In the film Avatar the Na’avi, natives of the moon Pandora, try to live at one with the spirit of all living things. When hunting a prayer of thanksgiving is offered to the prey, in gratitude for it’s life, a life given up that they may live. The Na’avi see this as the purpose for which the creature was created, and its death as a release into the eternal realm. So a clean kill is important; no unnecessary suffering should be inflicted.
This reminded me of lessons I learnt last summer in Vancouver and Mount Whistler in Canada. This is where the winter Olympics were held, and the world was welcomed to them by the Chiefs of four local tribes, the Squamish and Lilwatul, the Tseil Weattuth and Muscheam people.
They are hundreds of tribes spread across Canada and the United States, and are now called the First Nations, rather than Red Indians, because they were in North America first. Their ancestors crossed over the land bridge that joined Asia to North America 10 thousand years ago. Ever since then these people have been living as close to nature as possible, and doing so sustainably. If they had not, they would have died out. They have survived, in the forests and prairies and mountains in often very challenging conditions, by respecting and understanding the cycles and networks of life. They know the need to be at one with the natural world, of which we are a part. So a hunter told me how he would offer up a prayer of thanksgiving when he had a deer in his sights, and leave a thank-offering of tobacco at the site of the kill. The deer would be shot for food, but every part of its body that could be used would be used, its skin, antlers, bones and guts. This is a sign of respect. A life had been taken, and no part of its body should be wasted.
The coastal people around Vancouver use cedar bark to make baskets and decorative ritual clothing, and waterproof hats (they live on the Pacific coast, in a rainforest). To get the bark they make a horizontal cut in the tree, ease and then pull. They restrict the initial cut to two hands’ breadths, so that no irretrievable damage is done to the tree, even though the pull can bring a strip of bark five, ten or fifteen metres long. They also offer and prayer of thanks to the tree and leave a tobacco offering. If you receive, you give. All living things, even plants, are to be treated with respect.
Many of the First Nations (and there are over 150 in British Columbia alone) are divided into clans identified with either the Bears, Beavers, Wolves, Crows, Eagles, Frogs, or Orca among whom they live. The totem poles identify and honour these creatures. All are bound together in the essential sustaining networks of life, where none are self-sufficient. We need each other. Scientists such as Edward O. Wilson, one of the world’s leading biologists, have been telling us so for years But this is how these people have survived for thousands of years.
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Sadly, disastrously, this way of life, this bone deep practical spirituality, expressed in their languages, symbols and rituals was denounced by the incoming Christian settlers. The First Nations all spoke of the Great Father, Creator of all, and of the Spirit that brings and sustains life, but the white Churches could not see this spirituality as Christian; and that which was not seen as Christian was presumed to be satanic. The Canadian government and Churches tried to wipe this tradition and spirituality out by compelling families to give up their children to residential schools where they were not allowed to speak in the native tongue or use any of the traditional expressions of their original religion, faith or spirituality. They almost succeeded. And this oppression, carried out for over a century, damaged these ancient communities profoundly. Cut off from their roots, estranged from their families, many succumbed to addiction and mental illness. Even though the last residential school closed over 20 years ago the incidence of alcoholism, drug abuse, mental illness, homelessness and imprisonment today among First Nations are still well above the national average, or the average for any other ethnic groups.
Over the last twenty years, however, there had been a change.
These deeply rooted spiritual virtues have been recognised and their expression in story telling, art and ritual have been encouraged and valued The start of the Winter Olympics symbolised this recognition, when the opening ceremony was introduced by the four nations of the Vancouver/Whistler territory, and their native art and symbols were displayed and celebrated. Amazingly, despite the abusive treatment these people suffered for generations in the hands of the Christian churches, many of them are still Christian. During my sabbatical last year I stayed at the Vancouver School of Theology, which hosts the Native Ministries Consortium and its annual Summer school when 1st Nation Christians teachers and priests come from all over North America. I was fortunate enough to share in their feasting, teaching and worship. I heard some of their stories, some of their deeply truthful ‘myths’ and legends, and contemporary ‘teaching stories’. I visited the Squamish and Lilwatul Cultural Centre in Whistler Village, along with other museums and galleries, to understand more of their traditional crafts and art forms, and the practical and spiritual understanding that shapes them and has guided these people for thousands of years, helping them survive, despite all that nature and ‘civilisation’ has thrown at them.
We need their wisdom today. That point was made by Jamie Oliver, at the end of his televised culinary tour of America last year. His last visit was to the Navaho, in Arizona. These people lived on their blue corn and sheep for centuries, but the white invaders took their land, and killed their sheep - in living memory they wiped out their flocks. Jamie saw how the Navaho elders were trying to preserve their ancient way of life, and educate their children and grand children in it.
It is so similar to that of their cousins far to the North. It is about reverence for creation, for the land, and for all living creatures. Managing with what you have, being thankful for it, and making the very most of it. It is a sustainable way of living, refined over millennia. Having seen so much of the contemporary American way of life, Jamie concluded by saying that the Americans have so much to learn from the wisdom of the people whose land they stole. And so do we.
While I was in Vancouver I was put in touch with the David Suzuki Foundation, one of the oldest and most respected institutions researching and campaigning on ecological issues. They were hoping to reach out through faith communities in the Vancouver area, and had heard of IDEA’s work. I was invited to talk with their trustees, staff and volunteers about our work, and took along with me Rabbi Robert Daum, Ph.D. the director of Iona Pacific: Inter-Religious Centre for Social Action, Research and Contemplative Practice, newly created at the Vancouver School of Theology. He was the person they really needed to work with. But networks working the way they do, it took a conversation I had with a Canadian ecologist at a wedding near Guildford, and who was a friend of Lindsay Coulter, the Queen of Green and public face of the Suzuki Foundation in Vancouver, for that connection to be made.
The threat of climate challenge is a profound spiritual challenge. And whatever happens to our climate our way of live is out of kilter. It is not sustainable. We bear responsibility toward our planet, to every living creature, and to our children and our children’s children.
We need to seek, value and share whatever wisdom we can find.
