Chapter 4

Kendaaswin[2] is the way of learning, the way of gathering knowledge. To understand and experience any kind of knowledge the Anishinaabeg first internalize it within their minds. They then feel the knowledge internally, through reflection, and externally, through observation. What is felt externally then becomes the objective side of learning but understanding is based on a holistic process.

It is a process of learning since knowledge is always received from outside. It is said that knowledge comes and marks one, like a mark on a birch-bark scroll.[3] Knowledge is itself composed of the ‘Teachings received’. One unveils knowledge, mental attributes and abilities as the ideal Path of Life is revealed, stage by stage, through one’s active involvement in its actualization. A person also learns that truth is found within the self and not solely in the exterior world. The ability to recognize the answer is already part of a person’s spirit; it is merely a process of learning to ask the right questions to unleash the potential of truth. However, learning to ask the right questions is directed by years of learning to balance emotions, listening and watching, reflection and finally, doing.[4]

Knowledge, in western traditions, is generally thought to be located in the mind; i.e., an object of thought. The mind for the Anishinaabeg is noodin. This verb refers to the movement of the mind. Noodin is also the word that describes being windy. This is the way the mind is understood: it is blown around by the force of knowledge that acts from the exterior upon the mind (i.e., Nenemowin: the way of thought). It is also understood that minjimendamowin (the way of remembering; i.e., memory) is literally the act of holding in and stitching together that knowledge that comes to a person.[5]

It is important to remember that knowledge, for the Anishinaabeg, is singular; that is, uniform and whole. I have divided knowledge into seven aspects in order that this exploration could be carried out in a systematic manner. It can be said that these seven aspects of knowledge, as a whole, can be termed Primary Experiential Knowledge since the whole person is involved in the process of learning. With reference to the personal nature of knowledge Vine Deloria, Jr. (Sioux) explains:

The difference between non-Western and Western knowledge is that knowledge is personal for non-Western peoples and impersonal for the Western [person]. [Western people] believe that anyone can use knowledge: for American Indians, only those people given the knowledge by other entities can use it properly.[6]

This sense of the ‘giving’ of knowledge is due to the understanding that all of Creation is an interconnected reality. It may appear to us that there is separation or differentiation, as with my treatment of knowledge sources, but it is most fundamentally a harmony of unity.

With this, we will progress through a general discussion of some of the underlying epistemic sources that delineate the process of knowledge learning.

Bzindamowin (Way of Learning from Listening): Acquired Knowledge

Bzindamowin is a sort of way of coming to knowledge that develops from hearing cultural stories. This knowledge is acquired through exposure to cultural stories since they have within them implicit lessons and directives for living a good life. Pam Colorado (Oneida), in discussing the role of stories, in this case of the Teaching about relations, explains:

The Indian theory of relatedness demands that each and every entity in the Universe seeks and sustains personal relationships. Furthermore, the spiritual aspect of knowledge about the world teaches that relationships not be left incomplete. Traditional protocols, Native language and stories teach the lesson of relations. For an example, let us look at the function of the story. Native stories, which may be 30 to 50,000 years old, have the ability to integrate and synthesize all the living relationships or events at any given moment in life. When we rely on a story to guide us we are not only integrated with the natural environment around us and with our living relations, but also with the timeless past and culture of our ancestors. Because American Indian cultures are so ancient, and the stories so old, there is almost no human experience or learning which has not been recorded in these stories. Moreover, they are tied intricately with motion, relations, and a sense of the collapsed time that there is a spiritual essence to them which people often describe as timeless.[7]

The power of the cultural story’s ability to teach comes, in part, from its repetition and its use of extraordinary and humorous situations. These cultural narratives, as explained by T. Overholt and J. Baird Callicott:

… convey a picture of the good life which seems at once obvious and reasonable: the “central goal of life,” which the Ojibwa designate by the term pimadaziwin, [actually a Cree term, the Ojibwe is Bimaadiziwin] …. The Narratives also make it clear that man needs help in achieving these goals. Individual competence in relationships with persons and techniques for survival is seen to depend upon the good will of other-than-human-persons.… It seems that in these narratives men are always found in the role of receivers.[8]

For the Anishinaabeg, the telling of a cultural story has two sides. On the one side, the cultural story is told by a human being. This person is in a position whereby other people are willing to spend time with that person. This is the human aspect of the cultural narrative: the relationship between listener and cultural storyteller ¾ engaged visually, orally and intellectually. Dennis Tedlock explains that:

