Balance needed between nature, technology

Page 7

FIRST PERSON

In life, there is what people perceive as truth, and there is truth that simply is - regardless of what people think. How closely the two correlate, or distance themselves, depends on openness of mind and the way we choose to look at reality, the future.

And the past.

The general population has widely accepted that today's lifestyle offers more leisure time, a longer lifespan thanks to modern medicine, and increased enjoyment due to greater access of social information and products. Authentic power is silent however, and elders speak only when needed. It is because they know otherwise.

"A long time ago," an elder once said to my father, "I remember my mushum telling me he used to walk in the woods and see poplar tree stumps that were 90 feet high. Looking in the distance, animals were everywhere. The streams, rivers and lakes were clean. It was safe to drink from them. A good life."

I've thought about this. The instances I've come across hundred-foot-high stumps have been far and few between (actually, it's never happened). And though I consider myself a fairly proficient game spotter, I can recall only one place where encountering moose, deer and elk all in one day isn't uncommon: Elk Island Park near Edmonton.

As for drinking from creeks, it happens only in mountains, not settled areas. So much for trusting water quality.

Circles within circles. The elder also told my father that just like trees, people, in their own way, often lived healthy lives right up to a hundred years and beyond.

If a person has been exposed solely to western thought, these statements could create opposition. Modern societies still believe indigenous peoples lived relatively short lives, fraught with daily hardships that made survival an everyday worry.

I don't know about that.

Last year, I canoed from Edmonton to Quebec city for four-and-a-half months. When ordinary store-bought food ran out, I often resorted to eating delicacies such as frog's legs, birch bark, (tastes like a tree), berries, birds, fish, and cat's-tails.

Granted, gathering wild edibles wasn't always easy, but it wasn't as difficult as my peers told me it would be before the trip, either. Ingesting these foods also gave me great physical strength. I could feel it. So it is true; good food combined with hard physical work and a spiritual lifestyle produces a healthy being, both inside and out.

I suppose, barring the event of succumbing to inter-tribal war-fare or cold, the elder's statement about longevity in those days didn't seem hard to digest at all.

Today is different. Healing physical ailments is just that. Physical. Patients often feel as though they're merely a number picked out of a basket and hastily taken care of without regard to their feelings. Medicine has to acknowledge the validity and study more closely age-old practices such as the medicine wheel, astrology, psychology, and what I'll simply term as "earth" medicine (which includes the healing power of stones, numbers, plants, diet, living environment, prayer, music and others) and how it pertains to modern times if they truly wish to prevent and cure illnesses.

I say these uncomfortable things to you because in many ways we (including myself) have become like livestock, plodding onward, never asking or seeking deeper answers to how daily existence should really be. We disregard intuition for fact. And

not only do we let ourselves be led to the slaughterhouse, we even put our heads to the axe with our lifestyles.

Things will change. I see hope.

Burgeoning new attitudes that are put in people's minds by the Creator will one day manifest themselves externally and let us see world love once again. In my travels across the country, I have seen this subtle change of heart. It is happening now.

Really, I do not think it unrealistic to conceive of an era ahead where education, social life, cities and smaller human populations can blend in harmony with (for those wishing to live at least occasionall that way) wild spaces, traditional hunting and gathering, country life and values. And all this with nearly zero-per-cent pollution discharge or effect. Guess we'll just have to make the necessary changes.

Young men's minds can, at times, be diffuse. Nevertheless I tell you in all clarity: The more we advance technologically and neglect our roots, the stronger the pull will become to go back to them. We need a blend.

Time is circular (as we Native people see it). Visualizing this future does not mean regression or trying to turn back time, but indeed advancing forward to a different, evolved version of what humanity once was.

So my friend, do not wait for someone else to initiate. Begin now what you think should be done. If you wait until the right moment you'll wait forever. The power of genius and God lies within yourself regardless of your past. All of us will feel much safer if you do take action.

How can you be sure your intuitions are righteous? Ask the Lord and he will tell you. Make sure you address yourself specifically to the one you want though -- another is listening.

Just a thought to think over. Try dividing the word "history" in two and you'll find "his story", not ours.

We need a blend.