Chapter 6
Don’t worry. Take it easy. Do your best. It will all work out. Respect life. Respect your Elders. It’s up to you. You have all the answers within you.
Traditional Native Axiom[1]
It is my hope that the preceding chapters have prepared you for this final chapter. My examination of Kendaaswin and the various sources of knowledge coupled with discussions about cultural stories, traditional Teachings, Creation as unity, and the actualization of life all led directly to the previous section on the dynamic-static view of reality. This view of reality aids us in understanding the underlying purpose of life; i.e., good life. What follows is my attempt to describe what a good life is for an individual.
Eyaa’oyaanh literally means “the way that everything is in me, or, every way I am of my being, of the quality of my existence”[2]. Mino-Bimaadiziwin is the process of a person trying to be or exist in this good way.
The Path of Life
The Path of Life that is Mino-Bimaadiziwin can best be described as the ideal path set out for me by Gzhe-mnidoo. As a free individual I have the choice to follow this ideal path. The Path of Life is the potential of my life, lived in a good way. For me, life is a process within a process: a lived-existence within Creation. It is taught that I am an integral aspect of Creation, and that my place therein is set out in a potential way by Gzhe-mnidoo. The potentiality of my life, moreover my good life, can only be set into motion, or more to the point, actualized, through a process of Nwenamdanwin (choice-making) and N’dendowin (responsibility-taking). It is shown that making choices in life is the only way to actualize the potentiality of Creation. As such, I am Creation manifest and must be consciously aware of my place and purpose within that creative process. Since this Path is ideal, I have to choose to actualize it, to make it real.
It is taught that there are Seven Stages of life; namely, birth-good life (birth to 6), Fast life (7-13), wondering-wandering (14-20), truth (21-27), planning-planting (28-34), doing (35-41), and traditional Teacher, Elder-hood and death (42 to the end of life).[3] The ages attributed to these stages are not absolute but rather possible indicators of various stages. The Seven Stages are a continuum on the Path of Life.
Birth-good life is so called since the infant has all his/her needs taken care of by the family and community. Fast life refers to the adolescent years when a person has the tendency to act without reflected thought. There are many factors at play during this period including new sexual urges, the preparation of one’s place in society, new skills, knowledge, and duties. The wondering and wandering years are the years of early adulthood. These years find a young person developing a more refined faculty of observation and inquiry concerning the world at large. It is in these years that a person uncovers one’s role and purpose in life. The years of truth find a person as a full adult, taking on the duties and responsibilities of this age. People discover that they ‘fit’ into their world and begin to fulfil their potential as a good person.
The years of planning and planting are the years of raising a family and of adding to the community in a constructive way. The years of doing are those years where one’s family has grown up so that one is able to spend more time on personal concerns. This is a period of renewed balance and of further exploration of the spiritual and intellectual aspects of life. Finally, the years of being a traditional Teacher, and then gradually over time an Elder, are taken up with sharing one’s life experience, of teaching and helping others find their ideal path in life. The Elder is able to perceive the unity of the physical-spiritual world in a way only gained with life experience. As a person reaches greater age they move towards the spiritual realm, gradually leaving behind the physicality of the world. At the end of one’s life, one’s death reveals the added dimension of the spirit world; a world where pure spirit exists. It is in this realm that the unity of the physical-spiritual is fully revealed.
These stages of life are set out in an ordered fashion so that the development of a person is structured within the culture. In these contemporary times, there are many Anishinaabeg that discover their Path of Life at an older age, such as I did. These prescribed stages are still applied, and a person new to this traditional way is initially considered a newborn. They are helped along by the Elders and Teachers, as a child would be. Since they are adults, their progression along the path is, at times, faster; whereby the Teachings and reflections thereon are learned at a faster pace. Yet, one’s sense of perception; i.e., Anishinaabe perception, is compromised and not fully developed in those adults who may begin on their traditional path later in life.
