Page 8 - Living Aloha Magazine 21 May April June 2017

LIFE meeting life

Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World by Jody Mountain

a drum beating FREEDOM

The compelling mass consciousness movement,
initiated by the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, grabbed me by the Soul.

Idle No More began in 2013 as a protest of Native Treaty and ‘succeed’ in life. Idle No More and the Standing Rock
Rights with the government of Canada. It has grown protests have shattered the mainstream perception of life,
into a full-blown uprising of Native People around the reminding us that we and the Earth are one symbiotic
world, environmental activists and individuals standing in Being, and giving us a powerful template for ‘sustainability’.
solidarity. This movement was the seed of the Indigenous
protests at the Standing Rock Sioux Nation in North Dakota, Sustainability, by Western definition, means living in a way
which has sparked worldwide support for environmental that allows our biological systems to remain diverse and
and Indigenous rights. This movement beckons a Paradigm productive indefinitely. In Aboriginal terms, it opens the
Change on many levels, beginning with the quality of our possibility of learning to relate to the Earth as the living
relationship to the water, air and land. It is a calling from our being that holds, nurtures and sustains us. Indigenous
Indigenous brothers and sisters to each of us, to remember peoples describe her as Mother Earth, and care for her with
what is important. They, who live with the land, with the the same love and respect that we would our own Mother.
memory of unity in their blood, are calling us to come back As we go through our daily lives, we may want to shift our
into alignment with our Humanity. They are asking us to frame of reference and observe our actions as if we were
move past our conditioning and social mores, settle into living on the body of a great being. The aboriginal world
a deeper knowing of who we are, and to act according to view expands the modern myopic vision that the Earth
this knowing. is here to serve our needs, and asks us to recognize that
Creation, in all it’s forms, is alive. Our traditional Indigenous
For many of us, the priorities in Life so far, may have been brothers and sisters have been living as models of
taken up with going to school, learning a trade, getting Sustainability since ancient times, by holding all as Sacred.
a degree and working to earn a living. We may keep Our Ancient Ancestors knew the land and human body/
working to maintain the status quo, make improvements, mind/spirit to be different expressions of the same Life.

8 COLUMNS Living Aloha | SUMMER 2017