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Spiritual Genocide
Readers respond to the Free Press debate

Letter to Editor-Free Press:

I read in your recent issue that those who seek to teach and non Indians who seek to learn the Amerindian belief system are practicing "spiritual genocide". I confess that I am a practitioner of "spiritual genocide", currently against the Japanese as a follower of Soto Zen, earlier against East Indians as a practitioner of Hinduism through Vedanta, the Transcendental Meditation of Maharishi Mahesh (yes it was offered for money, too) plus Krishna consciousness and Yogananda"s lectures. I tried out spiritual genocide against the Persians (now Iranians) briefly through the Bahai sect.

I have not had much opportunity to actively practice spiritual genocide against American Indians due to long distances to travel to the Bear Tribe in Washington (which supports itself by teaching Anglo Saxons and others Indian cultural and religious practices, for money) and due to bunions which prevented me from visiting Rolling Thunder in Nevada as they insisted I must wear shoes or boots and bunions prevent me from wearing any but sandals. I still keep their letter of invitation however with the idea of perhaps trying again later.

"Spiritual Genocide" has been my path in life. I even practiced this against witches by spending a week with a Wicca Coven in England to learn their beliefs. Last year when living in Santa Rosa I represented the Sonoma County Indians at their request at the Area Council for Aging, despite the fact that I am of N. European extraction and not a Christian. All the Indians at the Indian Community Lunch Center declare themselves devout Christians. Were they, by your definition committing spiritual genocide against Europeans, I wonder?

But yes, they did seem to resent my information about things herbal and otherwise about American Indians, these from my studies and the fact that in New Mexico I lived in a town surrounded by five Indian Pueblos, knew many Indians personally, did business with Indians (translate: Indiginous People), had read a good deal about the Indian belief system and been a member of an Anglo Saxon group fighting against the Indian Bureaus takeover of Indian lands in New Mexico.

And yes, despite their declared Christianity they did complain greatly about non Indians learning Indian culture and religion, saying "They have taken everything else away from us and now they want our religion too." But these were declared Christians!. (No they did not need to declare themselves Christians to me as I was clear about the fact that I'm a Buddhist) The Indians have said, with justification, for years that "The white man speaks with forked tongue" i.e. with hidden intent. I hope that Indians have not now taken on white mans ways to the extent of doing the same. I often observe that the only Anglo Saxons who do not consider Indians quaint artifacts from an ignorant culture are those who know something about the Indian religion, herbal knowledge and culture. For this reason for years I told Indians "Teach the white man. Don't be exclusive, don't try to run away from him, it won't work. The whites need your knowledge/wisdom. Only knowing who you really are will they respect you".

Consequently I was delighted when the Bear Tribe, Rolling Thunder, Grandfather in S. California and others began to teach non Indians. Coincidentally I noticed that whites began to side with Indians as never before. Yes, A.I.M. did some of this when it organized Indians to fight for their rights, but this too can be devisive.

If religious bigotry is now part of leftist doctrine I am sorry to hear it. I am sorry to read in the Free Press that I should "seek my own roots" i.e. have no choice but to be a Christian because that is my ancestral heritage.

One reason I joined "the Left" is my dislike of bigotry. Am I wrong in thinking I see it springing up now, even to the extent of religious bigotry? if so, thats a great shame. I currently subscribe to literature fromthe Bear Tribe of Washington, find it fascinating, learn more all the time. I cherish their magazine Wildfire. It is one of the two periodicals I never discard. From what I have been able to observe I regard the Amerindian religion to be at root the purest and least superstitious of all except Japanese Zen. But only through close observation, getting beneath the symbolism used can one observe this. Christians, including Indian Christians resent such observations I discovered!

Sorry you folks insist I must be a Protestant Christian because that is "my roots". I shall continue my "spiritual genocide" which I prefer to define as religious democracy, whether or not Christians, Amerindians, Japanese, Hindus, Persians, Hawaiians (I also studied Hawaiian Huna) object. To any who may opine that I neglected "my roots" I'll add that I also studied the Christian religion. Until now no one has decreed that I must remain with that religion, like it or not!

