Chapter 5

Aazhikenimonenaadizid Bemaadizid 1

 Cultural Stories and Traditional Teachings 2

What It Means To Live In An Anishinaabe World 3

Anishinaabe as Practitioner of Mino-Bimaadiziwin 3

Unity and Dignity 3

Creation as Unity 4

Animism and the Actualization of Life 5

Dynamic and Static 6

Absolutes and Non-singular Truths 7

The Beauty Bridge 8

It is intuitively obvious to the most casual of observers.

Robert W. Malone

Aazhikenimonenaadizid Bemaadizid literally means the study of the behaviour of life.  It is the closest term that exists in Anishinaabemowin for the English word philosophy.[1]  There is no term for philosophy per se in Anishinaabemowin.  The word philosophy comes to us from the Greek tradition.  It literally means the intellectual love of wisdom.  For the Anishinaabeg, ‘life’ is central rather than knowledge or wisdom.  Knowledge is a step towards Mino-Bimaadiziwin rather than the result of a good life.  The Anishinaabe language does not make distinctions of something being a philosophy, or even a religion, but there is a sense of philosophical thought and religious faith.  This is not to say that there is no philosophy or religion, only that there is no separation made between various aspects of Creation.  Essentially, everything in Anishinaabe life is rooted in the process of life, thus Mino-Bimaadiziwin is of paramount importance.

Mino-Bimaadiziwin literally means the Way of a Good Life.[2]  It is a simple expression, but it contains the ontological, ethical, epistemological and aesthetic directives of life.  In essence, Mino-Bimaadiziwin represents all the Teachings that pertain to living a long healthy life.  Although it is prescriptive in nature, it allows for the freedom of choice that each individual expresses.

The Way of a Good Life must be set out for human beings.  It is said that we are the last and weakest on Earth.  We were placed here by Gzhe-mnidoo after the rest of the world, after all the minerals, plants, insects and animals had found their home.  As human beings, we must struggle due to our weakened state of existence.  We are dependent on others for our well-being.  We depend, for example, on the mineral beings for our stone and metal, on the plant beings and the animal beings for our food and clothing.  These natural beings are connected with Creation in a different way than human beings.  They live with the Original Instructions as set out by Creator.  Human beings, on the other hand, have the habit of ignoring or forgetting the Original Instructions.  Chief Benton-Banai (Ojibwe) explains what happened to the First People of Earth when they moved away from the Original Instructions:

I regret to say that this harmonious way of life on Earth did not last forever.  Men and women did not continue to give each other the respect needed to keep the Sacred Hoop of marriage strong.  Families began to quarrel with each other.  Finally villages were arguing back and forth.  People began to fight over hunting grounds.  Brother turned against brother and began killing each other.

It greatly saddened the Creator, Gitchie Manito, to see the Earth’s people turn to evil ways.  It seemed that the entire Creation functioned in harmony except for the people who were the last to be placed there.  For a long time Gitchie Manito waited hoping that the evil ways would cease and that brotherhood, sisterhood, and respect for all things would again come to rule over the people.

When it seemed that there was no hope left, Gitchie Manito decided to purify the Earth.  He would do this with water.  The water came like a mush-ko’-be-wun’ (flood) upon the Earth.  The flood came so fast that it caught the entire Creation off guard.  Most all living things were drowned immediately, but some of the animals were able to keep swimming, trying to find a small bit of land on which to rest.  Some of the birds were caught in the air and had to keep flying in order to stay alive.

The purification of the Earth with water appeared to be complete.  All the evil that had built up in the hearts of the first people had been washed away.[3]

This purification led to the Second People of Earth.[4] 

The second people of the Earth grew in number and their villages began to spread across the land.  But, in their early years, the second people had a very hard time.  At first, they were a weak people.  Diseases took many lives each year.  There were many times when people would be killed by just stumbling and falling down.[5]

Gradually, the new people learned of ceremonies and a way of life that allowed them to find balance and harmony with the world.  This is who we are today, although many people in this world have forgotten the balance and harmony necessary to live a good life. 

At the centre of Mino-Bimaadiziwin is a spiritual apprehension of the world and the understanding that we are related to all beings.  It is this central tenet of Anishinaabe philosophy that we will now examine.