This compromise is due to the contemporary experience of the Anishinaabe person living in a foreign and dominant non-Native society that makes the learning and process of choice-making very difficult. It is understood that many Anishinaabeg come from a social and political environment that may limit the information necessary to make a reflected choice. Consequently, the Elders and traditional Teachers recognize this, and special provisions are taken with regard to Teachings and their presentation. This is not to say that the Teachings are rushed, only that they are given in such a way that a person is able to progress smoothly along the path. The Anishinaabeg pre-occupy themselves with the process of helping people heal their lives. All Teachings still happen in an ordered fashion, and the life experience of the new person is necessarily taken into consideration.
The Anishinaabe culture is witness to many people rediscovering their traditions and ceremonies, and it is taught that the people are part of a Spiritual Renaissance that was spoken of long ago. All are responsible for the next seven generations of Anishinaabeg, and, as such, they learn these traditional ways in order to raise their own children in an appropriate manner so that these children may, in turn, do so with their own children.
As one moves through the stages of life that make up one’s life-path one finds that there are side paths which branch off. These side paths are also potential. It is on these life-tangents that one can find such distractions as greed, power, lust, resentment, anger, pity, self-centredness, low self-esteem, jealousy, substance abuse, etc. These side paths are different for each individual. At times, these side paths are beneficial to a person's overall knowledge of life, but only if one is able to return to the path that leads one forward in life and there integrate these lessons in one’s life. It is said that some people may get lost on these side paths and literally run out of time, unable to find their way back. The path that leads one forward in life as well as the side paths (distractions) are all part of the ideal path that we must each navigate.
Determination and Freedom
When discussing the Path of Life and the Seven Stages it is easy to assume that my life is somehow determined; that, ultimately, I have no real choice in my life pursuit. At first glance it can be seen how this conclusion could be reached; nevertheless, the concept of Waanizhijigeyaanh (free will) plays a central role in the Anishinaabe concept of identity. Personal identity, for the Anishinaabeg, is defined as the underlying potentiality of a person. Creator sends my spirit before conception. My spirit has everything that I need to live a good life. As I live my life, I discover what my spirit holds by choosing to examine and follow this good way of life. Ultimately, my reality is within and not outside. It is said that a person that traditionally expressed a given talent or ability for the task at hand; e.g., hunting, Lodge building, ceremonies, etc., would be the natural leader for that task. It is recognized that each person has a ‘speciality’ that they are best at, and it is their responsibility to perform that task to the best of their ability. In so doing, the ability to do good is recognized, but implicitly, the potential of being good is also actualized. For contemporary Anishinaabeg that base their lives on traditional Teachings, this is still true.
A World of Relations
One of the things that I have been taught by my traditional Teachers is that I am at the centre of a community of relations that moves from my immediate family to the whole of the population of the world, this population including humans and non-humans alike.[4] This is my reality as a person. It is based on the traditional Anishinaabe teaching of the interelatedness of all beings with Eshkakimikwe.
An underlying truth for the Anishinaabeg is the inherent relationship, and belief in a relationship, with our Earth Mother. The Anishinaabeg are spiritually bound in this relationship, and this relationship defines each being as a child of Mother. This is not some kind of mystical awareness that comes only from a Ceremony or a ritual; it comes from the very essence of Anishinaabe worldview and thought. Anishinaabe philosophy also stresses the importance of Kendaaswin. Kendaaswin, or the way of learning, is the epistemic source of this truth.
The Anishinaabe person is a practitioner of Mino-Bimaadiziwin; in other words she or he is a dynamic empiricist. Dynamic empiricism is the process by which I come to understand the world through an expanded perception that encompasses the physical-spiritual reality of Creation. But this world is seen as more than the simple subject/object structure that is often spoken of in Western philosophies. It is an apprehension of the dynamic nature of Creation. The Anishinaabeg do not look at the world as being made up of subjects and objects but rather understand that goodness, value and beauty are primary.