I hope that the New Left of the '90s of correct thinking has not become as fundamentalist as the Christian fundamentalists, narrowing not only political thinking, but personal belief options and religious freedom. I believe we should all have the right to choose our belief systems whether athiest or any religion to which we can relate best. I hope that the freedom of religion and freedom of thought in our constitution will not be cast out of our society. Especially not with the aid of what was once the most truely democratic influence in our society, the progressive left!! As for "spiritual genocide", learning as best we can the belief system of other cultures even for money if necessary, I recommend to any who wish to enlarge their consciousness or their understanding of other peoples.

Louise Neville-Mill Valley

Editors response: We urge Louise to reread the forum on Spiritual Genocide in the Sept. '92 issue of the S.C. Free Press. A careful reading should help clarify the distinction between a serious study of world religious practices (a good idea for all residents of planet Earth) and the selling of these practices and symbols by white people who have not come from these traditions. We also call her attention to Helene Hagan's article in the Free Press where she mentions Sunbear and the Bear Tribe of non Indian followers, as well as the many statements by Native Americans which was compiled by Mariah Jones of Sonoma County.

Congratulations on the excellent article by anthropologist Helene Hagan regarding the "Spiritual Genocide" problem.

The real problem seems to be lack of discrimination by Americans. It is a well known fact that anyone wishing to know about religions outside of his own should always consult a member of that religion, a well qualified member. This applies not only to teachers but to books. Second problem, "Yankee ingenuity" the siezing upon whatever will make money plus marketing expertise. Americans pride themselves upon their yankee ingenuity. Everything possible is used to make money.

But stupidity of the buyer and aquisitiveness of the marketer should not decree that no one has the right to learn about, as best he can, the religions of other peoples. The real problem: No one has the right to distort the religions of others.

It is also true that no one from one religious tradition can ever completely assimilate another religion; cultural indoctrination goes deep. Roshi Suzuki, Zen priest from Kyoto, Japan told an amusing story about this: An American who had lived for 20 years in a Zen monastery, practicing faithfully, was shocked to learn one day that the other monks called him "The Little Christian". I have noted the same incomplete assimilation in Orientals who have been converted to Christianity, their Oriental attitudes make it difficult for them to orient to a Christian community.

All teachers should be chosen with great care, no matter what their background. It never pays to be a "true believer", logic and analysis must be applied, whether the subject is religion or another.

I agree that Native American ceremonials are too enculturated for outsiders to fully understand. This should be obvious. The core beliefs of religions are one thing, foreign cultures are another. There is no need to adopt a foreign culture in order to understand the basics of any religious belief. Americans do have a tendency to do this. In the '60's I noticed this. To my annoyance at the Soto Zen Mission in San Francisco some Americans trying to be "Japanese"-with no encouragement from the Roshi.

These confusions and intrusions relate in no way whatever to learning the basic beliefs of any religion. As a matter of fact these basics are closer to each other than most would imagine. Furthermore one can often understand one's given religious background better when it is stated differently from the perspective of another belief system. Often repeated cliches lose meaning but the same idea stated in different words clarifies the meaning. Every religion I have been a part of or examined from original sources has the same basics: "The Golden Key" as Christians call it, i.e. Do to others as you would wish they would do to you, the Brotherhood of Man and Fatherhood or Motherhood of "God" the source of life, and the existence of dimensions, qualities outside of the obvious physical.

Religion should not be used as a devisive factor. Our leaders in the establishment are doing their best to divide us in order to enhance their power over us. Let us not give them another tool with which to separate us by dividing into religious cliques, religious bigotry. In my opinion everyone has the right to his chosen religion, or even collection of religions as in earlier Chinese traditions. One need not change cultures to do so.

If Native Americans are angered by Anglo Saxon distortions of their belief system why don't genuine Indian teachers teach Americans? If they do not wish to do so what reason do they have to complain? No, they do not need to give away their culture. The first step in any religion is the vision of a sage, the second the enculturation due to the society which follows this sage. These are two different things. Americans of all creeds and hues will never be able to work together against our real enemy, i.e. our economic-political leaders unless we are able to apply logic, not emotionalism, in our relationships between each other.

