MOTHER EARTH, FATHER SKY: NATIVE AMERICANS AND WESTERN CULTURE
Copyright 1997 by Love Ministries, Inc.
Worthville, KY
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Ancient Near and Middle Eastern peoples developed pantheons of gods, ranging in rank from the "high" or major god to minor, subservient, or even evil deities. A plethora of gods was recognized by Assyrian, Chaldean, Egyptian, and early Hebrew cultures. Native Americans never developed a formal pantheon, although they did tend to personify spiritual forces and energies, especially those that animated the animal world, and those that produced natural phenomena.

Nevertheless, some tribes do have intriguing myths about the "people of the sky" visiting, and even inter-marrying with, native peoples. Quetzalcoatl, a blond, blue-eyed deity, was an example, and became a legendary character and a god to those who came later. Western Europeans, and later North Americans, emphasized and assumed that they had a special place in the minds of the gods, or of God, and that therefore all history was about them, and belonged to them.

DEATH.

The supernatural denouement of the historical process for Western peoples was everlasting life. In the Greek Christian texts, Christ promised "eternal" life to his followers, but the word "eternal" is not quite the same as "everlasting." Instead of a perpetual continuity in time, "eternal" implies something that exists outside of the time-framework altogether, and is more accurately understood as "timeless"; this is, in fact, the literal meaning of the Greek adjective used in the Scriptures. That word is aionian, and it implies a timeless state of consciousness that could exist at any time during the lifespan.

It was the Greeks who first developed the idea of the immortality of the soul, which Plato, like native Americans, linked to reincarnation.
While the afterlife of native peoples often resembled their natural lives, without the problems inherent in nature, the afterlife of the average Westerner might too closely resemble suburban America. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between, or in combination. One thing is certain: The death-experiences of thousands of people indicate that death is a sweet, joyful, blissful, tranquil experience, without fear. Paradoxically, most Christians still tend to regard death as the very worst thing that can happen. Their fear of death has traditionally been greater than that of native peoples. Psychologically, this might be relevant to the strong individuality of the Western mind, while the native mind tends to see the individual as a part of a larger group, functioning within a larger systemic context of community. ("Community," of course, shares a root with "communion." Both imply a kind of oneness among, or unification of, members.)

Among native peoples, death tends to be embraced as a part of the natural flow of life, while it has oddly come to be seen by Western peoples as unnatural, even evil-- as if it were avoidable. Some cults even promise the continuity of physical life forever in a material body, so immense is the terror of death.
One of the most sacred of Christian traditions, baptism, is said to represent or symbolize a kind of "death" to the old self and a rebirth as a new Self of spirit. Baptism was seen by many as a kind of "automatic" entry into the kingdom of heaven after death, a mechanical salvation-process. Thus, priests used to accompany soldiers, so as to baptize people right before the soldiers slaughtered them.

Shortly after the time of Jesus, Christianity became only a kind of control-mechanism for large groups, and rapidly evolved into a complicated political and economic force in Europe. This contrasted vividly and starkly with the simple message of love, peace, and forgiveness, as well as the life of simplicity, taught by the master Jesus. So, because Christianity was seen as a power-system, in which men fought for greater influence and wealth, it had virtually negligible effects on the lives of most of its adherents, who were anything but lovers of humanity. It allowed for, and even supported, the widespread exploitation and even genocide of native peoples.

Christianity thus served to alienate people from the natural world, and thus from death. For when insulated from nature, people easily forget that they are apart of it. God ceased to be associated with nature and her processes, as when natives personified "mother Earth" and "father Sky." Instead, God came to be associated, rather outrageously, with material accumulation, wealth, and power. God thus most approved of the richest, and was most pleased with those who had the largest and best churches. These ostentatious structures are still being constructed, at the cost of millions of dollars, while people are going hungry; meanwhile, ministers whine about not getting enough money from followers, who often send in their social security checks and end up living on dogfood.

