16 episodes
All Is Beautiful: The Navajo Creation Story Jabez L. Van Cleef
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- Religion & Spirituality
Since the beginning of time, human beings have told the story of their own beginning, and of the origins of the four directions, the heavens,the God-People, the earth, and all its creatures. The Navajo People tell a story of great psychological power and depth.First recorded by 19th century ethnographers, the Navajo Creation story is here interpreted as an epic-length poem.Jabez L. Van Cleef has written poetic versions of spiritual texts from all of the world's great religious traditions. His voice in dramatic readings explores the fine distinctions between metered prose and music, by creating a spoken word sound environment that lulls the listener into a state of profound receptivity.
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Episode 1 - All Is Beautiful: The Navajo Creation Story
-In this episode: In the first chapter, the Air Spirit people - dragonflies, bats, locusts, and others - search the surface of the First World, and find the names of the chiefs in four directions: "One Who Grabs Things in the Water," "Blue Heron,"
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Episode 2 - All Is Beautiful: The Navajo Creation Story
-In this episode: In the second chapter, the air spirit people wear out their welcome in the first world (by having sex with the wives of the people there), and are driven away into the sky by the approach of a great flood of waters.
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Episode 3 - All Is Beautiful: The Navajo Creation Story
-In this episode: In the third chapter, the air spirit people come into the second world, a world of blue. They live in peace for a while with the swallow-people; but then they betray them, and they are driven back into the sky.
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Episode 4 - All Is Beautiful: The Navajo Creation Story
-In this episode: In the fourth chapter, the air spirit people come into the third world, a world of yellow. They live in peace for a while with the locust-people; but then there is another betrayal, and they are driven back into the sky.
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Episode 5 - All Is Beautiful: The Navajo Creation Story
-In this episode: In the fifth chapter, the air spirit people come into the fourth world, which is a mixture of black and white. They find people there who know how to grow things and cultivate the soil. They resolve to settle down and behave themselves, in order to
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Episode 6 - All Is Beautiful: The Navajo Creation Story
-In this episode: Holy Men, Spirit Gods, come to the fourth world, where they create First Man and First Woman in a Dancing Ceremony. Look in the skin of your fingertips, to see how the wind blew 'round them! Poetry written and voiced by Jabez L. Van Cleef.