Louise Neville, Mill Valley

(Editors note: The letters by Loretta Vigil and Loise Neville are in response to the last two issues of the S.C. Free Press which focussed on the very timely subject of Spiritual Genocide. You may obtain copies by sending $1 each for the Sept. and Nov.'92 issues. Send to P.O. Box 863, Occidental, Calif. 95465. Also please see the articles by Edna Seidner and Laura Del Fuego.)

I was so amazed to read Helene E. Hagan's "The Plastic Medicine People Circle" piece. It was more than excellent, and informed and revealed data regarding indigenous Indian customs that have been trivialized by too many smug, self-righteous, ignorant fools for too long.

I thought I was alone, the only person who held Hagan's view. What a relief to learn that my suspicions, doubts, outrage and helplessness to do anything about the cultural rip-off that some local, self-styled groupies engage in, have a sound truth.

There is an enormous difference between studying a religion, culture and/or peoples' history, and adopting at random, any bits of them that suit some white man's bottomless existential hole.

It's increasingly difficult to communicate with those who wave feathers, pipes, drums, Indian lore in one's face, smudge the opportunity to reveal real vulnerabilities by masking and faking moments that do no more than imitate, cheapen, cloud, confuse, ridicule and render pointless any hope of real-imperfect-insights and perhaps friendships.

The sadness underlying these adopted and arrogantly assumed spiritual costumes is that the more white people adopt another identity to be real or culturally correct, the more they put down their own heritage. It's just as "real" to be born into a Texas, McMurtry, O'Connor or Baldwin world in which wonder bread, macaroni and cheese, beer and overloaded guns have been elevated to religious levels. Held up to comparison, at the point when Mr. or Mrs. Whitey becomes cognizant that a wonder-bread childhood is not too hip, Indianism is there for the taking--or so he/she believes. It probably all has more to do with cowardice to face the truth of ones own nature. Inventing a new one seems easier to some rather than revealing the truth: that secretly a doubt lurks that one is not acceptable at all.

Thank you for such a well-researched piece about the different tribes, their customs etc. The information, its message and revelations regarding the utter phoniness and delusionary exploitation of an entire culture, has long been needed. The relationship between admirers of Indian ways should be more on a nodding acquaintance, a hesitation to await an invitation to join in, quietly, demurely and respectfully.

Johanna Lynch, Cazadero

Editors note: The three letters above are in response to the last two issues of the SONOMA COUNTY FREE PRESS which focussed on the very controversial subject of Spiritual Genocide--the use and selling of Native American symbols and traditions by "New Agers" and others. You may obtain copies by sending $l each for the Sept. & Nov. '92 issues. Send to P.O. Box 863, Occidental, Calif. 95465.

Also please see the articles by Edna Seidner and Laura del Fuego elsewhere in this issue.

To the Editor:

I attended Avis Little Eagle's talk at Montana State University this past week. I wanted to thank Lakota Times for all the work you have done to investigate these false "medicine people".

I am a European American and lived at the Bear Tribe outside Spokane between l980 and '8l. The experiences I had there convinced me that these people were very sick, very cruel and greedy. It took me some six months to figure that out though, and then it took me another six months to gather the courage and finances to leave.

Before I left, I stood up to their authority at the end and challenged their "ethics." They saw me as an "instigator" and "rabble-rouser," I suppose because many others left because of my questions.

It was only because I later lived with two other people who were there with me and left that I could work through what had happened. We would talk for hours about situations. And I finally knew the difference between a real medicine man and a false one. It was with the help of my Blackfeet friends and the ceremonies that I healed and got back my strength.

Since then, it has been difficult for me to explain to others just how exploitive this particular group is. I would meet others who had gone to their activities and workshops who thought they were wonderful. It was impossible for them to hear my story.

So, I am very grateful that Native Americans have been speaking out, because your voice is harder to ignore. Thank you again for your hard and courageous work and for speaking the truth.

Robyn Klein, Bozeman, Montana

I wish to respond to the insightful comments made by "true" Native Americans concerning "What Native People Want You To Understand" in your November 1992 issue.

