worse ways.

Kee holds meetings with up to 30 members at a time to help them stay away from drink, and drugs. " We teach people in recovery. We teach people about child abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, sexual abuse, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse. We have people come to our home and sit by our fire, and we share, 8 to 35 people. We are sharing with them a way to leave these things behind. We invite them to come on Friday when the weekend begins.

"The Euro-American thought is for big numbers. With us if it takes a whole year to reach just one person, we have made a great accomplishment because when that one person can tame his demon, then he can help others to tame theirs."

He teaches children in schools about the dangers of changing harmonies with addictions too. He comes to them in in his robe. He tells of the old ways. Children are so eager to learn that they don't want to let him go. Kids know more about things than we do.

"You and I only live on this earth for a short time. All the things we see here are going to outlive us. Each creature and each animal brought something pertinent into this world, like a gift. Man brought more gifts than all of them, and yet does the most destruction. We have to pay heed to all the trees, and all the plants, and the birds. We have the most gifts; we are responsible for everything on this earth."

I met Kee at the end of 8 long years of homelessness, my lot because of a malady "modern medicine" could not detect. Doctors had finally found "the problem." The only problem was, none of the medicine they had to cure "the problem" was working.

It was evening when I arrived, the sun just going down. We sat together on the porch and watched the badger down the way come out to say GOOD NIGHT. Doves settled into their nests. Cardinals took one last fling at the feeder. A coyote glanced our way as he paused to sniff the wind.

When the stars came out we went inside. June, his anthropologist wife, was taking supper from the wood-burning stove. I failed to recognize the meal but said nothing. Kee put me at ease; "We don't eat spiders. We don't eat rattlesnake, and we don't eat lobster. Okay?" I felt better immediately, and the meal was delicious.

"In our own language the word for medicine is FOOD. Whatever we eat is to sustain us on this earth. All food is life. People have no respect for food today. They misuse it. When we take a life to sustain our own we should kneel in prayer and say, FORGIVE ME FOR CUTTING YOU, FOR EATING YOU."

We played Scrabble™ for hours. I have never been trounced so badly or so often in my life. Even June with her years of personal experience with his strategies could hardly keep up. Then they showed me where the outdoor bathroom was and they went out to sleep.

The next morning Kee came and sat with me at the table. "I have looked upon you during the night. I do not know this malady that you have. But I have prepared a food/medicine for you which will help bring harmony back to your body."

He brought forth a bowl and explained what it was. "This is sacred blue corn as a mush with the ashes from the wood of a certain tree added in. You can add milk and honey to it if you wish."

I took one bite and decided it needed a whole LOT of milk and honey if I was going to eat it.

Kee watched as I strove to finish the bowl of food/medicine. Then he smiled. "Now, bacon and eggs?"

Later we walked to see the Learning Lodge, and some trees that were special. Kee showed me where the four sacred mountains (Mount Humphrey. Mount Taylor. White Mountain. Mount Diablo) lay and pointed out the direction to Window Rock. By noon I had put my canes aside and was walking painfully on my own. The next four days I spent alone, seeking out rays from Grandfather Sun. Although I had come prepared to spend two weeks with Kee, by that time I was so anxious to get back to work I could stay no longer. My pills from "modern medicine" began working and continued to work for several years.

The last morning I was there I was reading while June and Kee played yet another game of Scrabble. Kee glanced at the cover of the book in my hands, came over and opened it to a certain page.

His voice pulsed with joy as he read from the Book of Mormon: "Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also."

He paused eloquently. "This is the message that we send out to people on our newsletter. There are many paths to our Creator. Everyone should have the freedom to choose their own path to God."

It has long been whispered that the eyes are the windows into the soul.
There is another truth to be heard:
Life is what the soul sees out through those windows.

Asol-Keesh-Yi-Ka-Ya lives in the unusual Pine Springs Community. I say unusual because of the high concentration of highly successful artisans and crafters -- such as the artists Ben and Irving Toddy, sons of Yea Beatin who was the Marine codetalker known as Little No Shirt whose artistic style the Navajo believe Walt Disney used for the creation of Bambi -- and many other crafters whose fame is lauded many thousands of miles beyond their community.

As an anthropologist June Burnside maintains a newsletter about the community effort to teach visitors of native ways. This is sent around the world, to museums who house the works, to schools across the country who ask for visits, to business owners, and yes -- to writers like myself.

There is no charge for this newsletter, but as there are many who ask for a copy, please include a book of stamps so that June might respond even to those who cannot afford to send them. Your request should be addressed to June Burnside, POBox 284 in Houck Arizona -- 86506.