Being a door: a conversation with Jeremy Donovan

By Katie Dutcher

New Thought News Service

Jeremy Donovan is an indigenous Australian who bears many titles: didgeridoo player, international speaker, traditional healer, youth worker. 

His business card, however, reads simply "Jeremy Donovan – Keeper of Wisdom." 

New Thought delegates at the Parliament this week were treated to a special visit by Donovan; following are excerpts of an interview I conducted with this inspired and inspiring man.

On his grandfather

I met my grandfather when I was 16, and he died when I was 22. I only had six years with him. And people ask me, "How could you have learned everything you learned from him (in such a short time)?" And I say, you know what, I learned more from my grandfather when he passed away than in the six years I sat with him. Because now I feel him, and I smell him, and I recognize him everywhere I go … 

No matter where I am, even if I'm sitting in the desert by myself, I'm not alone. Because this is a living place. The spirit of the people is still living. I want people to realize that we can still learn from our ancestors' hearts, even though they're not here to teach us. The spirit of them is still there. And you just have to go internally to find that spirit ...

Knowing the history and knowing what my grandfather was forced to live through (as an indigenous Australian) inspired me. (I realized) that I'm indigenous in this day and age. So I have the opportunity for a voice, where my grandfather didn't. If I've been given that opportunity, I need to use it to create change, so our next generation doesn't have to live through what my grandfather's generation lived through.

On his past

In the presentations that I have, I (always) talk about the troubles that I went through. I don't pretend that I wasn't involved in criminal activity at one time. I'll never hide that. I'll always let people know that … Because if I hadn't gone to jail, I wouldn't be the person that I am today. And it's because sitting in jail taught me to sit in darkness. If you've never seen light before, how do you know what it looks like? The only way to understand what light looks like is to sit in darkness ... My grandfather, being a traditional person, never talked about light, but he talked about the moon, because that's the brightest thing you can see in the midst of the night. He would say to me, "Son, if you can sit in this (dark) room and still find the moon, then you'll find yourself." ... (It became) about embracing the shadows. Embracing everything that was painful in my life, and really loving it. Learning to love everything that hurt you the most. And then being good with it, and accepting that that is not who you are. The pain you've experienced, it's not who you are. But it's part of your journey – your book. 

My grandfather used to say  "Son, you're a book. And if you don't like a chapter, you can't just tear it out. That's all you. That's always going to be there – otherwise there would be a broken binding."

On shoes and the land

I can't wear shoes. I don't like wearing shoes. When I have to do that, I'm uncomfortable. For me, these flip flops, that's the closest you're going to get me to shoes without me being uncomfortable, and even then I'll usually be carrying them ...I like to be able to feel the land I'm walking on – even if it is blanketed by concrete, it's still land. Beneath this, is land. And that's what I want to feel …

When I go to a new location, the first thing I do is often just walk around and touch everything that's living. So I'll touch the trees, or sit on the grass. Because that's stuff that is deeply connected to the earth, and that's what I'm connected to. 

I really know that I will never have ownership of land, that the land will always have ownership of me, and that I'm just part of it. In the great cycle of things, the physicalness of me will eventually end up back in the land. When I die, it's not like I'm just going to spontaneously combust. Eventually, there's going to come a time when I die, and then I will turn to ashes, and my ashes will go back into the land.

On God

You know, I wasn't good with the word "God," because it was too Biblical for me … So I asked my granddad, "What is God?" And my grandfather said, "I'll have to show you what God is." So one night, late at night, my grandfather woke me up and he said, "I'm going to take you and show you God." And so my grandfather walked me, in the midst of the darkness, to the top of a cliff. And we stood there, and the sky was littered with stars, and the wind was blowing, and there was so much noise from different things, and my grandfather said, "Look out there." And I looked. And he said, "That's it." And I said, "What?" And he said, "This is God. What is God? God is everything. That's (Yurra Binna) – Our Creator"…

Our traditional wisdom, it's so true to everything that's ever been argued about in biblical religions, or even in the New Thought religions. Yesterday, I was listening to the "founders of New Thought" speak, and I thought ... "Wait a minute! We're the founders of New Thought! Our paintings are 40,000 years old!"

