The many faces of beer

Naked honesty

Chapter 8 The many faces of beer

“Its my view that the native population experienced a personal disappointment with the American leadership to date. We had thought that you were the perfect substitute for the world spirit. But there has to be more, “ Nahmakanta leaned back in his chair to ponder the impact of his comment himself.

“I think you are representing a personal account of the experience, the way that your folks would have practiced that in your group,” Bob responded. “ The fact is the American world experience is based on freewill and democratic principles. That is not always easy to see in a public context, especially if you are only viewing the world in a deeply personal orientation.”

“Its the impersonal view of the self, “ Charles offered, “ like Zen. The East Indians have as much a problem viewing their world experience.....too personal in orientation.”

They were knee deep in beer and the trout was suddenly plentiful.

“ I want to come back to my earlier proposition that some of your folks may have come from the Scythian or what is sometimes described as Neolithic experience in Asia, bringing with them studies of human understanding in the early Scythian experiences.” Charles as usual had his mind on work.

“There's quite a bit of that on the web,” Nahmakanta said, “ but our folks are not relating to it.”

Charles produced a paper from his pocket and gave it to Nahmakanta. It listed the names of several sites in the Appalachia that corresponded with Sanskrit/Persian phonetics in their pronounciation.

“We checked with other words in the Algonquin and had one curious result. The SanskritPersian phonetics refers only to words that are engaged in the landscape, such as Katahdin, Nahmakanta, Swatara, Manassas, Kanawha, Nanthahala, Harriman and of course Nanticoke. This is consistent with new leadership that breaks with the past and introduces new practices but they usually do not change names of locations because of the profound need to relate to the physical environment.”

Nahmakanta responded with an unexpected and spontaneous curiosity in the discovery.

Charles continued, “ The changes made are normal. What we are saying today is that a person who seeks an experience of their source and genealogy would do well to understand the historical changes that may have taken place before, otherwise, their past denials will continue to thwart them.”

Susan joined them.

“Are we having fun yet?” she asked.

Charles sat back to allow Nahmakanta to respond, realizing that his state of consternation would be very revealing of his own personal qualities.

“This has been very interesting,” Nahmakanta said. “It creates more choices in the mind of the native American in his perceptions of the world.”

“You mean viewing himself in relation to issues outside the country?” she asked deftly.

“We have been creating too close a view of matters in a way as to exclude every other consideration.,” he said with great deliberation on the words.

“You think this might have helped you in your own personal search for understanding?”

“I don't think it has hurt it,” he replied tactfully.

“The questionnaires are designed to solicit responses in some of these areas and it would be so helpful to us to clarify these issues in the research. We think programs based on this study might be able to help reduce some of the alarming social statistics that we are seeing.” Susan spoke calmly.

Nahmakanta took a deep breath but before he could continue, Charles cut in.

“The Nanticoke word, Harriman may be drawn from the Persian Ahriman. This may be what you referred to in your experience as the expectation your people had of the American government. The concept refers to the self of all and any suggestion that, that refers to the Americans is something the world's thinkers would consider as a most extraordinary suggestion.” Charles said with a smile.

“When did your people settle in these parts?” Susan asked.

“Its been about 6,000 years,” Nahmakanta replied.

“Have you lived in Bethel long?” Susan continued.

“ I was born in Seaford but moved here to set up a business. Its a small town with about 100 households. Its ….like a common village, except that we live in homes, not teepees. Everybody knows everybody else.” Then turning to Charles, he said, “ you might want to place a classified ad in the Seaford Star regarding the survey.”

Charles nodded.

“We thought that might cause some distortion of the data on account of the close relations, especially in small towns,” Susan went on, “ but the greatest phenomenon of change is in the small towns. In the cities, they manage it by the sheer indifference they create to others.”

“Quite right,” he said, “ you'll find that folks here .......” he struggled to find a word, “create a greater commitment.”

They left the bar and walked out into the sunlight.

“Has Nanticoke always been spelt that way, could it have been Nanticuk? Nantiuk?” Charles asked.

“Well the original is in Algonquin. But I see your point,” he said.

 

He waved self consciously and said he'll call soon with some news on the survey.

“What's Nahmakanta in Sanskrit?” he called. His voice carried a teenage enthusiasm.

“In the name of the one who loved the world,” Charles responded.

They watched him walk away as Bob turned to Charles and quipped about the meeting.

“ Victory favors those who are prepared,” he said.

“Not that much,” replied Charles. “ I thought Susan was a natural.”

She waved a finger as if to deny either view. “ From my perspective, its all about the study.”

Reviews

[Wendy Seames Garner]

I'm still interested.

[patricia]

I am in awe of your intellect! there was besides a hundred gems...lots of humour in this, so much to process in one go. I must read the whole thing and restrain myself from trying to do so all in one go. This is superb writing, brilliant content, great dialogue, impeccable grammar, and is going to be an exciting read. I cant wait to catch up with the previous chapters and go on to the next. Thankyou.