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the opening scene of Terence Malick’s film, The New World, the camera
pans across fields of grass and deep glades of woods that are both
beautiful and sensual. The grass moves sinuously in the breeze. The
comforting drone of insects becomes a living presence. You want to reach
out and touch the leaves of the trees or roll in the inviting tall
grasses. It is the New World, soon to be America, as the English and
Spanish found it. An unspoiled paradise inhabited by “the naturals,” the
people who had successfully lived in this Eden for thousands of years.
In the film, as the sailing ships bearing the first English settlers of
this land pull into the natural harbor near what will become Jamestown,
you become aware of the awe and fear through which they are viewed by
the native peoples from that region as they stare out at this seemingly
pastoral invasion of their land. Unlike our stereotype, the naturals,
the Paspahegh tribe, are sophisticated in their knowledge of what they
are viewing, and they don’t like it. But because they are naturally
hospitable and caring people, a group is sent to welcome the invaders.
Food is offered. Powhatan, the chief of the local tribe, offers
hospitality through sharing information about the type of crops that the
tribe is growing. And, as a gesture of peace, he sends his favored
daughter, Pocahontas, to live with the newcomers. In turn, the English
send one of the men to live with the tribe. As we all know, things did
not turn out well in the long run!
Shift perspective with the film for a moment back to the growing
settlement named after King James. The first large construction that the
English did at Jamestown was to build a triangular wall around its few
buildings, James Fort. Where did they get the lumber? From all the
surrounding area. As the camera watches along with the incredulous
naturals, you see a large denuded scar grow in the center of paradise.
What were wetlands and virgin forest becomes mud and stumps. Trash and
garbage accumulate inside the walls of James Fort. As you watch the
film, the smell of the area inside the wall and the smell of the
unwashed men themselves becomes almost palpable. Callous, insensitive to
the beauty of nature around them, without relationship of meaning to
nature itself, the white men remain fixated only on their primary task,
to find some way to make their fortunes.
This original group of 108 men was made up primarily of “gentlemen of
leisure,” that is members of the lower rung of the aristocracy that had
no work and no true skills. They were not used to working with their
hands or thinking in terms of survival. They were recruited by what is
called in the history of Jamestown, “the world’s first effective
advertising campaign.” As stated in the book, "there was a kind of
natural selection here of those people who were willing to believe in
advertising." The expedition to found Jamestown, was chartered by King
James to the Virginia Company. This group of entrepreneurs from London
was charged with the responsibility to find gold, find a route to the
Orient, and settle the land. No one aboard the three ships, the Susan B
Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed who landed at Jamestown had any
knowledge, experience, or interest in finding ways of cooperatively
living with the naturals or preserving the beautiful land they had just
begun to “settle.” The western religions, Judaism, Islam, and
Christianity teach, after all, that Man is to have dominion over the
earth. To be exact, in the first chapter of Genesis God is quoted as
saying to his new creation, man, “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over
the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the
earth.” God continues, “you will have dominion over all the earth.” It
is easy to imagine that in the early 1600’s white men from England took
this very seriously. This injunction, this entitlement to subdue and
have dominion over the earth is one of the dark sides of our
civilization. And it exists because we failed to learn a right
relationship with the earth and all its creatures from our indigenous
brothers and sisters who had a connected and living relationship with
Mother Earth and all her creatures for many centuries prior to our
contact with them.
This is the primary difference between the “civilized” people of the
west and the indigenous heathens. In the west we see the earth as a
resource to be dominated and used for our own ends. Indigenous eyes and
hearts see very differently.
Listen to Sobonfu Some of West Africa in her book, The Spirit of
Intimacy. “Maybe the way to start on the path to a healthy life is to
recognize the divine in everything. When we acknowledge that the earth
we walk upon is not just dirt, that the trees and animals are not just
resources for our consumption, then we can begin to accept ourselves as
spirits vibrating in unison with all the other spirits around us. Our
connection to all these living spirits around us helps determine the
kind of life we live.” It is good to bring in the voice of West Africa,
in the context of this story because within a few years of its founding,
20 West African indentured servants arrived at Jamestown on a Dutch
ship. In this time before the institution of slavery was created,
African workers could leave after only 10-20 years of unpaid work.
