Learn something new for Native American Heritage Month - November 2013
Children as Sacred Beings - By Robert Atkinson and Patricia Locke
"Father, Great Spirit, behold this child! Your ways shall he see!" Lakota (Sioux) prayer
* My Note: In our secular society today, the concept of ‘sacred’ as used in this document can also be interpreted as personal ‘spirituality’ and not necessarily as ‘religious’ or church-related. In some areas, concepts can [easily] & must be adapted to fit today’s concepts & values, but much of this viewpoint continues to be universal concepts & beliefs held by millions of people.
When children are given support and encouragement in their interests, endeavors, and dreams, they will flourish. They will retain their natural optimism and hope. What could best facilitate this is a collective call to spirit, built upon a code of ethics we can respect and live by, and fostered by a moral education that will guide and inspire its members toward a vision of greatness and a life that matters. To this end, we offer a look at three powerful underlying principles in the Lakota world view that might serve as a basic frame of reference for parents, educators, and helping professionals everywhere. These principles provide a way of seeing life and seeing children that could dramatically influence the way we relate to children [and]
The word for child in the Lakota language is wakan yeja. This translates into English as sacred being. This is not just a different way of perceiving children than most of us are used to. This is a belief central to the ancient Lakota world view in which all things in the created world are sacred, the two-leggeds, the four-leggeds, the winged creatures, the crawling ones, the finned ones, and the rooted ones. Recognizing children as sacred beings, and treating them as such, is one of three underlying principles in the Lakota belief system that we will explore here as a basis for understanding and creating racial harmony.
In the Lakota tradition, as with other American Indian traditions, there is no clear division between the sacred and the secular. All life is sacred. Human beings are essentially sacred beings. As a sacred being in a sacred creation in which every other created thing is sacred, it becomes our primary responsibility to honor and respect everything around us as sacred. We are both spirit and flesh, sacred and material, but when we put the sacred aspect of our being first, that could change the way we see everything else. This may be a way of seeing life that is fundamentally different from, even antithetical to, the way schools and the rest of society view life. We want to examine this contrasting American Indian picture of life, and to propose how this view of seeing all life as sacred could help eliminate many of the social ills that stem from ways of viewing life that permit inequality and prejudice.
The Lakota people, indigenous to the north central plains and western woodlands of the United States and the southern plains of Canada, received their spiritual beliefs, values, and world view some nineteen generations ago from the White Buffalo Calf Woman, a Messenger of Wakan Tanka, the Creator.
Because of the love of Wakan Tanka for his children, many peoples throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas have been enriched by Manifestations of God. The Lakota people were given a Calf Pipe and seven sacred rites by the White Buffalo Calf Woman to remember the sacredness of all life, a way to pray, to give thanks, and to honor the Creator. The seven ceremonies represent the way in which the Lakota learn and relearn their place in the great design of life.
Luther Standing Bear further explains: "From Wakan Tanka there came a great unifying life force that flowed in and through all things - the flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, animals - and was the same force that had been breathed into the first man. Thus all things were kindred and brought together by the same Great Mystery."
Life, for the Lakota, was from the beginning like a huge, interwoven design in which each element, or strand, played an important and equal part in contributing to the whole. Each part of the design is what it is due to the interaction of all other parts.
Each part is connected to and influences the other parts. This inherent order and connectedness in the creation gives the Lakota people a glimpse of the Great Mystery that is life, and a sense of their basic purpose in life, which is to care for the land and live in harmony with all of creation.
It is true that many of the Lakota, and people of other Indian nations, in the past 150 years, have been schooled away from their ancient values of fortitude, respect, wisdom, and generosity toward the white society's primary values of individualism, acquisitiveness, and materialism. Hundreds of native languages and ceremonial songs have been forgotten. Yet, such life-giving and life-affirming values can never really lose their power. They are what ultimately connect the human spirit to its Creator. Kinship with all creatures is a real, active, and living principle. Native peoples are renewing the innate capacity to dream, and are rediscovering the essential spirituality that all humans share. The ancient Lakota values that support all of humanity's essential sacredness can be understood as auxiliary to the three primary principles that follow.
