Last Out… First IN.
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
-Matthew 22:36-40
These last two commandments of Christ are arguably the most important. I only say arguably because there is much debate about it among Christians of various denominations as a whole. Perhaps cliché in saying that He was saving the best for last, so much so that I may be over stating the importance, but I know He spoke it clearly when stating everything hinges on these two… and I believe it is these two last instructions that has softened the dogma of even the most fundamentalist Churches just enough to allow the assimilation of The Word by peoples of other spiritual and religious world views, namely that of First Nations Peoples for this conversation. I say this from the deepest place of humility, respect, and reverence to all persons of diverse backgrounds as ‘white.”
In many ways I think the collective western conversations regarding mental health and emotional wellness is coming full circle. I state this only so the reader is aware of yet another source of potential bias on my part. In many ways it seems this “well documented scholarly” paradigm of western physical and mental health has provided enough evidence based quantitative and qualitative research data to first dawn the realization and begin the integration of theoretical and technological therapies in ways that align with indigenous wisdom models and practices for mind/body/community/planet health. This segue into a “new age” for health has been pioneered by more than a few health professionals and scholars of First Nations decent. It appears the as thought the present trend toward an eclectic multidisciplinary treatment approach which is intentionally designed to better provide a dynamic integrated holistic treatment approach for individuals seems to not only be popular and trending in practice groups as a result of the success of the integrated Indigenous approaches into western mental health theory and practice, but also translates into a revelatory authentic understanding of God for Christians.
The presence of this Indigenous knowing of God has likely remained elusive to the generations of colonizers that even colonized themselves many times over due to the lack of accurate translations, thus miscommunications between the Indigenous and Christian worldviews and cosmologies until now. The historical record indicates that the Indigenous ways have inspired Western Healing theory and practice having remained “in between the lines”. This was perhaps deliberately buried or erased with no credit given to invalidate the existence of an even more civil-civilization of native peoples. Regardless, intrinsic to some of the most influential western theorists works in the “counseling/recovery” field is the Indigenous understanding of God and ways to connect pervade. I will argue that Bill W misappropriated the "talking circle" and "concept of a higher power" from the early indigenous abstinence movements and sobriety circles by translating the tools into western and Judeo Christian world view constructs. I will go as far to say as the patriarchy at the time threw “white women” under the bus of colonization by giving them credit for starting the earliest recovery/abstinence movements and recording them as the strong leaders of prohibition. It is almost inarguable that the founding Father of modern Psychology Carl Jung’s mystical experiences are of a “divine” intervention or colonially labeled as “shamanic”. And I will make a case the belief and successful application in lock down psychiatric wards that used nature, creative textile work, labor, gardening, and community as an intrinsic part of health not coincidentally aligns with the holistic Indigenous views that an individuals’ health extends far beyond their body and mind. I have yet to be able to conclude that the story of Babel ended and wonder how much evidence of those who remained in Gods’ Eden after Adam (mankind not a Man named Adam) and Eve where cast out has been adulterated, twisted, or flat our erased by Imperial Capitalism in pursuit of Global Dominion?
As of 1994 it is estimated that up to 80% of Indigenous people claim membership to a Christian Church (Casey, 1994). Regardless, I am of the opinion that interfaith and interdisciplinary approaches lead and inspired by First Nations Peoples can shed light on not only the Wests understanding of “health”, but a Christian’s understanding of God, and most importantly to healing for all… “OUR” place in His creation as stewards of not just each other but all of His creation! I believe that Indigenous Christian interpretations of the Bible and interfaith understandings of God reflect the holistic integration of all the parts of an individual with the world as the metaphor. In every part of my being I feel much of what is stated in Genesis regarding God’s creation of “man” in His image and His signature being evident in everything of His creation, to which almost no Christian alive would argue is true. Indigenous interpretations of other parts of Genesis likely receive argument from some, regardless they are accurate interpretations given the Bible is seen as “living” and others even being historically provable translation errors. (Davison, 2019). For example, the word “dominion” as used in Genesis 1:26-28 is more accurately translated as “caretaker” or “steward” which is how indigenous Christians read it (Melo, 2022) as opposed what I can see could be an interpretation used to justify/catalyze the more recent white imperialism or prior to that of the Roman Empire who read it as “control” or “authority.” Under this interpretation “the land” has been commodified for the purposes of empire building to suit the colonial mindset of capitalism having “the land” viewed as lifeless and void of God. Some Indigenous Christians understand the global environmental catastrophe as the result of the spilling of their brother’s blood as seen through the story of Cain and Abel (Melo, 2022).
For thousands of years Christians have shed the blood of our Indigenous brothers and sisters on the land and it is only recently some Christian Churches are admitting involvement in the massive genocide committed during the colonial expansion of the Americas and parts of the world. Too many Indigenous people, “God is not distant from creation but moves in deep harmony with the land and Indigenous people.” In reflecting on Genesis 4:10, “And the Lord said, ‘Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!’” The Indigenous Pilipino American named Yanan Rahim Navares Melo asks
… “Do we have ears to hear their voices?” (2022).
I pray my heart and ears do.
I hear the THE Creator speaking through the land, the ancestors, and the First Nations People. And what I see is working models of recovery and healing for generational trauma that have stood against the atrocities committed by the uncaring false god of an colonial patriarchy that has made a commodity of all of His creation to exploit. The First Nations peoples have assimilated to, then translated their wisdom into the language of a lineage of multiple generations of a broken people and a paradigm of dis-ease that infects with half truths which attempted to erase the Indigenous Identity of us All and The One True God’s truth First Nations people live and breath as evident not as much in their resilience as it is their ability to Rise Above and stand as beacons of Light…
One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
-Ephesians 4:6
Will We See, Hear, or Listen?
For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.
-Matthew 13:15
Reference
Casey, C. (1994). Crossing cultures: a growing number of Christian churches work to support not destroy Indian spirituality. Tribal College, Journal of American Indian Higher Education. Retrieved from: https://tribalcollegejournal.org/crossing-cultures-growing-number-christian-churches-work-support-destroy-indian-spirituality/.
Davison, A.M. (2019). What happens when we see ourselves as separate from nature? The garden of eden and Native people. Retrieved from: https://humansandnature.org/the-garden-of-eden-and-native-people/.
Melo, Y.R.N. (2022). Nine bible verses about Indigenous people and land rights. Retrieved from: https://sojo.net/articles/nine-bible-verses-about-indigenous-people-and-land-rights.