Holthaus, Gary (2008) Learning Native Wisdom: What
traditional cultures teach us about subsistence, sustainability and
spirituality. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.
We are so steeped in Western Culture that we can’t easily
tell what is human nature and what is an artifact of our worldview. So it can
be helpful to investigate other cultures. This book, Learning Native Wisdom, summarizes
what we might learn from First Peoples. It is of course important not to
romanticize these tribal cultures. But many survived for centuries within the
constraints and rhythms of nature. Here are some of the most important points I
found in the text.
Warmongering: “Contrary
to popular perceptions of ‘primitive savagery and tribal warfare and violence,
there has never been a long-lasting culture based on war, violence, repression
or slavery for the majority.” (p.27)
Story telling: “…there
have been cultures that persisted for thousands of years without literacy, but
there has never been a sustainable culture without health stories.” (p.28) The
author uses as an example of ‘crippling stories’ our agriculture: “Their story
has been that chemicals will work miracles, that bigger is better, that good
farming business is to get rich rather than a way of living on the land.”
Individual vs the collective:
“There has never been a sustained culture in which the individual exceeded the
community in value.” (p.28)
We are a subsistence
culture, whether we know it or not: We in the Western world see subsistence
as a way that ‘primitive’ peoples eek out an existence through hunting or
gathering, an economic system of providing for their needs. Instead it’s a way
of life, including their stories, rituals, and world view. And we all should
see ourselves as subsistence peoples. “The white man’s preoccupation with
economics and determination to quantify everything are irrelevant to the life
under discussion. It’s possible that we could have, in the future, the largest
populations of moose and bear, caribou and salmon, that Alaska has ever known….But
we can have abundant game and have no subsistence culture left. …What is
critical for all of us is to know ourselves—regardless of the culture we belong
to—to be subsistence people, to acknowledge the subsistence character of the culture,
and to practice a life that protects both the land and the culture through its
beliefs, rituals even when hunger gnaws and dogs our families.” (p.73)
On Education: We
all sense that our education system, based on the Industrial Revolution, is
broken. But what is to replace it? One of many things that are lacking is a
sense of self-discipline. Tribal cultures knew if they ate the last salmon,
there would be no more. But in our culture, if you have the money to buy (fill
in the blank), why not do it? We are constantly told by advertising and social pressures
that we are not enough, we need to buy something to make us happy, that what
matters is our own personal self-gratification and self-actualization. But this is counter to a sustainable culture. “A
sustainable culture without self-discipline is an oxymoron. What is the role of
education in creating a sustainable culture? What is the role of education in
creating a self-cultivating, disciplined citizen who sees his or her role in
the culture as serving family, community, nation and the great world of ten
thousand things? How do we create citizens who are willing to place limitations
on themselves, their power, and their acquisitions so that ther might be enough
for everyone and for those other creatures whose lives humans depend on though we
may not recognize it?” (p.99)
Defining sustainable culture:
The author posits that we cannot address this piecemeal, with sustainable
farming practices and renewable energy. “for at the heart of our present
systems, our own human selves are the real issue. To create a sustainable culture
that will support a sustainable agriculture and healthy soil, sustainable
yields of fish or logs, sustainable water supplies or energy or clean air, to
establish social justice in our own small towns and big cities so that the
economy is viable for all and so that prejudice no longer figures in our
reckonings about whom to include and whom to exclude from social intercourse, we
have to work on ourselves. Everything goes back to that.” (p.117)
To help us unpack worldviews, the author turns to Gary
Snyder’s “three lineages”:
·
Children of Abraham (Jews Muslims and Christians;
believers in religious texts)
·
Descendants of Primates (believers in science,
rationality)
·
Sons and Daughters of the Bear Mother (tribal
societies, Hindus, Daoists, Buddhists, etc.) (p.50)
The core question: “…sustainability is not a state we
achieve once and for all. It is a process of working toward, forever, being
aware of the desired characteristics and alter to the implications of our
choices every day. Does this story, song, idea, plan, policy or poem move us toward
sustainability?” (p.121)
In the chapter, Defining Sustainability (p122-129);
interesting this comes so late in the book), the author suggests we should “want
to recognize rather than define sustainability.” In the chapter, he highlights:
·
Recognizing relationships, respect for others;
careful observation
·
Protecting biological diversity and ethnic
diversity.
·
Socially and economically just
·
Reciprocity and returning a portion of what is
taken
·
Healthy intellectual and spiritual life
·
Self-cultivation (not self-fulfillment; “not for
the sake of the self but so there is something in us for others.”)
·
Reverence for life
Language: The
author talks a lot about language, including how we like to separate humans
from Nature. “if, as the rhetoric of sustainability insists, the health of
humans is utterly dependent upon the health of the earth, so, too, the health
of creatures of every kind, and landscapes everywhere, now hinges upon the health
of our spiritual life. I have been trying to show that the real roots of a
healthy spirituality lie in two arenas.. one is our language, rather than any
scripture, creed, or institutionally transmitted belief. The other is in our
self-cultivation toward humaneness.” (p.217)
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