The storytellers can talk about stories, but their observations and speculations come from accumulated experience at hearing and telling stories, not from the recollection of a lesson plan.[9]

Tedlock also adds that:

… the teller is not merely repeating memorized words, nor is he or she merely giving a dramatic “oral interpretation” or “concert reading” of a fixed script. We are in the presence of a performing art, all right, but we are getting the criticism at the same time and from the same person. The interpreter does not merely play the parts, but is the narrator and commentator as well.[10]

The audience sees the actions and movements of the cultural storyteller, hears the cultural storyteller’s words and pays intellectual attention to the underlying meanings of those words. Mary Black-Rogers, in her forward to Overholt and Callicott’s book, Clothed-In-Fur and Other Tales: An Introduction to an Ojibwa World View, recalls that:

At the time I first began learning from Ojibwa Elders, “stories” just seemed to hold things up. Time and again I had to hang onto my patience through precious hours expanded on shaggy-dog accounts that often appeared to have little or no explicit relation to the subject at hand. Time and again I was told, “They used to tell stories to teach us about that.” Time and again a question devised for an efficiently informative yes-or-no response elicited instead a mysteriously uninformative “story”. At least one thing was clear: they were in no hurry to teach me their ways. And I was gradually learning that being explicit and being in a hurry about it are two of the cultural differences between us. The learning that takes place at this meta-level is one important yield from the story situation. … These too take time to ingest, and especially, perhaps, they take repetition. Not exact repetition, not reduplicated unvarying sequences and personnel, but a constantly changing recombination of the elements. First the elements become familiar, then the probable and possible combinations. … I gradually began to feel the pleasure of recognizing and anticipating, yet being freshly entertained by each novel twist, finding joy in each storyteller’s innovations. For these innovations still conform to acceptable rules and patterns; they are twists that cause the listener to exclaim, “Yes, of course!”[11]

The other side of the cultural story is found in the meaning of the Anishinaabe word for a cultural story: aadizookaan. Aadizookaan is considered a non-human person; i.e., the spirit of the story. This added dimension to the meaning of the aadizookaan and the aadizookaan’s ability to pass on knowledge directly allows a greater degree of knowledge acquisition. The aadizookaan speaks to the listener through the voice of the human cultural storyteller. A. Irving Hallowell captures the essence of aadizookaan when he explains that:

The significant thing about these stories is that the characters in them are regarded as living entities who have existed from time immemorial. While there is a genesis through birth and temporary or permanent form-shifting through transformation, there is no outright creation. Whether human or animal in form or name, the major characters in the myth behave like people, though many of their activities are depicted in a spacio-temporal framework of cosmic, rather than mundane, dimensions. There is “social interaction” among them and between them and [the Anishinaabeg].[12]

Aadizookaan, as a living being, has the ability to connect directly with the people who listen to the aadizookaan’s words. Aadizookaan is never static in style. There is a constant change, as in life, of the form of aadizookaan. Hallowell further explains that:

A striking fact furnishes a direct linguistic cue to the attitude of the Ojibwa towards these personages. When they use the term [aadizookaan], they are not referring to what I have called a “body of narratives.” The term refers to what we would call the characters in these stories; to the Ojibwa they are living persons of an-other-than-human class.[13]

The cultural storyteller, as the human voice of aadizookaan has the added ability to ‘shape’ the cultural story, to make it appropriate to the time and to the situation. Nevertheless, the cultural storyteller is in a spiritual union with aadizookaan; the message that aadizookaan shares, that is being expressed, remains constant through time. Hertha Dawn Wong expresses this when she explains that:

Language for Native Americans, however, especially for pre-Columbian Native Americans, is considered sacred. To speak is not a casual affair, but a holy action. Words not only describe the world, but actively create and shape that world. … To speak, then, is to reveal, to make manifest one’s spirit. To speak one’s life is to give forth the spirit of one’s life, and if others join in the telling [as with aadizookaan and the storyteller] the result is a mingling of breaths, of lives, of spirits.[14]

A cultural story is not a socially constructed narrative since it is spiritually based. It is a dynamic teacher that helps humans achieve Mino-Bimaadiziwin. For the Anishinaabeg, it is understood that the aadizookaan tells them a story of something that actually happened in the past. Again, the past is seen in different ways. There is the human past; the history of the people and of events that took place before the present. There is also the past of non-human beings. This is not to say that there are in fact two pasts, one for humans and one for non-humans, but rather different dimensions of the same past. There is the past before the beginning of time, before the unfolding of Creation and even a past before the past before the beginning of time. All these seemingly different pasts are understood as different expressions of one past, common to all beings. Thus, as the people listen, they hear a spiritual history unique to the Anishinaabeg.

