Confessions:

Again, I need to ask Kyrgyz and Native Americans to forgive the terrorists acts my people committed against your people. Please forgive us. We murdered Native Americans. There is no excuse.

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I see the Almighty still working on my heart regarding the terrorism inflicted from the hand of my ancestors (See Dec. 15th 2008 post). On Christmas day I learned that I am descended from a Capt. Gallup who captured and drowned Native Americans at sea. I'm sick and would rather not know that I have descended from such corruption. I don't want you to know either. My enemies in Kyrgyzstan will use this against me. I can only hope that the inherited evil will be stopped and that healing for all of us will come from confessing this murder, asking God and Native Americans for forgiveness, and by decisively turning from the cruel path. I know the old ways require appropriating blood from an innocent sacrifice. Both Native Americans and Kyrgyz are intimately aware of this ritual, the payment feast (Toloo in Kyrgyz). In the same way that I have been a communal part of Capt. Gallup's sin and the resulting curse, I now ask for the spilled blood of Messiah Isa (Jesu) to be incorporated or appropriated into my life, family, work, and inner world. May my Creator look on me and have mercy.

Risbek (Richard)

Merry Christmas

"And Mary, daughter of 'Imran, whose body was chaste, therefor We breathed therein something of Our Spirit. And she put faith in the words of her Lord and His scriptures, and was of the obedient." Qur'an 66:12

…the angels said: O Mary! Allah gives you glad tidings of a word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the Hereafter… (Qur'an 3:45)

"... the word became flesh and lived among us..." (Injil, John 1)



Risbek

Happy Chanukah from the Muslim world,

I thank God that Kyrgyz are not given to anti-Semitic comments, nonetheless there are other nationalities that make terrible remarks here. I want to say that I know many wonderful Jews. Let's stay clear of the dark tendency that pushes demented individuals and historically embarrassing movements toward antisemitism.

History has shown that the menorah's light is here to stay.

Risbek

Wounded Knee, South Dakota (1890)

In December 2001 American troops had surrounded their enemy - Osama bin Laden in the Tora Bora Mountains and Mullah Omar in Khandahar, Afghanistan. While Bush was assuring the American people that bin Laden would be caught, I woke from a vivid dream which clearly showed that bin Laden and Mullah Omar would not be caught until the American President officially apologized for acts of terrorism against Native Americans. The dream also revealed something about America's guilt against women. I wrote the White House and asked the president to offer a confession similar to Abraham Lincoln's presidential apology/confession for America's role in slavery. I received an automated response from the White House. To date the president still has not officially apologized for terrorism from our people inflicted on others.

Last night I watched the movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". I wept. This was my review to Netflix.

I am a descendant of the American Christians who elected the government that betrayed Native Americans. The visual portrayal of animalistic behavior propagated by my people against another made me sick. I cried because of atrocities my nation brought on another - to their lives, to their culture, to their lands, and to their souls. I believe the God of mercy and the God of justice are one as depicted by the holy book passed on to us from ancient tribals. The movie moved me: if God is just and/or if we are human shouldn’t our government officially apologize for acts of terrorism against Native Americans. If I can personally ask Native Americans to forgive us, I will… I do. Please forgive us for acts of terrorism committed against you. May the Creator not require from us the blood we have taken from you.

I need to watch this again. I need to feel it. I think every “White” American, everyone who references the Bible, every South Dakotan, everyone in the U.S. military, and every governmental official should watch what our people did at Wounded Knee.

I am not worthy to write to or for Kyrgyz, who are genetically close to Native Americans and have suffered like Native Americans. I stand before you and write as a descendant of those who elected a government that, like the Tsars, slaughtered your cousins. I cannot assume my hands are clean. I ask this generation of Kyrgyz to forgive me for what my people have done to your cousins. I humbly write to the nation in obedience to a voice, a call, which I believe came from God.

Restoring Kyrgyz Faith

Often I read a passage that I believe pertains to Kyrgyz. The following is from the prophet Isaiah. I can envision Kyrgyz speaking freedom and beauty to those suffering around the globe.:

The Spirit of the Supreme Lord (Tengir) is on me, because the Lord has picked me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel (Jakyb), he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own honor.
They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities long ago destroyed. They will revive them, though they have been empty for many generations. Foreigners will be your servants. They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards. You will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. You will be fed with the treasures of the nations and will boast in their riches. Instead of shame and dishonor, you will inherit a double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy.
“For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known and honored among the nations. Everyone will realize that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”

I interpret "healing the ancient ruins" to mean the ancient faith, which will be restored to its original state. May the eye of Kyrgyz embrace this high view! Oomin.

Chingis Aitmatov - In Fond Memory of One of my Heroes...

