Short story: Chief Spotted Horse's question to the Christian brother, Alex Sankin

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The missionaries had been visiting the tribes recently, and were now at Chief Spotted Horse's tribe. They were trying to convert the tribe to Christianity. Alex was trying to tell them about the Christian ideas of soul, spirit, and God. The Chief stood to one side, with a questioning look on his face. Alex soon finished his talk, and he asked the members of the Wakonda tribe, if they had any questions. The old chief, moved forwards, and said, "I will ask this question on behalf of our tribe." "We, ourselves believe that each person has two souls." "One is the bodily soul, responsible for our consciousness, thoughts, and for giving that body its life, as well." "Our other soul, is our dream soul, in which we visit places, within our dreams, and religious ceremonies too." "Our shaman can take inner journeys in his free soul, another name that we call the dream soul, at any time." "When both souls leave our body, we die." "If only one soul leaves, as when the Shaman's dream soul leaves his body, for a journey into the Worlds of the dead, he can return this soul again to his body." "The free soul can then come and go at will. The bodily soul is tied to the body by a silver cord. It cannot leave until the body dies too." "A near-death experience then, is merely explained by our free soul leaving the body, and then coming back into it again. This is not then a complete death." "What do you say about that then, my young friend?" he asked the missionary man, Alex. Alex replied: "You might well be right, but we see it more like this." "God lives as spirit, but he interacts through love, a spiritual connection apparatus, that allows spirit to meet creation in a real way, because flesh comes to live, via love alive in it." "The soul is the spectator spirit, as God is too, and it can facilitate this interaction of love and flesh, by being itself in God, while also connecting as a way-shower between God and itself, and God and flesh, and itself and flesh, in a love triangle meetup." "Our soul is attached to our spirit, and to our body, and attaches itself to God's spirit, via love, then." The great chief smiled: Alex's answer was a good one, but it probably would mostly be lost on the members of his tribe, as it was such a convoluted mix of words, not simply stated. He said, by way of reply: "It is better to have less thunder in the mouth, and more lightning in the heart, my young friend. You will realise this one day too." Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com Chief Spotted Horse's father loved his spotted horses, hence his son's name.