Understanding Nature’s Language

Have you ever wondered how animals know when a natural disaster is coming?  Why don’t people take these signs into consideration throughout their lives?  These are a few questions I have often wondered about.  Nature has a way of communicating through its own language.  It is up to us to interpret these signs and use them to our advantage.  Nature always works in harmony.

When the first European people came to North America, they saw the American Indian praying to animals, plants, rivers, lakes, the sun, the moon, the wind, the lightening, the thunder, and even the birds.  They called the Indians heathens and savages.  For some strange reason they developed the idea that the Indian did not believe in God, although in many different tribal languages there were references to a Great Spirit, the Great Creator, the Maker, the Great Mystery, or the Great Invisible One.  The truth is that not only did the American Indians worship God, but they also respected and communicated with that which God had created.

Despite the forces of assimilation, traditional American Indians and the holy men/women still understand the sacredness of nature.  They see the life giving force of the Great Spirit flowering through all things in the universe.  Because of ancient beliefs, teachings, and spiritual practices, they feel and maintain a direct kinship with all creations.  In the traditional American Indian belief system, everything is a source of power, and as a result it should be revered.  The traditional American Indian believes that each living thing in nature has a spirit of its own, in addition to being connected to and part of the Great Mystery.  This is why they pray and give thanks to the sun, moon, stars, rain, wind waters, and all those that walk, crawl, fly, and swim, both seen and unseen.  We realize we cannot survive or live without our relations.  We also realize that they cannot live without us; that’s why there is a reciprocal relationship.

Evidence of this belief system can be found in American Indian myths, legends, and stories.  Here one can find reference to the animals and birds as people.  The bear is our grandfather, rattlesnake our aunt, beaver our cousin, eagle our uncle, deer our sister, and buffalo our brother.  But in a deeper sense of ideology, they are not only our relations but are also considered our teachers, protectors, guardians, supernatural aids, and sources of power and knowledge.  This is not romanticism, it is reality.  I believe modern people can learn from this ancient reality if they are willing to be open minded.  There is a special kind of telepathic and symbolic understanding between the traditional American Indian and his/her relations in nature.  We communicate through praying, talking, singing, dancing, meditating, touching, smelling, and/or offering tobacco, herbal smoke, food, or some other gift to one of our relations.  Since nature’s language is symbolic, it communicates back to us in a unique way, with natural symbols.

Instinct, a natural source of knowledge and power that the traditional Indians uses as part of his/her spiritual growth and development and which most western people and more assimilated American Indians are no longer aware of.  Instinct, however, is a reality.  It is also a natural system of communication between nature and the species, the mind and the body.  The communication might come in the form of a physical symbol, or it might be more intuitive, making itself known through language, appearing as a hunch, a feeling, or an inner voice in a dream or through a vision.

Many western people consider such forms of natural knowledge mysterious, supernatural, or superstitious.  They do not understand it and they fear it, and as a result they find ways to ignore or discredit it.  The art of studying signs and omens, however, is an ancient form of knowledge that was used by all races of humankind at one time or another in the history of their evolution.  Europeans, for example, studied certain signs in nature to find out when to plant or harvest crops, when to hunt, when to make sea voyages, and even when to get married.  Have you ever heard “Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning; red sky at night, sailor’s delight?”  Some of this ancient, western knowledge can still be found in the Farmer’s Almanac today.  For traditional American Indian holy men/women, natural knowledge has always been a reality and a natural part of their ideology and spirituality.  Although communication with nature is an ancient system of knowledge, it is not archaic because this knowledge is still relevant today.  We should remember that not all signs, messages, or omens are bad.

Fact, fiction, or fantasy?  Who knows how communication with nature works or why.  All I know is that in some situations it does work.  Tribal elders and American Indian myths and stories teach us that it is perfectly natural to call up “supernatural” aid when all other resources seem to fail us.  We are taught that the earth is full of many different kinds of spirits and powers, both good and bad, positive and negative, physical and spiritual, seen and unseen.  Some of these powers are even neutral.  We are taught that the powers come in the form of natural forces and elements of nature such as lightning, and thunder, wind and clouds, earthquake and fire; and in the animal people, bird people, fish people, snake people, bug people, tree people, plant people, and rock people.  In other words, every part of the earth is a physical and spiritual source of power and energy that directly affects us because we also are an integral part of the great family in Creation.

Closing the Gap Between the Younger Generation and the Elders

The situation on Pine Ridge and other reservations today is not much different in comparison. Outside influences have devastated families. There is a high unemployment rate, alcoholism, drug use, gangs, stealing, violence, staying up all night and sleeping all day, babies having babies and lack of safety. Adults talk about negative forces and other things in the community from tribal council to tribal police. Corruption within tribal council and tribal police does not keep the people’s trust.  All of these things bring sadness, hopelessness, heaviness, and pain. Lack of jobs seems to be the denominator with the downfall of so many people on reservations. This situation has to change or the younger generation will be lost forever.

We must all stand together as a force of love. Be united NOW. There is only one way. Communication. Knowledge. Arm yourself with truth, love and perseverance. Extend your family. Join with others in giving. We are all related. People of the earth take back your heritage. I am not speaking of skin color or religion. Our heritage is this earth… Our heritage is also extended beyond this earth into the heavens where the spirit once lived before our birth into this world. You are bound to both.

To bring all the communities together things will have to change.  Many elders say the solution to the problems is prayer. Going back to the Inipi.  “Takashala (Creator) listens to us and takes care of us. We pray to him. None of us have nothing, no money, but we’re taken care of.  We have medicine for these sicknesses. We have ceremony. That’s where we get our strength.”

Communities have already began the healing process. We need to replace the negative with something healthier- like our culture. Some suggestions included helping our people define what culture is or what “the traditional way” is or what “the traditional ways” are. Other examples included promoting language, prayer, ceremonies (all different kind including specific examples to specific tribes/areas- from naming ceremonies, to blessing ceremonies, to sundance ceremonies, to sweat lodge ceremonies to rites of passage ceremonies, etc), potlatches, hand/stick game, singing, dancing and storytelling.

Cultural strengths as resiliency factors are so important because there are thousands of teachings within every example. The core teachings are about respecting your mind, body, spirit and all living things. With this as the core teaching, one would never put a harmful substance into their body. Key cultural strength words include: Respect. Ancestors. Honor. Wisdom. Pride. Vision. Power. Love. Excellence. Courage. Spirit. Values. Belief. Family. Sacred. Traditions. These words are fairly universal for all Native people. The reverence for ancestors is an attention-getter due to the fact that through our oral traditions we acknowledge those that came before us. We highly respect them for keeping the traditions alive without writing them down and for their resiliency of living hardy lives and thriving, even through adverse times like colonization. Because of them, we are still here! We have the same responsibility  and obligation to our future generations. Focus on resiliency and cultural strengths- they come in many different shapes.