Why Becoming Indigenous Matters
Why Becoming Indigenous Matters
An opportunity exists to redefine how we understand the term indigenous. This may not seem that important, simply talking around a topic that is already well defined, however creating a new context allows greater inclusion, which is where momentum for social change is unleashed. Momentum begins in the minutiae, the edges, the fringe, just as our Universe unfolded from the head of a pin. Let’s talk about this pin.
The dictionary definition of indigenous is ‘originating or occurring naturally in a particular place, native’, however there is another, perhaps more relevant, definition proposed by Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal, as ‘people who have a seamless relationship with nature (definitions are included at the end). It is in contemplation of these two definitions that a new definition can arise.
While we are in the place of defining and definitions, for this conversation we will use the word ‘God’ as describing our ongoing desire to experience a higher / older / deeper source of consciousness and expanded present moment connectedness. And we will use the word ‘man’ to describe a wider sense of people without assigning any gender association. These words do not have any greater value than other words of similar meaning which could have been chosen.
Both the Oxford and Royal’s definitions help build a picture of what it currently means to be indigenous. The Oxford definition ascribes it to a place of birth and by extension, generations of time spent in that place. Royal’s definition adds an alignment with ‘indigenous’ to religious world views, which brings in the context of ‘God’ alongside (and separate from) nature. Royal ascribes indigenous as offering a differing worldview compared to either a common Eastern and Western worldview. We can also quickly define these, taking a lead from Royal, as; Western - a path to a future relationship with God in heaven achieved through almost inaccessible external acts of self-improvement and Eastern - a path to a present moment relationship with God achieved through almost inaccessible internal acts of self-improvement. Western, predominantly Christian / Judaism / Islamism - externally focussed, Eastern - predominantly, Hinduism / Buddhism / Taoism - internally focussed. The concept of inaccessibility comes as both worldviews hold that only a few can achieve the outcome, becoming Saints and Masters, while others learn from their experiences.
The Indigenous worldview is more rooted in uncovering God through deepening our relationship to the unfolding cycles of nature and the cosmos and man’s place in this, and in this definition there is less focus on inaccessibility as nature and the cosmos are available to everyone. Or does this concept also contain inaccessibility? Within the concept of indigenous is the underlying belief that only through living in the birthplace of our ancestors is it possible to make this connection. Making this pathway to growth also inaccessible to most who might choose it.
Separating people by worldview carries challenges as it isn’t necessarily linked to geographic placement, or worldview of birth. To further complicate it we can find examples of each worldview within the other. Within Eastern cultures, using India as an example, Hinduism includes nature Gods and a deep involvement in nature and the healing powers of the land. The greatest Hindu festival is kumbh mela, which happens when three rivers (one of which is mystical) are in a certain convergence indicated by the stars. Hinduism celebrates one formless sense of God, Brahman, and a colourful cast of God’s many faces in various aspects of God - Shiva (M), Shakti (F), Ganesh (M), Lakshmi (F), to name a few. For many, these aspects of God are seen as external and are prayed to, making their worldview ‘Western’. A more disciplined internal path to God is sought out by a few, who then bring their experiences back to others. This internal process is dedicated to ending the separation of man with God (yoga), opening to the I AM presence (So Hum) and dissolving the external view of God (Ayamatma Brahma).
However, within the Indian example another branch of yoga exists, Tantra, which seeks to weave the practitioner into Universal energies. Tantric masters are dedicated to the left hand path, which welcomes the pleasures, desires and appetites of the human body as part of life. With a deeper connection to Earth, this path can be described as taking the feminine path to God. However, it is often seen as sinister, dangerous, and will be shunned by practitioners of the ascetic, celibate, right hand path. The path of Tantra, brings an ‘indigenous’ worldview to an Eastern practice.
Another example of Eastern understanding of natural cycles occurs in China, with their contemplation of energy (Qi or Chi) in QiGong, Taoism and traditional Chinese medicine. Some of the oldest texts speak to animal associations, connections to seasons, and even times of the day for different ‘organs processes’ and give understanding how the human body is connected to this shifting natural energy. And a practice from Taoism, the microcosmic breath orbit, connects the person practicing with the North Star and the centre of the Earth. With changes in governance, these ancient practices were often frowned upon or even stamped out, removing the people’s connection to these natural cycles.