This kind of detachment from the natural world had hideous consequences. For example, a down-grading of the physical body allowed the atrocities of the Inquisition, in which people were tortured to death for the good of their "souls." The beauty and sacredness of the physical body had been lost completely to these myopic religious extremists.

While some native traditions such as the "Sun Dance" show a similar disregard for the holiness of the physical body, this was an exception, while in Western Europe a devaluation of the physical body was the rule. Sexuality was especially feared and despised, as it was labelled as debased or unclean by Christian fanatics.
Among native people generally, by contrast, the body was seen as clean, pure, even sacred. And death, as the natural and inevitable termination of the body, was embraced as a natural process, seen throughout nature. But instead of being viewed as a horrifying end to existence, it was presented as a transition to a continued life in a spiritual form. "There is no death," said Chief Seattle, "only a change of worlds." Still, in the native way of death, immortality was not as important as integrity; in other words, the way in which a man died was more important even than his survival of death. (To die the "death of a man" was to die with courage, and especially to die for principle.)

PERSONALITY.

Western people tend to think of "religious" aspects of life as containing strong alterations of personality. Native religions, while stressing the higher virtues for all people, do not so strictly separate "religion" from the rest of life as a changer of personality. A man or woman is expected to live wisely, kindly, and peacefully all the time, as these good characteristics are seen as intrinsic to human nature itself. Similarly, in traditional mysticism, one undergoes a kind of "death" to one's former self, and the new Self is identified with spirit itself, producing the "fruit of the spirit," including love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, and related qualities. But the value of mystical or genuine, gnostic Christianity should never in any way be judged by the "fruit" of traditional, organized, or orthodox historical Christianity, which often bears neither relationship nor resemblance to it.

For in its most basic definition, the Christian Way is not just the acceptance of the historical Jesus as "the" Savior; that is often simply the cult of Jesus, popularly mistaken for Christianity. Instead, the true Christian Way is the practice of universal love, which includes not only all people of all races and religions, but all the sun, moon, all stars, all nature, and especially living creatures and mother Earth. Further, this Way is not dependent upon or defined by the culture in which it exists. At any rate, it is clear that no one who has ever lived the Way has ever indulged in assertive or offensive violence or deliberate evil.

Those who follow the Way also speak up for that which is good and moral, and against that which is immoral. Deloria points out that Billy Graham was so ensconced in the "back pocket" of the political machine that he never once denounced the Vietnam war as evil or immoral. This is a major problem, and divides orthodox "Christianity" from the Way of Christ. Another important difference is that the orthodox church has devoted much of its time and resources to the creation of fear, while the Way replaces fear with love.

Like native American tradition, the Way does not judge people by their embracing of some intellectual belief, as if these human works could guarantee salvation, and their absence damnation. True, mystical Christians recognize no "heretics," but understand that the universe and Mind behind it are enormously complex and intricate, interwoven of thousands of billions of trillions of strands, and that human beings sort these out to the best of their abilities; but no one knows everything.

During the "vision quest," at its highest manifestation, people seek a mystical experience of, or union with, the great Spirit. Yet in some vision quests, nothing at all may appear to happen; in others, some great psychological break-through might occur; in yet others, a new way of looking at the self or the world might be triggered, and this might develop incrementally after the vision, in one's daily life. It might also lead to a rather sudden shattering of one's old self-image, and the painful reconstruction of a new one. It can also change the course of one' life, and might demand sacrifice and some losses. At its best, it leads to detachment, an increasingly spiritual view, wisdom, inner strength, and increased patience.

Sitting Bull said, "It is not necessary for eagles to be crows," implying that each person has and must discover his/her own path on earth. Each person and group must discover to what he, she, or they are specifically called, and then find an appropriate pace. Chief Joseph was asked why his tribe had banned lighter-skinned missionaries, he replied, "They will teach us to quarrel about God.... We do not want to do that.... We never quarrel about the great Spirit. We do not want to learn that." The bickering and quibbling among Christians, each group wanting to prove itself exclusively "right," was bewildering to native Americans, who knew that there were innumerable "right" things that could be said about the great Spirit.