Aadizookaan is not founded on a fictional character, but a being that is beyond time, beyond the limitations of space. Aadizookaan has the ability to interact with the human world, observing its progress of successes and failures throughout time, and aadizookaan has the ability to share and reflect that knowledge with the people.

It has been said that humans must learn to centre their minds, focusing their being to hear and understand aadizookaan since they are normally unable to hear the words of a non-human being.[15] The concept of ‘centring one’s mind’ means that a person has found a profound spiritual balance of mind, body, emotion and spirit. The Anishinaabeg have the cultural storyteller, a person with a centred mind, a person able to understand and communicate the words of aadizookaan. This cultural storyteller, as the voice of aadizookaan, is able to convey these words into a form that is understandable by the people.

In some cases, aadizookaan can find a path into a person’s dreams, and in that expanded dimension of reality, is able to communicate, in some instances, directly without the use of the uttered word.[16] Aadizookaan and the dreamer are able to share knowledge directly through the spirit. In the dream, the spoken word is replaced by the meaning, the implicit understanding of thought; in essence, it is meta-linguistic. There are also people that develop a centred mind in their waking life, and it is these people who have the ability to communicate directly with aadizookaan. These are the cultural storytellers of the people.

Anishinaabe Kendaaswin: Traditional Knowledge

Anishinaabe Kendaaswin as a means of attaining knowledge, although very similar to Bzindamowin, has the distinction of being ceremonial in nature. As I began attending seasonal ceremonies, I became aware that traditional knowledge is knowledge that is passed down from one generation to the next in ceremonial Teachings. For the Anishinaabeg, these traditional Teachings deal with philosophical Teachings. An added aspect of the ceremonial nature of the Teachings includes the use of ceremonial songs: songs sung by the singer or songs sung by non-human beings with the voice of the human singer. These sources of knowledge are directly linked to the Spirit of Creation. Ceremony acts as a process that allows for the sharing of knowledge through the voice of Gzhe-mnidoo. Traditional knowledge deals with the philosophy of the people; of expressing that worldview. This knowledge is shared in a way that allows for the exploration of life. Traditional knowledge defines various aspects of Creation, explaining and investigating these sacred truths. It examines the structure and purpose of Enadizewin, the law of Creation, of which all beings, human and non-human are a part.

Traditional knowledge is also knowledge necessary to function properly in this world. This knowledge is the basis for the proper way to prepare and carry out a hunt for example. There may be a Ceremony for a child’s first hunt, with the Elders and traditional Teachers sharing their knowledge of proper behaviour. This may also entail the proper ceremonial process to ready oneself for the hunt, of asking an animal to share his/her life, of explaining the purpose of the hunt to that animal. It can be the knowledge necessary to perform a Ceremony, how to build a Sweat Lodge or an Initiation Lodge, how to be a midwife, or how to collect and prepare Mishkikiwan (natural medicines). This knowledge is passed down from one generation to the next in a culturally prescribed fashion. This knowledge allows a person to interact with the larger world around them. It teaches a person the interconnectedness of life and the role that humans play in this system.

Ceremonies are a time where the accumulated wisdom of the people is passed along to a new generation, thus ensuring a continuum of proper behaviour and attitude in life. Traditional knowledge, as it is passed down, gives a sense of continuity and connection with the past. There is a feeling of safety and comfort in knowing that the traditional knowledge that one learns is countless generations old. It is knowledge that finds its origin in the setting of Enadizewin in Creation, and it is a knowledge that gives one a direct connection with Creation.

Traditional knowledge teaches one why it is the proper time to pick a certain berry, or why the natural rice is ready to harvest. It teaches why a certain medicine should be used for a given ailment. It teaches why birch-bark should be removed from the tree in early spring so that the birch tree remains protected during the cold of winter and the heat of summer. Traditional knowledge teaches respect for all life. It fosters a relationship with all living beings, allowing one to find his or her place in the world but also allowing the necessary foundation for the examination of that world. Traditional knowledge comes from the interaction and observation of the people with their environment. Through observation of the natural world, the people learn the Enadizewin of Creation.

