-=> Quoting Jane Kelley to Sondra Ball <=-
 JK> Unfortunately, most humans will not undertake that sort of inner
 JK> journey and would not understand what someone who had tried to say. 
 JK> There are some things that must be experienced rather than taught
 JK> outright. 
 
 PMFJI with a _sweeping_ _very_ general statement that has been _generally_
 expressed in the various "cyberspace" discussions I have been involved in.
 When someone is _told_ what is or is not a Native American belief system
 (whether it's called "religion", "worldview", "lifeways", "culture" or
 "whatever") they don't believe it because it doesn't _match_ their
 expectations. In other words they already _know_ what they are seeking
 (or at least _think_ they know) and when confronted with the notion that
 "Native American Religion" isn't it because there really is no such thing
 as one single "Native American Religion", they are disappointed because
 they want there to be such a thing _so_ badly.
 Another _general_ statement... Some "seekers" are looking for some "easy"
 solution to their journey. Very similar to "Christians" that are content to
 go to church twice a year on Easter and Christmas and think they have 
found"
 _it_. Or the rage in Zen Buddhism a few years ago. Or "hippies". Or Oregon's
 famous Bagwan. Or Heaven's Gate.
 JK> I am indeed sorry that others have been driven out of this conference.
 
 Actually, maybe they just felt their time could be better spent elsewhere.
 The fellow I mentioned in my post to Sondra used to be _very_ active _and_
 _very_ vocal here on IA and after he left here he took up the "cause"
 elsewhere. So it wasn't simply the "battlefield" or the "battle". Why 
oesn't
 he come back here? Beats me.
 
 You might want to ask yourself were they "driven" away or couldn't they
 ignore the discussions they didn't want to participate in any longer?
 Perhaps their priorities changed? Perhaps something new in their lives? For
 instance when I went back to college about two and a half years ago, I had
 to make some choices. School? Work? Genealogy? IA was related to my studies
 in American History. So that won out over genealogical echoes on the same
 BBS. Like I told Sondra, if I leave IA it won't be because I was "driven"
 away, it's because there is no longer a "need" on my part to be here.
 The last couple of times I saw a bunch of folks leave a "commercial"
 service in which one might say they were "driven" away, the operators of
 the respective groups were right. It was a commercial service that others
 (like me) were paying for and the subjects of discussion were "off topic" 
or
 that particular discussion group (i.e. "religion" in a "Native American 
rt")
 discussion group. As I told Sondra, I think "Native Peoples" magazine does 
n
 excellent job of "discussing" NA art & lifeways _without_ getting involved
 in "New Age vs. NA" issues. Do they avoid controversy? Nope. There was more
 than one "letter to the editor" about an ad or article related to the FBI.
 And all of their articles _aren't_ about "art".
 
 I look upon these discussion groups very much like a large party or social
 gathering. People drift in and out of conversational groups. Sure, I suspect
 some are "driven" away by psuedo-intellectuals or whatever. But some also
 leave because the "conversation" no longer interests them. Or they have to
 go to the bathroom or some such other high priority. But, I can almost
 guarantee you that a "conversation" will die very quickly if "nobody" says
 _anything_.
 
 Oh, and for another perspective... On my "download" pass, I collected 12
 messages from IA. Probably two or three days worth. I chose to respond to
 only 3 (25%) of them. I have to ask myself: "If I were at a social gathering
 in a group having a discussion and I was only interested in 25% of what was
 being discussed, would I stick around or go find a more interesting group?"
 Jim
--- Blue Wave v2.12
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