If we look to the West we can also see examples of the people’s connection to the land and nature. Early cultures with a love and connection to nature are called heathens, pagans, witches or druids. Pagans, who by definition hold a worldview (religious belief) other than that of the main religion. Unsurprisingly, pagans are not well tolerated and we know what happened to the witches throughout Europe and Scandinavia. If we come forward to our present time, both of these practices are accepted into modern society but are seen as ‘fringe’ and unimportant. The view of witches has been characterised to ugly old women who ride broomsticks and we dress up once a year to satirise them. In this process we have lost the wisdom of these practices, once held in ancient oral traditions, retaining only the story of their passing in the witch trials and laughing at their culturally acceptable image during Halloween. Time healed the wound, but we lost the wisdom.
Another Western perspective, shows a deep historical association with internal experiences and pathways to finding God in the present time through divine revelation. These experiences often became the base for important texts, spiritual lessons and even religions themselves, in the case of revelations experienced by Jesus. Again, the disciplined focus to create these internal experiences are typically only sought out by a few, and then shared with others for the value they bring.
From an indigenous perspective there are examples of the importance of God, God (M) and Goddess within cultural myths and present day usage. For most, these figures are separate from the people, however they are always deeply rooted in nature and the cosmos. And the Aborigine dream time speaks to the value this culture places on direct internal experiences of God. While at the same time there is an underlying deep respect for the land and all aspects of nature with the people seen as an inherent part of this dance. An experiential viewpoint of the symbiosis of the people and the land through generations of living off and with the land/sea within the turning of the seasons and the movements of the cosmos. As with other worldviews, there are a few who have the discipline to hold the memories and direct personal interpretation of these deep experiences with nature and are then sought out by others for this understanding. However, perhaps there is a greater sense that this understanding is more freely available to the seeker compared to Western or Eastern worldviews.
If we consider these three worldviews it seems that there is a single theme that runs through them all. That there exists a place in history where leadership that seeks domination will often attempt to separate people from their connection to land and nature as a way of weakening their integrated links to place and each other as a way of making them more biddable. People become a useful resource, rather than resourceful. It also seems that before we had the concept of indigenous there were people who were seen as different who needed to be subjected. Pagans, wherever they lived, were removed from places of societal prominence by an increase in power of central governance, both sectarian and religious. The change was enabled in part by increasingly more rapid methods of transportation (which enabled better movement of troops, and colonisation) and increasingly more rapid means of communication (which enabled greater dissemination of centralised ideas and rules). These advances in transportation and communication also brought great benefits for the people. With great benefit and great cost comes profound social change. Eventually, this movement reached out to touch lands which had been geographically isolated, where the traditional ways of the people had been protected. Which brings us to our modern reality and our current view of what it means to be ‘indigenous’, however we are still missing some important perspectives.
In a wider context, this conversation is happening within two other frames of reference. The first frame is to come to terms with the emotional meaning held within the term. Neither definition of indigenous mentions the social probability that someone who is currently identified as indigenous will have struggled to express their ancestral beliefs in their place of birth. Or that their family may have been relocated from lands that are held as sacred. Or that their context may include viewing the world that is arising around them from the bottom half of the socio economic divide. Perhaps that is not unexpected as definitions need to deal in certainty rather than probability, but as a society how do we manage to give the richness of understanding to a concept that is laden with inequity? How can we open up the concept of ‘indigenous’ and bring it into a new era, bringing healing rather than creating new divides?
Working further into the term yields its own response. We currently hold within the concept of indigenous the pain of ancestral lineage. With each use of the term we bring that pain into the present moment. In general, as we can see with the idea of witches, we use time to dilute pain. With each generation the pain lessens. Take for example, the monument in Norway to people who lost their lives in the witch trials. The stories are horrendous, and yet with time and distance we can read about their pain and not take it to heart. We can say the word witch without feeling a held emotional response of their torture. But the witch trials dates back to the 17th century. Do we need to wait that long to heal this more recent wound?
The second frame is the intense global interest in the environment. Suddenly people who have lived life within current social norms are wondering if the world they live in needs support. Wondering whether choices supporting an endless process of consuming and consumed, consumers and consumption will have consequences within their lifetime. Perhaps wondering if now is the time to reconnect to the land. Perhaps now is the time they might seek advice from those who hold traditions which might bring a new approach. There is a very real moment in time where these traditions and ancestral beliefs could become the ‘new’ way, and the people who hold those ancient beliefs the ‘new’ guides.
