5 wise words of the Maasai tribe

What do we know about the Masai? Elongated silhouettes draped in red fabric, picturesque characters from Sydney Pollack’s Out of Africa, a people of warriors and ranchers…

Today we have the opportunity to learn about their spiritual practices and even use them in our own daily lives. Anthropologist Xavier Peron lived for several years among the Masai, was initiated, participated in their rituals, and for 30 years has been in touch with his spiritual mentor from this Kenyan tribe.

“The Maasai have no philosophical or religious dogmas,” emphasizes Xavier Peron. Like the American Indians and Taoists, they believe that a person is originally connected with other people, with his environment and with a higher intelligent force, which they call Enk’ai. This is the mother goddess, with whom each of the living is connected both on his own and as part of the human community.

Enk’ai sends rain to help grasses and trees grow, and she also sends trials meant for people’s spiritual growth.

Each member of the tribe strengthens his spirit daily by following the five precepts:

• overcome your fears;
• maintain contact with all living things;
• do not separate yourself and the environment;
• gain experience from trials;
• live what is.

“This daily practice has changed my life, and therefore I feel like a messenger of the Maasai in the West,” admits Xavier Peron. “It is important for me to convey their message about inner integrity and awareness, these two main components of a more just and human life.” By not idealizing their culture or way of life, we can be nourished and inspired by their wisdom. Here are the five foundations on which it is based.

Ilmao: accept duality

The name “Masai” goes back to the word “ilmao” – “twins”, in which the knowledge is hidden that all the phenomena of the world form pairs of additional elements. Like the yin and yang of Taoism, opposites exist but are not at odds. Duality reigns both in the outer world — such are day and night, rain and drought — and in the inner world, where selfishness and love for one’s neighbor, fear and courage collide…

Denial of duality is a sure path to suffering and conflict with others, according to the Maasai. Hence the need to accept the duality of the world and all beings. This approach promotes patience and benevolence.

Practice

• Identify your inner twins. Divide the sheet in two and write down your character traits on one side. And on the other side, match them with behaviors that can lead to failure or conflict. For example, “generosity” might correspond to “inconsistency” or “expectation of reciprocity.” The purpose of this exercise is to notice the ambiguity of one’s own or others’ manifestations and treat them with greater condescension.
• Bring your words and actions into harmony, to avoid contradictions that violate inner harmony and relationships with other people. Words and actions should become twins. The Masai do not allow a difference between words and deeds, knowing from experience that their complete coincidence is a condition for a good and lasting relationship.

Ensipay: to be in joy

Joy for the Maasai is not a goal, but a starting point. This is a manifestation of a living connection with the mother goddess, the giver of life. Joy is born from gratitude and in turn enhances it. The Maasai are grateful for being in the stream of being, for the power to get their own food, for the opportunity to share adversity and good fortune with others. Common holidays, the habit of not disregarding good events and a sense of humor also contribute to the everyday feeling of joy.

Being happy, according to the Maasai, is also a form of politeness that helps to feel good in communication. If there is a need to report bad news, the Maasai place it between two good ones. So it is easier to accept it to the one to whom it is addressed.

Practice

• Express gratitude every day for the gifts you receive, no matter how small they may seem to you. Someone held the door in front of you, casually smiled at you, invited you to dinner … In turn, you also give others your time and attention, make compliments, give advice, decorate the lives of others.
• Place a negative thought or action between two positive ones..
• Connect with the energy of nature. It allows us to feel like links in the great chain of life. It’s like leaning against a tree and getting lost in its noisy crown, feeling one with it and immersing yourself in a sense of peace and inner strength – the joy of being consists of these two parts.

Ozina Kishon: accepting suffering as a gift

The Masai are convinced that without suffering there will be no awakening: people grow thanks to the trials that Enk’ai sends. And they thank the mother goddess for taking care to provide them with such an opportunity.

In a ritual called “tying one’s heart”, they tie eight knots on a rope (heart symbol) to represent trials, and then untie them, signifying overcoming. So they show once again that everything is ambivalent and there is no other way to get rid of the problem, except by recognizing that it exists and belongs to us, and taking responsibility for solving it.

Practice

• Visualize your feelings. After the ritual with the rope, the massai imagine how they move their emotions (fear, sadness, anger, despondency, thirst for revenge) to their hearts and burn them there, turning them into pure life energy. Just as the alchemists melted lead into gold in their crucibles.
• Talk to the trials that have fallen to your lot. The Masai talk to them the way they would talk to a friend. What do you want to tell me? What is my responsibility? Should I wait or take action? Which direction should I choose?
• Accept all answersthat spontaneously come to you, uncensored and uncensored.

Eunoto: become a gardener

The Masai prefer not to be engineers, but gardeners. The former are completely focused on completing the task, while the latter plant the tree and take care of it, putting up with what they cannot influence: the natural growth time, the vagaries of nature …

Being a gardener means living in the present, adapting to the environment. Balance vigilance with trust, will with humility. Such pliability breeds peace, patience, and protects against anger and frustration.

Practice

• Take root like a tree in the present moment. The Masai say: “The past is a country where we no longer live.” What do you feel here and now? How to adapt to the current situation and to those present? Why are you dragging the useless cargo of the past? What past worries are preventing you from getting a taste of the present?
• Plant a tree and take care of it. This will immediately help you to stop playing “I want” and deal with what is really there.

Aingoru enkitoo: looking for the right direction

Righteousness of words and actions means, from the point of view of the Maasai, a connection with the Enk’ai. They strive to have a “clear eye and be in a state of readiness.” Clarity of sight expresses inner agreement with oneself, visible to an external observer, and the state of readiness is lightness, calmness and confidence in one’s path. Whereas concern, anxiety and vanity would mean, on the contrary, discord and distance from one’s destiny.

Practice

• To make a decision, listen to your body. It will help you make the right choice. If your decision is fair, then instead of superficial emotions (fear, fears), you will feel a wave of calm, inner peace, which can be conveyed by the words “it’s not easy, but fair.” If, on the contrary, you are tormented by doubts, and your mind and body are restless, this is an occasion to ask yourself if you have made the right decision.