This is ancient Indigenous wisdom at its most urgent contemporary pitch. Author Blair Stonechild is a member of the Muscowpetung First Nation in Saskatchewan and a wonderful writer. A residential school survivor, his first sentence is “I have had an interest in spirituality ever since I was a child in Indian residential school, where I experienced countless hours of Christian religious indoctrination.” He brings many personal experiences to bear, demonstrating how explorers, missionaries, and anthropologists have set out to dismantle Indigenous peoples and spirituality.
A professor at First Nations University of Canada for several decades, Stonechild’s message needs to be heard. He offers nothing less than a reinterpretation of the history of the world from an Indigenous perspective. Perhaps it is only because his books, including this one, have been published by small and scholarly presses in Canada that more people are not aware of his work.
Stonechild coins a word, “ecolization,” to replace “civilization,” for a time to come when human beings recognize “that they are not the central purpose of creation, remain grateful for the opportunity to experience physical life, and continue to obey the Creator’s 'original instructions.' ” This is not idealism, but a corrective to what Stonechild says has long-been an apocalyptic view held by Indigenous people: that western and European-origin attitudes, philosophies, and actions are rapidly destroying the earth. One powerful, essential section of the book begins with the sentence, “Indigenous Elders have been warning of a coming reckoning.”
Stonechild points to mythologies that abound in the history of the United States, effectively turning the tables on people who themselves look to Indigenous cultures as little more than a source of interesting, quaint “myths” from the past. “The first myth is that God condoned the discovery and dispossession of the New World.” And, “A second myth is that Aboriginal Peoples were barbarous and needed to be saved by a superior civilization.” There are others. He summarizes: “These mythologies are built into the American Constitution.”
In contrast to all that ails us and our world, Stonechild emphasizes how Indigenous spirituality possesses a “subtle power” to keep humanity “in a healthy relationship with the world.”
Uniquely, the solution to our dire straits, according to Stonechild, is spirituality, not political will. “We have largely lost pragmatic understanding of how the power of spirituality can nurture and heal,” he writes, and we urge everyone to read the last three chapters of his book for how spirituality is the only viable path. That’s the name, in fact, of the final chapter of this book. (You can start with the excerpt accompanying this review.)
Go Deeper:
Native American Tradition: Curated books, e-courses, films, spiritual practices, and more to help you live simply, sustainably, and with intention.
Spiritual Practice Toolkit: A wide variety of practices, inspired by all the religious and spiritual traditions, for what’s happening in your life today.
