Investment in IP

Source: Bear Heart "The Wind Is My Mother"
BERKLEY BOOKS, New York; The life and teachings of a Native American shaman.
Author Molly Larkin and Bear Heart, 1998

Nowadays, many people consider Bear Heart to be the great old sage of Native American seers and healers of the present day. He has provided comfort to many people in their times of need.

In this vast world we live in he has helped many a disbeliever to regain their confidence and find their meaning and direction in life.

In his book he recounts his life and lets the reader share in the age-old knowledge of his Native American forefathers. He describes how he became a shaman in this time of scrutiny and how he benefited from the age-old wisdom passed down to him in the modern world. Influenced by Christian and Native American tradition, this is a book full of serenity and deep inner piece, a book of values, enriched by an insight into primordial nature and Creation.

Bear Heart's guiding principle: "stay on the path to goodliness, then your life will be a fulfilled one."

A book of wisdom that you'll would want to read again.

Bear Heart, was born in Oklahoma in 1918 and passed away in 2008. He belonged to the Native American Creek or Muskogee tribe. After studying psychology and fourteen years of shamanic training as a medicine man, he worked as a healer and shaman. He appeared on many television and radio programs in the USA and was a consultant for the Memorial Psychiatric Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bear Heart was awarded an honorary degree in humanities by St. John's University in Louisiana. He spent the latter part of his life in Albuquerque.

That is the background and we have selected an extract from this book applicable to Investment in IP and in particular our work as patent attorneys.

Excerpt from page 90
(...) It doesn't look like much when you give a pouch of tobacco to a medicine person, but it does a lot of things. First, it serves as a permission to appeal to the medicine ways. Even if the medicine way I perform takes only a few minutes, how long did it take me to be able to do that in a few minutes? And what sacrifices were made on my part in order to learn it and earn the right to use it?

So the tobacco first is permission, but it's also my protection, because I'm dealing with a Great Power in healing work. (...)

(...) And then, after that, in the tradition of my tribe, a donation of some kind is made. We never used to call this payment, we called it "exchange for medicine ways." The term in our language is helis a gaga, "goes with medicine." Medicine by itself may not work unless the patient or his family gives something in exchange for the medicine and what it took for the medicine person to acquire that knowledge.

My teachers told me that if someone gives you something in exchange, all right. If not, these medicine ways are alive and whether the person puts tobacco in your hand or not, you try your best. Maybe some just don't have it, but they might bless you later on.

You see, in the way of my people, it's hard for us to say thank you with nothing in our hands. We always want to give something in appreciation. In my case, I rely on donations because I don't charge money.

My own people know the different types of medicines and what should be given, sometimes they would give a hog, several chickens, or some piece goods along with a ham. (...) That was considered a fair exchange it wasn't thought as payment because medicine people never set fees. (...) By not giving something in exchange, a patient clearly disregards what it took for the medicine person to attain the knowledge that helped him. If I didn't know much, it would take me longer to explain it, but if I know right away, it doesn't take long to explain it. I see this happen lots of times – "He just spent a little time" because this society is time oriented and people get paid by the hour. They don't know sacrifices the medicine person had to go through, what a long time it took to get that knowledge in the first place. If they had to go to a health professional, it would probably be $75 on up for one visit. Thirty minutes' time, you pay the full price anyway. Maybe they got more help from a medicine person than a health professional would have given them, but when it comes time to donate something, there's a big hang-up. (...)

Patent attorneys have also acquired knowledge through many years of training and are able to provide those seeking help - who describe their legal situation in terms of patents, trademarks and designs - with a first "appraisal of the situation" in few moments. Don't mistake speed with simplicity. This appraisal is given on the basis of many years ("ad hoc") of experience and knowlege and the work is comparable to that of a doctor or medicine man, even though the patent attorneys are dealing with technical matters rather than your health.

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