Indigenous

Power and importance of “story” and of “storytelling”- ‘me’y’mi’y’m.   Stories with steadfast “bones” - stable miyp teachings, and with their supple “flesh” (the dynamic storytelling techniques, nature of orality and power of words), all of which seek to bring story alive, and have their listeners become "participants" within it. 

Key: power of words - dasshússua “breaking with the mouth” – when words/symbols aligned with perennial stable bones, the result is “swirling with Coyote” (Cliff SiJohn) - “hierophany” (Eliade), and possibility of discovery/revealing the miyp teachings buried deep within the steadfast bones, those miyp that are relevant to you.  

Importance of listening – stmi’sm - with empathy – snukwnkhwtskhwts’mi’ls - to the stories of others, and to re-tell them – baaéechichiwaau – “if all these great stories were re-told, great stories will come” (Tom Yellowtail),

as well as the importance of re-telling your own stories – basbaaaliíchiwé – reflecting and reaffirming who you are, where you’ve been, and what you seek to become – of becoming an authentic human being.

Indigenous stories start with:

Snqhepiwes - “where the spirit lives, from horizon to horizon” - baaxpée - spiritual power – life - starts with the Creator - Akbaatatdía “Maker of All Things First” – Titwatityáaya -  Animal First Peoples such as Salmon, Coyote, Rabbit and Jack Rabbit, and continue with Burnt Face and Four Smokes

no Aristotelian material reductionism

ashammalíaxxiia - “as driftwood lodges” -  uchnek’we – “we are all relatives, we are all one” -  kinship relationships - unshat’qn “all equal height at the head”-  governed by snukwnkhwtskhwts’mi’ls - “empathy” and téek’e “ethic of sharing” with those in need

no Cartesian dualism separation,

and no ego enhancement, the self-serving, “in it for himself” - Coyote is the antithesis

results in hnkhwelkhwlnet - “our ways of life in the world” – a participatory engagement - reality is the transitory intersection of those participating – human, animal, plant, spirit – anchored to place-based oral traditions - the miyp “teachings from all things”

Rock Medicine Wheel - accommodate diversity of spokes, while anchored to ubiquitous hub - e.g., Head and Heart ways of knowing and doing –

no exclusivity, no “my way or the highway”

Challenge?

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