Interconnectedness

by Aaleigha Ashley[1]

We are a part of everything that is beneath us, above us, and around us. Our past is our present, our present is our future, and our future is seven generations past and present.

- Haudenosaunee Teaching

Interconnectedness is a contemporary term that embodies a shared ethos across various Indigenous societies. Native/Indigenous individuals may use it as a reminder of our identity and connections with family, land, and humanity. Interconnectedness extends further to include all beings – animate and inanimate –urging us to embrace responsibilities within the universal family and live harmoniously and morally. From this, health, good relationships, and abundant blessings return the balance to the people. The disruption and restoration of these relationships constitute a crucial affective dimension in Indigenous distress and healing (Lewton et al., 2000). It is important to remember that each culture has its own ways of expressing these ideas through specific ceremonies, protocols, practices, and languages.

Indigenous Perspectives on Interconnectedness

One interpretation of interconnectedness is the unification and integration of one entity with another. These conceptions of interconnectedness are prevalent within cyclical imagery. This perspective manifests in various symbolic constructs such as the Indigenous Medicine Wheel, the Circle of Life, and the Pimaatisiwin Circle (Leal-Hill, 2006). These circles encompass elements like the four directions (East, West, North, and South), the four life-givers (air, food, sun, and water), and the four seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall), which symbolize life and the interconnectedness of all things (Ibid).

The circle symbolizes the eternal cycle of life without beginning or endings, representing infinity and interconnectedness. Individuals come together in a circle and experience a profound sense of unity and reverence. This circular motif is evident in numerous aspects of Indigenous cultures, such as talking circles, the roots and stems of plants, the sky, sweat lodges, sacred pipes, sacred hoops, and Medicine Wheels (Fontaine, 2000). In this way, the Indigenous perspective encompasses the idea of the Circle of Life, where each person undertakes a journey of existence and evolution.

Indigenous Cultural Expressions of Interconnectedness

In the Anishinaabe community, Minobimaatisiiwin is the relation to the land and water continuously reaffirmed through prayer, deed, and their way of being. In the Akwesasne community, Kaienarakowa is the Great Law of Peace and the Good Mind and upholds principles of kinship, leadership, and the broadest possible community consensus (Laduke, 1999). In the Seminole community, Hitchitti is the language they use to thank the plants that made their medicine and how they thank the creator for their way of life (Ibid). In Lakota communities, Mitakuya Oyasin is all my relations (Ryan et al., 2022). Every translation refers to the interconnectedness of the natural environment, the community, and the creator. Although each community articulates this ethos uniquely in its language, the essence remains akin. It can be shown through the Laws of Relationships.

The Laws of Relationships: A Universal Worldview

The Laws of Relationships encapsulate fundamental principles shared by First Nations and Inuit cultures, reflecting a universal worldview (King, 2004). These principles, developed collaboratively by educators and Elders from the Northwest Territories and western provinces, serve as an educational resource rather than prescribing specific belief systems. It outlines fundamental principles organized into three categories: Laws of Sacred Life, Laws of Mutual Support, and Laws of Nature (Ibid).

The Laws of Sacred Life: Emphasize the inherent sanctity of every individual, the importance of caring for one's body, and fostering respectful relationships. Individual’s strengths and talents highlight their contribution to collective well-being.
The Laws of Mutual Support: Highlight the strength derived from belonging to supportive groups and forming identities through respectful relationships. Agreement on shared rules fosters cooperation and strengthens communities.
The Laws of Nature: Recognize the vital role of the natural world in sustaining life and providing necessities. Living in harmony with nature's laws is emphasized as essential for well-being and the continuation of life.
Traditionally, communal cooperation was essential for sustaining life on the land.

Individuals worked together, fulfilling their roles with mutual support and a shared purpose. This ethos of respect and sharing minimized conflicts arising from greed or envy, fostering harmony within communities (Ibid). While disagreements were inevitable, Elders played a vital role in guiding individuals to overcome negative emotions. The goal in resolving or mediating a conflict was to help individuals become whole again and restore themselves to the community. This worldview emphasizes the importance of harmony with the physical and spiritual realms for a fulfilling life (Ibid).

