Tradition

August 5, 2025, 4:02 PM

FROM PAGE 6:

“Although words are indeed powerful, shamanic traditions (including both Native American and ANCIENT EUROPEAN PREDATE THE WRITTEN WORD.”

“Although shamans are imaginative, they recognize that spiritual realms can only be perceived by a QUIET MIND.”

(SEE ENDNOTE #8 ON PAGE 349: COHEN WRITES:

“Another kind of reductionism occurs when some Native American authors elevate their healing traditions beyond the reach of mere non-Indian mortals. They imply that White people do not have the ABILITY or the RIGHT to be involved in Indian spirituality. The curious thing about these polemics is that by making such an incredibly big deal about ‘SECRETS,” THEY ATTRACT MORE ATTENTION TO THEM. Don’t think of a pink elephant for the next three seconds! Talking excessively about secrets reinforces sterotypes of mystical and stoic Indian (Native American). I acknowledge the dangers of appropriation. I do wonder, however, about which strategy is more effective in guarding cultural treasures: warning people again and again of the dangers of trespassing or just being private and discreet. There is a biblical precedent that makes EURO-AMERICANS FACINATED BY FORBIDDEN FRUIT.

Some Native authors recommend that non-Indian scholars be contented with writing descritions of Native American spirituality but should not attempt interpretation. (See Ronald L. Grime’s “This May Be a Feud, but It Is Not a War: An Eletronic, Interdisciplinary Dialogue on Teaching Native Religions.” American Indian Quarterly 20, nos. 3 and r (1996): page 437).

I AM fascinated that a prominent Native American lawyer supports this separation of data from interpretation. I had always thought that a lawyer’s competence was measured by his ability to select facts that can be woven into impressive and convincing fantasies! Is it really preferable to leave interpretation entirely to the readers? In any case, doen’t description always involve translation and interpretation?

Native American healing is also put out of reach by authors who demean or romanticize indigenous people with sterotypes of the ‘primitive brute’ or ‘noble savage.” Psychohistorians portray ANCIENT healing systems as part of humanity’s infancy, a time before the development of a separate ego. Their myth runs something like this: Thirty or forty thousand (30,000 or 40,000) years ago, people believed that they were one with nature. They lived by instinct, without discrimination, ethics, or consciousness of a separate self. With the ADVENT OF AGRICULTURE, approximately ten to fifteen thousand (10,000-15,000) years ago, Homo Sapiens had matured to a level of neurological complexity that allowed them to understand that they were separate from the trees and mountains. They could now lay claim to, own, and defend property, which included serfs, slaves, and women.

The unfortunate result of such an ‘advanced’ belief system was WAR AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION. Now, after further evolution, we realize again that man and nature are interdependent. We can reclaim the wisdom of humanity’s childhood. Native Americans will lead the way. They will show us how to ‘walk in balance.’

There are several things wrong with this philosophy. Primitive people were more thoroughly individuated than modern people. Survival in nature forced them to rely on their own creativity and resources. Anthropologists have shown that the cranial capacity of primitive humans was LARGER than that of modern people, and their decision-makilng processes may have been more complex than our own. Primitive humans considered the effects of their actions on the entire ecosystem on which they depended. The records of post-agricultural civilization clearly demonstrates that modern people have generally only paid attention to the effect of their actions on other people. The ecosystem is only given a clear priority when it is damaged to such a degree that it causes famine, illness, or economic hardship.

Modern people are expert at using the rational parts of the brain to MANIPULATE AND INTERPRET FACTS AND FIGURES. Original peoples developed the whole brain as they learned the lessons of wind, water, sun, and Eart. If you wish to see an example of complex deductive reasoning combined with equally astute sensitivity and intuition, as a modern CREE hunter how he locates his prey. It seems to me that the ‘primitive world’ was one of greater complexity, a complexity that modern people FEAR.

Many books that mention or discuss Native American healing make a tacit ASSUMPTION, that healing knowledge and techniques have progressed from infancy to adulthood. There is no logical reason to make such an assumption. Yet it is important to understand that Native American realize that we cannot turn back the clock; as much as some may wish to go back to the Old Ways, they also accept the reality of the modern world. Education and mastery of technology are as important to today’s Native Americans as they are to any other race.”

see local link: Post and memo of August 5, 2025

August 3, 2025, 7:21 PM

"New Age authors "reject rationality and tradition as vehemently as they believe society rejects intuition and spontaneity."

July 24, 2025, 3:59 PM

FROM PAGE 86:

"A basic rule of traditional (Native American) oratory is never to try to persuade or coerce other people into believing your own truth."

"Speak with strength but without arrogance."

"If your words are true, listeners will accept them. If you try to compel belief, listeners will mistrust your message."

July 24, 2025, 5:30 PM

From page 89:

"Many Native American traditions say that sound is a creative force. When a thing is named, it is being EVOKED."