Cultural Stories and Traditional Teachings

Spirituality is the beginning of any attempt to understand Anishinaabe worldview, but it is also spirituality that is found when we finish searching for the truth.  Spirituality is the underlying truth; without it our cultural codes would have been destroyed long ago, and yet they can still be found in the cultural stories and Teachings of the people.

As a mainly oral system, Anishinaabe philosophy finds its foundation and places all its merit on the truth expressed by cultural stories and traditional Teachings.  James Dumont (Ojibwe) stresses that: 

If we try to understand and sensibly appreciate Native myth and legend we must be willing, first of all, to accept that there is involved here a very special way of ‘seeing the world’.  Secondly, and a necessary further step, we must make an attempt to ‘participate’ in this way of seeing.[6]

To comprehend the sense of simultaneous realities that is expressed in Anishinaabe philosophy it is imperative that any interpretation of Anishinaabe cultural stories and Teachings include a comprehensive understanding of the people themselves.  The name of the people:  Anishinaabe, means “the good being, created from nothing and lowered down to Mother Earth.”  Within this one word, we find our Creation Story, our purpose and our identity.  Cultural stories and traditional Teachings, such as the Creation Story, elaborate on and explain what it is to be an Anishinaabe person.  Cultural stories not only direct personality, social order, action and ethics; they also set out the proper context for a person’s life.  Cultural stories and traditional Teachings give life structure and meaning.  Without these Teachers, how else can a person know how to be good?  They are oral reference libraries that account for stories, legends, prophecies, ceremonies, songs, dances, language and the philosophy of the people.  Moreover, the Elders and traditional Teachers responsible for these oral libraries, are as much the librarians as the libraries of this knowledge.[7]  Cultural stories and Teachings are as alive as the person hearing them or sharing them.  They exist in a dynamic form and their meaning is eternal.  It is for this reason that cultural stories and traditional Teachings are important, and it is for the same reason that we must listen to their voices.

What It Means To Live In An Anishinaabe World

Belief in the supernatural, transcendent and/or incorporeal side of reality is a natural aspect of Anishinaabe culture.  This can be understood, on the surface, as a belief in magic and mysticism.  The Spiritual world is, by definition, the opposite of objectivity and quantification.  It is a realm of reality that subscribes to dynamism, movement and quality.  Moreover, magic and mysticism are not simply illusions, tricks and slight-of-hand, but expressions of the mystery of Creation.

There are a number of philosophical assumptions at play here.  Foremost is an acceptance of Creation as a physical-spiritual reality.  It is not possible to speak of one aspect without the other.  The unity of Creation is a given.  The role of spiritual existence and spiritual beings is nevertheless central.  As I have stated before, all life is related spiritually, and this relationship defines each being as a member of one family.  In addition, like any family, each member plays various roles.[8]

Anishinaabe as Practitioner of Mino-Bimaadiziwin

Anishinaabe philosophy is not a purely intellectual pursuit; it is a lived philosophy, a philosophy of process ¾ a way of life.  It finds meaning in the lived experience of each being of Creation and it is expressed by the concept of harmony and balance of the four aspects of life; namely, the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.[9]  These four aspects find their place as artificial divisions of the interconnectivity of life in the Teachings expressed by the Elders and the traditional Teachers.  These Teachings are static patterns in themselves but point to the dynamic unfolding of Creation.

Fundamental to this system is an inherent understanding that all life is related, and that life is a process of learning.  Underlying any discussion of this worldview is the acceptance that we, as human beings, are not separate and distinct from the ‘stuff’ of reality.  Human Beings are only one aspect of the whole.

It can be said that the Anishinaabe person is a practitioner of sorts, a practitioner of Mino-Bimaadiziwin.  In essence, it means living life in a sacred manner due to the sacred nature of Creation.  Because of the intellectual and spiritual depth with which the Anishinaabeg approach life, some of them attain the role of doctors of philosophy; i.e., traditional female and male Teachers and Elders (Chinshinabeg) concerned with the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health of others.  This understanding of lived-health focuses on the prevention of disease and living life to the fullest, actualizing the potentiality inherent in Creation as well as the treatment of illness.[10]  There is a fine balance or equilibrium that must be achieved due to each being’s responsibility in maintaining the goodness and beauty of Creation.  To understand Mino-Bimaadiziwin it is necessary to comprehend the importance of this responsibility.