Gnawaaminjigewin (To Witness): Knowledge from Observation

Knowledge from observation also has many aspects. Initially, it can be understood as empirical knowledge: knowledge that comes from observing the world. This can be termed scientific knowledge. As a person observes the world they see the changing of the seasons ¾ especially the characteristic features of each. By observation one learns, for example, that many animals give birth in early spring, that maple and birch sap begins to run in the spring when the days are bright with strong sunlight and the nights are cold. Observation also shows that certain berries appear and ripen at a certain time, and also when one should use snowshoes in the winter.

Observation can also be understood as the relationship between a person and the natural world. A person learns through acquired and traditional knowledge that they are intimately related with all aspects of the world. Rather than a simple ‘trial and error’ process of learning, the people learn by interacting directly with their environment as student with teacher. Many hunters, for example, will say that they learn a great deal from the moose they hunt every year. This is not simply learning about moose behaviour by observation, but the interaction of the moose and the man as relatives. By learning the traditional process of preparation for a moose hunt, the hunter centres his being so that he is able to communicate with the moose directly. As Hallowell explains:

Speaking as an Ojibwa, one might say: all other persons — human and other-than-human — are structured the same as I am. There is a vital part which is enduring and an outward appearance that may be transformed under certain conditions. All other “persons,” too, have such attributes as self-awareness and understanding. I can talk with them. Like myself, they have personal identity, autonomy, and volition. I cannot always predict exactly how they will act, although most of the time their behavior meets my expectations. In relation to myself, other “persons” vary in power. Many have more power that I have, but some have less.[17]

Traditional knowledge teaches that one must ask the moose to share his or her life. When this process is carried out properly, the moose that has offered him or herself will allow the hunter to make the kill. But the act of hunting is more that the killing of an animal, it is a learning experience whereby the moose will teach the hunter about moose behaviour. But this is not only by physical observation; the hunter will learn the proper calls, when to stand down-wind, when to rub himself with moose urine, etc. through a direct spiritual interaction with the moose. The moose teaches the hunter the proper way to hunt and kill so that there is a minimal amount of suffering. The moose will lead the hunter through the woods, revealing trails and wallows. The moose teaches the hunter the patience and stealth necessary for a good hunt. The moose is a relative in Creation and thus deserves familial respect. Vine Deloria, Jr. (Sioux) explains this well when he states that:

Here, power and place are dominant concepts — power being the living energy that inhabits and/or composes the universe, and place being the relationship of things to each other … put into a simple equation: power and place produce personality. This equation simply means that the universe is alive, but it also contains within it the very important suggestions that the universe is personal and, therefore, must be approached in a personal manner … The personal nature of the universe demands that each and every entity in it seek and sustain personal relationships. Here, the Indian theory of relativity is much more comprehensive than the corresponding theory articulated by Einstein and his fellow scientists. The broader Indian idea of relationship, in a universe very personal and particular, suggests that all relationships have a moral content. For that reason, Indian knowledge of the universe was never separated from other sacred knowledge about ultimate spiritual realities. The spiritual aspect of knowledge about the world taught the people that relationships must not be left incomplete. There are many stories about how the world came to be, and the common themes running through them are the completion of relationships and the determination of how this world should function.[18]

The traditional hunter hunts for survival, recognizing the moose as a giver of life: one of the moose’s roles in Creation. The traditional hunter also recognizes the moose as a teacher and guide, and not as a prize or a trophy. There is no joy in the hunt. The hunter is taking a life, and this choice is coupled with the responsibility of hunting in a good way. There is not the sadistic joy of ‘killing for the sake of killing’ as in sport hunting. There is the sense that killing is something which is done in the sense of ultimate necessity — for survival and life. There is in fact great ‘joy’ in killing the moose, but it is the joy of life and living. I see hunting as a necessary part of life. It is a great reminder of and an essential communion with life. In essence, killing with the proper intentions is a re-affirmation and recognition of life.

Knowledge through observation also includes the study of animals and plants and their relationship with the natural world. By observation one learns, for example, the power of Fasting from the bear, the purifying nature of maple and birch sap, the healing properties of new cedar shoots, the process of damming from the beaver. Knowledge from observation coupled with acquired and traditional knowledge allows a person to live in harmony with the world.