A Delaware chief understandably complained when ninety Christian natives had been slaughtered, even though they had already "converted" to the "right" religion. "These white men would be always telling us about the great book that God had given them. They would persuade us that every man was bad who did not believe in it. They told us a great many things which they said were written in the book, and wanted us to believe it. We would likely have done so, if we had seen them practice what they pretended to believe and [had they] acted according to the good words that they told us. But no; while they held the big book in one hand, in the other, they held murderous weapons, guns and swords where with to kill us poor Indians." So, native Americans learned the hypocrisy and utter futility of a religion based upon legalistic writings and laws, based on Scriptures rather that on principles arising from the heart of love. The chief continues, "They killed those who believed in their book, as well as those who did not. They made no distinctions." This evil could have permitted only by a short-sighted, retarded Christianity that worshipped the ancient war-god Jehovah; it could not have been permitted by the hearts of those who worshipped and followed the inner love-principle or love-nature.

Red Jacket said, "You say that there is but one way to worship and to serve the great Spirit.... [Our way] teaches us to be thankful for all favors that we receive, to love each other, to be united. We never quarrel about religion, because it is a matter that concerns each man and the great Spirit. ... These [lighter-skinned] people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has on them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will consider again what you have said." Unfortunately, in far too many cases, the natives discovered that the principles of the Christian religion were held only as an impossibly high ideal, and no one worked to live up to them. In most cases, Christianity did not make people better or more honest, or even less violent.

A Western guide of 1911 said of the tribes: "I tell you, I never saw any more kindness or real Christianity anywhere. The poor, the sick, the aged, and widows and orphans were always looked after first....I was treated like a brother, and I tell you, I have never seen any community of church-people that was as really, truly Christian as that band of Indians.

GROUP-CONSCIOUSNESS.

Many fundamentalists see "salvation" as a process that involves the individual plus God, and no one else. As with material things, they might be caught in the attitude, "I've got mine, and that's all that really counts," forgetting entirely about the community-- particularly people of different faiths-- as if no one but the individual Christian mattered, or had any value or validity. This leads to a deterioration in the sense of ethics and morality in interpersonal relationships. It is also to ignore the sacredness of all other beings.

Today, however, every person who has any spiritual vision at all realizes that there is a world-wide interfaith communion of loving, compassionate, good persons. These constitute the real and genuine mystical "body of Christ," instead of that term's defining only a group of selected Christians who attend a particular church or believe some particular dogma about Jesus or God.

Plans to develop a Protestant "superchurch" have been sabotaged time and again by doctrinal, dogmatic, organizational, and administrative differences. Those who resist such a positive mass-movement find themselves languishing in the stagnant back-waters of Christianity. (Ultimately, there is no reason why this superchurch would not include Catholic Christians as well.)

In vivid contrast, the various native American tribal societies do not try to prove themselves "right," and every other tribal community wrong. For one thing, the subject matter is eternity, and thus is infinite. No one group claims to have all the answers to everything, and this humility is not only the most realistic, but also the most compassionate, approach to questions of spirituality. One of the reasons why native Americans are more unified than Christians is that they have no elite groups of spiritual "specialists," who parade and display themselves as being spiritually more elevated than others in the group. Their order lacks the administrative complexities of elders of various ranks, pastors, ministers, and priests. Religion is between each man and woman and the great Spirit.

MODERN CHRISTIANITY

Has far too often become a mere hand-maiden or servant to American culture and/or politics, rather than a force for leadership and guidance. Religion is obsessed with conformity and "relevance." In the seventies, the cult of Jesus underwent a strong revival as the "Jesus movement." This should not, however, be mistaken for Christianity. For a cult coalesces around a personality or physical human being in history, rather than forming around absolute, eternal truths. Christianity is a Way, the Way of Christ or Jesus, while the Jesus-cult speaks more often of him than of God, spirituality, truth, or even life-transformation. Even when change is indicated, it is implied that this has come about through the action of the resurrected man Jesus-- and the all-important factor of the Christ-nature, living potentially in the heart of everyone-- gets neglected.

