Last month, Harry Buschman, Seeker's Westlake creator, wrote me about fishing and hoping and trusting. I didn't keep his e-mail and so can't quote what he said that caused me to write the following, but I liked what I wrote and thought it would be a good topic for a "Skyearth Letter."

I have come to a strengthening belief that the Universe will provide, or rather, that the Universe will send things your way if you believe that the Universe will send things your way and you're clear about where you desire to go - and that takes trust. The quality implied by the word "hope" is very different. To me, to hope for something includes the feeling that one is in a crapshoot, because hidden inside that feeling of hope is also the belief that the hoped-for-desire will not be fulfilled.

"Trust" has a totally different feeling to it. Trust is what the fisher person should have during the winter - trust that spring will come (there really isn't a hope there - spring does come and has come for times untold), trust that the rivers will thaw and trust that there are trout in the rivers. (One has to be aware though, of certain species catastrophes - particularly in the Pacific Northwest.) Instead of spending one's time "hoping" to catch trout, perhaps the fisher would do better to know unequivocally the level of his or her skill, work at improving it if need be, and then trust that her or his knowledge of rivers and trout and the exercise of said skill will culminate in a fresh trout dinner. Perhaps visualizing the melting of trout flesh in one's mouth would add the final fillip for success.

That is why I believe that you ground yourself out with the word "hope." I am reminded of Advent, where one week is focused on HOPE. If you are always hoping for a better world, that is all that you will experience - the act of hoping. As when you say you want something - you experience the act of wanting. You don't experience the act of receiving. Whereas if you visualize and affirm the act of having the fulfillment of a desire or affirm that such fulfillment is coming to you, you are helping to create the reality.

When it comes to "try," I've stopped using it because it also connotes a negative response. If you say you are trying or will try to do something, implied in that statement is an equal part of "but I'm not going to succeed."

I am reminded of the 4-H Club motto, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Interesting how that is supposed to be encouraging. I hear that now as a direct discouragement, implying that you will probably fail the first time.

Listen to yourself when you use the word "try" in a sentence and reach for the feeling that is behind it. It could be: "I don't want to do this, but I'll try once, fail, and then I'll be free of the obligation." Or it could be: "I'm afraid of doing this; I don't have the skill or knowledge, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to fail."

If you say, "I will do something," or "I am doing something," you have informed the Universe that you have a true desire to accomplish this task - and the Universe will help you do it. "Trying" is half a commitment, and about as worthwhile as no commitment at all. There is a subtle falsehood in it, also, to your self and to the one who is asking for the commitment.

I have to admit that I can get hung up on the subtle meanings of words, and those meanings, in part, come from my life experiences. That explains why I am now having difficulty in using the word "faith." Probably most people consider "trust" and "faith" as being synonyms, the same thing. I don't. I haven't figured out the subtle difference that I feel exists between them, but a great part of it comes from the fact that religions seem to have a stranglehold on the use of the word "faith." And I firmly believe that religions have done much to damage people's psyches and to enslave people (physically and mentally), all in the name of faith to the particular style of God espoused. That's as far as I plan to go with that one.

Now, if you have waded through these thoughts, I do have a book that I've been reading that will give you more to digest. Anne Wilson Schaef has published a compilation of writings and proverbs from indigenous people around the globe, entitled Native Wisdom for White Minds (1995, One World Books/Ballantine Books), also subtitled "Daily Reflections Inspired by the Native Peoples of the World." For each day of the year, she has chosen a few phrases or a brief story from a native writer and followed it with her own reflection about the thought or story.

Having read Schaef's Beyond Science, Beyond Therapy, I was intrigued with learning more about her life in the bits and pieces that came through in her reflections. She has met with, spoken with, been invited to join, native peoples in various countries. And she has observed and become conscious of the mindset that is epitomized by the phrase "white minds." In her introduction, she explains:

However, I also began to realize that "you white people" was referring to the whole perspective of Western culture and to the white minds trained in and wedded to Western civilization.

Native people know that white minds see, conceptualize the world, and think differently than native minds...Still, it is so difficult for white minds to really perceive these differences and appreciate them. This is because white minds are trained to believe that there is only one right answer, one right way of perceiving the world - and that singular way can only be mastered by minds trained in the Western scientific method of thinking. Unfortunately, Western culture's way of training our minds has resulted in closed-system thinking.

I have a genetically white mind, I must admit, but I have an emotional non-white mind when it comes to living on this earth and being one with it. White minds' desire for conquest and capitulation of native cultures has, fortunately, not been absolutely successful. Thank God! As a result, Schaef has drawn together much in the way of wisdoms from various culture.

If you have a white mind that would like discover the difference between a closed system and an open system of thought in regards to this earth, with writing that is clear and can be easily read in small doses, please enjoy this book.

(Copyright 1998 by Cherie Staples - No reproduction without express permission from the author)