The first underlying principle of the Lakota world view that establishes a strong foundation for seeing children as sacred beings, and that every child learns and relearns throughout their lives, is the healing concept of "mitakuye oyasin." This Lakota word means "we are all related." Kinship with all creatures above, below, and in the water is a living principle that gives the Lakota a feeling of safety in the world, as well as a feeling of reverence for all life, a sense of purpose for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all, and an abiding love. This concept of life and its relations fills the Lakota with the joy and mystery of life. As Standing Bear puts it, "The Lakota could despise no creature, for all were of one blood, made by the same hand, and filled with the essence of the Great Mystery."
This principle implies that there is really only one human family, though there are people of many colors. A Lakota holy man, Black Elk, understood this fundamental concept through his vision:
"I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a
sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they
must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one
of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center
grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father.
And I saw that it was holy."
The four sacred colors used in the ceremonies - red, yellow, black, and white - represent the colors of humankind. Traditional Lakota believe that one day all will hold hands on this earth in peace. The idea of prejudice against any particular people is a foreign one to Lakota who have been raised to understand the sacredness of all beings. Of course, Indian children living in isolated South Dakota reservations have little opportunity to meet their African-American or Asian-American relatives, so the idea of respect for the four sacred colors is not often tested.
When a troupe of Australian Aboriginal dancers of the Yolgna tribe in Arnham Land were brought on a Trail of Light to schools on six Lakota reservations in December of 1992, such an opportunity arose. Before each performance, the Dreamtime Dancers were introduced in these ways to maximize the Lakota perspective: "You know how we use the four sacred colors in our ceremonies to honor Wakan Tanka's creation? Now we have a chance to show a real Lakota welcome to black fathers, brothers, and sons who have traveled thousands of miles from their homes to meet you, to dance for you, and to tell you about their people. Watch how their dances are different from ours. Show them our famous Lakota bravery when they ask you to dance with them. Listen to why they paint their bodies in such beautiful designs."
Without exception, the hundreds of Lakota school children showed rapt attention during the performances. They danced with the Aboriginals, and afterwards shook their hands, smiled at them and lined up to thank them for their sharing of culture. At community meetings, adults showed this same warmth. When the four Aboriginals were adopted by one Hunkpapa Lakota family and given names, three hundred Lakota stood in respect when the honoring song using their new names was sung.
This example of the Lakota understanding of the oneness of humanity was possible because the fundamental world view of relatedness is inherent in the teachings of the White Buffalo Calf
Mitakuye Oyasin - we are all related - is said upon entering the sweat lodge, when smoking the sacred pipe, before eating, and after drinking water in a ceremony. It is an affirmation of an all-inclusive unity, a connectedness that includes all created things. Upon saying this, children and all others are reminded often that all of creation is related and deserves respect and protection, that the animals, the birds, the crawling beings, the plants and trees and even the mountains, rivers, and stones on our mother the earth are all related to one another. This is a principle, a view of life, that supports family, community, complete interdependence, and unity on all levels, and disallows prejudice of any kind.
A second principle upon which the Lakota world view is founded is that of wolakota, or harmony and balance. The core of Lakota wisdom is to achieve harmony and balance with the creation so that life will be good for each of the seven generations to come. When individuals take things into their own hands, or forget their sacred obligations, such as prayer and participating in the ceremonies, they can find themselves out of balance, or in a state of inner confusion and chaos. It is then that one of the seven sacred ceremonies is undergone to help restore and achieve harmony and balance. Traditional Lakota seek to achieve this state of balance, and then to live it.
In the case when someone is the target of another's unbalanced behavior, an unusual approach is used to help that person regain their balance. A woman was once given a rough time by a couple of men, to the point where they were being overly critical. "You're never going to be the people's advocate the way Delores is," one of them said. This made the woman feel awful. Someone close to her said, "It's them. They're way off the path. If you were at home you could sponsor a ceremony for them. Then everyone could help guide them back to the state of wolakota. But since you're in the city, the most you can do is pray for them."
Lakota are also taught to strive for harmony on two levels, with nature and with other human beings. The good life consists of living in harmony with the creation since nature is a manifestation of the power of the Creator. The cornerstone of Lakota ethics is a deep concern for the "innerness" of another human being. People are expected to always act in a kind and thoughtful manner toward others, due to a basic regard for another's feelings, and a basic need for balance in life. Striving to be in balance on this sacred path, and in harmony with all creatures, is the sign of truly understanding the principle of "we are all related."
A third principle, which is essential to planning for the education of children, is the principle that explains who children are. The Lakota view of the child as a sacred being is central to a way of life that fills each person with a sense of an abiding love and joy for the mystery of life. It gives each person a reverence for all life, and makes it possible to see all things in the scheme of existence as equal. Wakan yeja, in its fullest sense, means sacred one, consecrated one, the being endowed with a spiritual quality.