I am one of countless mixed-breed humans. My ancestors include the Germans, Spaniards and the Pueblo people of New Mexico. I appear to be simply Anglo, having fair skin, brown/auburn hair, hazel eyes and a sprinkle of freckles. My father was pure German-I never knew him and so Idid not grow up relating to my "Anglo" heritage. My maternal grandmother is pure Spanish. My maternal grandfather had a Spanish father and a mother who came from the pueblo near Taos (I believe Tewa). This young woman was raped by my great-grandfather and she bore him twin sons. One infant was murdered by some who wanted to protect the "family jewels". The other, my grandfather, was rescued by an aunt who dug him out of the ground where he lay in a small shoe box. His mother died some six months later from complications she suffered during the birth. This is the story my grandfather told me.

My grandfather died 10 years ago at the age of 87. Shortly before he died, he described our bond as a "spiritual love". My grandfather was like that to me. He was/is a beautiful human being. In his actions, I learned much about the importance of respecting life and an awareness of the spirit of God all around us. These ways were not taught to him. They were simply a part of who he was.

I am certain that it was because of his "ways" that I have been drawn to explore and attempt to understand my distant Native ancestry. Indeed, when I look at my grandfather with his dark skin, low forehead, high cheekbones, broad nose and chin held up high, I can only see the connection to the native heritage--by his appearance as well as his ways. There has been nothing else for me to relate to-not my own natural father, and certainly not my grandfather's father.

Confessions.......The Bear Tribe gave me my first introduction to what it was like to experience Native rituals. I have since learned that these are not offered with the blessings of the Native community. On the other hand, I cannot tell you or anyone what it meant to me when I stood silently at the Medicine Wheel constructed for the gathering. By the end of the weekend my heart was filled with joy and gratitude for the opportunity to experience this gathering. It was good for me.

At a local pow-wow, I have purchased a drum (which I play occasionally) and a pipe (which I have never smoked and would never smoke unless I was given the right to do so). I wear my turquoise jewelry most often when I am feeling emotionally off balance or disturbed. The stones seem to make me feel more myself again. Would the Native American people tell me I have no right to do these things? I also practice smudging before prayers and when moving into a new living environment. Is this wrong? Fifty-eight people have been born as a result of my grandparents' union. I am the only one who has an interest in our Native ancestry, something that I think is important to keep alive.

I was raised a Christian. The philosophies and cultures of indigenous people have been an area of self study for more than a decade. However, it was when I read a book entitled CIRCLE WITHOUT END, a sourcebook of American Indian ethics by Frances and Gerald Lombardi, that I wept tears of self-recognition. It was astonishing how closely the words in this book matched the words I had written in my personal journals for years. For the first time, I felt as though I had found my place. Would the native community say that I am only kidding myself?

I can't prove my connection to the Taos Pueblo, but I hear there is an old chief who doesn't mind talking to whites. I don't know what sort of things he has to say but I would feel honored to sit at his feet--just to be there, to walk the earth where my great-grandmother walked, to tell the elders I am sorry for what my great-grandfather did to her, to let them know that her memory runs though my veins. I hope to do this one day. Part of me is afraid they will turn me away, not trust my honesty, blinded if not put off, by the whiteness of my skin.

What the Native Americans have to say about my interest in their religion deeply effects me. I do not wish to offend them, but I can't be told to ignore what has always been in my heart, if not at the core of my own soul, then through my love and respect for my grandfather. Would Russell Means say that I have just made up a "rationalization" to explain why I am entitled to feel a connection to the spirituality of his race? I would sincerely like to know. Would Pam Colorado trust me to have proper respect for her heritage, ideas, land and resources? Probably not, although I would like to be an advocate for her right to preserve her heritage in whatever manner she sees fit. Tell people like me how we can most effectively do just that. Tell me how I might be allowed to show my love for this earth. Tell me where the lines are drawn--do I cross it if I refer to this earth as Mother?

Thank you for letting me speak.