As the centre of a community of relations, my understanding of the world grows from my Primary Experiential Knowledge. This is not a relativistic statement but the statement of a person who is learning and practicing the traditional ways of his people. All my knowledge is verified through a system of Elders and traditional Teachers whose life knowledge allows them to discern the dynamic nature of Creation. The value of Primary Experiential Knowledge, be it from cultural stories, traditional and ceremonial instructions, observation of the world, or from dreams, visions and intuition, is verifiable since there is no subject/object bifurcation inherent in Anishinaabe worldview. Metaphysically, in the West, the value of Primary Experiential Knowledge, particularly knowledge received from a spiritual source, has been generally discounted due to the belief that the universe is composed of subjects and objects. If something cannot be classified as one or the other then it does not exist and is relegated to relativism, conjecture, belief and faith. It has also been discounted due to the belief that it is not quantifiable and reproducible in a ‘controlled’ environment. This is a metaphysical assumption. Anishinaabe metaphysics does not make this subject/object assumption. Robert Pirsig explains that:
This problem of trying to describe [this] value [the dynamic] in terms of substance [the static] has been the problem of a small container trying to contain a larger one. Value is not a subspecies of substance. Substance is a subspecies of value. When you reverse the containment process and define substance in terms of value the mystery disappears …[5]
We are taught that each Spirit enters the physical world complete. The Spirit that I express carries with it my name, my Clan, my gifts and my purpose in life. When I say Mino-Bimaadiziwin, I am speaking of the Way of a Good Life, not as an individual subject separate from other objects or subjects in the world, but as a unified aspect of Creation.
Existence and Being Good
Generally, there is a fairly evident division between Western and Anishinaabe conceptions of existence. Joseph Couture (Cree/Métis) explains that:
In the West, classical existentialism stresses the utter validity of subjectivity, i.e., of the feeling, reflective subject who has the freedom to make choices, and to determine thus his/her life. Therefore, what one does is of keystone importance. The doing that characterizes the Native Way is a doing that concerns itself with being and becoming a unique person, one fully responsible for one’s own life and actions within family and community. Finding one’s path and following it is a characteristic Native enterprise which leads to or makes for the attainment of inner and outer balance. This is a marked contrast with general Western doing which tends and strains towards having, objectifying, manipulating, ‘thingifying’ every one and every thing it touches.[6]
Couture (Cree/Métis) points out that the ‘doing’ of life for the Anishinaabe person is one of being and becoming good. It is a way of life that is both spiritual and ethical. Choice exists for both the Western and Anishinaabe person, but it seems to me that the Anishinaabe person has the added dimension of following an ideal path rather than creating the path itself. Choice is a tool of actualization rather than of invention. Again, the main concern is of being good rather than simply doing good. This fact is found in another translation of the name of the people, “Anishinaabe”: the Good Being.[7]
Anishinaabe philosophy also stresses the interconnectivity of Creation rather than the connectivity of a physical and spiritual world. The Western tradition, from the time of the Greek philosopher Plato (428-348 B.C.E.), has attempted to divide reality into a rigid duality. Plato posited a two-world metaphysics of the intelligible and the sensible with a very clear division between the two. The French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) later refined this idea to a separation of mind or soul and body. The Anishinaabeg do not separate the mind and body. There is an understanding of the person as a whole lived being. There is mention of the four aspects of the lived person; namely, mind, body, spirit and emotion, but they are not seen as independent, separate divisions.[8]
At first glance it would seem there is also a synthesis of the physical and the spiritual in Anishinaabe philosophy. But as we have seen in the previous section on the dynamic-static, the Anishinaabeg understand reality as transcendent where the physical and the spiritual are merely aspects of the whole rather than parts that make up the whole.
In the same manner as above, the Creator-Creation equation transcends a simple synthesis since it stresses the great Circle of Life. In the Creation Story, it is taught that before creating the universe, Gzhe-mnidoo first sent out thoughts to see if there was anything or anyone else. After a great deal of time and with no contact, Gzhe-mnidoo retrieved those thoughts, and today there are stars where they ended their journey. [9] Like Gzhe-mnidoo’s journey in thought through the universe, the Great Circle of Life entails a journey of discovery of my physical-spiritual world and my place therein.