When children are not only intentionally included in this sacred world view, but given the guidance to understand their own nature and what this all-pervasive sacredness of life really means, the ramifications are very significant. The sacred being is, first of all, perceived as a gift from the Creator. A Lakota belief is that the wakan yeja, before it is born, looks down from the spirit world to search for the parents and family who need a sacred being. In anticipation of the arrival of a Beloved Child, some Lakota mothers even today bead the soles of the wakan yeja's first moccasins.
From conception on, the transmission of unconditional love to the sacred being is the primary role of the parents. This is the foundation of life for the Lakota. Unconditional love means that the child is loved no matter what. Regardless of whatever weight, size, or appearance the child may have, regardless of whatever mistakes, performance, or limitations are manifested, at whatever age, the child is loved unconditionally. This is an intrinsic part of the Lakota value system and world view. Unconditional love is transmitted by focused attention, physical contact, playfulness, and gentle discipline.
Focused attention is when parents give the child their complete watchfulness, appreciation, and regard through direct eye contact. It is from this undivided attention that the child feels valued and develops a healthy self-esteem.
Nurturing through physical and spiritual contact is also considered essential to the child's growth. Even before they can see it, Lakota parents sing, talk to, and massage their gift from God. In-utero, the sacred being begins to receive this genuine love from the parents as well as other family members and friends. The mother's spiritual influence counts for most, as it is her private meditations that instill into the receptive soul of the unborn child the love of the "Great Mystery" and a sense of relationship to all of creation. The mother even wanders prayerfully in the beauty and stillness of nature, or the silent prairie, in anticipation of the day of days in her life.
When the sacred being is born into a traditional home, it is a time of joyousness and thankfulness. Rather than coming into this world with original sin, the sacred being arrives carrying within it divine qualities. These spiritual qualities are meant to be nurtured so that they can flourish.
Birthing is a calm and gentle time, with family arriving immediately after the joyous birth. The first sounds the newborn Lakota baby hears are soft, loving voices. The infant is touched and caressed by the parents and family members. The Lakota mother nurses her baby for at least the first two years of it's life. The Lakota baby is not permitted to cry and is carried about by family members. The Lakota cradle-board is making a comeback so the baby can be securely carried on walks and propped up against a tree in the summertime to watch family activities. When the baby is bathed, dried or changed, the arms, hands, back, chest, legs, and feet are massaged with oil or powder, with the parent all the while talking, singing, or smiling, and looking into the sacred being's eyes.
This affectionate touching, holding, cuddling, and hugging from both parents and family continues until puberty. At that time, a change in the age-appropriate affectionate behavior on the part of the parents toward their children of the opposite sex is evident. Both adolescent boys and girls still need physical affection but this affection is modified to show respect. Teenagers will accept kisses on the cheek and forehead, quick bear-hugs and touching of the arms, hands and shoulders from parents and grandparents. Eye contact will be modified slightly; men and women lower their eyes and make only sporadic eye contact - conveying respect when talking to one another. It remains appropriate for mothers and daughters to show affection toward one another all of their lives.
Playfulness and joyfulness are expressed by Lakota parents toward their sacred being. It is not true that Indian parents are solemn, stern and stoic with their children. Instead, laughing, smiling and playfulness are the norm for Lakota parents and the extended family.
Another way to show unconditional love of the sacred being is through gentle discipline. In families where predominate society schooling has been avoided or unlearned, the sacred being is never slapped, spanked, beaten or physically abused as a means of discipline, but is touched only with loving hands. The traditional Lakota parent disciplines the child indirectly and never in public. A mother would say such things as, "Lakota boys and girls are always kind to one another, especially brothers and sisters and boy cousins and girl cousins. It is always this way." Or perhaps, "Lakota girls/boys are kind to animals; they think of others." Or maybe, "Did I hear someone being noisy? It must have been the older ones, they forgot." The older ones know they weren't guilty, but would understand that the little ones would learn eventually.