Another long, sad example of the dark side of white European
“civilization.”
In America, many years after Jamestown returned to dust, the inexorable
movement of Americans to settle the West spoiled Eden forever and led to
the systematic destruction of most of the native tribes in America. One
of the most powerful tribes found on the Great Plains were the Sioux,
actually named the Lakota. Sioux was an insulting name given by French
trappers meaning thief. One of many humiliations visited upon proud
native peoples by Europeans. The Lakota peoples had a vibrant spiritual
life and had been practicing a way of life which deeply respected nature
and the connections between themselves and Mother Earth for millennia.
In their way of seeing, all living things are related. Their word,
mitakuye oyasin, means, literally, we are all related. By that they mean
all living things, i.e. the trees, the grass, the winged ones, those
that swim, the four leggeds, the rocks, as well as the two leggeds. They
are representative of how most indigenous people of which I have
knowledge experience life. There is great respect and living daily
sacred connection to the earth and all its creatures. The Lakota also
use the word waken, literally, spirit stuff, to describe all matter, all
being. It is all waken, made of spirit stuff.
This is the first lesson then, of what we can learn from indigenous
peoples. To experience ourselves, Mother Earth, and all living things
upon her as being relatives, that is being in deep, respectful sacred
relationship with all living things. To see that all the earth and
everything upon it is sacred.
In the Cherokee tradition, called by their own name for themselves, the
Tsalagi people, they can trace their history back for thousands of
years. They became the most dramatic, visible victims of the U.S. policy
of relocation and genocide in the 1800’s. An agrarian culture, learned,
educated, settled in towns in the Southeastern U.S., they were forcibly
moved by an Andrew Jackson led federal government across the country to
Oklahoma over what became known as the “Trail of Tears.” Thousands died.
Their way of life was shattered. Despite the horror of that experience,
however, their culture flourishes today. They flourish because they took
their spiritual experience of the world with them through ritual, ritual
reminding the people of the oral teachings of 27 generations of Tsalagi.
This is the next teaching then, of what we can learn for our own lives
from indigenous peoples. Practice a spiritual way of life which is full
of meaningful ritual. Rituals are the tools which keep the teaching
alive. For the Tsalagi, and the Lakota, and many other North and South
American tribes, the experience of smoking the pipe of peace and
practicing purification ceremonies, the sweat lodge, help to remind all
of the presence of Great Spirit and the relationship to all living
things. Courage, love, hope, and determination are re-kindled.
Another of the sacred rituals that is practiced by many natives in North
America is the sun dance. It is held for four days in which fasting and
dancing take place in a sacred manner. The purpose is to sacrifice so
that the people may live. That is, to give of one self for others. This
principle the Western religions share in common.
The sun dance grounds are created in a circle, a microcosm of the way
many natives see the universe. It is representative of the sacred hoop,
a circle of relationships with all living beings that never ends. In the
center of the sun dance circle is the tree connecting Mother Earth to
Father Sky, the feminine with the masculine. There is little black and
white, linear energy here. Rather it is flowing, open ended, creative
energy at its best. Another lesson.
The practice of the giveaway puzzled early white settlers. They had
little and saw that the natives had less. Yet, on a regular basis, when
there was a death or a birth, a wedding or a special achievement, the
native family at the center of the event would give away much or all of
what they had. Food, buffalo robes, skins, all the treasures that
created status and safety were happily given away to others in a
ritualistic way. Native peoples had never really understood ownership,
of course. Why did the white people believe they owned land? All land is
for all people, given by Great Spirit. As are all other “possessions.”
The giveaway seemed a crazy act to the settlers. Our culture is used to
acquiring and holding, particularly when you had little. Another lesson
to contemplate.
In our culture old people are dispensable. They are frequently shunted
off to nursing homes, forgotten and discounted. Not so in the native
world. The elders are the primary teachers there. The most respected
members of the tribe. They, of course, live with the family, giving
advice or support as asked, which is frequent. On the other end of the
life scale, the children are respected as well. In the Tsalagi culture,
for example, Dyani Ywahoo, a medicine woman and writer says that, “from
an early age the insight of Tsalagi children is recognized and they are
invited into spiritual societies.” To the outsider, the children may
appear “spoiled.” In truth, in the best of circumstances, they are
simply empowered. The next teaching we receive.