While the Way of Christianity is tolerant and open-minded, the Jesus-cult is far too often marked by its absolutism, dogmatism, and intolerance.
In an attempt to make converts, and to make their faith "relevant" to the modern world, some fundamentalists have gone to extremes. They wanted to construct a theme-park called "Holy Land, USA" on the Alabama coast; it was to boast a 157-foot statue of Jesus, larger than the statue of Liberty. A church in Vermont installed a credit-card machine, so as to make "giving" easier. A church in Indiana owns a fleet of 108 buses to bring people directly to the doors of the church, guaranteeing a solid flow of people, and thus of money.

Money is a thinly-veiled motive of very much in modern Christianity. Oral Roberts left the fundamentalist Pentecostal church, becoming a Methodist, and a very successful and wealthy businessman. In 1972, a religious fundamentalist exposition in Dallas had a budget of nearly three million dollars
Religion has also become hopelessly entangled in politics, often due to egotism. The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr criticized Billy Graham for becoming the "chaplain" of the White House, and Graham made sure that he was photographed, often and proudly, with the "right" people, including, unfortunately for him, Richard Nixon. He also expressed his admiration for the "high morality" of Nixon, in another unfortunate episode of boot-kissing.

Of Bill Graham, Deloria writes, "Having never attended a seminary, he did not have the opportunity to study Christian history or doctrine, and no chance to be led astray by the facts." He also writes of Graham, "He apparently swallows almost all the traditional mythologies of American life without any critical analysis of whether they in fact relate to the Christian religion." Like other money-mad preachers, he used his influence to make a small fortune for himself, as other evangelists are doing through radio and tv. These right-wing fundamentalists tend to ignore social problems altogether, and thus do not fulfill the most important criteria of what it means to be "Christian." Graham, in ignorance, has led the way in ignoring these difficult sociospiritual dilemmas, and predicted in the seventies that they were evidence of the very close proximity of the "end of the world." The idea of Armageddon gets such preachers "off the hook," for they hide behind the impotent claim that "God" will solve human problems, overlooking the real fact that God always acts through human beings or other sentient life-forms.

These teachers also go out of their way to ignore the historical and scriptural evidence that Jesus spent much time and energy among the poor, minorities, and oppressed people. Jesus, it seems, makes them uncomfortable, especially when he tells the rich to sell all that they own, give to the poor, and follow him.
In this way, they can be said to promote suffering. But instead of using their time and energy to reject obvious evils, they choose instead to persecute harmless and often deeply spiritual people who are involved in native religions, meditation, astrology, and other metaphysical pursuits.

Thus, it is no surprise that they come across as fanatics. Carl MacIntyre, a right-wing worshipper of Jehovah, teaches that it is justifiable to kill one's "enemies," assuming that they are also enemies of God. The Lord of love, however, recognizes no one as his enemies, and this slippery slope led previously to genocide, war, torture, rape, murder, and general madness. These extremists thus betray their own paranoia and complete insanity.

Religions often depend upon the simple acceptance of a certain belief, and do not demand an accompanying change of personality or life-pursuits. These religions, sects, and cults, are doomed, from a historical perspective; for they are shallow and have no deep roots in the human psyche. So, although human beings might have a part of their lower nature satisfied by them, they have no staying power when it comes to the satisfaction of real spiritual needs.

NATIVE RELIGIONS IN AMERICA.

In 1887, the U.S. government banned the practice of native religions, a ban that was not lifted until 1934. Now, even the sacramental use of peyote has been made illegal. Now, even the leadership of the tribes has been radically contaminated by the political process. In old days, when religious values were held as sacred, a chief or leader was chosen because of his or her qualities and characteristics, including wisdom, peace, and a feeling for the sacred in all things. Now, however, they are elected, and the process is subject to all the contamination and corruption that marks it elsewhere. So, today, natives mistrust even their own leaders.
Nevertheless, healing constitutes a crucial aspect of native American faith. This healing extends to the very planet itself, as Christians and others have done almost nothing to save the earth, and in fact have raped and exploited the planet for greed.