Unity and Dignity

The singular force of Anishinaabe Mino-Bimaadiziwin is the idea of the unity and dignity of all beings.  Rémi Savard states that:

The genuine American dimension, to which present day Indigenous peoples urge us towards, is neither English, neither French, neither Indian, nor Inuit; it is found in the Indigenous notion of the Great Circle, in accordance with which the absolute respect of the specificity of each link becomes the indispensable condition in maintaining the whole.[11]

Each being is an integral aspect of Creation.  The Anishinaabe person, when praying, addresses his or her salutations to all beings of the universe.  This allows one to recognize one’s place in Creation.  There is an absolute certainty of coming from somewhere.  This reality is not born of some random ordering of cosmic dust, but rather the expression of Gzhe-mnidoo’s will.  This is the underlying spiritual code of Creation as unity that maintains and gives meaning to life and how we live.

Creation as Unity

It is important here to understand fully the meaning of unity.  Creation is not a movement towards unity, but rather is unity in movement.  To think that Creation can only be grasped by the physical senses, or conversely, that it can only be grasped by the rational intellect, is to give either the sensible or the intellectual more importance.  Creation is harmony in seeming duality.  It is the unity of Being rather than the unity of the intellectual and the sensible or of the objective and the subjective.  This underlying harmony is what gives meaning to the perceived dualities of life.  Nevertheless, any attempt to call Creation the synthesis of this or any duality is an attempt to do away with duality.  Duality is a matter of fact.  Duality is found in all aspects of our lives; e.g., hot and cold, light and dark, etc.  This duality is of the actual kind as experienced in life, but which can be understood only against the backdrop of Creation. 

Ultimately, Creation cannot be thought of as global or creator oriented, as in a synthesis, since it is the harmony of all duality.  In other words, Creation is not simply a conglomeration of all that exists (known and unknown) put together objectively by Gzhe-mnidoo, but it is the harmony that is found in both the total collection of all that is, and the individual beings themselves, including Gzhe-mnidoo.  By this, I mean to say that each individual (human and non-human) is as much a representation and manifestation of the whole of Creation as the whole of Creation is a representation of itself.  This may all seem rather esoteric and cryptic, but simply put it is taught that each individual is the physical-spiritual manifestation of the whole of Creation and that it is one’s responsibility and duty to be good so that Creation is maintained.[12]  Creation is, and as such all that is, is Creation.  For the Anishinaabeg, this understanding is the highest expression of being a good person.

To further this understanding of representation and manifestation, the Elders teach that each individual is complete at birth, and the task of life is to actualize each aspect of the potential person.  Such potential includes seeking out, for instance, the meaning inherent in a person's name, one’s Clan, one’s special abilities, and one’s role in life.  At a young age, a person is taught the ability of choice-making as she/he listens to the telling of cultural stories and traditional Teachings which, in turn, actualize the listener’s potential as choice-maker.

This leads us to the special way of seeing mentioned by James Dumont (Ojibwe) (1992) which entails a primacy of perception, although this is a physical-spiritual perception that transcends space-time.  Humans are physical-spiritual beings that find meaning in a physical-spiritual existence.  As we have seen, this philosophy is centred in Creation and all it entails.  All things are interconnected; one’s place in Creation brings balance and belonging in the world.  Nevertheless, since one interacts with the world in a mainly physical way, it is very difficult to see the physical-spiritual unity of Creation.  The Anishinaabeg overcome this difficulty as a dream conscious people who understand that dreams and visions are a doorway into the more expanded dimension of actual reality.  James Dumont (Ojibwe) sums up this point when he explains that:

There seems to be a vital link, then, for the Ojibwa, between mythical times and the present.  In fact, it might be said that mythical times become present when we approach the realm of the sacred through the dream of the vision quest.  Perhaps this can be expressed as simultaneous realities.  What we have called mythical time is eternally present, and it occurs simultaneously with our present.[13]

Since Creation is a complex reality of many aspects, it is necessary to develop the proper senses to be able to ‘perceive’ it completely.  The Anishinaabeg use Fasts or Vision Quests, the Sweat Lodge Ceremony and dreams, for instance, to expand their perception of reality.  The simultaneous realities that Dumont mentions are in fact the unity in the movement of the physicality-spirituality of Creation.  There becomes more to reality than simply the physical, spatial and temporal waking world.  One's reality is made up of both waking and dreaming.  One is aware of one’s reality and part of it all the time.  One is not unconscious in sleep, but in a state of learning.

