DRUM CIRCLE

Dr. Kip Redick
Joanna Andrusko
Primal Religions

I had no expectations going into the drum circle. I have visited my great-grandfather once at a Lakota reservation in Minnesota but it was when I was six. I am ashamed that despite having a heritage rooted in primal religions I know very little about any. I consider myself open-minded and I feel that I can connect on a primal level with the earth by myself, but I become skeptical when I am in a group. Even in my Christianity I have a very hard time experiencing the same level of intimacy with the divine when I am at church than when I am by myself. I cannot say why. I am sad to say that the drum circle was a similar experience for me. I certainly appreciated the mysticism of what was going on there but it is just too difficult for me to achieve any level of intimacy with people I do not know. I do not consider myself to be especially self-conscious, so I really do not know what it is. I observe more, I think, when I am in a group, than I do experience. I noticed the guy next to me get extremely upset when we had to switch instruments because I could tell he felt a strong connection with the instrument he had picked out. I noticed the group of three experienced drummers across me gently attempt to lead the group in some sort of collective rhythm. I felt the sun setting behind me as it got colder and colder. But I did not participate and I feel awful because it was not my intention to be merely an observer. But I just did not feel the connection although I was aware of its presence.