Saturday evening, I went to the Barnes and Noble bookstore on the Plaza in an effort to just look around and "kill some time", as it were. I wasn't really looking for anything to buy.
I ran across a pretty wonderful, unusual book for me and, I'd bet, for a lot of Americans.
It is "The Wisdom of the Native Americans" compiled and edited by Kent Nerburn. Mr. Nerburn, according to the book jacket "spent several years working with the Ojibwe of Northern Minnesota, helping collect the memories of their tribal elders.
It has a great deal of good information in it, I think, about a vastly important and horribly overlooked people and the ways of their life.
In days to come, I'm going to, no doubt, be sharing some of the book with you here, in little bits and pieces but I was most immediately struck with how different their society was with our own, that of the "White Man", with this chapter on "Poverty and Simplicity":
We original Americans have generally been despised by our white conquerors for our poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that our religion forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury. To us, as to other spirtually-minded people in every age and race, the love of possessions is a snare, and the burdens of a complex society a source of needless peril and temptation.
It is simple truth that we Indians did not, so long as our native philosophy held sway over our minds, either envy or desire to imitate the splendid achievements of the white race. In our own thought we rose superior to them. We scorned them, even as a lofty spirit absorbed in its own task rejects the soft beds, the luxurious food, the pleasure-worshipping dalliance of a rich neighbor. It was clear to us that virtue and happiness are independent of these things, if not incompatible with them.
Furthermore, it was the rule of our life to share the fruits of our skill and success with our less fortunate brothers and sisters. Thus we kept our spirits free from the clog of pride, avarice, or envy, and carried out, as we believed, the divine decree--a matter profoundly important to us.
And we thought them ignorant.
As many have said,, we thought them "savages."
What fools we've been.
Too many of us still don't know enough about these people, sadly, horribly. We have so much we could--and still should--learn from them.
Links: http://kentnerburn.com/my-books
http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Native-Americans-Kent-Nerburn/dp/1577310799
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2 comments:
I'll be checking up on this one. I'm an Indian nut. When I was a kid I wanted more than anything to be an Indian. I listen to Native American music often. I loved Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman.
I'm be willing to bet I'll be buying this, especially if it's a Nookbook.
Donna,
For pity's sake, when I'm done with it--and it won't be long as it is an easy read--I'd be happy to send you my copy. There are some notes on the inside front cover and some things I've circled and underlined but it's pretty unobtrusive. I'll let you know. It could be particularly good for a few of these cold winter days.
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