Spiritually, this worldview is grounded in the idea that all parts of creation are interconnected and have a spirit and that the spiritual forces of the world intend to help survival, not threaten it. This process is contemporaneously shown through prayer, songs, and medicine (Ibid). Environmentally, there is some agreement on the state of the world between the teaching of Western science and those of the Native communities (LaDuke, 1999). When our harmony is disrupted, the state of the world is disrupted.

Diné Philosophy: Hózhó

In the Diné community, my upbringing, Hózhó is a complex philosophy that offers critical elements of the moral and behavioral conduct necessary for a long, healthy life (Kahn-John, 2015). The Diné expresses beauty, perfection, harmony, goodness, normality, success, well-being, blessedness, order, and ideal. It reflects the process, path, or journey that an individual strives towards and attains the state of wellness. In addition, Hózhó is demonstrated through an individual's speech, actions, and relationships. People living with Hózhó are intelligent, patient, humble, respectful, disciplined, hard-working, physically fit, peaceful, reliable, honest, confident, wise, thoughtful, and self-controlled. Thus, translating the complex meaning of Hózhó without reducing its expansive meaning is difficult.

Hózhó teaches that respectful thought, speech, and behavior should be nurtured, and all relationships in life, including those with the whole creation of the universe, should be supportive and positive. Lewton and Bydone propose to access cultural themes of self, illness, and healing by elucidating the synthetic principle: Sá’ah Naaghéí Bik’eh Hózhó. Berard Haile states that Sa’ah Naagháí represents the inner form of the earth, and the Bik'eh Hozhó represents the outer form of the earth, which is the beauty and happiness of plants, lakes, trees, and mountains (Lewton et al., 2000). Sá’ah Naaghéí and Bik'eh Hózhó are the central animating powers of the universe, and, as such, they produce a world described as hozhó, the ideal environment of beauty, harmony, and happiness. All living beings, which includes the earth, have inner and outer forms, and to achieve well-being, these inner forms must harmonize and unify with sá'ah naagháí, and all outer forms must harmonize and unify with bik'eh hózhó. Therefore, the Diné relationship within a meaningful behavioral environment is integral to their self-orientation and identities (Ibid). The disruption and restoration of these relationships constitute a crucial affective dimension in Diné distress and healing.

Colonization and Intergenerational Trauma

Colonization left disruptive colonial and neocolonial idealogy and hegemony that have blinded many Indigenous people, who no longer recognize or acknowledge the extent of damage and despair caused by the colonial invasion. Colonialism is not a thing of the past. Instead, this ever-present reality continues to affect how we live with the land and the interconnected relationships around us (LaDuke, 1999).

Historic intergenerational trauma is embedded in colonization. When two cultures and languages collide in a colonialistic framework, one culture and language will become subordinated to the other. It has disrupted our quest to live interconnectedly. Intergenerational trauma caused many Indigenous people to lose touch with their identities through cultural and language loss. Elders cannot communicate with their children because they cannot speak the language, hindering cultural knowledge from being passed down. It can be believed that cultural loss and trauma can account for the more significant number of Indigenous people living in an unhealthy balance. In our case, we experience cultural, political, economic, and social subordination and the various forms of unresolved loss, shame, guilt, and anger that come with it (Emerson, 2014).

In the Diné communities, these contradictions manifest in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, and government. For example, Native men are affected in a raw and vulnerable manner. Yet, males generally tend not to exhibit vulnerability and intimacy. However, when they turn to substances, anger, and rage often explode into violence. We end up fighting ourselves. Navajo vs. Navajo violence often turns into abuse and sometimes murder. Despite our traditional knowledge of Hózhó, tension, and conflict play a significant role in our lives (Ibid). How does the emotional aspect of the people affect the land, and what can we do to restore it? Environmentally, ecosystems are collapsing, species are going extinct, polar ice caps are melting, and nuclear bombings and oil spills have contaminated the world (LaDuke, 1999). It disrupts our interconnected balance with all that is around us.

