Men’s Action will take a new direction. Part of the decision to alter course comes from the realization that in addition to my having written two books on gender this website has more than 100 of my essays, and more that six hours of streaming videos explaining and/or illustrating the principle of gender. If a person reads all the material that I have generated concerning gender, I doubt that adding a few more essays would alter his thinking on the subject. Therefore, this decision to move on with the knowledge at hand to expanded areas of understanding and application.
A shift in direction would not mean changing the message, but would instead alter its focus from an emphasis on the principle of gender to the practical application of this principle in our lives. Also, it would be beneficial to show the principle of gender in operation outside of the confines of Indo-European thought. By saying this I do not mean to denigrate in any way the positive spiritual teachings that have come from the East; however, peoples in Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific also had an understanding of gender, the need to respect mother earth and to worship God. I would like to touch on their social mores, traditions, and customs as part of an illustration of the universal understanding of gender and the respect that it develops for the earth and the power that created it.
As a person born in the United States I am particularly interested in the values, customs and mores that existed in this land before the arrival of the European. American education and media influence portrays the indigenous peoples of America—whom I shall refer to as Indians—as savages who attacked our wagon trains and in general tried to inhibit the natural progress of the Western world.
This essay and perhaps others to follow will contain some of the teachings, beliefs, and practices of those who roamed this land before us. As a basis from which to judge this material I recommend that you review my essay Cubists, which I have linked here.
The first selection is the words of George Copway (Kahgegagahbowh) of the Ojibwe.
I was born in Nature’s wild domain! The trees were all that sheltered my infant limbs, the blue heavens all that covered me. I am one of Nature’s children. I have always admired her. She shall be my glory: her features, her robes, and the wreath about her brow, the seasons, her stately oaks, and the evergreen—her hair, ringlets over the earth—all contribute to my enduring love of her.
And wherever I see her, emotions of pleasure roll in my breast, and swell and burst like waves on the shores of the ocean, in prayer and praise to Him who has placed me in her hand. It is thought great to be born in places, surrounded with wealth—but to be born in Nature’s great domain is greater still!
I would much more glory in this birthplace, with the broad canopy of heaven over me, and the giant arms of the forest trees for my shelter, than to be born in palaces of marble studded with pillars of gold! Nature will be Nature still, while palaces shall decay and fall in ruins.
Yes, Niagara will be Niagara a thousand years hence. The rainbow, a wreath over her brow, shall continue as long as the Sun and the flowing of the river—while the work of art, however carefully protected and preserved, shall fade and crumble into dust.
The following is from Chief Santana of the Kiowa
I love the land of the buffalo and will not part with it.
I want my children raised as I was; I don’t want them to settle. I love to roam over the prairies. There I feel free and happy, but when we settle down we grow pale and die.
Lastly we find the words of Wovoka of the Paiute
You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mothers bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.
You ask me to dig for stones. Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born again.
You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it, and to be rich like white men but how dare I cut my mother’s hair?
I want my people to stay with me here. All the dead men will come to life again. Their spirits will come to their bodies again. We must wait here in the homes of our fathers and be ready to meet again in the bosom of our mothers.
These three selections show the love of the Indian for mother earth. They respect her and do not abuse her. Material accumulation is not a desire of theirs. They believe they live in an abundant world that has been given freely to them.
I hope you enjoyed reading the above. Subsequent essays will focus on the ethics and social etiquette of the American Indian.
E.G.
