Sacred texts are among the aspects of indigenous spiritual
ecology which evidence the tendencies among many if not
most indigenes to think, feel, and live in unity with
nature as the sacred. Such indigenes have an especially
intimate, profound, and sensitive relationship with nature,
including in their ideas, actions, and consequences. They
emphasize kinship, interdependence, and reciprocity with
nature as well as care, respect, and reverence for nature.
Thus spiritual ecology for such indigenes is more likely
to involve worship in nature rather than in human buildings
apart from nature. All beings and things are seen as a
sacred community and are involved in communication spiritually.
Spirituality and nature coincide. At the very least, the
sacred is manifest in and through nature in special sacred
places. Accordingly nature is humanized and personified,
while humans are naturalized and spiritualized. The following
is a small sample of sacred texts that exemplifies such
tendencies in the spiritual ecology of many indigenes.
Please check this section in the future for classic
resources accessible in print media formats.
Gregory Cajete, Look to the Mountains
American Indians believe it is the breath that represents
the most tangible expression of the spirit in all
living things. Language is an expression of the spirit
because it contains the power to move people and to
express human thought and feeling. It is also the
breath, along with water and thought, that connects
all living things in direct relationship. The interrelationship
of water, thought (wind), and breath personifies the
elemental relationship emanating from “that place
that the Indians talk about,” that place of the
Center where all things are created.1
Martin Louie/Snpakchiin, Kettle Falls Okanagon/Salish
elder
[I]t’s not only the Indians that sing
the song at the Winter Dance. It’s all over the
world. All nations, they all have a song. That’s
what my people say. When you’re a baby the first
thing you do is learn to hum, to make a little noise.
That’s what they call a song. Each nation in
their own language in their own way have a song. Clear
’round the world [the centering tree]
in all the four directions . . . don’t matter
what nation it is. The world has a song. The rivers,
the creeks, the winds, the trees, everything has a
whispering sound.2
Wub-e-ke-niew People, Wub-e-ke-niew We Have
the Right to Exist
There are two very different religious philosophies
on this Continent. One is the aggregate of the centralized,
hierarchical world religions and the other rigid schools
of thought, including Indian religion. The other is
the philosophy and world-view of the Ahnishinahbaeót
jibway and other Aboriginal Indigenous people.
The Ahnishinahbaeót jibway Midé
is a way of living in harmony and community; a facilitation
of each person’s Sovereign relationship with
Grandmother Earth, with Grandfather Midé, with
the Circle of Life which encompasses us, and with
the Great Mysteries of the Universe. The Midé
is experienced, it is directly connected to Grandmother
Earth; they are married. This is where we come from.3
Douglas Cardinal, vision quest narrative of a contemporary
Canadian architect whose design for the Museum of the
American Indian will occupy the last public space on
the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Cardinal opens
his 1989 interview saying:
So I said, “I’m ready to go. I feel at
peace with myself.” He said, “It doesn’t
matter whether you’re ready or not, you’re
coming anyway. You’re still arrogant you know.”
“Yeah, I know, I’m a human being,”
I said. So I finally went. It seemed like I was a
part of everything, and I felt very, very powerful.
I just wasn’t there.
The elder came out in the morning and he untied the
lodge. He tried to help me come back with sweetgrass
and whatever. I could hear him in the distance, “Come
back.” He was pulling me back. I thought, “I
don’t want to go back. There’s no way I’m
coming back. Why would I want to go back? I’m
already on the other side and if I come back as a
human being, I’m going to have to go through
death again. Why should I come back? Then I’d
be confined and limited and I would screw up and do
all the stupid human being things. I’d be out-of-tune
with myself and I’d have to go through all this
pain and remorse and suffering. I’m already over
here and why do I have to do all that again. Besides,
I’m free.” The elder said, “You have
to come back, just to see this day. You’ve never
seen a day like today. There’s dew on the grass,
and sun shining on the dew and this golden hue is
all over everything. The clouds are all red. The sun
is brilliant and the sky is blue. It’s the most
beautiful day. You have to come back and see this
beautiful day. It’s wonderful to be alive and
walk on this earth.”
I thought, “It is wonderful to experience life.”
I said to that being, whatever it was, “Can I
go back for a minute and see that day?” He said,
“Well, you’re a free spirit, you make your
choice.” I said, “I’ll just check in
for a minute and come right back.” I came back
in my body and opened my eyes and saw that day. It
was a beautiful, fantastic day. I never had seen a
day like that. I’d never really looked. The elder
said, “See what a beautiful day it is and how
wonderful it is to be alive?” I said, “Yes,
it’s just beautiful.”
He said, “Are you afraid of death?” I said,
“No. I’m just afraid I ain’t gonna
live right.” He said, “Then you’re
a fearless warrior.”4
[1]
Gregory Cajete. Look to the Mountains: An Ecology
of Indigenous Education (Asheville, N.C.: Kivaki
Press, 1994) 42.
Return to text
[2]
Martin Louie/Snpakchiin (Kettle Falls Okanagon/Salish
elder). Quoted in John Grim, “Cosmogony and the
Winter Dance,” Journal of Religious Ethics
20 (Fall 1992) 401.
Return to text
[3]
Wub-e-ke-niew. We Have The Right To Exist: A Translation
of Aboriginal Indigenous Thought (New York: Black
Thistle Press, 1995) 198–99.
Return to text
[4]
Douglas Cardinal quoted in Dennis H. McPherson and J.
Douglas Rabb. Indian From the Inside: A Study in
Ethno-Metaphysics. Occasional Paper No. 14 (Thunder
Bay, Ontario: Centre for Northern Studies, Lakehead
University, 1993) 73.
Return to text
Permission to reprint the above materials has been given
by the following publishers.
Contemporary Resources
Gregory Cajete. Look to the Mountains: An Ecology
of Indigenous Education (Asheville, N.C.: Kivaki
Press, 1994). Excerpt from Look to the Mountains
by Gregory Cajete Copyright © 1994 Gregory A. Cajete
by Kivaki Press is reprinted with the permission of
Kivaki Press. All rights reserved.
Martin Louie/Snpakchiin (Kettle Falls Okanagon/Salish
elder). Quoted in John Grim, “Cosmogony and the
Winter Dance,” Journal of Religious Ethics
20 (Fall 1992). Martin Louie’s quotation, printed
in Grim’s article “Cosmogony and the Winter
Dance” published in the Journal of Religious
Ethics Copyright © 1992 by Religious Ethics,
Inc. is reprinted with the written permission of Blackwell
Publishers and with the oral permission of Martin Louie.
All rights reserved.
Wub-e-ke-niew. We Have The Right To Exist: A Translation
of Aboriginal Indigenous Thought (New York: Black
Thistle Press, 1995). Excerpt from Wub-e-ke-niew
Copyright © 1995 by Wub-e-ke-niew is reprinted
with the permission of Black Thistle Press. All rights
reserved.
Douglas Cardinal quoted in Dennis H. McPherson and
J. Douglas Rabb. Indian From the Inside: A Study
in Ethno-Metaphysics. Occasional Paper No. 14 (Thunder
Bay, Ontario: Centre for Northern Studies, Lakehead
University, 1993). Exerpt from Indian From the Inside
Copyright © 1993 by Centre for Northern Studies
at Lakehead University is reprinted with the permission
of the Centre for Northern Studies, Lakehead University.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2001 Forum
on Religion and Ecology.
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