Encounters With Aboriginal Philosophers

An autobiographical history of how civil rights activists from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) formed the Committee for Traditional Indian Land and Life (TILL) to support protests by the Hopi and other Native American groups against exploitation and pollution of their lands by oil and mining. As the 1970s begin, an interracial family discovers a liberating philosophy in the harmonious spirituality of Hopi, Havasupai, and other traditional peoples. Encountering Hopi religion and culture opened their eyes and their lives to truth and peace in history, geography, philosophy, and spirit. But as author and wife and kids reject modern society to explore such a gentle, natural life, they must confront American Indian ghosts across the land. In a famous 1855 prophecy, Chief Seattle said that this modern civilization will not last, which is not really a prophecy but a recognition of a truism agreed upon by ancients and moderns alike: nothing in this world is permanent. This modern civilization will not last. Even the sun will burn out. Ancient and modern philosophers also agree that human actions can accelerate the natural process. The geometric increase in world population, industrialization, and contamination of the environment has brought more predictions today than ever before of an accelerated end. Aboriginal American philosophy sees Mother Earth as a living entity, which can be poisoned into the same moribund condition as Mars or the Moon.