Manidoo-waabiwin (Seeing in a Spirit Way): Revealed Knowledge

Revealed knowledge is that knowledge gained through events that are considered spiritual. These events may be dreams, visions, or intuition. In all of these cases, a person finds him/herself in direct communication with the Spirit. There is an interaction between person and spirit that transcends one’s physical reality.

Dreams [19]

In the case of dreams, a person is in a state of awareness that allows them to go beyond the limits of the physical. Overholt and Callicott explain that:

Every society has a complicated set of mechanisms for passing on its world view, and in traditional Ojibwa culture the telling of the myths and stories was an important part of this process. Of course, these narratives did not have to bear the entire burden of transmitting the world view. Dreams were also important, so much so that one could speak of children going “to school in dreams,” …[20]

From my personal experience I have realized that there are two main kinds of dreams: lucid and non-lucid. Each has its role to play in revealing spiritual knowledge. Non-lucid dreams are dreams where the dreamer is not aware that they are dreaming. Nevertheless, non-lucid dreams are always meaningful. They are sources of knowledge that come to the dreamer directly.

Lucid dreams are those dreams where the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming. Being aware, the dreamer is able to interact within the dream environment. Lucid dreams can also be further subdivided into two classes; namely, active and non-active. Physically active dreams are those where a person is able to move in sleep (generally referred to as ‘sleep-walking’). These dreams usually present themselves as a combination of the physical waking world and the dream world. A person is able to move about in her/his physical environment with the added dimension of the dream environment superimposed upon the physical. This kind of dream reveals the full dimension of the world. The dreamer is both asleep and awake at the same time. This dream experience can manifest itself, for example, as human and non-human dream people present in one’s bedroom. It can also manifest itself as a voyage that the dreamer takes. The dreamer is able to leave her/his sleeping environment and travel to other places. These places may also exist in the physical realm and the dreamer is able to travel great distances.

The dreamer is able to communicate directly with the beings in his/her dream, sometimes using the spoken word and other times through the sharing of thought directly. It is even possible for a person in this dream state to communicate with people who are in the waking physical state. Hallowell explains that:

The basic assumption that links [other-than-human-persons] with dreams is this: Self-related experience of the most personal and vital kind includes what is seen, heard, and felt in dreams. Although there is no lack of discrimination between the experiences of the self when awake and when dreaming, both sets of experiences are equally self-related. Dream experiences function integrally with other self-recalled memory images in so far as these, too, enter the field of self-awareness. When we [i.e., non-Natives] think autobiographically we only include events that happened to us awake; the Ojibwa include remembered events that have occurred in dreams. And, far from being of subordinate importance, such experiences are for them often of more vital importance than the events of daily waking life. Why is this so? Because it is in dreams that the individual comes into direct communication with the [other-than-human-person], the powerful person of the other-than-human class.[21]

The dreamer may ‘talk’, for example, with a bear or a porcupine directly as I have in my dreams. The ancestors of the dreamer may appear in a dream to share their knowledge of the past. Questions can be answered, and physical-spiritual contact can be made.

Naanaagede’enmowin (Visions)

Visions are evidence of how a person is able to interact with the spirit world. During a Ceremony such as the Sweat Lodge, the spirits of the four directions as well as the spirits of the Grandfathers and Grandmothers are invited into the Sweat Lodge. They enter to hear the people, but also to respond to them. As a person finds balance in the Sweat Lodge, it is possible to hear the voice of the Spirit. Again it is not a voice limited to the spoken word, it is a voice that can also enter the mind and the spirit. And it is also possible to see and touch the Spirit; to visualize the source of the knowledge as it is shared. There are times when a person is unable to find the balance necessary to interact directly with the Spirit, but there is always a conductor in the Sweat Lodge who has attained a level of spiritual balance that allows him or her to communicate and relay the message of the Spirit to that person.

It is also possible to interact directly with the Spirit during Makadekewin, (the Fast), although there are visions attained in other ways. The Faster prepares him or herself by abstaining from food and water for a certain amount of time. As the Faster gets past the thirst and hunger, the loneliness, fear and anger, he or she leaves the physical realm, elevated to the higher place, becoming a pure non-physical spirit. In this way the Faster is able to communicate directly with those of the spirit world. Fasting is quiet meditation based on the lack of physical distractions. This is different than the dream, where a person is still intimately attached to her/his physical self. During the Fast, a person is separated from her/his physical self and is able to go beyond physical space and time. The vision is an event of great spiritual importance. It is a directive for a person’s life. It functions as a way for the person to find the purpose of her/his life.

