First in a series
Introduction
Under a global paradigm of neo-liberalism, with its emphasis on “free enterprise,” consumerism and a “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” approach to community, social/ecological justice, and the public good, our world is suffering. Humankind is at war with nature and itself, poisoning everything with the neo-liberal rationale for greed. We need an antidote before it is too late. I suggest that Indigenous wisdom, as understood in the Lakota word for “peace within and without,” wolokokiapia, offers such a cure.
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Four Arrows, with his daughter, Jessica Jacobs, co-founder of the charter school Innovatory School for Professional Youth, at a wedding ceremony he performed
Wolokokiapia, let’s refer to it generally as “Indigenous wisdom,” is ultimately about a sacred realization that all is interconnected. Through the denial of the Western ego of its relationship with Nature, the natural world has been objectified so it might be controlled and subsequently exploited for economic gain or glory. Indigenous means being so completely identified with place that you reflect its soul. Maybe it is not possible for a population that is so separated from place and Nature to ever replicate the Indigenous sense of place and the importance of being in harmony with it. But I propose that it is our only chance for survival, health and happiness.
Merging Two (Identical?) Forces
In the eyes of Tribal people, Nature and spirit are essentially the same. This is why Indigenous tracking is so intimately involved in coming to the source of spirit. I would love to see an MRI scan of a traditional, trained tracker’s brain while he was tracking an animal. In the process of tracking, actions and relationships are reflected in the patterns that recur in all of Nature. Tracking connects people to their own spirits, the spirits of the land, the animals, plants and other entities.
Indian Peoples see the animals as teachers of such virtues as patience, courage, fortitude, humility and honesty. When hunters came into direct contact with the life and death of fellow creatures, right relationships were a matter of survival. All teaching based on hunting was predicated on the principle of abiding respect and relationship with the animals hunted. Individuals learned that we have within us an animal spirit and understanding that spirit was and is an important lesson in self-knowledge. “The concepts of sharing, connecting, and relating one’s life to animals formed a basic premise of Indigenous education. Of course, the animal world was not the only focus of reverence. Plants, stars and the celestial bodies of the cosmos provided an equal opportunity for establishing and understanding our place in the world (Cajete, 2010, page 92).”
The CAT-FAWN Connection
If Indigenous wisdom, accessible to all from the teachings of those who still live against all odds according to its precepts, and an inherent part of all of our cultural backgrounds, is a “solution” for our ecological calamity, how exactly might we proceed toward transformational learning? An important option is to stop ignoring the Indigenous perspective and learn more facts from Indigenous writings. Another is a specific process of self-reflection that came to me in a vision after a near-death experience in Mexico’s Copper Canyon, where I nearly drowned during an attempt to be the first person to successfully kayak the Rio Urique. In my book, “Primal Awareness: A True Story of Survival, Awakening and Transformation with the Raramuri Shamans of Mexico,” I describe in detail what I refer to as the “CAT-FAWN Connection, but here I will briefly explain how it works (Jacobs, 1998).
CAT-FAWN is a mnemonic for helping to remember that transformational learning is ultimately connected to a processing of information that, referring back to neuroscience, represents collaboration between right- and left-brain hemispheres. This means that different brain wave lengths known to be involved during predominantly right-brained hypnotic states of consciousness interact with brain activity relating to left-brain cognitive reasoning. CAT describes this process as “Concentration Activated Transformation,” i.e., transformative learning that stems from a balanced integration of both hypnotically acquired ideas and rationally considered ones. Thus, any ecological literacy program that does not find ways to incorporate some sort of trance phenomenon will not be effective. Indigenous Peoples have understood this phenomenon of learning without the need for functional MRI machines. Their stories, use of images and art, experiences in Nature, ceremonies and rites of passage are intentionally used to help direct deep learning. Such activities would thus be important for environmental education if we want to reprogram the hypnosis of Western hegemony. Hegemony, with all its sources in media, folklore and education, works because of its repetitive influence during spontaneous states of trance we all experience regularly, but especially during times of stress or fear.
The second part of the mnemonic describes four major forces that play upon these spontaneous states of hypnosis. They include Fear, as mentioned, Authority, Words and Nature. Depending on whether a dominant Western cultural worldview informs how we think about these four forces or whether an Indigenous perspective does, determines whether transformative learning in a positive direction occurs.
For example, Western culture teaches us that we should avoid fear. When it comes, make it go away as quickly as possible. We do not realize that when we are afraid we become hyper suggestible to the signals or words of a perceived, trusted authority figure. We allow others to hypnotize us into believing things that are not true and that are not useful or healthful. Indigenous wisdom, however, understands this particular power of fear and intentionally employs it for positive learning opportunities. We see fear as a catalyst for deeply learning, for example, a virtue. If we are trying to become more generous, or more courageous, or more patient, and a fearful situation occurs, once we use the emotion to do our best to assure personality safety, if the situation persists, we embrace it as a gift. “Grandmother Bear, I cannot believe I did not realize this was your territory in which I was seeking berries. I see I have no escape from you, so I will take this opportunity to practice my generosity. Look, if you need my flesh more than I want these berries, I offer both to you.” Of course, the bear then moves on. You get the idea, though it is probably a very foreign one to you if you are a typical Western reader.
(To be continued)
Four Arrows, aka Don Trent Jacobs, Ph.D., Ed.D., is a Cherokee/Irish author of 21 books and a professor at Fielding Graduate University's College of Educational Leadership and Change. A former Marine Corps officer, he is co-founder of Northern Arizona's Veterans for Peace and recipient of the 2004 Moral Courage Award (Martin Springer Institute for Holocaust Studies). He lives in a small Mexican fishing village. Four Arrows may be contacted at djacobs@fielding.edu