By choosing to learn how to perceive the simultaneity of reality, one gradually attains a state through which the interconnectivity of Creation may be perceived.

Animism and the Actualization of Life

The Anishinaabeg are a theosophical people; that is, a people who are concerned with philosophical and spiritual thought based on a mystical insight into the divine nature of reality.  Generally, terms such as ‘animism’ or ‘pantheism’ are used to describe the worldview of the Anishinaabe.  This is based, I would guess, on the fact that the field of Anthropology has defined the Anishinaabeg as a people who believe that everything is alive. 

I have struggled somewhat with the concept of animism, and I have always felt that it did not exactly capture the actual understanding that was taking place.  I became acutely aware of this the first time I went out with a friend to gather rocks for a Sweat Lodge Ceremony. 

We went into a field covered with rocks of varying sizes.  We were, I was told, to look for medium sized red granite rocks.  You would think that such a search would be simple.  Well there we were standing for half-an-hour looking up and down that field and we could not find a single red granite rock.  And then my friend took out his asemaa pouch saying that we needed some help.  He held the asemaa and addressed the rocks asking them to awaken and show themselves to us.  He went on to explain aloud that we needed them for our Sweat Lodge and that we would care for them well.  And you know, after he put the asemaa down they seemed to pop out of the background of the field.  They were always there, but they were now showing themselves. 

The asiniig (rocks that have shown themselves) because of their great age are different than human beings in that they perceive time’s passage, from our perspective, in a highly accelerated way.  They have existed on Earth for millions of years and thus we must ask them to show themselves:  in essence slow down to our temporal perception.

What does all this mean?  For me, I have come to understand it as an actualization of life.  This is reflected in a story that has been told so many times that it can now, I would venture to say, be called a contemporary Teaching.  An Elder was asked, with regards to the question of animism, if rocks were alive.  He replied “No, but some are.”  I have heard this story told many times during the preparation of the Sweat Lodge.  I have come to understand the search for rocks for the Sweat Lodge as a process of actualizing life.  A rock is just a rock, but when they are used during a Manidookewin (Ceremony) they become Mishoomisag (Grandfathers) and Nookomisag (Grandmothers).  In so many words, they become alive.  This is also true of dewe’ganag (drums), zhiishiigwanag (shakers) and other sacred objects.  Outside of Manidookewin they are just rocks, wooden vessels and gourds.  But during Manidookewin they are alive with all the qualities of sentience usually attributed to humans.  This is not to say that these asiniig, dewe’ganag and zhiishiigwanag experience a radical shift from in-animation to animation at the whim of a human being, in other words a social and conceptual construct created by human minds, but rather that they are actually alive.  The radical shift happens for the people who take part in the Ceremony.  Ceremony is one of many occasions when humans become in-tune to the spiritual aspect of Creation; thus they are able to ‘perceive’ sacred objects as the actual living beings that they are.

Animism is the belief that natural objects, natural phenomena, and the universe possess spirit.  In a sense, this is the way the Anishinaabeg see the world.  But it is also true that the unity of Creation is a oneness.  To tell you the truth, this leads me to think that what we physically perceive as a differentiated substantiality may be an illusion, but I cannot be sure.  I am led to this hypothetical conclusion in part because of the Teachings that explain that Creation is a unity:  that all beings are related.  But more so because of the ethical prescription that each individual, as a physical manifestation of the spiritual essence of Gzhe-mnidoo, must strive to live a good life in order that the integrity and unity of Creation is maintained.

