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1/ I’ve been savoring Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer for over a yr.—typically, I devour books, often in one sitting. This one demands meditation, thought, visceral connection. It reminds me of the wisdom of the elders from growing up on the Rez...
1/ I’ve been savoring Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer for over a yr.—typically, I devour books, often in one sitting. This one demands meditation, thought, visceral connection. It reminds me of the wisdom of the elders from growing up on the Rez...
2/ ...in northern MT, not a typical experience for a skinny little white kid from the South. My dad worked for BIA and we moved there in 1967, when I was a toddler. We left in 1976, a month before my 12th birthday. This, however, is not what is important. What is important is...
3/ ...what became ingrained in me, without my even being aware. The Elders taught us kids many things, & Braiding Sweetgrass reminded me to bring them back to my conscious awareness. Modern society has removed us from Nature, from the teachings of the ancestors, from connection.
4/ We MUST not continue to ignore this wisdom that EVERY Indigenous people understands intuitively and observationally after 1000s of years living in an ecosystem. It’s time to drop the condescension, the hubris, and start LISTENING and LEARNING from these ecological experts.
5/ This is what is keeping me awake tonight. This wisdom tells us these things (& I ask any elders or indigenous people to add to and correct me if I get anything wrong—it’s based on my experience & memory from the gifts I received growing up):
6/ -Plan for the 7th generation. Consider how your choices could impact your grandchildren’s grandchildren.
-Give thanks.
-Take only what you need, leave the 1st one you see.
-Use all of what you take. Waste nothing.
-Treat everything w respect. Tread lightly.
-Give thanks.
-Take only what you need, leave the 1st one you see.
-Use all of what you take. Waste nothing.
-Treat everything w respect. Tread lightly.
7/-Watch and learn from the animals. Take your time to know them.
-Everything has a purpose.
-Everything has a Spirit and is connected.
-Imbalance in 1 place is imbalance everywhere.
-“Good communities don’t make themselves” (from Braiding Sweetgrass)
-Everything has a purpose.
-Everything has a Spirit and is connected.
-Imbalance in 1 place is imbalance everywhere.
-“Good communities don’t make themselves” (from Braiding Sweetgrass)
8/ -Healing is physical, mental, & spiritual. If you neglect one aspect, it will be incomplete.
-Cooperation yields stronger results in the long-term than competition.
-Every experience is an opportunity to learn.
-You can be a scientist, poet, and mystic all at the same time.
-Cooperation yields stronger results in the long-term than competition.
-Every experience is an opportunity to learn.
-You can be a scientist, poet, and mystic all at the same time.
9/-A sense of place and belonging are essential to happiness, even if you are nomadic.
-The system provides abundantly when it’s healthy and in balance.
-Death is part of the cycle. It is our duty to honor all the stages of the cycle. When we lose anyone, it changes the system.
-The system provides abundantly when it’s healthy and in balance.
-Death is part of the cycle. It is our duty to honor all the stages of the cycle. When we lose anyone, it changes the system.
10/ -Energy flows through everything. Our behavior and emotions affect the energy we put out and receive back. Shift that energy and we shift what we receive.
-Attuning ourselves to the seasons helps us stay in harmony w the world around us.
-Attuning ourselves to the seasons helps us stay in harmony w the world around us.
11/ Obviously, a short tweet cannot adequately explain the wisdom of 1000s of generations, nor do I claim to fully understand it all.
My point is that scientists need to be more holistic less mechanistic in their approach to the complex questions we face.
My point is that scientists need to be more holistic less mechanistic in their approach to the complex questions we face.
12/ we have much to learn from the elders.
13/ And, what’s fascinating to me is how often things our ancestors knew are proven right by science, for example:
-acupuncture taps into microchannels in our skin: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2005290109600029
-a bioelectric field surrounds every living thing: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2017.00627/full
-acupuncture taps into microchannels in our skin: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2005290109600029
-a bioelectric field surrounds every living thing: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2017.00627/full
14/ The 2 things cited are fairly recent discoveries, yet acupuncture is ~3000 yrs old. It’s important to remember that, just because we can’t measure something doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t exist. It means our instruments are not sophisticated enough to measure it.
15/ so much more to think, say, and learn about this topic...
