Indigenous Wisdom

 I have just signed off from our sixth session of the Resilience and Acceptance course. Last week, I must admit that I struggled with accepting the state of the world right now, accepting the reality that we are already heading for the sixth extinction, and that it is too late to prevent it. It felt so very sad, such a tragedy. This was not just a story, but something all the people living now will experience soon. I thought of my grandchildren, and of young people all over, just starting in their lives and having to tackle the unraveling of culture that has already started. All week I vacillated between being angry and being sad. And I didn't start our homework for tonight's class until this morning. However, it was just what I needed to shift out of that dark mood.

The focus in this week's class was on indigenous wisdom. We saw video clips of many indigenous elders explaining their view of the earth, their guides for living, their long history and traditions, and their ancestors' life experiences of going through previous collapses on the earth. Oral storytelling traditions had kept these happenings and learnings alive through the generations. In our homework, there were many themes that repeated among these different ancient cultures: the importance of listening (both to our fellow humans and to the earth around us); the truth that cultural and environmental collapses have come before and they come because change is needed; urging us to not waste time and energy blaming ourselves or others for what is happening (the growing extinctions of so many animals and plants, the climate disruption, the earth shivering from not being cared for, the way current culture has lost touch with our place in the living world). Instead, rooting ourselves in our own form of "life instructions", we're urged to find what seeds of ability and passion have been instilled in ourselves, perhaps from way back in our childhood or from more recently. We don't have to be good, or productive, or important. We just need to find where we belong in the whole of Nature, and live from that place of meaning and inspiration.

Something we've probably all heard in the past is the reference to indigenous peoples' attention to "seven generations". An important indigenous guideline and belief is that while we are living here,  we need to be mindful of the generations yet to come, and to tailor our decisions to ensure that they will not be negatively affected. I think this concern is particularly alien to most of us westerners. Our culture is incredibly focused on the short term, on what will help me now, on quick fixes and quick growth. This is a way of life that is so much a part of us that it is hard for us even to understand and acknowledge that there might be a safer way, a path that guides us away from future catastrophes. Yet to protect and care for the earth that nurtures us, we must learn to think into the far future, not just our present comfort.

One theme that struck me was that indigenous people have been predicting our current condition for decades. They wrote to the UN about this more than 50 years ago, warning that huge changes needed to be employed immediately or our future would be one of collapse. They have been preparing in their own communities and cultures for this upcoming collapse. Because our predominant culture in the Western world has increasingly lost touch with its relationship with the earth, forgetting that we depend upon the natural world to live, it has been obvious to indigenous people for a long time that we are headed for a great change. They've had time to take this in, to accept it and prepare for it. Hearing different elders talk about the upheaval on our doorstep, I was inspired by their acceptance of this. There were no angry words about the craziness of some of our western ways. There was no blame. There was just an acceptance that this has happened before, the world getting unbalanced and needing to start again. More than one elder emphasized that we cannot prevent this extinction. The trajectory has been in place for centuries. Our role is to let it happen, for this is the beginning of healing and re-balancing. 

Another theme that our class listened to with relief is that people are not bad. Because we are at least partly (if not solely) the cause of this current unraveling of our civilization does not mean we should not be here. We've just gotten off a healthy track, waylaid by unsustainable world views and practices. We are a fallible species, but we are not evil. The earth would not be better off without us. On the contrary, it is a strong theme of indigenous belief and life purpose that we are instead a very important species on earth. Our role is to nurture and take care of the living world. We are special in that way, a keystone species. And until relatively recently in the history of the planet, humans indeed were in touch with the health of the environment around them and worked to nourish and protect it. In order for the planet to heal, future inhabitants would need to root themselves in beliefs and practices that are sustainable. No easy assignment, given our current situation. And because such huge change is needed, much of the current civilization needs to be washed away so that there can be a new beginning.

Once our class members' resistance to allowing the truth of our current precarious state started to diminish, we immediately wanted to know when. Like, next month? Next year? How long do we have? Should I plant a tree? Build a house? But it seems we have left that question behind, at least for now. For one thing, there is no easy answer. I think an elder might say that we just need to let the earth do its business and find paths to being here in positive ways as things begin to fall apart. And perhaps focus on the things we value, the ways we can be useful, and most important, tune into something higher and broader than our usual business-as-usual strategy. Go deep into ourselves, connect with spiritual meaning that continues through disaster. Be a member of the wide diversity of life on earth, and share these upcoming years from our position as a small part in the vast web of life. We are experiencing a big change on our planet, and somehow thinking about it with the perspective of the previous extinctions as well as the belief that in the long run, this change is for the healing of the planet, helps. It feels not quite as much of a disaster. Hard, yes. But perhaps necessary. 

I don't know what next week's class theme will be, but I am now grounded more than I was before, and I am hoping to root myself into being the person I am best equipped to be as the future rolls in.