Sioux leader Red Tomahawk on western science: "The knowledge and use of any or all the powers of the objects on Earth around us is as liable to lead a man wrong as to lead him right. It is merely power, with no way of knowing how to use it correctly … unless Woniya [Spirit] is with a man's spirit for the light."
The ancient native world diagnosed 'ego' as a mental illness and it is safe to say the ancient native mentality was an ethical 'persona' as opposed to a modern western ego based personality. To tell a lie was a concept that could not be grasped in the western sense. Compare this to the modern people who often do not even realize when they are lying to someone or being lied to, or most frightening, are not aware of when they might be lying to themselves, in a culture based on the self deceit of ego [individual self image]
We can throw all the self deceit of ego’s love in western psychology at evil [in a morals based system] and get nowhere without ethics
Ethics is the avenue to a real or tangible love, ethical relationships with our surroundings in nature [precluding greed], and applied ethics with our fellow man and our neighbors is the only avenue to peace.
Heads in the sand allow western social stupidities to go on and is why we are sinking as a society, generating the 'terror' we are subjected to whether the terror of radicalized people resulting from policy of sustained economic development or the state terror of the policy enforcement mechanisms such as ‘renditions’ [chicken or egg, which came first?]
The new age quantum mechanics ‘love and light’ crowd who think we can love our way into a new reality (never gonna happen) with a simple change in our heads are deluded. In fact all the love and light people on the planet are just accountable as Dick Cheney [and in a way just as self deceived and spiritually ugly] for our doom in a sense of string theory [karma] when they don't put their lives on the line for our future in a sense of ethics or busting their butts in some way to make the stupid stuff stop from this end-
When the western people figure out anthro-centric [western science which is a religion in its own right, or the capital 'I' in English, examples given] is by far the greater self-deceit than any native anthropomorphism, we might get on track and begin to understand 'stupid is as stupid does' in the big picture
Our plundering other societies is just now 'a case of the chickens coming home to roost' that every man woman and child in the USA is being held 'accountable' [never mind 'responsibility', they ARE different words and might as well be differnt worlds] in a native sense of string theory, if you have enjoyed the elevated wealth tied to the plunder, you are accountable to the consequence, personal responsibility notwithstanding. You pump gas? String theory in quantum mechanics has you in its grip, and there is no escape except to make personal sacrifice towards us all working together untying from that particular web ruled by string theory's rule as postulated by Jesus: ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’
It is as simple as a medicine man or Jesus saying “You must be like children in your understanding” which does not serve the purpose of any scientist, or any Thomas Aquinus or St Augustine who were ethical midgets by comparison to the truly simple and humble people known as ‘primitives’ in anthropology
Female intelligence particularly, psychological androgyny generally, and integrated spiritual concept [related to the preceding] -all relate to original ethical concept in Native American thought and philosophy which has been both: metaphorically and literally destroyed [in translation] by western civilization's science and education which are social-morals based in monotheism [something the ancient native culture is not]
In the 1920s it was noted by scientists the native languages easily described processes in the new quantum mechanics, something western languages were struggling with. Native American languages have many hundreds of gender which are actually varying degrees of androgyny, a reality inconceivable to nearly all western thinkers with their he, she and gender neutral in the paternal hierarchal order whose reality is shaped by language of ‘I’ and trapped in its western mentality as postulated by Benjamin Whorf [Chomsky had it wrong]
The ancient native mentality is perfectly suited to know the phenomena of quantum mechanics with its language foundation in observing processes in nature. Native 'spiritual' concept is a mistranslation of a high ethics [not morals] system, free of fear, guilt or shame- all based on principled ethical relationships with our natural surroundings. It is not at all about right and wrong, rather it is about what works and what does not work. It really is as simple as that, what works as opposed to what does not work is the Native ethics in a nutshell, versus the fear, guilt and shame motivated western morality with its false forgiveness excusing accountability which has not, does not and never will make the necessary corrections for survival
Quantum mechanics does not care about the individual by its very nature. Native America has attempted to tell the western world this most simple of seminal facts for 500 years: “It’s all related” -a thing simple and beautiful persons like Pat Kennedy or Chief Joseph or Heavy Runner or Tecumseh did not know how to explain to complicated, unhappy and self centered people, i.e. ‘whitemen’
Yet these ‘primitives’ are the people who produced brilliant tacticians like Joseph and medicine men like Wolf Robe, men who performed miracles equal to some of those ascribed to Jesus, with native ethics based training in quantum theory demonstrating intelligence in a manner any lab or particle smasher will never come close to replicating. People who would not harm a stem of a single blade of grass if it could be avoided, let alone smash atoms, people who look at the technology induced malignancy of today's planet and see the source of that malignancy in the western mentality of 'I'
Chippewa leader Rising Sun on western science: "The 'scientific view' is inadequate to explain … how man is to find and know a road along which he wishes and chooses to make this said progress unless Manitoo by his spirit guides the mind of man, keeping human beings just and generous and hospitable."
Rising Sun, speaking as an elderly man in 1918, WAS NOT speaking solely or even primarily of human relationships with fellow humans, and as a western ‘I’ thinker, that would not have even occurred to you, were one to be perfectly honest with oneself
Calling another people "primitive" falsely elevates the former without doing anything whatsoever to warrant this elevation. It's the same with the term "underdeveloped" countries. The unspoken implication is that we're an "overdeveloped" country, which is likely true. These terms are basically condescending put-downs spoken exactly for the purpose of self-elevation of the speaker. It has nothing to do with truth or perception of truth. It is merely an unjustified claim of “I am superior to you.”
ReplyDeleteLearning from and understanding another culture works best on a level ground. “I am just as good as you” would foster this learning and understanding much better than “I am better than you” ever would. Eventually the “I” would turn into “we” and then, “us.” This is the beginning of the “yellow brick road” to understanding the interconnectedness of EVERYTHING.
Thanks for the thought-provoking ideas, penucquem! Thought-provoking implies “thought-supressing,” doesn’t it? Western news coverage does a good job of that! :-)