^ European cultural mentality is self-evident
Of course it is unrealistic to expect we can live again as had been in the past; in modern times where our nations’ cosmos as we’d known them, no longer exist. The first step to experience any event other than altogether completed extinction, is to recognize our nations previous circumstance cannot be recovered. Any pretense to the contrary is a self-deceit. That was then, this is now and everything is changed. As the living clock moves to erase humanity as we know ourselves in the present, one should look at where might any possible remedy be within reach. To discover such an avenue would require the great mystery again recognize our value as a species.
That most changed has been our mentality, and certainly not for the better. Related to this, the European mentality which has overtaken us will end in one of three ways, in this order of possibility; 1) we will see this culture blow itself to bits, together with all the rest of humanity 2) social-environmental collapse will bring everyone down, no matter their role or possible intention or 3) self-dismantlement. Our duty is to work for this third, most remote possibility. To accomplish this, the first priority is to point as many people as possible (no matter the color of their skin) to disconnect from the grid. To disconnect absolutely will require recovering from the poison of the Western culture’s thinking.
The essential beginning would be renewed practical thinking that can be recognized as healthy by the cosmos. Without this, there is no future for any of the human species. In fact, without enough of this, there is no human future, no matter had some small communities accomplished a recovery or preserved some understanding of what it meant to ‘live in the clock’ where all had been balanced. This would require a lot of people. And you don’t get a lot of people with prejudices of whether someone is ‘White’ or ‘Cree.’ You arrive in that space by shutting out stupid people and opening to intelligent people, no matter their relationship to you, tribal affiliation or color of skin. Recreating a healthy cosmos would require solely people who understand how not to step on other beings lives. And that fact excludes many tribal people and includes people with no tribal affiliation. If there is any future people, it is those who can put European cultural mentality out of their lives, no matter their origins.
What would be the test? For those raised primarily in European culture, this will be a more difficult road; except for those in the native world who’d sold out altogether or have become too stupid to understand they’re stupid (perhaps the harshest reality.) The Europeans because they do not know how to be silent and listen (to nature.) And those natives who believe a Red skin makes them Indian (as opposed to the fact they are e.g. culturally Blackfoot-Americans little different to Irish-Americans.)
So, who among us native peoples will put television entirely out of our lives and the lives of our children? Who with more money will, instead of buying a new car, rather pay a native language granny to teach our pre-school children and the children of our neighbor without funds to do the same? Who will have the courage to stand up to the band councils and tell them ‘it’s going to be this way and now get out of our business’?
What Europeans would have the courage to pool their resources to buy land or other means to pull up fences and turn land back to the cosmos to mend, declaring it belongs to none other than life? And fight for the right to hand the land back, as well refuse their children educations intended to prop up a state that exploits with endless development? To be willing to have their children taught an alien language incorporating values far removed from Western Civilization and its historical ideals?
Who, between the two communities preceding, would have the courage to care for and depend on each other in a growing environment of trust where the White child is educated no differently to the Red; where the only idea worthy of spiritual reverence is the idea this world is not ours, it belongs to all life, where we have clearly demonstrated to step out of place is to step out of everything it could possibly mean to live in any positive way. And tell everyone else ‘there is no place here for stupid’
Even with all of this accomplished, it falls short, if you cannot clearly grasp your life is no more important than a beaver your ancestor either trapped or traded for. There are no innocent parties. So, what is consciousness? Certainly it is not the ‘self-aware’ preoccupied ego (‘it’s all about me’) of European concept. Consciousness is the gift of the cosmos to an entity that is an organism of many parts .. in which humans have become a cancer. Consciousness is nothing more and nothing less.
notes to follow-
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Cosmos & Cosmology Cross-cultural encroachment (1)
Cosmos & Environment Cross-Cultural encroachment (2)
Cosmos & The Nation Cross-cultural encroachment (3)
Cosmos & The Clan Cross-cultural encroachment (4)
Cosmos & The Family Cross-cultural encroachment (5)
Cosmos & The Self Cross-cultural encroachment (6)
Cosmos & Consciousness Cross-cultural encroachment (7)
Cosmos & Consciousness (notes)
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Life in Indian Country Essay collection
Ronald Thomas West 
Always thought provoking Ron. However I think the equilibrium with the cosmos that the ancestral societies had is not a condition to which mankind can return by forsaking technology and living off the grid. Somehow, if humanity is to survive and not be erased as another failed experiment in conciousness, a new balance must be achieved. This could include advanced technology as long as it is implemented in a sustainable way. This is much harder and I do not hold out much hope of us achieving it. Its going to be a rocky next few hundred years as the cosmos responds to our reckless and selfish raping of the planet, with severe environmental perturbations. As you say, the process of erasing us and moving on is already under way.
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Hi Paul. Thanks per always for your thoughts. I’ll look at this a bit more closely the ‘notes’ section (to follow.) But in short, I’d not be surprised to see the entire grid as we now know it, to go down in large pieces, nearly overnight. This could happen at anytime over the next decades and lots of ‘erasing’ take place without warning .. whether man-instigated or, if the premise of the ancient (pre-‘self-aware’ or ego-based) philosophy is correct; and the cosmos is an aware, sentient intelligence with powers of volition, then in due course of ‘natural’ events determined to accelerate matters. In that case, people who’d not moved in the direction of un-plugging from the grid are going to be ‘caught flat-footed’ as we say. Without the required skills and tools independent of artificially generated power, lots of people, masses of people, could be in serious trouble in fairly short order (my view.)
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I take your point, there’s probably a massive “correction” due which could knock out more than the grid. The intelligent ecological adaptation of technology is a most unlikely scenario, but still worth hoping for, I still pray my children will not have to cope with the dog eat dog situation of societal breakdown.
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Exactly Paul, it’s why at a badly beat up 64 years I’m pushing this stuff out instead of off the grid fishing. I’d like to think my kids and grand-kids will have options other than a cheesy Mel Gibson ‘Road Warrior’ future-
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