Page 32 - Perceptions papers

Although there are a wide variety of understandings of Spirituality, there are some concepts

that are shared. These concepts weren't decided through debate or from a conference of learned

religious leaders sitting down to discuss and figure out what Indigenous people should believe.

The shared understanding comes from thousands of years of observing the natural world around

us and from direct experience with Spirituality through Vision Quests, etc. Some of these shared

understandings include:

• There is one Creator, the Creator is in all things, and that Creator can and does respond to us.

• The Earth is a living being and the Mother of all the creatures who live upon her.

• All of the creatures that live on our Mother Earth are our Brothers and Sisters.

• The Earth and the creatures on her do not belong to us. They are gifts that sustain life, that we

have a responsibility to respect and treat as equals.

• Our ancestors' Spirits live on in eternity. We are not separated from them, they are part of our

lives. When we dance, our ancestors dance with us.

• When we pray, our prayers are not asking the Creator to do anything for us, but to thank the

Creator for the gifts that have been provided to feed, cloth, and house us.

• We know that the people in all the other nations of the world are our Brothers and Sisters.

• Living this life is part of the Circle of Life. Our Mother Earth and all the planets are circular

as is the entire universe.

• We are all connected, we are all related.

As far as an after-life is concerned, it is not specifically described. We know that there is an

afterlife and that our relatives are there waiting for us. It is a happy place filled with Love for all

friends and relatives.

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