Vision can provide a person with one’s name, one’s Clan and even the meaning of one’s life, to name a few gifts. During a vision, a person may be able to meet his/her spirit helpers: teachers that will guide a person throughout one’s life. The vision can indicate and even direct a person to her/his life purpose. In essence, the vision is the process of self-discovery; a person’s true identity is revealed to her/him. In a dream, a person is given Teachings that allow one the knowledge necessary for a good life, but a vision also reveals one’s spirit, one’s identity as having a good purpose and place in Creation. A vision sets the very foundation of life, while dreams and other sources of knowledge set out how one should live that life. Ultimately, the vision allows a person to interact directly with all of Creation.

Gidisi’ewin (Intuition)

Intuition is the sudden awareness of understanding. It is sometimes described as a feeling, or a hunch. However, intuition is more than a feeling; it is a direct understanding that comes from a well-balanced life. This kind of knowledge is also spiritual since a person has a complete spirit identity. Knowledge is always received from the exterior; through acquisition, tradition, observation and revelation; but, intuition, as a form of revealed knowledge, points to a built-in truth recognition. In other words, truth or the ability to perceive truth is the ‘feeling’ that one has, at the moment of intuitive clarity. Intuition is the voice of one’s spirit — the spirit that received Gzhe-mnidoo's instructions before it came to this Earth. Our respective intuition speaks to each of us about what we are doing, or not doing, while we are here. Whether this clarity comes when faced with a decision or one’s attempts to understand the meaning of a cultural story or traditional teaching, there is a clear understanding of being ‘right’ about a thought or decision. This intuitive sort of knowledge, based on external knowledge sources, is the outcome of a balanced person able to think and feel in a balanced way; of being able to centre one’s mind. All knowledge is found in Creation, but the ability to understand with clarity lies within each individual.

Kiimiingona manda Kendaaswin [22](Instructions from Gzhe-mnidoo): Original Instructions

It is taught that the Anishinaabeg were given Seven Gifts from the Seven Grandfathers of the Star World. These Seven Gifts include wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility and truth, which may be defined in the following way:

To cherish knowledge is to know wisdom

To know love is to know peace

To honor all of Creation is to have respect

Bravery is to face the foe with integrity

Honesty in facing a situation is to be brave

Humility is to know yourself as a sacred part of Creation

Truth is to know all of these things [23]

These Seven Gifts begin and end with knowledge and the ability to know. This is the beginning and end of being a good person. Life becomes ‘something-lived’ based on reflection. Thought is defined as a union of mind and intuition (Couture’s full-mindedness). It is said that one must centre one’s mind in order to apprehend and understand Creation. One can turn one’s mind back to the beginning, and even before the beginning of time.

As the Seven Grandfathers have taught, to cherish knowledge is to know wisdom. This is the first step in a philosophical apprehension of existence. Knowledge is the means to being a good person. This tradition stresses the need to investigate the world, and as such it is taught that philosophical thought has conceptual and logical beauty. This realization unleashes one’s imagination and liberates one’s thinking. The domain of thought/intuition opens up an infinity of possibilities. Individuals are choice-makers, and they are also thought-makers. They are able to grasp the import of Nwenamdanwin (choice-making), to ascertain the underlying why of Creation and not only the how (or what) of Creation. Like Gzhe-mnidoo who, at the beginning of Creation, sent out thoughts to see if there was anything or anyone else[24], the individual also sends out one’s thoughts to learn about one’s world through Teachings received.

The Seven Gifts ¾ wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility and truth ¾ are all dependent on knowledge since being good means knowing all these things: it is important to live these gifts, choosing to actualize their potentiality. These Seven Gifts give us a way of knowing Mino-Bimaadiziwin in its fullest sense. Nevertheless, they are not the Original Instructions of Gzhe-mnidoo. They are gifts that help us live this life.

The Original Instructions are not really instructions such as the Christian Ten Commandments, for instance. The instructions are, for lack of a better expression, encoded in our being, our spirit. The Anishinaabeg are inherently the Good Beings. The directive from Gzhe-mnidoo is very simple: be good. The actualization of this directive is, on the other hand, very difficult: the very challenge of life.

Eshkakimikwe-Kendaaswin: Mother-Earth Knowledge

Eshkakimikwe is Mother to all life: mineral beings, plant beings, animal and insect beings and, lastly, human beings. She is both the source of life as well as its unconditional nurturer.