Sincerely, Loretta Vigil, Sonoma

Last night I read the Sept., Nov. and Feb. issues of the Sonoma County Free Press all in a row. I saw alot of energy and vituperation expended toward people who are searching for a spiritual path or are sharing one that they have found; paths that use rituals and objects modeled on Native American traditions. The intense level of attack against these people was stunning, seeming far in excess of the import of their actions. Having a longing for a connection with the Earth, with life, with the Mother, and having funds and the free time to pursue this, sensing the destructive future that is rapidly approaching from following the "white mans" path does not seem enough reason for these people to become targets of such hatred. And even the ones who pretend to be Indians and take money for doing workshops--their teachings give some people a path, a way to connect that would not be accessible to them otherwise. True Native Americans need have nothing to do with them. The Native Americans' spiritual ways have been for so long and are so deep and strong, imitative borrowing will not lessen them. If love and respect for the Mother Earth is important, then steps by any people in that direction, no matter how feeble or fumbling, seems positive.

What these searchers are doing was called "spiritual genocide" by many of the writers, that term seems like an exageration when compared with the actual, very conscious genocide by corporate criminals who are strip mining the lands of the Lakota, the Crow, the Navajo peoples and who are dumping toxic wastes at Salt River and Gila River, and plan to dump radioactive waste on the Lower Brule reservation.

Alot of the writers also angrily said these searchers should go back to their own roots. Unfortunately those roots are what has brought the Earth and its people to the unhealthy and destructive position it is in today. I personally am glad when one has the courage to leave those roots and look elsewhere for a path. Most of the plants grown in nurseries these days are grown from cuttings--a small piece of the mother plant is cut off and put in a very light, moist media and is sheltered and given bottom heat. In a few weeks roots form at the base of this little twig and it begins to grow and become an independent plant. Roots serve to anchor a plant and to gather elements for sustenance and growth. Roots are not a chain fastening us to the past.

It is very painful to read the words of people, all under very serious attack from very large and deadly outside forces, so self destructively divided within.

Heidi Freestone, Fulton

Editors note: It is true that this subject of "spiritual genocide" is not going away , however to suggest that because people are in strong disagreement means that we are "self destructively divided" is not true. For there to be real solidarity there must also be real understanding and a real meeting of the ways. If a person/people perceive oppression from anyplace isn't it preferable to use words instead of physical actions to share that perception? Or would you prefer that Native Americans just keep quiet about it since you don't see that there is any problem? How is your reaction to what they are saying any different than some men who don't see what the big deal is about rape or sexual harrassment? Would a dialogue on that subject be divisive or would you feel it necessary?? Would you want men to listen and ponder what you said??

In response to suggested Pomo exploiting by Gualala Ranch Association (Feb. '93) Selecting a Pomo design seemed a natural for this area. It was our intention to honor and acknowledge the artful Kashia Pomo designers who graced these hills by keeping their heritage alive and vivid to newcomers.

No words are printed on the piece in question--it is a visual marking for identification only. It is not a rip-off for commercial exploitation as suggested by an anonymous writer.

Another viewpoint from a Ranch Assoc. member.

John Fox, Cazadero

(Editors note: The problem is not the intention of white people using a Pomo design for their logo. The intention may have been to show respect but perhaps it would have been a good idea to check with the local Pomo community to see if it felt like respect to them.)

There are reasons why Non-Indians shouldn't follow Native American spiritual practices. The main reason is that most Native American Spiritual practitioners don't want us to imitate or steal their practices.

To ignore or misunderstand their point of view is to deny 500 years of genocide. Why should they be generous to us when our ancestors have done all they could to steal Indian land, kill men, women and children and to Christianize and "civilize" those who remained? If I am stepping on someones foot and they ask me to get off, I get off and apologize for my clumsiness. I don't maintain my right to hurt them. If there were absolutely no other spiritual paths we would have to share however because all people have a spiritual impulse, there are many good paths besides the Native American. Most of these paths welcome new followers.

The immigrants to the new world have stolen nearly everything else from the Native American. The least we can do is to respect their desire that we leave them their spirituality.