My experience during Makadekewin and many Sweat Lodge Ceremonies has revealed to me a sense of disappearing into nothingness, an existential emptiness.  When I sit in a Sweat Lodge particularly, I experience a sense of expansion.  Generally, a Sweat Lodge is only four or five feet tall, but sitting in that hot and moist darkness I have a sense that the Lodge expands and me with it.  I can best describe it as sitting in the whole of the universe.  Initially, I feel gigantic; but after a while, I loose any perspective of space and time.  It is a peculiar feeling to exit the Lodge and ‘return’ in a sense to the realm of space-time.  Whatever the truth, I want to be clear in my intentions here, I state no actual conclusion or theory, only speculation.  I have reached the limit of my knowledge in this area.

Dynamic and Static

The above discussion of the physical and spiritual leads me to the central subject of this chapter, the interplay of the static and the dynamic.  In discussing these issues of spirituality, we must first, as Rupert Ross warns:

… be very careful when we consider the role of the spiritual plane.  We are not dealing with some quaint custom, nor are we dealing with religion as many of us define that term in our post-industrial, western world.  To many Native people, the spiritual plane is not simply a sphere of activity or belief which is separable from the pragmatics of everyday life; instead, it seems to be a context from within which most aspects [of] life are seen, defined and given significance.[14]

Keeping this in mind, it is then possible to begin to examine what I have come to understand as the way of reality.

Of all the topics in this book, I have spent the most time reflecting on the structure and process of life — a subject that genuinely intrigues me.  Of all the subjects that I have discussed with my traditional Teachers, the structure and process of life has come up the most.  I am still struggling with the lived-expression of Mino-Bimaadiziwin, but nevertheless will share the little I know here.

Anishinaabe Mino-Bimaadiziwin does not objectify the world creating artificial divisions of subject and object.  It is difficult to understand this since we are constantly inundated with this subject/object dichotomy in the English language, but Anishinaabemowin is not noun-based but verb-based with the subject and object already encoded in the verb; meaning it is action- and relationship-oriented rather than subject/object oriented.[15]

Anishinaabe Mino-Bimaadiziwin states that rather than a subject/object division reality is made up of dynamic and static aspects.  One way to understand the dynamic and static aspects of reality is to imagine the experience of a new-born-child.  Robert Pirsig, in Lila:  An Inquiry into Morals (1991) explains that in the womb a baby is able to experience certain things such as pressure, sound and temperature among others.  At birth, as they enter into the outside world, they acquire more complex experiences such as hunger, breath and light.  As adults, we know these experiences as pressure, sound, temperature, hunger, light, and breathing and so on, but the baby does not.  We call these experiences stimuli but the baby does not.  From the perspective of the newborn child, that which draws his or her attention, such as hunger, is an undefined sensation and experience. 

This generalized ‘something’, undefined, new and as yet unlabelled, is the dynamic aspect of reality.  When the baby is a few months old he or she studies his or her hand with a sense of absolute wonder, mystery and excitement not knowing that it is a hand, or even that it is ‘his or her’ hand.  There is no understanding of the perceived or the perceiver, no expression of possessed and possessor as the baby brings ‘his or her’ hand towards ‘his or her’ mouth.  The distinction of self and ‘things’ out there is not a reality for the baby.  As the baby becomes more and more attentive to the dynamic aspects of reality, he or she will begin to notice differences and likenesses and ultimately some kind of relationship between them.  After a few months of playing with this wiggly ‘thing’ we adults call a hand, the baby will develop some kind of understanding of the ‘out-thereness’ of that hand. 

Gradually the complex nature of that ‘hand’, through sensations and experiences and the baby’s relationship with concepts like boundaries, distance and desire (although the baby does not categorize his or her experiences as concepts in the same sense adults do) will generate a general apprehension of something we call an object which can be reached for or observed out in space.  This ‘object’, built up on static patterns of similarities and differences, and defined by ‘its’ relation to repeated experiences over time, that we call ‘the hand’ is not the primary experience for the baby.  In fact, the primary experience for the baby is wonder, mystery and excitement.  Once the baby has apprehended the complex pattern of experiences that are static in nature, called an object, and found this pattern to work in the same way repeatedly; i.e., it appears every time he or she brings the hand before his or her eyes, then the baby begins to develop a repertoire of knowledge about the world based on the repetition of certain events.  As the baby’s experiences continue, he or she begins to generalize these experiences thus developing the ability to jump through the chain of many small deductions based on repeated experience that produce the ‘object’ as though it were a single leap of reason.[16]