All of this creates a strong basis of guided and deliberate nurturing that helps build a sense of wonder in the child. Again, as Luther Standing Bear has written, "Reflection upon life and its meaning, consideration of its wonders, and observation of the world of creatures, began with childhood. Knowledge was inherent in all things. The world was a library and its books were the stones, leaves, grass, brooks, and the birds and animals that shared, alike with us, the storms and blessings of earth...” In talking to children, the old Lakota would place a hand on the ground and explain: 'We sit in the lap of our Mother. From her we, and all other living things, come. We shall soon pass, but the place where we now rest will last forever.' So we, too, learned to sit or lie on the ground and become conscious of life about us in its multitude of forms."
The sense of wonder, which is this conscious awareness of the world all around us, is nurtured further by the utilization of the second of two types of education known by the Lakota. The first kind, kaonspe, is education by force. This is the approach used in breaking a horse. The second kind is woksapa, a gradual adjustment to nature and all its aspects. An uncle or grandfather will begin to guide the child along the woksapa path as soon as he begins to crawl. The grandfather will tell the child, "Ablejayo!" (beware, take notice). Then for a few minutes, and periodically throughout the day, the grandfather will help the child to hear, smell, feel and see everything in his environment. This training will continue as the child begins to walk and play outdoors. Soon, when the child hears "Ablejeyo!" he is able to concentrate and then describe textures, bird songs, breezes, moss on a tree, and even distant animal hooves that his prone body has felt through earth vibrations.
This is the way sacred beings are helped to achieve responsibility, wisdom, and happiness. It is through observing and participating in nature that we come to understand and appreciate the beauty and patterns of nature, and in the process gain a greater sense of meaning for the way nature works and its role in our lives. This practical, gradual, way of learning through adjusting to what we find around us can be applied to other areas of education, especially when it comes to acquiring virtues, or developing spiritual qualities.
Children raised as sacred beings in a Lakota home come to know, understand, and enact in their everyday behavior the four primary Lakota values of courage, respect, generosity, and wisdom. The quality of courage or fortitude is an important one that relates directly to the survival of the Lakota people. 500 years ago, the estimated native population north of the Rio Grande was a conservative 12 to 30 million. Today the U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes about one million Indians.
Courage can be defined as the strength of character which equips us to meet and survive danger and troubles. In today's world, this means developing a strong moral capacity to be able to know right from wrong and true from false, and being able to act upon that knowledge.
Traditionally, there is a category of behavior among the Lakota known as "the brave-hearted woman." In earlier times certain women were trained to be physically strong and to exhibit fearlessness. A brave-hearted woman was in every way feminine, but when the occasion demanded, she would perform tasks beyond her normal responsibilities. This meant becoming a hunter if the men were not around and there was hunger in camp, or even assisting in battle.
In one battle, while the brave-hearted women were on their ponies at the edge of the battlefield, one young woman saw her brother fall, his horse shot out from beneath him, and without hesitation, she rode toward her brother, leaning low over the belly of her horse and zig-zagging to dodge the cavalry's bullets. She swooped him up and carried him beyond the battlefield's edge. To white historians this battle is known as the Battle of the Rosebud. To the Lakota and Cheyenne, it is known as the Battle When the Girl Saved Her Brother. Today there are many brave-hearted women in every reservation community raising children on very little income, going back to school while supporting their families, and advocating for better housing and health programs. Contemporary brave-hearted women are attorneys, medical doctors, judges, and politicians.
Lakota men and women both exhibit extraordinary bravery when they participate in the sacred ceremonies, especially the sun dance where they go without food and water during four days of prayer, sacrificing for the benefit of all human beings. Children grow up observing from the example of their elders that the journey of life is "to lead an upright life, to go through life bravely without a whimper, bearing slander and misrepresentation without stooping to correct them, and enduring loss upon loss without discouragement."
The second Lakota value, wacekiya, or respect, means both "to address a relative" and "to pray or smoke ceremoniously." There is a respectful obligation inherent in the relationship and the natural reciprocal trust that is implied in addressing a relative. The same is true of the respectful trust and attitude that is assumed when praying with the Pipe to the Creator. This is also the same kinship structure upon which the principle of mitakuye oyasin is based. We are related to all, and therefore respectful of all.
