by: Steven Newcomb / Indigenous Law Institute
March 28, 2008

When a gifted Native storyteller recounts a story, those listening are being invited to enter a world. Together, storyteller and audience are transported by way of the human imagination to an experiential realm, a mutually shared reality. The storyteller invites us to imagine the world in a particular way, and by doing so, that world becomes real to us within the energy field of our shared imagination. Our respective indigenous cultures are, to a great extent, woven from the many intricate strands of our traditional stories, extending back to the beginning of time.

Our traditional indigenous knowledge is grounded in the way we orally recount the stories of our peoples throughout innumerable and multifaceted life experiences. These stories are constitutive of and structure our existence as nations and peoples. They tell of how life came to be and how we are to conduct ourselves as we interact with the physical and social world. We are to interact on the basis of spiritual and natural laws, with profound respect for the energetic basis and biological fabric of life.

From the perspective of cognitive theory (the study of the human mind), what we call ”laws” are understood metaphorically in terms of ”paths.” Thus, the spiritual and natural laws are the paths we are to follow in our conduct and behavior as we interact with the social and physical world, in keeping with the original instructions.

Storytelling and the intergenerational knowledge of indigenous peoples was prominent at the recent ”Convening of Indigenous Peoples for the Healing of Mother Earth” that took place in Palenque, Mexico, March 10 - 14. Indigenous elders, leaders and representatives at the convening made one message abundantly clear: The stories of our respective indigenous nations and peoples contain vitally important knowledge and wisdom very much needed by the planet in this era of ecological deterioration, breakdown and decline.

A vitally important dimension of our stories forms a paradigm of indigenous scientific understanding. It was not until quite recently that the category ‘’science” was even associated with indigenous knowledge. For centuries, Western European biases against Native peoples resulted in our knowledge systems being classified within the Euro-centric conceptual system as ”primitive” and ”uncivilized.” The Spanish invaders, for example, called themselves ”gente de razon” (”people of reason”), which meant that Indian people were, from the Spanish Catholic perspective, ”people without reason.”

As people of European ancestry have gradually awakened to the profound nature of indigenous knowledge, accumulated over many millennia, only recently has the realization dawned on some of them that the scientific knowledge of indigenous cultures holds information of tremendous importance for the planet. However, the bias and arrogance of the Western worldview results in many people continuing to be oblivious to the importance of indigenous knowledge about the Four Sacred Elements of Life: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. (The Western Shoshone refer to the Natural L.A.W.S., an acronym for Land, Air, Water and Sun.)

Of these elements, water was the one that came most prominently into focus during the convention. The Mayan word for water is ”ha,” and the pyramids at Palenque are at a place known as ”the Place of Water.” (A young Mayan guide showed us a stream where, he said, ”three nations of water” come together.) Interestingly, the Kumeyaaay word for water is also ”ha,” and the Kumeyaay word for Creator is ”Maay Ha,” or ”High Water.”

Upon reflection, one meaning of the Kumeyaay term Maay Ha may be predicated on the observation that the accumulation of precipitation or moisture in the heavens above results in rain, without which nothing can grow. Without water and rain, we wouldn’t have this beautiful Earth. It would have a landscape more like Mars.

When abused and not respected, the Four Sacred Elements of Life become Four Deadly Elements, deadly at the cellular and molecular level. Take water, for example. Western Shoshone spiritual leader Corbin Harney once said that the spirit of water spoke to him: ”There will come a time when it will look like water, it will taste like water, but it won’t be water. It will kill you.” According to Corbin, water always said to the people: ”I will take care of you if you take care of me.” Today, think of all the toxic contaminants in the waters that are considered ”fresh water” (a category that includes only some 3 percent of all the water on the planet).

With regard to ocean water, the degree of toxicity is staggering. It is estimated that in some areas of the Pacific there are as much as 6 pounds of plastic for every 1 pound of plankton. This plastic, a by-product of oil, is disintegrating, but because it is inorganic it does not completely decompose. It breaks into tiny little pieces that are ingested by fish and other ocean creatures. A recent article in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper said that there is a gigantic area of trash in the Pacific twice the size of the United States. In some areas, the trash extends down in the water 25 to 200 feet deep.

Mother Earth is definitely in crisis and indigenous knowledge of ecosystems points the way to the paradigm shift and change in lifestyle that is needed at this time, a paradigm shift of healing and revitalization for all living things.

Steven Newcomb, Shawnee/Lenape, is the indigenous law research coordinator at the Sycuan Education Department of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, co-founder and co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute, and a columnist for Indian Country Today. He is author of ”Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery” (Fulcrum Publishing, 2008).

© 1998 - 2008 Indian Country Today.

Posted on March 28th, 2008 by hunwut
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