Anybody heard the phrase, “Indian time?” From a European point of view,
it means not being on time, to pay little attention to time. From a
native point of view, according to my Lakota friends with whom I have
spoken to about it, it means paying attention to a different dimension
of time. To be present in each moment. To be conscious and present in
the unfoldment of daily life. If you are engaged in rich conversation
with an elder, for example, why would you leave that to make another
appointment until it had reached its natural conclusion? Life measured
from a value system of meaning. Lesson # ?
One of my families’ favorite activities in the past has been to attend
the Denver March Powwow. Held for three days, this regional celebration
of native culture is a happy explosion of song and dance. Dozens of drum
groups circle the arena with their 5 to 10 singers arranged around a
great drum at their center. When a group’s time comes to perform, it is
at full volume and gusto. The dancer’s joyfully twirl and step to
ancient beats. The best of native culture and a way of living life from
which we could learn much. Living with joy.
I don’t want to pretend that there are not dark sides to native cultures
as well as the dazzling light from which many live. Poverty and
alcoholism have destroyed many individuals and tribes. There has been
little defense against the scourges of the modern world. European
illnesses, vices, and religions have taken a vast toll.
But, there is a new energy alive today that is turning back the clock to
the time before “civilization” swept over them. In many tribes around
the world, what is old is new. That is, many are returning to their
roots, teaching the old ways to the young people again. The spiritual
rituals have been re-born. Ancient languages are being revived. Sun
dances once again pepper the hot plains of South Dakota every summer.
Many of the dancers are young. Hope and optimism have returned. My
friends, Dwayne Hollow Horn Bear and Albert White Hat, are chiefs in
their Lakota tradition. They are respected as elders and leaders. But
their greater task, to them, is their role as teachers at Sinte Gleska
University in Mission, SD on the Rosebud Reservation. Their role there
is to teach their own ancient language and spiritual practices to young
people who do not know them. They are flourishing.
Let us return to Jamestown. Remember the hopeful time I noted, early in
the settlement process, when Pocahontas came to live with the settlers
and one of the men went to live in the village. That spirit of
cooperation and potential assimilation didn’t last long. Despite efforts
on both sides, aggressive behavior on both sides led to a few killings.
Pocahontas married John Rolfe and left for England. She died on the
return voyage. Powhatan became impatient with the growing numbers of
settlers and wider destruction of the forests. Finally, war broke out.
In the first surprise attack, over 300 of the settlers were killed, John
Smith, evidently, among them. The die was cast. The Pilgrims, landing at
Plymouth a few years later, were very suspicious of the Wampanoag
people, native to Cape Cod and Southeastern Massachusetts, because of
the experience at Jamestown. Therefore, the generous acts of kindness
which the gentle Wampanoags practiced did not open the hearts of the
Pilgrims. They too, would eventually be at war.
It could probably not be helped, at any rate. We came to take, not give.
The natives had to defend their way of life from extinction. Conflict
was inevitable.
Was it inevitable, however, for the Europeans to cast themselves and
their religion as superior to that of the “heathens?”, thus sealing off
the possibilities of our learning the wisdom of a way of life we now so
desperately need? Maybe it’s not too late. Frank Fools Crow, the Lakota
medicine man who was given Black Elk’s medicine bundle upon the death of
that great man, opened the sun dance started on his land on Pine Ridge
Reservation to all who wished to participate in the 1980’s because he
believed it was a core ritual of a way of life that had the potential to
save the world. In particular, he believed that his native ways could
bring healing to a fractured world if they were practiced.
Remember the quote attributed to Chief Seattle?
“Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is
our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of
the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.
This we know. The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth.
This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one
family. All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.
We did not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”
During this week in which the international report on global warming was
released that clearly illustrates how humans are harming Mother Earth,
the message could not be clearer.
It is up to us to open our hearts and our minds NOW to let in what the
native world has to teach, then act upon it. It could make the
difference in whether we humans survive on Mother Earth far into the
future, or not.
Aho. Mitakuye oyasin. Amen.
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