People from Europe, Africa and Asia have lived on this continent long enough for the land, the plants and animals and the natural spirits to be speaking to us. I feel much more native to the western USA than to the British Isles where most of my ancestors came from, however I don't need to use the language and rituals of the Pomo, Hoopa or Multnomah Indians to express my relationship to here. I can say it in English. I can describe what I see with my own metaphors. I certainly feel it in my heart. I love every red tailed hawk and grieve every field that is paved over and lost to hunting hawks. Nature feed my spirituality directly. I don't need to filter it through someone else's culture. I can read Indian mythology and appreciate their attitude towards the land, but i don't need to trespass into their spiritual culture.

My life has been, is still a spiritual search. My search is motivated by the deep emotional pain of growing up in my family and for meaning in this culture, as well as the innate human need to commune with spirit. I will share some of the important aspects of spirituality I have learned and how we can find and express our spiritual selves with integrity.

Love and compassion are central to spirituality. This includes self love, love for other individuals, love for humanity, love for plants and animals, and love for the Earth herself. This love also includes love for the divine.

Love inspires kindness and caretaking. Gentleness or patience is another aspect of spirituality. The opposite is violence.

Awakening, becoming conscious, is also an aspect of spirituality. We tend to think of this as "enlightenment", a blast of awareness that transforms an individual into another realm of being. However, the most important awake is everyday, ordinary being awake to our own lives. This means being awake while we wash the dishes, being present to notice our thoughts, to pay attention. It isn't something remote, it is right here and now, not something to go somewhere else to get.

Communion with spirit is why we call this realm spirituality. Every human culture has some way to give and take with the divine. Even the chimpanzees that Jane Goodall observed seemed to have moments of spiritual excitement. Prayer, meditation, ritual, singing, chanting, being in nature, serving others, are some of the routes to the divine. Right now our culture seems to lack spiritual expression meaningful to many of us. We have turned to other cultures, taken LSD or declared that god is dead. Our hunger may cause us to ignore the feelings of Native Americans.

An additional aspect of spirituality is willingness to be yourself, to live your own karma, to investigate who you are rather than trying to avoid yourself. I remember a Chinese story about a young man who went out in search of his fortune. He traveled and traveled without finding anything of value. Finally he gave up, went back home and when he was digging a garden in his backyard, he discovered a diamond mine. So does this mean that I have to go back to Beaverton, Oregon and return to the Congregational Church where my parents first met and still attend? No!! Not unless that's what is really meaningful for me. I find more meaning living here in Sonoma County, practicing meditation, healing myself in therapy and 12 step groups and making a community with others who are also healing. My diamond mine is the gradual recovery of parts of myself lost in childhood. Pretending to be someone else or at least a little different would only perpetuate the suffering.

Some people who have written about non-Indians following a Native American spiritual path say that spiritual traditions are so rooted in their original culture that outsiders can't ever be true practitioners. I don't believe that. Transmitting a spiritual tradition is complicated and arduous, but people do it. I believe that when cultures change, as ours has changed since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, people need new spiritual understanding. The hierarchical, authoritarian and moralistic forms of traditional Christianity don't work for many of us. A friend gave up being a Christian in high school because the Christian mythology as she was taught conflicted with evolutionary theory she was learning. Now she knows that there is no conflict. However, like many others she has chosen a spiritual path that emphasized meditation and direct spiritual experience rather than adhering to dogma. I believe non-Indians who pursue Native American spiritual practices are sincerely seeking a more meaningful spirituality, but they need to keep looking further, for a path hat welcomes them.

If a person is attracted to the Native American spirituality as offered by various teachers now, but also wants to respect the feelings of Native Americans, what else is available? The European Celtic, Wiccan and Goddess traditions are feminist, nature oriented, involve colorful ritual and symbolism and have much room for creativity and improvisation. If there aren't any leaders offering workshops, start your own group. If you don't need exotic ritual go to twelve step groups. Except for huge AA meetings, most groups are done in a circle. There's no hierarchy. American and Asian teachers offer traditional and adapted teachings from Hinduism and Buddhism. From what I have seen of Native American spirituality done by Euro-Americans, it seems to be a new age creation dressed up in metaphors and costumes from a mixture of Native American traditions. People could have community, ritual, time in nature, steam baths, songs, new names, costumes, ritual items etc. without any reference to the religions of Native Americans. I think that's how we should do it.

Barrie Mason, Sebastopol

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