Chapter Summary

When operating from the head we trust rational thought, and when operating from the heart we trust our senses. This chapter explores the differences that result from these two different ways of being. A trust in the senses causes American Indians to not only allow for a mystery to life, but to seek it out. In so doing their "religion" infiltrates every aspect of their life. Central to their understanding is the close connection between the human breath and the Creator.

Chapter 2

Dealing with Mystery

Language and Mystery

One of the primary functions of the head mode in any culture is to make sense of the surrounding world. The ways in which this can be accomplished are limited only by the human imagination. As such, that is what makes cultures differ from nation to nation, and each individual slightly different from anyone else. In our own culture we make sense of things mainly by means of explanations. They are a by-product of our rational mind. Our rational head-view of reality automatically wants to know that it knows--it comes with the turf. This tendency simply manifests as explanations for everything. The reverse of this is that we are usually neither quick nor comfortable in saying "I don't know" in regard to anything. However, when we can't explain something we call it a "mystery."

It is very difficult for us to understand that this inner realm of the human heart can be understood only through direct experience, and not learned in a secondhand manner from books, lectures, weekend workshops, research studies, etc. American Indians, on the other hand, have no problem in dealing with mysteries. For them life is full of mystery, and it's easy for them to say, "It's a mystery to me." As such, they are much less apt to create labels (maps) to explain things. They are more interested in how to benefit from such mystery than try to understand it. For example, they certainly know that one's heart mode of operation is the key to accessing the realm of medicine (mystery/spirit) powers. To this end they develop personal traits, such as trust, faith, conviction, and humbleness, that form the operating rules of the heart mode. For example, even shamans who "inherit" their medicine powers from another shaman still need to obtain spirit approval for their use. For those who undergo some form of preliminary training, the same holds true. They still need to directly experience this mystery of life, this unseen world, in order to "catch" a spirit. To this end they have dreams, vision quests, fasts, and other means for doing so. As such, they are trained to directly access this experience of the mystery versus rationally understand it.

The Gift of Breath

Recall from the last chapter that at the core of this heart realm resides the Creator. The deeper you go into your heart mode, the closer you get. Because American Indians are adept at accessing this deepest realm of our being, their understanding of the Creator is formed from their experience of It. So what they have to say about the Creator comes from their direct experiences of the Creator. One of the realizations that came with this was their distinction between "breath" and "the gift of breath." On the one hand there is the pumping in and out of one's lungs that creates the breath, and then there is a driving force that drives that pumping action. To them that force was divine in nature.

So we find that the American Indians remained quite clear about not trying to define God and the nature thereof. It was just not their view of things. Instead, they simply related their direct experiences of God, who appeared to them as many different helping spirit forms, all of which remained a mystery at its core. It was the Jesuits who went about selecting the most powerful helping spirits and then renamed them the "Great Spirit." For example, one Hopi term for Creator is ane himu, which translates as "Very Something." In fact, it is characteristic of many American Indian languages to take on a certain precaution with regard to making absolute decisions about reality. Where we will say, "That is a tree," the Hopi would prefer to say, "That appears to be a tree." To them objects are more fluid. So from the perspective that one is surrounded with mystery, such caution in the language is completely understandable. Nevertheless, the basis for this precaution will become even more obvious in the chapter covering the nature of reality as revealed by current physics.

Finally, let me return to the point made in the last chapter that American Indians never developed the habit of thinking all the time. When your attention is not focused on thinking it is focused on your surroundings. As pointed out, this gives them a considerable degree of clarity and awareness of what is going on at any moment in time. It also keeps them from becoming bored.

Indian Religions

So if we are basically focused on an outward journey in life that is attached to the material world, while American Indians are intently focused on an inward journey to the unseen world, how does our cultural world view (perspective on things) make them appear to us? Simply put, very religious! In fact, American Indian religious activity appeared so overwhelming to us that we simply dismissed it as the indians being very "superstitious," rather than ever wondering about the actual basis for such intensity. Here again, the map (our label "superstitious") is not the territory. The word "superstition" is not an explanation for what is occurring, only a label used to "understand" it.

The word "religion" is more of a "boxed thought" that does not apply to American Indian cultures. They have no organized religions as we conceive of the term. They had no cults that become more organized over time, perpetuating themselves by handing out rules to live by. (The major exception to this case may be the late mound builders from central and southeastern U.S., and there is good evidence they were going off track in regard to the rest of the American Indians with their temple building, human sacrifices, priest hierarchies, effigy-shaped mounds, etc.) Furthermore, what we label as their "religious activities" are really various individual power rituals designed to directly influence their reality in every way imaginable, from the simple act of individual amulet "feeding" to complex ritual healing ceremonies. Basically, what we call "American Indian religion" is really the total collective activity that surrounds their accessing and use of medicine powers. Naturally, the form of these rituals vary greatly such that in every native culture there are going to be many different forms appearing over time, depending on who has what powers for what medicines at any point in time.

Jon White summed it up as, "nor were there any Indian atheists, since religious feeling seems nowhere more instinctive to man than among primitive peoples, who believe that their entire welfare lies in religious observance and religious conformity." What we call "religious activities" then are simply techniques (such as drumming, praying, pipe smoking, vision questing, etc.) that were used for accessing one's heart center, and, in turn, medicine powers.

Clarity

Living life from the heart mode not only results in a fully religious life, it also produces a human being that is very much focused on the here and now. As pointed out in the last chapter, awareness of one's surroundings was a highly developed skill among American Indians. That is, there is a presence about them that is usually lacking in those who live life from the head mode. You can clearly see this in the way they carry themselves. They have a self-assurance and conviction that is rarely matched in this culture.

Another characteristic evoked by their heart mode is a different sense of time. That is, our world moves according to artificial time segmented out by our wristwatch. However, in human beings there is already a built-in time mechanism constantly running. It is the constant in and out of your lungs that moves with a very regular rhythm. And that is the timing mechanism used by American Indians, the one provided by nature. Do you not find it interesting that the Zuni end their prayers, not with an "Amen," but rather with a soft, inhale/exhale of their breath. Anthropologist Ruth Bunzel provided details, "Inhaling is an act of ritual blessing. One inhales from all sacred objects to derive benefit from their mana [medicine power]. At the end of any prayer or chant all present inhale; holding their folded hand before their nostrils, in order to partake of the sacred essence of prayer." When fully "in harmony," as the Navajo would say, on the inhale one goes inward to the Creator, and on the exhale one comes back to this time and space reality, over and over and over. Running on this inner clock also naturally energizes the body, and thus their "religious activities" are imbued with more emotion, intensity, physical action, etc. What we saw early on as their "wildness." Back in the 1930s after making a visit to the Southwest, D. H. Lawrence wrote that in "Indian religion everything is alive, not supernaturally but naturally alive." So their "religion" was also visibly powerful in their living of it.

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