I’d like to point you to a really good video on honoring indigenous knowledge. It is a talk, a conversation between Connor Ryan and Tiokasin Ghost Horse. I’ll have a link to it down in my video and in the description. There’s also a link on my website, mprimer.com. They do a lot of talking about how the English language really does not describe anything except separation—how just the nouns and the way things are put together just literally create separation out of everything. This separation is then in our minds, influencing our thoughts, and we get so caught up in thinking that our descriptions of reality are reality, and that everything is separate.
They do a really good job of describing how that is. But most importantly, as you watch it, notice the relationship between the two speakers. It’s a younger man and an older man, and the way they honor each other and listen to each other as they try to use English to describe something that cannot be described with English is very heartwarming and uplifting. You can literally watch the older man lifting the younger man up through the conversation, and it’s kind of like they’re discovering something together. We see this so rarely in the way that conquering cultures, like white people, speak to each other. We don’t really listen; we pretend to listen. I mean, we even have workshops on how to listen, right? But we don’t honor what’s really going on.
Lots of times, the person you’re listening to is not worth listening to—people who are just constantly complaining and blaming. So, it’s two ways. You watch how the younger man is really settling himself into a culture that he was not raised in because he was raised in the regular United States culture, but how he has settled himself down into this place of reality and truth. He is using his ability to be with that to let knowledge and wisdom grow in himself.
So, watch not just to listen to what they say but to observe how they say it. It’s rare for us to see this quality of human interaction. I recommend it.