On his identity and message

What I really want to do is change the perceptions of people (about indigenous Australians). I don't have to look like what the stereotype says I'm supposed to look like to hold that (indigenous) wisdom, that message. I don't have to wear a little loincloth and be covered in paint to still be aboriginal. When I wear a Ralph Lauren shirt, and a bright pink one at that, it doesn't make me not aboriginal … The clothes, the paint, that's not what creates my identity. It's what's within, and the words that I have to share. That's when you'll really get to understand my identity – when you feel my words or you listen to the words that I have to share …

For me, (my work) is about getting people to see indigenous culture in a way that's not fairy-tale-based or mystical-based, just as a real culture. It's living – it's always going to be living. Even if we come to the sad place where there's not a single indigenous person left in this country, it's still here and it's still living. And that's what I want people to see … 

When people hear me speak, they hear an indigenous man speak about indigenous life and how he resurrected his life with culture. And they see someone that's full of pride. Nothing makes me more proud than performing or speaking or sharing my story with people. Because I know where I've come from. There's never a moment in my life when I paint my body, or stand up onstage in regular clothes and speak, that I'm not drawn to tears …

My grandfather used to say, "Son, you are a door. It is up to the people to choose to walk through that door." We have no idea the effect we have on people. All we can do is just become that door. You can't force people to walk through your door … not everyone is going to want to come through it. But you can be that door. And if people want to knock on it and come through, they're the ones that you can touch. You just have to be present and allow people the opportunity – to just ensure that the door is there.

Krishnas share their enviro-ethic

By Wes Yarborough New Thought News Service When the typical American thinks of the Hare Krishna movement, they likely think of bald men and women in robes, chanting in airports and handing out trinkets.  Not many people appear to understand the depth of the faith and its connection to the environment. The Krishna philosophy is one of the more environmentally connected religious practices that I've come across so far at the Parliament. "Many people think that humans are the center of God's focus, but in reality we are just one unit of his infinite creation," His Holiness Dr. Yaduandana Swami explained during a Friday morning workshop on the faith. He discussed how the basis of the Krishna doctrine, the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavataman, explain the essence of God in nature. The belief is that unless the focus is on God, humans won't have the integrity to uphold, sustain and properly nurture the divine and our planet. The Krishnas believe the world is tarnished because of something they call "consciousness pollution," caused by being out of touch with one's God-consciousness. Being in touch with the God-consciousness within is the way to reverse that pollution, they feel. And for the Krishnas, eating patterns are one way to be in touch. The meat industry contributes a vast majority of the world's pollution for a vast number of reasons, they believe. The Krishnas' spiritual connection to all living things is one reason they promote a vegetarian lifestyle.  The Krishnas' way of thinking mirrors and parallels New Thought principles, and may merit renewed consideration as people worldwide focus on the Earth we walk, run, eat, sleep, pray and love on.

New Thought leaders share "a religion of healthy mindedness"

By Alexis Yancey Jaami
New Thought News Service

New Thought sent a clear message in Melbourne about how intention and inclusion can change the world.

"There are two key New Thought teachings," Dr. Kenn Gordon, president of Religious Science International, told a receptive Friday morning audience. "One, we must know we live in a field of abundance, and two, there are no problems."

The session, A Religion of Healthy Mindedness – New Thought's Uniquely American Contribution to the Arena of New Religious Community, focused on the spiritual principles and wisdom that drive transformation.

Gordon's message brought loud applause, with some standing to cheer him, as he told how he has reconciled what he first considered a discrepancy in New Thought teaching that there are no problems, such as poverty and hunger.  

Formerly a farmer, Gordon saw how other growers would plow under their crops when market prices were down.  

"The issue's not food, it's money," he concluded. "Then, when I realized every little war costs a trillion dollars, I knew the issue's not money, either.  

"We need a bigger idea. We live in a field of abundance. In a democratic society, we have a small idea. We need to have will and intention for the way we want to live in the world … that is evolution!" 

Attendees listened intently as Michael Bernard Beckwith, spiritual director of the Agape International Spiritual Center, told how as a young revolutionary he went to a lecture on the benefits of slavery by Dr. Howard Thurman.  

All set to protest, he learned that the slave trade actually created a dynamic in the world; Africans had a mindset for deep forgiveness, and slavery ended up scattering that dynamic all over the world.  

"We live in a realm of plentitude," Beckwith said. "When we speak and think creatively from spontaneous goodness, we allow a revolutionary impulse to spread throughout the planet."

