Indigenous Science and Spirituality (Cajete, Native Science, 2000)

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Indigenous Science and Spirituality (Cajete,
Native Science, 2000)

• 1. Essence of Indigenous Spirituality
• Belief in the sanctity of personal and community
  relationships to the natural world
• Spirituality is found in stories, art, and ways
  of relating in community
• Creativity
• i.e., Indigenous spirituality sees creativity
  as ubiquitous in nature and human creativity as
  part of that larger creativity in nature.
• Nature is seen as a dynamic, ever-flowing river
  of creativity. (p. 15)

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2. Some Principles of Native Science and
Spirituality

• Engagement and Receptivity
• Respectful and Caring Relationship to The Land
• Animism Everything in nature, even things
  like rocks that western science regards as
  inanimate, is active and has its own energy and
  its own unique intelligence and creative
  process.
• Harmonious Relationships
• Intersubjectivity
• Participation.

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3. Indigenous Creation Myths

• Tend to emphasize human participation with the
  creative forces of the universe
• Involve a natural democracy (equality) whereby
  humans are not privileged as dominant over other
  beings.
• Often involve humans moving through stages
  (evolution / journey
• Humans are often seen as co-creators, but no more
  important than other co-creators
• Often involve the trickster (e.g., raven or
  coyote) or the cultural hero, who are
  intelligent, possesses supernatural powers, and
  are often 2-sided
• Often involve rather fluid lines between humans
  and other animals,
• as each could
• transform into the
• other.

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4. Vehicles for Transmitting / Accessing
Indigenous Scientific Knowledge

• Ceremonies
• Vision quests
• c) Myths and Stories

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5. Indigenous Art General Introduction

• The Indig artist selects the features that are
  the essence and vitality of the phenomenon being
  portrayed, and expresses those features in the
  chosen medium.
• Thus, the aliveness of the artefact, rather
  than its beauty, is the primary aesthetic
  criterion.
• has a ceremonial dimension that is sacred and
  transforms the artist at the very core of his
  being (p. 46.) Thus, the process of making
  the art is much more important than the product.
• Apprenticeship is the primary means for learning
  a particular art form.

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6. The Essential Cosmological Clash

• What is Cosmology? - deep-rooted
  understandings of human-ness and our place in
  the universe.
• What is The Essential Cosmological Clash
  ? between egalitarian Indigenous
  worldviews that regard all things as
  having rights,
• and the hierarchical western notion that
  humans have a special place in the
  universe that gives us rights (dominion)
  over and above other parts of Creation.
• Dysfunctionality Crisis of W. Cosmology