Respect is actually built into the Lakota language. This determines the way in which relatives are naturally addressed and helps bring about the proper respectful behavior that characterizes the Lakota kinship system. In a traditional society, the Lakota child not only has a natural mother and father, and brothers and sisters, but also secondary parents. The child's "fathers" are all the men the natural father calls brother or cousin. The mother's brothers and cousins are the child's uncles. The child's "mothers" are all the women the natural mother calls sister or cousin. The father's sisters and cousins are the child's aunts. When blood relatives marry, all the new relatives by marriage are added to the kinship system, too. Because of the wide range of ages possible among secondary fathers and mothers, and among their married sons and daughters, it is possible for a child, at birth, to already have parents-in-law, daughters, sons, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, daughters-in-law, and sons-in-law because all the spouses of the child's siblings and cousins become its sisters- and brothers-in-law. With all these relations, the child grows up learning the correct usage of terms and practicing the respectful behaviors suitable to each relationship while also experiencing the honoring that goes along with the reciprocity in this vast network of interpersonal responsibility.
This extended kinship system, however, has been nearly destroyed by government policies that removed children to boarding schools, relocated males to the cities, and forbade the practicing of native religion and the speaking of native languages.
Beginning in 1963, a renewal of Indian culture has occurred. Many who are fighting for this revival of culture and who see the integrity of traditional social structures and systems of justice are inspired by Lakota histories.
There is a story of a murderer who was not punished, but made a loyal relative instead, showing how the power of this traditional kinship system can rise "to its sublime height," even when there are violations of these relationships. The angry younger relatives debated the kind of punishment fitting the crime while their wise elder listened. Later he spoke, first seeming to go along with them, but then describing a better way.
He challenged them to choose "the hard way, but the only certain way to put out the fire in all their hearts and in the murderer's." He said to them, "Was the dead your brother? Then this man shall be your brother. Or your uncle? Or your cousin? As for me, he was my nephew; and so this man shall be my nephew. And from now on, he shall be one of us, and our endless concern shall be to regard him as though he were truly our loved one come back to us." And they did just that. When the slayer was brought to the council, they offered him the peace pipe saying, "Smoke now with these your new relatives, for they have chosen to take you to themselves in place of one who is not here," and his heart began to melt. Then the council's speaker said, "It is their heart's wish that henceforth you shall be one of them, that you shall go Out and come in without fear. Be confident that their love and compassion which were his are now yours forever!" And tears trickled down the murderer's face. He had been trapped by loving kinship. Children can be the greatest beneficiaries of such an all-encompassing social fabric of respect.
The third value is generosity, and this is in terms of not only material possessions, but with food, time, and experiences, too. Generosity is closely tied to compassion for other beings. Children are taught from the earliest years to be generous to all, and they see this in the home when visitors come. Guests are always served drink and food. Without asking, the best that one has is simply placed before the visitor. Parents can get the idea across to young children by saying, "We Lakota always share our food with guests. We share our toys (our books, our pencils, our crayons, etc.) too." Traditional stories are also told to underscore the foolishness of greed and selfishness. When young children exhibit sharing and other forms of generosity and compassion, the parent should give them much praise.
The value of generosity is also woven in to the sacred rites of the Lakota. In the ceremony "Preparing a Girl for Womanhood," the young girl who has just begun menstruating not only learns the meaning of this change to womanhood, but also is instructed in the duties which she will now fulfill. She is told, "As Wakan Tanka has been merciful to you, so must you be merciful to others, especially those children who are without parents. If such a child should ever come to your lodge, and if you should have but one piece of meat which you have already placed in your mouth, you should take it out and give it to her. You should be as generous as this!"
In "the keeping of the soul" ceremony, food is brought by relatives, purified, given to four virgins who have participated in the Sun Dance, then shared with the poor and the elders first, and then with all others who participate in the feast. In the "giveaway" that is a part of other ceremonies, certain people are honored first. Those who are bereaved, those who have been ill or suffered other hardships, those who have made special sacrifices for others, or those who have traveled a long way may receive gifts before others. Give-aways are usually a part of memorials, namings, and some of the seven sacred ceremonies. Many Lakota spend hours making jewelry, beaded goods, quilts and other objects for a future give-away that a family will have. By preparing for and participating in give-aways and by being generous in other ways, the traditional Lakota is saying that human relationships are more important than mere material things.
Generosity of spirit in today’s world means trying to understand and love others beyond the immediate family, because true generosity is another value that supports the principle of mitakuye oyasin. It means trying to be compassionate to people of other communities and nations, and the people of all the colors of humanity.
The fourth value is wisdom. This is understood as being something sought and gained over the course of one's entire life, but not just by adding years to one's life. Wisdom has to do with understanding the meaning within natural processes and patterns. It means knowing the design and purpose of life. It also has to do with understanding and living the spiritual values and beliefs upon which one's culture is founded, and being able to share these with others. It means being able to incorporate the sacred way of life into one's own life, and to respect and honor all life. It means being open to the dreams of the day and the night when spiritual direction may come to a receptive child or adult seeking wisdom.