But at the same time, we must be cognizant that this apprehension of the outside world happens concurrently with the development of language for the baby.  A child that is raised in an environment with a language that differentiates between subjects and objects will thus develop these categories in her/his lived-apprehension of the world.  A child raised in an Anishinaabe environment will not develop these subject/object categories in the same way as western people perceive them since they do not exist in the same manner in Anishinaabe worldview.  In Anishinaabemowin there is no need for an explicit reference to subjects or objects since their relationship is encoded in the verb.  Nevertheless, subject/object relations are very important in spoken Anishinaabemowin and ultimately it is in the ‘implicit naming’ of these ‘things’ that there is a fundamental difference in language use and structure.[17]

Again, this is a very difficult idea to grasp for those of us raised with a worldview that distinguishes between subjects and objects.  Many adults believe that subjects and objects are primary because they do not remember that time in their early life when they experienced the world as wonder, mystery and excitement.  We believe that static patterns, unknowingly based on the many small forgotten dynamic experiential deductions made as a baby, are our reality of distinguishable subjects and objects.  As we grow older and supposedly more knowledgeable of our environment, we move from primary dynamic experiences of wonder, mystery and excitement to basic static constructions of simple objects as well as distinctions like ‘before’ and ‘after’ and ‘like’ and unlike’.  These simple static constructions grow into very complex constructions of cultures and beliefs with which we live.  This is probably why children are usually quicker to perceive the dynamic aspects of the world than adults, why beginners are more open to new dynamic information than experts, and why Indigenous cultures are more in-tune with the dynamic aspects of Creation than so-called advanced technological societies.[18]

This is perhaps also part of the reason that the first European new-comers to this land referred to Aboriginal peoples as ‘child-like’ and why the tradition of paternalism became a central aim of Euro-American political and cultural assimilationist policies.

Absolutes and Non-singular Truths

Unlike subject/object metaphysics, Anishinaabe Mino-Bimaadiziwin does not insist on a single exclusive truth.  If subjects and objects are held to be the ultimate reality, then we are permitted only one construction of things, these things corresponding only to the ‘objective’ world with all other constructions thus unreal.  But if Mino-Bimaadiziwin is seen as the ‘under-standing’ of reality, it then becomes possible for more than one set of truths to exist.  Marlene Brant Castellano (Mohawk) explains: 

Illustrating the personal nature of Aboriginal Knowledge, there is a story which has been repeated often enough to have a place in contemporary oral culture.  At the hearings considering an injunction to stop the first James Bay Hydro-electric power development in Northern Québec, an Elder from one of the northern Cree communities potentially affected by the development was brought in to testify about Cree lifeways and the environment.  He was asked to swear that he would tell the truth and he asked the translator for an explanation of the word.  However truth was translated for him, as something which holds for all people, or something which is valid regardless of the rapporteur, the Elder responded:  “I can’t promise to tell you the truth; I can only tell you what I know.”

Aboriginal knowledge is rooted in personal experience and lays no claim to being universal.  The degree to which you can trust what is being said is tied up with the integrity and perceptiveness of the speaker.  If Joseph X reports that he saw signs of a moose in a given direction, the information will be weighed in light of what is known of Joseph X, how often in the past his observations have proven accurate, what is known about this part of the territory, and the habits of moose.  In any case, his observations would not necessarily be accepted uncritically, nor would they be contradicted or dismissed.  They would be put in context.

