Spirit Camp 3 2012

The Deer Tribe way is in need of a dramatic spring clean. It is drifting towards the Baptist church or some other Godly institution. It could end up being niceness. The people at Spirit Camp are all lovely which is no bad thing but I sense no chaos, no awkwardness. If it is Shepard-ing towards a uniformity of smiling I spit in its face. Personally the teaching of wisdom has always troubled me. I have come to the consideration I have a donkey head (conscious) and ‘it’ will conform what is given to suit my lower self. This lower self will strut with the confidence of ‘knowing’ whatever peculiarities it has knitted together and attach to them the credibility of the source. The aural tradition of Two Bears when written down and printed out in Swift Deer’s manuals becomes a very different thing. Aural requires ‘being with’ the teacher and all that that entails. Manuals have none of that. It may seem like a good idea for fast tracking knowledge but it is not appropriate to wisdom. Even my lecturer at Art College where I was learning design refused to teach me how to design. My personal process towards becoming a designer was sacrosanct, inviolable. A whole bag full of contrariness, failures, fun and discoveries would have been bypassed by a few simple instructions. But he did threaten to throw me off the course if I chose the wrong exam project that would have lead to my failure. He could have taught me and I could have become a good designer but that’s not the point. I hold that teachers of wisdom only produce more teachers of wisdom. This is very evident at Spirit Camp where I couldn’t pick up a stick without at least two people offering me advice on how to hold it. “Fuck off and pick up your own stick!” And all the self-congratulatory speak of the high-ups, ‘You have all done a great job, thank your arse for getting you here’ etc. Bin it! It’s bollocks. I witnessed our Dog Soldier leaders, with one leaving, speak with focus from the heart. That was an honour to hear and be included in; it was not PR to boost membership.


But how might it change from a moderately challenging holiday camp? Oh dear that’s’ me ostracised at dawn. J What comes to my mind are many diverse opportunities to ‘be’ outside ‘the box’ of one’s comfort zone through dance, clowning, theatre, trance and meditation, but these are way outside the tradition. I must simply conclude I belong to a different tribe. But then after all this arrogance I must also conclude that the Deer Tribe creates many beautiful people, and that’s a wonderful gift to the world.