Thursday, April 17, 2014

Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa) — From The Soul of the Indian

"The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury. To him, as to other single-minded men in every age and race, from Diogenes to the brothers of Saint Francis, from the Montanists to the Shakers, the love of possessions has appeared a snare, and the burdens of a complex society a source of needless peril and temptation. Furthermore, it was the rule of his life to share the fruits of his skill and success with his less fortunate brothers. Thus he kept his spirit free from the clog of pride, cupidity, or envy, and carried out, as he believed, the divine decree—a matter profoundly important to him….

"It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome. Its appeal is to the material part, and if allowed its way it will in time disturb the spiritual balance of the man. Therefore the child must early learn the beauty of generosity. He is taught to give what he prizes most, and that he may taste the happiness of giving, he is made at an early age the family almoner. If a child is inclined to be grasping, or to cling to any of his little possessions, legends are related to him, telling of the contempt and disgrace falling upon the ungenerous and mean man.

"Public giving is a part of every important ceremony. It properly belongs to the celebration of birth, marriage, and death, and is observed whenever it is desired to do special honor to any person or event. Upon such occasions it is common to give to the point of utter impoverishment. The Indian in his simplicity literally gives away all that he has, to relatives, to guests of another tribe or clan, but above all to the poor and the aged, from whom he can hope for no return. Finally, the gift to the 'Great Mystery,' the religious offering, may be of little value in itself, but to the giver's own thought it should carry the meaning and reward of true sacrifice….

"The true Indian sets no price upon either his property or his labor. His generosity is only limited by his strength and ability. He regards it as an honor to be selected for a difficult or dangerous service, and would think it shame to ask for any reward, saying rather: 'Let him whom I serve express his thanks according to his own bringing up and his sense of honor!'

"Nevertheless, he recognizes rights in property. To steal from one of his own tribe would be indeed disgrace, and if discovered, the name of 'Wamanon,' or Thief, is fixed upon him forever as an unalterable stigma. The only exception to the rule is in the case of food, which is always free to the hungry if there is none by to offer it. Other protection than the moral law there could not be in an Indian community, where there were neither locks nor doors, and everything was open and easy of access to all comers...."

THE SOUL OF THE INDIAN 
An Interpretation
By Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa)
(excerpted from section IV)
Project Gutenberg


5 comments:

Clonal said...

The potlatch is a respected part not only of many native american cultures, but also in the Indian (South Asian) culture.

The Vedantic text the Kathopanishad starts with one such ceremony

This was one way of leveling the playing field and to reduce inequality.

Tom Hickey said...

Right. An early mentor of mine pointed out that the hero in the modern world is the great accumulator, while the hero in the ancient world was the great distributor.

Matt Franko said...

Not bad Tom, but this is exemplary of the way the other half rolls:

"Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son." Gen 4:17

They dont want to live in tee-pees and chase the buffalo all around... they think they have a better idea... the west is "Cain Territory" where "man is the measure of all things" from my pov....

right now this system is not working very well as our majesterial people have lost all sight of man's authority... the empire does not function if Caesar thinks "we're out of money!"...

If we ever regain sight of our authority imo "you ain't seen nothin' yet" from this pov of the "tribal" side of Seth you identify here in the post... if we ever regain our knowledge of "modern money", we certainly are not going over to living in tee-pees, rather just the opposite with a vengeance imo...

Not taking sides here...

rsp,

Tom Hickey said...

Matt, that's a teaching story rather than an historical account. I don't know of any reputable scholars that think other wise. See The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture by Yoram Hazony, for instance.

Cain was one of the children of the first human couple in the Hebrew creation myth. After murdering his brother and being cursed by God, Abel Cain goes off to the land of Nod and builds a city. This stretches the historical imagination even presuming the story is consistent. Where did the people in the land of Nod come from? There were enough progeny of the first man and woman to build a city in one generation? Then, within the a few more generation they are using tools of bronze and iron (Gen. 4-19)?

Ohiyesa grew up as an Indian. Ohiyesa reports on Indian culture from firsthand experience. What he tells us about so-called primitive culture is a lot closer to Rousseau than Hobbes. The grasping and clinging doesn't start before the advent of surplus societies when there was a surplus to which to grasp and cling and workers (slaves) for a power structure to exploit in order to create it.

Interestingly, his mother's name was Wakantanka-win. Wakan means mystery also translated spirit, and tanka signifies great. She had spiritual name that signified being a child of God in our terms.

Roger Erickson said...

The voice of tribal logic in America will remain ignored as long as they're dismissed with such a ridiculously imposed name ... "Indians."

Native tribes,languages & cultures are as diverse as European nations ... which not too far back had an equal diversity of tribes/languages.