Gidisi’ewin means the navel way. It is the Mother connection. In the same way that my physical body was connected to my mother through my navel, my spirit is connected to Eshkakimikwe through my spirit navel. But unlike the fact that my umbilical chord was cut at birth, my spiritual connection to Eshkakimikwe can never be severed.

The presence and Zaagedewin (love) of Eshkakimikwe is an underlying constant. Eshkakimikwe unfolds beneath our feet as the actual and symbolic ground on which we stand. Without Mother there would be no life and no reason to live. This may seem mystical in context, but mystical or not it is the very truth by which we exist. All life feels a tie to Earth Mother. The one fact that seems to distinguish Aboriginal peoples from their western relations is that Aboriginal cultures understand that the umbilical cord was never cut. Like a foetus in her/his mother, each of us is constantly drawing physical and spiritual nutrition from our Earth Mother. We cannot go anywhere without her, and even in our most far-reaching voyages we are dependent on the nutrition our Mother creates for us; any astronaut would attest to this.

So what is it about Earth Mother that permeates Anishinaabe philosophy? In a word: circularity. We are witnesses to the circularity of the seasons, of life and death and life again, and of all the other cycles that drive our very existence. This is the way of life.

Manidoo-minjimendamowin (Spirit Memory): Spirit Identity

Physical life begins at conception. The union of a mother’s and father’s physical essence combines to create a physical body. At conception one’s spirit joins with the physical body to create the whole person. Even though the spirit is not defined by space-time, the union is one that exists over time.

The spirit that fuses with the physical body carries with it the identity of that person. Since this spirit is beyond the constraints of space-time, identity is eternal. I remember my earliest awareness of this fact. As I previously explained, I am of mixed heritage; nevertheless, my experience the first time I heard the drum as well as the first time I attended ceremonies was an awakening of my Anishinaabe spirit. This was explained to me as ‘blood memory’ or ‘spirit memory’. Paul Bourgeois (Ojibwe) states:

Some Elders have talked about this type of [identity] experience as stemming from “blood memory” and scientists are beginning to view it as “genetic memory.” I am calling the experience as based in our “spirit memory.” This spirit memory, I believe, is something we as human beings have, but is perhaps something we have lost and forgotten through disuse and separation from the primacy of human experience.[25]

This spirit memory is something that transcends time and space. It is said that all the experiences of my ancestors can be revealed to me throughout my life. Part of my responsibility in physical life is to ‘remember’ this knowledge. It is also my responsibility to add to this body of knowledge so that it can be passed on to my descendants.

Stages of Knowledge Learning

This brings us to the organization of knowledge as set out in four stages: feeling, watching, reflection and doing. The explanation of these stages in the learning of knowledge will become clearer in light of the above discussion.

Feeling

Feeling refers to a state of balanced emotions, once one realizes that one is completely responsible for all choices. This emotional balance is the most difficult task that one faces in life. The Elders teach that emotional balance ¾ through trusting one’s intuition and one’s reason ¾ allows one to hear and see with open ears, clear eyes and a good heart.

Watching and Listening

Watching and listening is a vital aspect of knowledge since one is able to learn many things without asking questions; i.e., experiential learning. At times, asking too many questions obscures the obvious knowledge available in the physical-spiritual world. Observation without questioning also teaches patience and humility since one is forced to quiet one’s natural inclination to want to know everything all at once. A person learns in a gradual way, coming to understand that all things come at their own pace and that forcing answers has a way of moving one further away from one’s goal. In this way one also gains knowledge about one’s own self and finds balance in one’s emotional self.

Reflection

With balanced emotions and having watched and listened patiently, one ultimately arrives at the time of thinking and reflection. It is here that one uses the power of one’s mind and spirit to reflect upon the knowledge that one has gained, understanding it for what it means, and for what it can do in one’s life. A person is able to reflect on the process as well, of balancing one’s emotions, of watching and listening and finding knowledge about one’s behaviour and attitudes. Knowledge is a constant companion. It is one’s duty in life to make its acquaintance so that one can receive wisdom and find one’s own truth within one’s self.

Doing

It is after careful reflection that one is ready to do something. It may be the first time that one is asked to help in the Lodge; i.e., singing or even being asked to give one of the Teachings. Whatever the task may be, one is able to do it with confidence and courage since one has spent time readying oneself for the moment (although from personal experience I never really felt ready the