SACRED PLACES.

Increasing rules and regulations controlling the uses of public lands have severely restricted native ceremonies. In this area of freedom, the Supreme Court has bull-dozed over the rights of native Americans. One reason for this might be the informality with which ceremonies are performed. Native American faith recognizes, usually, no formal priesthood. Deloria states, "Authorization to perform ceremonies comes from higher spiritual powers, and not by certification through an institution or any formal organization." Further, there are no lists of sacred areas respected or recognized by all, for any area in which the great Spirit has made itself known may be regarded as a sacred site.

A sacred site is also a place of ceremony. A ceremony is the source of progressive, continuing revelation of the great Spirit; it is the cosmos in the act of becoming aware of itself through human beings. Very often, a sacred site is a mountain or hill.

MODERN RELIGION.

Real Christianity, the Way of universal love, obviously harmonizes and agrees with the native American perception of the world as a sacred place. In both traditions, the natural world is seen as a manifestation and mirror of divine beauty. "Mother Earth" is one with "father Sky, " or "father Spirit," since both earth and sky are projections of the one holy Mind.

It is time to drop all prejudices on both sides, and to come into a harmony based upon mutual understanding and reciprocal respect. Everywhere in the modern world, open-minded and tolerant Christians are now coming to peaceful and joyful terms with other spiritual views, including astrology, reincarnation, Buddhist psychology, Hindu symbolism, and native natural spirituality. Since much of this tends to contradict the historical stand of the orthodox, organized church, these Christians have found the courage and inner beauty to turn away from that parochial, closed-minded institution. Many have taken the teachings of Jesus seriously, without getting caught up in the fanatical "Jesus cult." They see Jesus as a master, even a kind of shaman, but do not worship him as a human historical form. Their religious ancestors, they now perceive, were bound by fear-filled and fear-created superstitions which insisted on ascribing every unknown phenomenon to "evil spirits." In the lives of such people, Christianity is rapidly returning to its gnostic roots, as a divine experience of active love, rather than the adoption of arid, dead, withered intellectual doctrines. The very essence of Christianity, they now realize, is the experience of universal love as God, the mystical experience.

Seeing finally that God lives "in the heart" transforms the word "Christianity" from a description of a sect to a real Way. While some might complain that this makes Christianity generic, that is the point. Christianity was never made or meant to define a group of people who had joined a certain organized, exclusive church, but rather to describe people who had experienced unconditional, consistent, universal love in their hearts as a living God. Between these "Christians" and others, who have also experienced this God-love, in other traditions, no walls at all remain. There are no separative boundaries, no fences, among loving people, even if one speaks of divine love in terms of "God," "great Spirit," or "Christ-nature," or "love-nature." For that matter, this same love-nature could be described as "truest Tao," "nuclear unconscious," or "Brahma," and still have exactly the same meaning, expressed in various cultural terms and forms. When God is redefined as living, active love, then the problem of religious universal toleration is completely solved.

Unfortunately, many "Christians" are still dominated by the Jehovah-myth. This "god" is exclusive, an "either-or," "all or nothing," "black-and-white" thinker. This form of Christianity draws heavily from very ancient Hebrew tradition, and it is not at all open to other ways of viewing God. Fortunately, although infecting many Christians, this closed, exclusive view has almost no influence on modern Jews.

In time, a fuller and clearer explanation of mystical psychology will gradually help to clear up the problems created by mutually exclusive groups. True religion, at any rate, must be ecospiritual, involving plants, animals, and Mother Earth.

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For more information, see the book God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, by Vine Deloria (Golden, Colorado; Fulcrum Publishing, 1994)

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