May 7, 2010    2:30 PM Eastern/1:30 PM Central/12:30 PM Mountain/11:30 PM Pacific

For the Next 7 Generations documents the momentous journey of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, as they travel around the globe to promote world peace and share their indigenous ways of healing.  Originating from all four corners, these 13 wise women elders, shamans and medicine women, first came together in 2004 at a historic gathering in Upstate New York.  Motivated by their concern for our planet, they decided to form an alliance: The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. The film begins at their first gathering follows them to the Amazon rainforest, the mountains of Mexico, throughout North America, and to Dharamsala, India, for a private meeting with the Dalai Lama.  Facing a world in crisis, the Grandmothers share with us their visions of healing and a call for change now, before it’s too late. Through their teachings, they are lighting a way to a peaceful, sustainable planet.

Since the film’s completion in September of 2009 it has been selected for eight festivals, including The Santa Fe Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Indigenous Documentary. It also won awards for Best of the Festival and Best Documentary at the First Annual Big Island Talking Circle Film Festival in Hilo Hawaii. After working together for five years, the Grandmothers have established a worldwide presence. In 2006 a book about them titled, “Grandmothers Council the World” was published, and has been translated into nine languages.

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and the message of this film from the filmmaker herself.

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I am learning more about trust from a book I recommend by Nouk Sanchez and Tomas Vieira, Take Me to Truth. Although it is based on the teachings of A Course in Miracles, its treatment of trust has universal applications.

What is necessary for the development of trust is a journey toward ego release. As many of us have experienced, our egos have a need to control and to know. When we then open to the place of not knowing, which is where the state of trust places us, it throws us into conflict. And… if we have ‘let go’ and we are in mid-air, so to speak, there’s no turning back, even though our egos try to tell us differently.

We know from experience, that the unknown is the most frightening of places! Who would even choose to go there? Who would let go of the comfort of the known for the unknown?

Those of us who are willing to see differently. Those of us who are willing to follow our calling or our purpose. Those of us who are committed to personal growth and self actualization, and those of us who have embarked upon the path toward ego release and the discovery of the Self, the Soul; our true Being; the Knower. That part of us that longs for us to be who we truly are.

As Nouk and Tomas explain, “Our Unified Self… trusts implicitly that all changes are necessarily beneficial, no matter how uncomfortable they may be initially. It knows it is infinitely safe, secure, worthy; hence it has no need for our familiar obsession with the compulsion to control and the need to be loved and protected by outside sources…

It realizes that acknowledging not-knowing provides the space from which Truth reveals itself.”

Therein, it seems to me, lies the solution to the problem of what to do when we encounter the doubt and uncertainty that arises when we are in that “space between”. That space where we are trying to engage our trust and to have the patience to “hang in there” even though the next trapeze or open door seems like it will never be there to rescue us from falling or from looking endlessly at closed doors.

Trust and not knowing are synonymous. Are you willing to be in that state? The place between where you are as a result of ‘letting go’ what was worn out, no longer serving you, keeping you from breaking free, and from knowing who you are and what it is you have to offer and the next open door?

The religions of the world speak to trust and the importance of engaging it and relying on a Source other than who we believe we are.

• Trust calls for us to admit that we do not perceive our own best interests

• Trust asks us to give up what we think we know

• Trust encourages us, even demands that we depend, not on our egos, but on God, Allah, our Guides, our higher Selves; that part of us that Knows

• Trust carries us through the space of not knowing; where Truth reveals itself

• Trust nurtures and strengthens that place in our Minds and Hearts that Knows

This is an experiential rather than an intellectual exercise, and essential to successful navigation of the spiritual path. It also need not be experienced alone.

A trusted friend, partner, or spiritual counselor are important human supports as we go through these experiences of exercising our “trust muscles”.

May you know the freedom and the joy that results from being willing to be in the state of Trust!

This article was written by Ruth Reiner, ordained Interfaith minister, spiritual counselor, certified life coach, and successful business woman. Ruth is the co-founder of www.IAWSL.com.

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