Where does this leave us? We can begin to see that within each worldview there are elements of the other, and different levels of association with each world view. What becomes apparent is that the value of being indigenous, within Royal’s framework, can be seen as a worldview where man is an integral part of the ever unfolding natural cycle, including earth and the cosmos. The value is in the relationship, it is not in the placement of that relationship. Perhaps we can also celebrate the few who have managed to hold faith, be they Western, Eastern, Northern or Southern, while the wider world has forgotten this important aspect of being human. Our reliance and connectedness to these natural cycles for our wellbeing and the wellbeing of the land/seas. Symbiotic. Not consumer and consumed.
The next step in considering whether it is possible to remove the link to ancestral place of birth. To be indigenous through learning to be a seamless part of nature where we are. Within this new indigenous worldview we can have people who are holders of the faith, who will mostly live in a place of ancestral strength, and we can have people who aspire to be indigenous wherever they are. With this wider perspective, we each have the ability to open up to a seamless connection with nature and it can happen where we stand now, if needs must, it can happen in a paved parking lot. Just as someone can keep faith to Judaism without returning to Jerusalem or being Jewish, we can keep faith with the land’s natural cycles without returning to the land of our birth, or another sacred place. Although both of these pilgrimages may be valuable in our growth.
This dislocation of reliance on ancestral connectedness is a huge step. At first glance it may seem that there are no benefits, the value of being indigenous may feel diluted, and less important. However, it opens up two key possibilities. Personal healing becomes available to people who have been geographically displaced from their ancestral land without being dependent on their return. Instead it is a change in perspective that lets each person connect and be integral to nature wherever they are. And the second benefit is that the ancestral lands and the people holding this faith become important to a much wider group of people. It also increases the value of making personal pilgrimages to sacred ancestral lands and seeking out the holders of wisdom, who may, or may not, be part of a related ancestral line.
Where people have been forcibly displaced there is an even greater need for healing, as this is where the inequity mainly lies. When anyone is forced to migrate they arrive in a new place, not through choice but through fear and powerlessness. It takes huge personal courage and self-reliance to not see self as a victim in this story with others carrying responsibility. Ultimately it is this very adversity which will bring greater personal power to anyone in this situation who can make a stand where they have landed. To heal by connecting to the land where they are, and release the pain in their story, recalling their courage and self-initiative. In that new space to remember the wisdom that has come with them, actively recalling the disciplines that were part of their family practices and taught by elders. To keep the oral traditions alive. And with this power to encourage others to become indigenous where they are, valuing nature in their day to day life. Helping them to recalling practices from their grandmother, or an uncle, or a friendly neighbour, recalling the wisdom from their past, from near or far. As their perspective changes, they also grow to value the people who uphold traditions, who are seeking to protect sacred spaces and the wisdom of the land, and this will shift attitudes of people in governance who are looking for solutions to their environmental crisis.
From the land’s perspective, when that connection comes back to more and more people, there will be less and less parking lots, but that can only happen after more of us become indigenous. The land waits, patiently, for us to remember and reconnect, each human to the place where they stand now. Symbiotic. Whole.
Linda Curtis
November 2019
Linda was raised as a Christian, and couldn’t figure out how to be good enough to make it to heaven. She spent some lost and lonely years as an atheist. She then delved into yoga and became a teacher and disciple of an ancient line. When there was a profound moral collision she released this attachment to become a practicing pagan.
Definitions for Indigenous
Oxford Online Dictionary
Originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native.
‘the indigenous peoples of Siberia’
‘coriander is indigenous to southern Europe’
Royal’s Definition reported in BMJ
Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal, a recent Maori recipient of the Churchill fellowship for overseas study, offers an attractive definition of indigenous based on what he calls world views—indigenous is used for those cultures whose world views place special significance on the idea of the unification of the humans with the natural world. Royal contrasts three major world views—a Western (Judaeo-Christian) view which sees God as external and in heaven “above”; an Eastern view, which focuses internally and concentrates on reaching within through meditation and other practices; and an indigenous view, which sees people as integral to the world, with humans having a seamless relationship with nature which includes seas, land, rivers, mountains, flora, and fauna.
If we accept that indigenous people have an integral association with nature, then it is easy to see the validity of an argument presented by many people, including Foliaki and Pearce (p 437). This states that the dislocation of most indigenous peoples from their lands through colonisation has contributed to the effects of newly introduced diseases on their health (figure). The direct linkages between the current health status of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the various practices that followed invasion and colonisation and the removal of people from land and culture are well established.
BMJ. 2003 Aug 23; 327(7412): 403–404. doi: 10.1136/bmj.327.7412.403
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