Negative Thoughts

Every few years I re-read all of Tony Hillerman’s Navajo novels. Ostensibly these are mysteries of the police procedural variety, but the Navajo Tribal Police procedures are informed by Navajo philosophy and are therefore different from, say, the LAPD.

Hillerman’s descriptions of landscape and atmosphere evoke memories of times I’ve spent in New Mexico. His plots are intricate and the characters are believable and consistent. But what draws me back to these books is the Navajo outlook on life.

The traditional Navajo strives for hozjo, which is a state of harmony, peace and balance. The Navajo sees the interconnectedness of all things. The Navajo is respectful of others and the Earth.

Currently I am reading The Fallen Man. In this story Lieutenant Jim Chee tries to avoid negative thoughts. Hillerman explains:

        

         The Navajo culture … had taught him the power of words and of thought. Western metaphysicians might argue that  language and imagination are products of reality. But in their own migrations out of Mongolia and over the icy Bering Strait, the Navajos brought with them a much older Asian philosophy. Thoughts, and words that spring from them, bend the individual’s reality.

How easy it is to allow oneself to slip into negative thought! A perceived slight can fill one’s consciousness and whisk one away from present reality.

Yesterday I woke up with a painful ankle and painful thumb. As I was reading the above passage I remembered that the night before I had been obsessively miffed over a trivial matter. Ah, ha! Pain is the price we pay for negative thought.

This morning my thumb is back to normal and my ankle is much improved. I hope I’ve learned the Navajo’s lesson.

Copyright 2012 by Shirley Domer