Extract from
Daily Reflections Inspired
by the Native Peoples of the World
By Anne Wilson Schaef
Our concern is about losing fishing rights. Everywhere I fish is a sanctuary to me-always been and always will be.
-Kuhio Chandler, Hawaiian Kupuna.
Sanctuary! Everywhere I fish is a sanctuary to me-always been and always will be.
How difficult it is for Western minds to grok the meaning of sanctuary. We have tended to believe that a sanctuary is something created by the hands of human beings. It is much more difficult for us to accept the knowing of those things given to us freely by whatever we call God are the true sanctuaries.
When we live as if this planet and everything in and on it is a natural sanctuary, including ourselves, we walk differently upon this earth.
I am always on sacred ground. I must move with reverence through all Creation.
Think
About It
by
Skeet
The thing that strikes me
about the native peoples of this world is their innate calmness. Generally
speaking, they are, accepting of their place in nature. Deeply respectful of
the Creator, which equates better with mother nature than Jesus Christ, but
that's another story for the "emotional blackmail" section, and have an awful
time trying to understand the way a White Mind works, so distant are the basic
urges and instincts of the White Mind from those they have answered to for thousands of years.
Imagine someone whose
ancestors have occupied a particular place in the world for thousands of years.
Such ancestors never needed or sought ownership of the land, water, minerals or
money. Such ancestors who truly understood that they lived within nature and
had no grounds or need for ownership or title. Such ancestors who maintained
the delicate balance between species, spirit and Creator for millennium after
millennium. Such ancestors who educated their future as to the balance and
their true place in nature and their true relationship with land, water and
spirit.
Imagine this individual's
total lack of understanding of the white invasion and the subsequent slaughter
of the land and the peoples. How could this individual grasp the concept of
title, ownership and a sanctuary created by the hands of this white mind? He
had no need for money. His family had no need for money. They were all as
content as the richest white man will never ever be. It would not be a stretch
of the imagination to think this individual could see the white mind as a
different species to themselves all together.
Most white invasions went
along similar paths. Violent occupation by the white settlers, stubborn
resistance from the natives, truces written on bloodied morally extinct paper,
attempted genocide, a facade of assimilation, a poisoning of the blood and
spirit, a business built around the white mind's guilty conscience and greed.
All of the principles the
white mind employed here are so diametrically opposed to that which these
people seen as true for many thousands of years. Their responses so moved
through fear, retaliation, retribution and now towards pity for the white mind.
They tried for years to share their knowledge of the world but fell on deaf,
all-knowing ears. They now see the results of the white minds march across this
planet, and in some of what I have read, seem resigned to the fact that the
white mind has past the point of no return. That the earth their ancestors
taught was indeed part of them in a spiritual, moral and indeed practical
sense, was being raped, murdered and desecrated so deeply that indeed a part of
them was being raped, murdered and
desecrated.
Not only have they lost
their place in the world they have lost part of what makes them who they are.
And still they have faith in the fact that no matter how far man strays from
the path laid out eons ago by the creator, there is always a way back to the
true meaning of life. Not why are we here? Not where did we come from? Not
where are we going? To answer any of these questions, one must know and truly
understand where one isand be content
with this knowledge, not fight against that which is unbeatable.
The white mind has to
learn that no matter how much smarter it thinks it is than the birds and the
bees, that indeed how smart or how dumb any piece of the great creation is, is
relevant to it's ability to communicate, co-exist and form lasting
relationships of mutual worth with all that is in this world.
So there is something to
think about. As white minds write title deeds, collect land taxes and argue
about who owns what, where and when. Think about how you as an individual
communicate, co-exist and relate to everything in your world. Think about how
long your tribe has been hunting these parts or fishing these waters or tilling
this land. Think about what this land and water is telling you. Think about how
it feels and what it needs to feel nurtured.
Please sign all petitions
you can in regard to the provision of sanctuaries and reserves. Protest and
sing for the causes of native peoples and Mother Nature. We wont change the
white mind overnight, so in the mean time work as closely as you can with it.
Work within its boundaries of ownership and title. Try to understand it and
communicate with it. We can all be ambassadors for Mother Nature, help mend her
wounds and her broken heart.
But the most important
thing we can do is to think with our own minds. Think for and within ourselves.
Think of our own experiences and failings. Think of our own nature and the
nature we live in and alongside. Think about the stories you would like your
great great great great grandchildren to tell about you and your effect on
their Mother Nature.
Just think
Skeet