The Role of Indigenous Healing Traditions

Many Indigenous healers believe that sharing healing ways may be a matter of survival. Indigenous healing traditions and ecology-based values may help people prevent the widely prophesied "purification" of warfare and "earth changes"-i.e., natural catastrophes as divine retribution for environmental destruction (Cohen, 1998). Connor Ryan’s film shows the struggle to decolonize and rebalance such relationships to find harmony.

Connor Ryan's film "Spirit of the Peaks" shows a Hunkpapa Lakota skier’s journey to find a balance between two worlds while skiing in Ute Territory (Ryan, 2022). He reflects on the significance of being in harmony with the land and its people, particularly considering the injustices faced by the Ute community due to colonization, erasure, and extraction. The film serves as a microcosm of the broader Indigenous experience, illustrating how colonial legacies continue to shape relationships with the land and within Indigenous communities. Through Connor's reflections on the injustices faced by the Ute people and his cultural awareness journey, the film offers a lens through which to examine the complexities of Indigenous identity and resilience.

"Spirit of the Peaks" acknowledges and addresses past traumas while fostering cultural awareness and solidarity by weaving narratives of personal struggle and cultural heritage (Ibid).In doing so, the film collectively highlights the importance of preserving Indigenous traditions and offers hope for a more equitable future built on understanding and mutual respect.

There is an understanding that spirituality intertwines communal support, hope, and traumatic growth and recovery processes. These results indicate that Indigenous individuals, like Connor, who relied upon resilient, culturally specific, internal and external coping strategies, were likely to report higher levels of harmony. Their film empirically supported studies that found that cultural beliefs and traditions, community, hope, spirituality, and identity are essential resiliency factors (Price, 2023).

Children as Catalysts for Transformation

Prioritizing the promotion of interconnectedness among children holds strategic significance, as they can unite communities. Many tribal cultures view children as divine gifts bestowed by the Creator, entrusted with a sacred purpose (Ullrich, 2019). Their communities see them as future custodians of sacred wisdom and bearers of light and prosperity. With each child's arrival, new familial roles and relationships emerge, shaping the collective identity and development of the community. The presence of children is fundamental to the continuity of families, tribes, and communities, as underscored by the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (Ibid).

Raising healthy children is a deliberate endeavor with far-reaching implications, as they represent the ongoing cycle of creation inherent in traditional teachings. Across numerous First Nations traditions, the essence of existence lies in the nurturing and guidance of the young, ensuring the perpetuation of life itself. Therefore, individuals play a vital role in ongoing creation.

Every child must profoundly understand their roots and heritage, ensuring they connect strongly to their family, community, ancestors, environment, and spirituality. Indigenous wisdom encapsulates the essence of collective well-being and offers invaluable insights into transcending trauma rather than being consumed by it. Embracing a life rooted in interconnectedness can revolutionize the care and upbringing of children, thereby fostering the growth of healthy families, vibrant communities, and a sustainable Earth (Ibid).

Conclusion

In retrospect, Interconnectedness delves into the rich tapestry of Indigenous cultures, allowing for a deeper understanding of their commonalities and distinctions. Indigenous people in our communities must discuss change, the future, and options for how we will improve the future for the next seven generations. Spiritual and individual choices depend on simple and complex collective and individual decisions. Life itself is a complex web of relationships and organisms, so the fabric of a community and culture chooses its future. Change will always come; it is just a matter of who determines that change. For many families, the greatest compliment one could give was to say that someone takes care of their relatives. Indigenous Nations know this statement includes all relatives and everything in creation. (2097)

Notes

[1] Click through image: Eric-Paul Riege, (my god, YE’ii [1-2]) (jaatłoh4Ye’iitsoh [1–6]) (a loom between Me+U, dah ‘iistł’ǫ́)

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