Presented by Risbek
"Chingis Aitmatov and Modernity" Forum
October 25, 2008, Bishkek

Link to Russian Version

Chingis Aitmatov "Hero Writer"Speaking on this topic today is difficult, but I will because Chingis Aitmatov opened the way. He is a writer-hero. Many traits make him a writer-hero. Chingis Aitmatov, like Solzhenitsyn, brilliantly revealed duplicity within the USSR while writing from the inside. He also beautifully introduced the inner world of mountain nomads to me and the outside world. But there is one more heroic deed he accomplished for me and many others – one deed that many people want to forget. Chingis Aitmatov dared to present images from the world’s most quoted and critiqued book – a book forsaken by his own people.

The book Chingis Aitmatov searched is filled with life’s dramas and pains and joy. It has romance, and the world’s most famous love song. The book describes rape, adultery, murder, intrigue and God’s judgment. It describes the rising and falling of khans and their kingdoms; and the destructive hypocrisy of religious leaders, and crashing of world economies like those we see today. This ancient book also shows the nomadic faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with their sacrifices and mazars (holy sites). The holy writings are a collection of Solomon’s wisdom books, the parables of Jesus, the laws of Moses, and the tears of the prophets; all mixed with ancient history and visions of the end times. It is a literary masterpiece which many Kyrgyz are ashamed to read. Fortunately, Chingis Aitmatov stood against social taboos and opened his mind to new perspectives.

In his introduction to Ashim Jakypbek’s book “Tengiri Manas” Chingis Aitmatov openly writes:

… кыргыздар «Өңөр алды кызыл тил» деп макалдатса, Библияга тооп кылгандар ар нерсенин башталышы катарында «А дегенде Сљз болгон» деген түшүнүктү дайма туу тутуп келишет.¹

…the Kyrgyz proverb says “great skill is in the red tongue” – like the Bible’s summarized introduction “In the beginning was the Word;” such phrases lift the banner of understanding.²

Other hero-writers, like Chingis Aitmatov, also dared to lift the banner of understanding. Sagymbai’s version of the Manas Epic mentions a hero-writer – a mullah who definitely was not a “чала” (bad) mullah:

Инжил менен Тоорат

Жазуусун билип төбүрөөк

Ырайдын билип алибин

Окуган экен көбүрөөк.

Азирети Жебирейил

Айтып кабар салыптыр,

Ак байгамбар Мустапа

Айтканынын баарысын

Акылына алыптыр,

Ал сөздүн баарын молдо Осмон

Китеп кылып калыптыр…³

The Gospel and Torah's

Writings he studied well

Irai’s alphabet he knew

And read lots.

The Holy Gabriel

Spoke a message to him,

The white prophet Mustapa

All that was said

To his wisdom he gathered,

Every word Mullah Osmon

Left in the book he wrote…

Like Mullah Osmon from the Manas Epic, Chingis Aitmatov also presented us wisdom which he gleaned from holy sources. In response to his story “Place of the Skull” (“плаха” in Russian; “кыямат” in Kyrgyz), containing his portrayal of Jesus, Chingis Aitmatov wrote that no one but Jesus could fulfill the novel’s purpose. Then he added:

Иисус Христос мага азыркы адамдарга кандайдыр бир ыйык нерсени айтыщ үчүн мүмкүнчүлүк берет…

… the Jesus Christ figure gave me the opportunity to present that sacred topic (sacrifice and extreme suffering) to modern people… ⁴

Chingis Aitmatov was brave enough to mention Jesus within his Muslim context, without changing his religion. Look at this list of hero-writers from this part of the world who projected similar wisdom into their own writings or speeches: Mullah Osmon, Solzhenitsyn, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Alisher Navoi, Chingis Aitmatov, and all the future writer-heroes who are brave enough to stand against the society’s duplicity. The men I mentioned did not change their faith or sell their religions; on the contrary, the expanded their religions and their faith, and brought unity where others seek division. They are the hero-writers.

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Presented at the Diylog Avrazia's "Chingis Aitmatov and Modernity" Forum on Oct. 25, 2008 in memory of Chingis Aitmatovby Risbek in English with Russian translation by Yevgeniy Akimenko.

Risbek, a post-graduate student at Kyrgzstan’s Arabaev University, published five books including his best known Ak Kalpak and Boz Ui.

Notes:

1 Aitmatov, Chingis: introduction to Tengiri Manas by Jakypbek, Ashim (Bishkek “Kyrgyzstan” 1995)

2 Loosely translated by the author.

3 Orozbakov, Sagymbai; edited by the Kyrgyz Republic’s Academy of Sciences: Manas, The Kyrgyz National Heroic Epic (Bishkek, Sham, 2006)

4 Aitmatov, Chingis; Chingis Aitmatov, (Bishkek, Sham, 1999), vol. 4, p. 350. Parentheses added by author.

Kurman Ait

Today is my favorite Muslim holiday. I feel a deep appreciation for the innocent sacrifice; for the spilled blood; and the removal of my dirt.

"One of seven may be the Kydyr" (Jetinin biri Kydyr). May you all get the Kydyr's blessing today. I wish all my Kyrgyz and Muslim friends everywhere a heartfelt "Ait Mairik Bolsun." 

Risbek