Again, there are ceremonies designed to help bring this wisdom about, such as the vision quest for men. This is a ceremony when young men pray for a vision for guidance in life. It is a private time in a remote place where the supplicant fasts and prays for four days. Wisdom is continually sought, though it may never be achieved. But when the gift of wisdom is received, understanding, compassion for all, and a depth of gratitude come with it. And of course, with the passing on of this wisdom, children are again the beneficiaries.
Perhaps we need to ask ourselves, who are we, really? Are we a body with a soul? Or, are we sacred beings? Are we a soul with a body? The way we answer these questions will determine the way we relate to others. The Lakota view would be: we are a soul with a body. That's why children are seen as sacred beings first. Everything else follows from that. When children observe the four primary values, and see each of them put into practice all around them, and when they see that adults are responsible for their safety, welfare, and happiness, children come to really understand that they are sacred beings. The effect of this love on the children is a strong feeling of security and self-assurance.
However, children that have flourished in traditional Lakota homes as wakan yeja are often brutally shocked when they are then subjected to kaonspe, education by force, in the public school system. The Lakota child begins to doubt all that she has been so lovingly taught: she is not precious; she and her parents and family speak an inferior language; her ceremonies and religious practices are evil and pagan; she is punished for daydreaming in class; her "savagery" can be punished by beatings with impunity (corporal punishment is legal in several states); her values are wrong and out of date. Worst of all, she begins to feel alienated from her family, who have been the source of woksapa, traditional education, in her life. Then, horror of horrors, she reads on the printed page that U.S. presidents who murdered her people, stole their lands, and broke treaties are actually honored.
While many children have been irreversibly damaged by kaonspe, many have survived. Significant numbers of Indian educators declared their intention to revitalize woksapa at the 1992 White House Conference on Indian Education. Families as well as educators from many Indian nations are committed to making life joyful for the sacred beings.
The principles and values in the Lakota world-view have important implications for all of us. If the rest of society really did see children first and foremost as sacred beings, that would have a significant effect on how we would relate to them. If teachers really saw their students not as human beings first, but as sacred beings first, and acted upon that vision, that would significantly change their approach in the classroom in many important ways. In fact, we can propose nine ways in which society as a whole might be transformed if the Lakota view of the child as a sacred being, the related principles, and the four primary values were understood and practiced generally.
First, teachers, and others, would be operating on a different assumption of who children are. They would not see them initially and only as miniature adults, they would see them first as integral to an essentially sacred creation, in which all things are sacred and equal.
Second, this would considerably alter everyone's perception of who we as adults are, as well. We would see that we are all sacred beings, too. The Lakota view also includes the idea that all stages of life are within us all the time. No matter what age we are, whether it is a teenager, an adult, or an elder, the sacred child is still within us, and we always have access to its perspective on the world.
Third, if teachers, and others, saw children as sacred beings first, and second as human beings, the whole focus of education might shift from needing to forcefully fill that human being up with facts from "out there" to wanting to assist that sacred being in bringing about their full potential from within. It would then be as important to nurture each sacred being's inner development to bring forth latent spiritual qualities.
Fourth, the issue of racism as an endemic disease in this country, forced upon unwilling, peaceful peoples, would be directly addressed and alleviated. Racism has made life miserable for Native and non-native children in school, has turned many off to education, and made it next to impossible for many to realize their potential. Teachers and administrators might be able to face this deep problem if they saw children differently. Textbook writers, if they understood the sacred nature of all life, might be able to provide curriculum materials that, rather than reinforcing, would help eradicate racism.
The Lakota world view (with these three of its primary principles: "we are all related," harmony with all of creation, and children as sacred beings), is really a very clear and strong statement recognizing the oneness of humankind. This is something the Lakota people have understood for untold generations. Science is now recognizing this as a reality, too. The authors encourage educators to consider these truths and teach them to their students, as this will contribute to the personal transformation that has to take place in order for us to move beyond racism and realize harmony in the family, the classroom, and society.
