The Bear Sweat

“The sweat lodge wasn’t merely a ceremony, it was a challenge in the physical sense.  I always had a fear of dark enclosed spaces, and now I found myself in absolute darkness. The air was heavy and choking.  I didn’t know what represented the front, the back, what was up or down.  Direction had no meaning.  East, west, north, and south no longer existed.  I truly found myself existing in a void, but to my surprise, instead of the space contracting around me, I was experiencing an expansion.  The darkness was unfolding into a size that I felt was larger than the universe and I was floating  in its very center.  No matter how much I reached out I couldn’t touch the edges.  And now the sweat lodge had accomplished its goal:  it forced me to depend on myself.  It forced me to grasp for my own resources.  I was thrust back onto myself–my inner self became my whole universe.”