The personal nature of knowledge means that disparate and even contradictory perceptions can be accepted as valid because they are unique to the person.  In a council or talking circle of Elders you will not find arguments as to whose perception is more valid and therefore whose judgement should prevail.  In other words, people do not contest with one another to establish who is correct, who has the “truth”.  Nevertheless, Aboriginal societies make a distinction between perceptions which are personal and wisdom which has social [and spiritual] validity and can serve as a basis for common action.  Knowledge is validated through collective analysis and consensus-building.[19]

One does not then seek the absolute truth since it is possible for more than one set of truths to exist.  One seeks instead the highest good of life with the knowledge that if the past is any guide to the future this explanation must be taken conditionally:  as useful until something better comes along.  This ‘something-better’ for the Anishinaabeg is a further understanding of the traditional Teachings and how they are integrated into one’s life.  We each were sent to this Earth with Creator’s Original Instructions encoded in our spirit.  The ongoing unveiling of truth that happens throughout life is an unveiling of absolute truth (Original Instructions).  I believe in an absolute truth for a people, in this case the Anishinaabeg, as given by Creator.  The word Debwewin (truth) at the core of n’debewetawin (the truth that is evident in the way of action) is a very powerful concept.  I do not understand this truth as yet, but I know that it is at the core of my being.  By ‘absolute truth’ I do not mean a truth that is the same for all individuals, but rather a sacred truth concerning the nature of Creation of which all beings are a part.

Learning is a life-long mission, where new knowledge is constantly added to knowledge learned yesterday.  It is a path of self-actualization through a realization of Gzhe-mnidoo’s Original Instructions.

The Beauty Bridge

Because of the non-objectifying nature of Anishinaabe worldview, Mino-Bimaadiziwin reveals that one’s life in static reality; that is, the everydayness of life or the mundane expression of perceived physical reality, finds its foundation on the dynamic unfolding of Creation.  There is a bridge that links the static and the dynamic for the Anishinaabeg, and it is that of Beauty.  Beauty is at the centre of the Anishinaabe perception of the world.  It expresses the work of Gzhe-mnidoo in a way that allows a person to re-connect with the dynamic aspect of reality.  When a person Fasts for a vision, dreams and/or sings a ceremonial song, to name a few activities, they are crossing the bridge of Beauty from the static to the dynamic.  And when they cross back, as they must, they bring some of the dynamic into the static everydayness of this world. 

It is said that a ceremonial song sung properly, for instance, gives wings to one’s spirit.[20]  These wings allow one to cross the bridge of Beauty to the dynamic side.  The song is described as beautiful, as an expression of Gzhe-mnidoo:  the dynamic aspect.  This aesthetic apprehension of reality allows one to discern the dynamic nature underlying the static appearance of the world. 

The analogy of the bridge spanning between two areas is awkward; nevertheless, it is the closest that I can offer to describe what is, for all intents and purposes, non-describable.  Creation is not a simple act of willing reality into being.  The Anishinaabe Creation Story explains that there is a system of ‘degrees’ that would make up reality.  Spiritual reality was created before the physical properties of the universe.  The degrees, or ‘steps’ that were brought into being had to do, for example, with the fact that there is a difference between hot and cold, light and dark, and even female and male.  It was decided that there could be no uniformity to reality; that it was essential that there be difference rather than sameness.  In a non-differentiated universe there would be no reference to hot if there was no cold; light if there was no dark.  In essence, we experience light/dark, hot/cold ¾ without our experience they do not exist as such. [21]

We do, in fact, live in a differentiated universe.  Anishinaabe metaphysics points out that this differentiation is essential to the way Creation works.  However, the differentiation inherent in Anishinaabe philosophy is one of physical-spiritual or static-dynamic rather than subject/object.  I am also aware that as I am writing this, I am writing from a static perspective. 

There is a limitation in expressing these ideas since a spiritual apprehension of reality precedes and transcends static expressions of language and rationalization.  When I say that the differentiation inherent in Anishinaabe philosophy is one of physical-spiritual or static-dynamic, I am stating this from a static perspective.  It is essential that this static framework be acknowledged since there is no way to express the dynamic reality that is ultimately the ‘way’ of Creation.  It is at this point that the counsels my Elders and traditional Teachers have given me about the limitation of this kind of work become most evident. 

Thus, let me say simply that Anishinaabe Mino-Bimaadiziwin is a process, a way of a good life.  It is understood that this way of life goes beyond a simple intellectual exercise of examination, discussion and description.  Mino-Bimaadiziwin also includes the lived-process of Primary Experiential Knowledge actualized through living; i.e., ‘the way’ of the Way of a Good Life.