"People want you to believe that Jesus is coming back in violence. That was not his message," noted Dr. Barbara King, minister and founder of Hillside Chapel and Truth Center in Atlanta. "In our metaphysical approach to Jesus the Christ, we all have the Christ consciousness, inherent in our minds. New Thought is about inclusion. We want all people."

Dr. Kathy Hearn, community spiritual leader of the United Centers for Spiritual Living, echoed that inclusiveness.  

"Honoring all paths to God is deeply important to us," she said. "You are here honoring that deep sense of love. There is no one religion that can contain all the revelations of God. It takes all of the world's religions to begin to know all the revelations of God. There's divinity beyond the divinity we know. There's love beyond the love we know. Let's go over the falls together, to get the wisdom that is to come."

"As you listen to these presenters," moderator Dr. Roger Teel, senior minister of Mile Hi Church of Religious Science, said to laughter, "remember we in New Thought are NUTS, Never Underestimating the Spirit!"

Chant and dance lend lyrical layers to conference schedule

By Alexis Yancey Jaami

New Thought News Service

Naga Chants

What would make you content to fly into eternity?

That's one of thousands of Naga mystical chants, blessings by clan elders and prayers to the female God Ukepenuopfu.

Nagas make their home in Nagaland, in Burma and Northeast India. Their powerful, entrancing chants are in danger of being lost as master chanters die.

Visier Sanyu is one of the few who know the traditional chants. His brother, the late Niyiehu Sanyu, was a master chanter. Accompanied by Tom Duncan on drum and Reg Blow on didgeridoo, Visier Sanyu's chants draw listeners in with their jazz-like rhythms and deep, melodious vibe.

One chant on longing to live after death, makes this request:

"If I die, I would like to return as an eagle bird, sit on the top of a tree in my father's forest, watching the children. Then I'd be content to fly into eternity."

From left, Reg Blow, Visier Sanyu and Tom 

Duncan perform Naga chants.

The Hoop Dance

Kevin Locke of the Lakota Nation promotes a world that embraces all people and all cultures through his performances of the Native American Hoop Dance. The dance expresses what Lakota Mystic Black Elk called "the great hoop of life."

Locke spreads the hoops out along his outstretched arms, transforming himself into an eagle. He bends and twists, moving through life, bringing the hoops together to represent the world.

Holding the hoops up in a circle, he explains that the hoops show an all-inclusive world.

"In this world, everyone has a place of honor," he says. "There is no exclusion, because when you exclude someone this is what happens."

Locke then takes one hoop out and the world built of hoops falls apart.

Locke concludes his presentation with a story about ancestors surrounding a mountain, trying to ascend to heaven.

"This represents the collective ascent of all people," he explains. "Until we get up to the top of the mountain, we can't see each other and we can never reach the summit until we can see we all have gifts to give each other."

Speaking in his native tongue, Locke than thanks his relatives (everyone in the audience) for participating in this wonderful experience on the shared journey of life.

Kevin Locke demonstrates Hoop Dance principles.

Communities Night a chance to sample varied traditions

By Roya Camp
New Thought News Service


Dozens of Parliament participants boarded trams and buses or walked in groups to two dozen churches and meeting places Friday evening to take part in Communities Night, an event that gave visitors the opportunity to learn the traditions of various spiritual communities.
Hosts included Melbourne-area Baha'i, Jain, Brahma Kumari, Quaker, Sathya Sai and other groups.
Megan Carlisle, a youth raised in the New Thought movement, was one of about 50 guests who attended the pagan program hosted by 10 Melbourne-area residents in a space also used by an area Unity church. Other guests included pagans from the United States, England, Ireland and Scandinavia.
The group shared a potluck dinner and took part in a ritual that included the calling in of the directions, singing to the elements, a candle-lighting for the God and Goddess, the casting of a circle, singing, story-telling and dancing. Pagans from Masachusetts played a harp and sang ballads.
"The experience felt very validating of feeling the presence of us as a people at the Parliament, us as a global community at the Parliament and being on the same playing field as other major religions," Carlisle said. "There was also a sense of global community, because pagan people are very open to each other. It was like making instant friends from all over the world because of this commonality."
Rev. Keith Cox attended the Baha'i event, which highlighted the faith's presence across the globe. 
"The entire evening was filled with music and dance, showcasing the heritages of Samoa and Polynesia, the Middle East, Native America and Australia," Cox said. "It was spectacular. It was a musical celebration equivalent to an inaugural ceremony."