Who Stole the Cookie? The Blame Game
Ka’at Ibi: Who Stole the Cookie? The Blame Game
Growing up as a little girl I played a game called, “Who Stole the Cookie.” It was a game that was supposed to teach rhythm, unity and following directions. Here’s how the game went. You sit all players in a circle formation. Everyone chants together, who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? Next, is the accusation or indictment of someone. A random person is chosen, let’s call them, Johnny. Then the group says, ‘Johnny stole the cookie from the cookie jar.’ The accused, Johnny, says, ‘Who me?’ The accuser/group says, ‘Yes, you!’ Johnny says, ‘Couldn’t be!’ And then the accuser/group says, ‘Then, who?’ The accused then says the name of someone else. And the cycle begins again. The person is “eliminated” if either they cannot keep up with the rhythm or if they are chosen as the accused. The game just goes on and on. Most of us do not think much about this simple childhood game. But it speaks volumes to the methods of investigation we tend to use on an everyday basis.
The limitations of a human being’s sight and senses make us victims to them. When we look at the world simply from the view of cause and effect we limit our ability to reason or investigate only to what we can see or perceive at that moment. Instead of using logic and truly researching and delving into all the things that contribute to something occurring we instead respond emotionally and look no farther than who or what we have arbitrarily laid blame. When we do this we stunt our ability to learn. Now, we not only corrupt ourselves and stunt our ability to grow but because of our limited thinking, the corruption is spread to those we have chosen to be the criminal. Furthermore, any real solution cannot be found because we are really only focusing on the thing that caught our attention the most instead of the whole picture and all of its subtleties. And like the game, it just continues on and nothing gets resolved.
We see how very detrimental this can become when we look at the field of modern medicine today. The human body is a balance of specifically engineered systems working harmoniously together. All parts rely on the other and have an effect on each other. Likewise, we see in nature, the same example. All things affect each other. However, when a person goes to the doctor’s we see the doctor only relates an issue to what they can see or what the latest in the chain of events may be. For example, a stomach ache and indigestion would prompt one to ask about what the individual ate “last”. From there drugs would be given or advised for the indigestion. But because of this, no real examination is being done to get to the root of the issue. So more than likely, more harm is being done than good.
In traditional culture, our Ancestors understood the value of sequentiality. They understood that everything that is occurring and has occurred plays a part in what is happening now. Everything. Because of the ability to think and assess things this way they were also able to truly see how things fit. This also opens up the mind to investigate even beyond that which is easily seen. By examining and investigating as much as possible within an incident, the mind is open to allow the questions that can come with not knowing but actively seeking. Think about it, if you think you know the answer or have arbitrarily assigned blame, what else is there to learn? What questions can arise if you think you know the answers? How easily can someone thinking like this be lead by someone else’s agenda? In one’s arrogance and emotions, we easily corrupt ourselves and others.
Our Ancestors were lead by the goal of raising their quality to be able to approach the World of the Gods. The Divine World. This, in and of itself, is a process. A process lead by the 77 Divine Ordinances.
So, in being able to assess and research as much as possible to maintain one’s quality, much more was learnt and revealed because of the active seeking, the thorough investigation of all things. Thus, the only way to do this in a clean and honest way, for a Healer whose goal is preserving life, is to get to the root of things and look at as much as possible. No matter how small and look as far back as one can. Of course, there will be limitations to what one can find but this process leaves emotions out of the equation. It leaves one’s opinion and individual perspective out of it as well. It requires patience, logic, humility, discipline, and focus. It yields a wealth of information to then be able to come up with a solution and not simply have a knee jerk reaction that is detrimental even when we do not realise it. It forces us to slow down and think, be accountable, use logic and not be lead by our own corruption, agendas, and emotions.
In this fast-paced world of emotions and reflex reactions could we be missing the bigger picture? In not having the ability or discipline to look beyond cause and effect what facts are we being distracted from? For our own health, for our survival, is it not time to stop playing games and dig deeper? Is it not time that we investigate as much as we can so we can see the whole picture? That way we can get to the root and have real solutions instead of being trapped in the circle of a game.