What is really needed is a proactive approach, especially on the part of teachers and administrators, to help create an understanding of racial harmony in order for this to be enacted and carried out in the classrooms. It is primarily up to the teachers to make sure this happens. It means teachers will have to explore and examine their own beliefs, values, and biases, and even work together with one another to overcome individual prejudices. Teachers could establish in their own schools a time and a place for a gathering of their peers to share their inner thoughts and experiences around the issues of racial harmony and relatedness. This sharing could become a version of the traditional American Indian "talking circle" where persons, one by one, speak truthfully on matters that touch the heart. Groups of teachers could meet regularly to speak openly on the topic of racial harmony. Groups of students could also carry out a similar process amongst themselves. The effects of these in-school "talking circles" could be far reaching.
Fifth, with an understanding of all life as sacred, children would be prepared to live in harmony with their environment. This would bring about a major shift in the values that have permitted the practice of unmitigated dominion over the soil, air, and water. Children would become planners and caretakers who would see the earth as mother, provider, and as a sacred creation to be treated with respect and love.
Sixth, this view of all life as sacred and related would prepare students to live in a global society. With age and grade appropriate education, children would learn to understand and appreciate the people of all ages and cultures in their own communities, their regions, their country or nation, their continent, their hemisphere, and finally the planet. With 1993 designated by the United Nations as the Year of the Indigenous People, this is the perfect time to take greater steps toward recognizing that "we are all related."
Seventh, when teachers, administrators, curriculum developers, other helping professionals, and parents act upon their understanding of this world view, children would be taught the truth of past and present history. We would be ready and willing to look bravely at how justice and ethics would be taught and learned in our schools. History would be rewritten to present the story of what really happened, and current events would be looked at more closely to understand what is really still happening in our world now. Information from Amnesty International's 1992 Annual Report, such as that 143 countries are in violation of human rights, would be considered in schools so that children would be able to voice their concern over such actions and advocate for improved records supporting human rights in this country and around the world. Children will want to know and defend the idea that we are all one people of one planet.
Eighth, understanding and accepting this world-view would enable us to become more comfortable with sharing the many gifts of life. Children would learn at an early age to share what they have with others at home, in school, and in other settings. It would be understood that time is a gift to be shared with others, that visiting relatives and people in retirement homes is an important way of sharing. Growing up with the value of generosity and the idea that human beings are more important than material things would enable adults to view their world as one, and all the resources of the earth as valuable and to be shared by all.
Ninth, When we understand that we are all sacred beings, and that we are all related, we, as well as our children, will understand the empowering value of seeking our own personal truth. We will understand the importance of a personal quest for meaning and purpose, to find our place and role in the world, and to live in accordance with our sacred nature. When we have found this, and respect ourselves as sacred, we will respect all creatures as sacred, too.
In order to find our personal truth, and align our purpose with the larger whole, we first need to clear out our mind of negative emotions, attitudes, habits, doubts, questions, or anything else that would limit our growth and our acceptance of others. This is a process that Frank Fools Crow describes as becoming "hollow bones for the spirit to work through." Then, cleansed and purified and filled with hope, a new power comes to one, and finally this new understanding and power can then be given away to benefit others. This is the essence of the traditional vision quest, and requires solitude and sacrifice.
It is as Black Elk has said, "Peace comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and realize that the center is really everywhere. It is within each of us."
The Lakota principles, spiritual values, and world-view of children and all other created things as sacred leaves no room for prejudice or inequality. This world-view teaches that the creation is sacred, and that every particle of our beings are nourished by this sacredness. All things on earth are related through the Creator. Frank Fools Crow makes very clear the implications of this world-view:
"The survival of the world depends upon our sharing what we have and working together.
We need peace and understanding and unity of young and old, Indian and non-Indians alike.
We must all stand together for the reason of peace and tranquility of life for all."
Amnesty International Staff. (1992). Amnesty International Report on Human Rights Around the World. Hunter House, Alameda, CA.
Brown, Joseph Epes. (1971). The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Penguin Books, NY, New York.
Eastman, Charles A. (1911). The Soul of the Indian. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Gill, Sam D. (1983). Native American Traditions, Sources and Interpretation. Wadsworth, Belmont, CA.
Mails, Thomas. (1979). Fools Crow. Doubleday & Co., New York.
Mails, Thomas. (1991). Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power. Council Oaks Books, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Neihardt, John G. (1972). Black Elk Speaks. Simon and Schuster Pocket Books, NY, New York.
Standing Bear, Luther. (1933). Land of the Spotted Eagle. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska.
-- Retrieved from: http://web1.uct.usm.maine.edu/~atkinson/lakota_children.htm
