Story Time

          I began this day in quiet time reflecting on the ideas of faith and reason.  I learned the word fideism which is a theory that maintains that faith is independent of reason, or that reason and faith are hostile to each other and faith is superior at arriving at particular truths.   After attending last week’s lecture at the college on acquiring knowledge and the necessary reasoning behind it, or supporting it, I was particularly appreciative of the existence of faith in my life.

            After some quiet contemplation and a couple of cups of coffee, I headed for town to attend a meditation session.  It was a quiet meditation.  One person read quietly a few words and then we simply were quiet and to our own thoughts for 30 minutes. 

            I journeyed in my mind.  I went from Durango to Georgia to Milwaukee to Vietnam to the moon and to the edge of the galaxy.  (No, I was not smoking or taking anything hallucinogenic!). 

Biking riding yesterday!

The human brain is an amazing creation.  I remember the words from the Moody Blues song from years ago, “…thinking is the best way to travel…”.  In my mind, I also went back to Vallecito Lake and watched the osprey.  Then, I became the osprey and flew across the lake (flying is hard work!!) and flew up above the mountains to the west and saw Missionary Ridge and the house where I am staying. 

At the conclusion, the facilitator said to consider the word “let”.  I’m inclined to think of John Lennon’s song, “Let It Be” and the phrase “Let Go, Let God”. 

I went from there to Durango Joe’s Coffee Shop and ordered a “Bulldog”.  This is the name I’m spreading around Durango’s coffee shops when I order a double shot latte with cinnamon and pepper.  It’s supposed to be cayenne, but none of the places here have cayenne.  I tell them that back home in Georgia, we call this drink the “Bulldog”…get it?

Coffee in hand, I headed for Ignacio, CO about 18 miles away and the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum. 

Let me connect a couple of dots here.  Two weeks ago when I flew into LaPlata County Airport, I was studying the landscape below us as I usually do.  As we began approach to the airport from the northeast, I noted a network of small, cleared spaces connected by dirt roads atop mesas east of an undetermined city.  The sites looked like missile sites, but I was about 99.9% certain there were no missile sites such as these in southern Colorado.  I’ve since researched the area and found that the city is Ignacio, CO

So, on the way to Ignacio, very soon after leaving Durango, one crosses on to tribal lands.  I’ve learned that the Utes historically roamed most of Colorado.  As the whites moved west, the Utes entered into a number of treaties which were consistently broken and pushed into smaller and smaller areas.  Today, there are three distinct tribes of Utes, two on lands in Utah and the Southern Utes here in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.  In the late 1800’s the Utes were pushed off the land that is the San Juan Mountains here in western Colorado on to the plateaus and mesas south of Durango.  The whites wanted the gold and the beauty of the mountains and they gave the Utes the plateau areas. 

As I crossed on to tribal lands, the surrounding countryside is beautiful and consists primarily of farms. 

San Juan Mtns in distance

I rambled into Ignacio and the first place I stopped was the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum. 

I was the only visitor to the center today, so I casually enjoyed my time in the center.  There are at least two places one can sit and listen to stories from members of the tribe. 

One is a circle around a campfire (not real) and it’s very easy to close one’s eyes and imagine listening to an elder tell stories of ancient times.  The coyote is the prominent character in many of the stories.  The animals could talk then, at the time the “Creator” made everything.  There’s a popular story about the Creator coming to the coyote one day with a bag which he wants the coyote to carry up the mountain for Him.  The coyote agrees, but when the Creator isn’t looking, he opens the bag and out rush people.  The story goes that the Creator had been gathering sticks and putting them in the bag.  The sticks became people while in the bag and this is where the Utes came from.

In another location in the center, one enters a tipi and sits on logs again around a cooking fire and listens to more stories about animals and the Creator.  The Utes are a very spiritual people and have great respect and reverence for the Creator and for the elders of the tribe.

I am sad to say that the Southern Ute Tribal Chairman, a man named Jimmy Newton passed away shortly after I arrived here.  I expressed my sympathies to the young lady at the desk at the museum and she sincerely appreciated my wishes.  She told me that the elders and the council will meet in a few months to decide if the alternate chairman will now govern the tribe, or if they will wait for elections in November, when the elections were already planned for.  The deceased chairman was only 37 years old, but apparently a tremendous leader of these people.

I drove through town.  There’s a very nice trading post on the main street with some beautiful carvings, jewelry and much more.  It’s worth your visit.

I headed east from town toward the mesas because I now knew what the sites I’d noted upon flying in to the airport are.  These are natural gas wells, and the mesas and lands surrounding Ignacio are honeycombed with natural gas and oil wells.  The Utes were pushed on to lands which are incredibly rich in natural gas.  The Utes today are one of the richest tribes in America.        

So much to learn!!

#ColoradoJourney

Lots of these around here!!