Within the cycle of birth and death it is evident that everything that exists has a beginning and an end. For the Anishinaabeg, the divinity of life is paramount. Nevertheless, the Anishinaabeg are not simply animistic. It is not a simple matter of saying that all is alive; that there is no inanimate. Rather, it must be understood that all is animate potentially, and that this life can be actualized in various fashions, but always by way of choice-making. As such, I find myself part of a vast community called Creation, immediately connected to all its aspects. For non-human beings, the path of life unveils itself in a simple direct manner, but I must work harder at following the path. Humans are beings that have the tendency to wander about, unlike non-humans that are more directed due to their state of existence. Humans are considered the weakest being in the world. Each human needs a great deal of help in finding the potential of his/her life path, and even more help in learning to actualize it. We are not necessarily in tune with our intuitive abilities and, as such, struggle somewhat.
In Creation, one is never alone. The divine is everywhere. Everything received is a gift since at each level I am in a personal relationship with Creation. Everything ¾ all action, all thought, all emotions ¾ have a personal texture and import. Nevertheless, I am not anonymous in an impossibly crowded world such as we know today. I am unique: the only example of myself. My sense of uniqueness, my unique ability to choose and act, underlies my very existence. My moral agency gives me a sense of dignity and I express this in taking complete responsibility for my choices. The Creator sets out an ideal Path of Life for each being. It is my path in-so-far that I may or may not choose to actualize it as I live.
In the Anishinaabe life-way, I must be aware of all my relations, human and non-human, and as such there is a rich sense of community. I am never alone. Moreover, individual accountability and understanding are intimately interrelated since only I can understand: nobody else can make me find the truth within.
Ultimately, this all comes down to what James Dumont calls a special way of seeing the world whereby there must be a comprehensive, total viewing of the world.[10] This special way of seeing the world involves the ability to ‘see’ the potential therein. The Anishinaabeg have always understood that the place of humans in this world is only that of one type of being among many others.
The creative power of existence always nurtures the life that is created. Ultimately, existence is totally dependent on Creation. This dependence on the divine power of Creation is fundamental and as such there is a general sense that nothing that exists can be taken for granted. All is divine by the very nature of Creation. There is also the knowledge that the divine power of Creation can be trusted, and that all things are where they belong. This is evident in the knowledge that all things happen in their own way, for their own reasons. As such, Creation is meaningful and ordered.
The divinity and order of Creation makes every moment precious and there is a sense of gratitude and humility (very important aspects of Mino-Bimaadiziwin) for this reality. Since all existence is divine, all existence has a direct link to Creator and Creation. The interconnectivity of all life, potential and actual, makes the world a safe and meaningful place where I am able to explore and ultimately fully actualize my identity.
Oshkaabewis
Anishinaabe philosophy explains that there is an ideal person: Oshkaabewis or ‘the new one’. This term is used for the ceremonial male helpers (the female helpers are called Gichitwaakwe) as a way of teaching the purpose of life, although conceptually Oshkaabewis is neither male nor female. The ideal person, Oshkaabewis, gives men and women an example of how one can be a good person.
To be a good person I must respect and love the Elders, women and children as the centre of the cultural circle; and, in effect, loving and respecting all living beings. To be respectful I must be honest in my purpose. Honesty comes from truth and the courage to be truthful. The greatest pride of the Anishinaabeg is their unwavering truthfulness. Honesty, courage and truth are evident only through trust; trust in myself as a good person, trust in others and in Creation. Ultimately all the aspects of a good life are based on moderation and humility. A good life is defined by moderation; i.e., moderation of desire and purpose as well as behaviour. This sense of moderation and humility has many times been perceived as shyness or timidity by non-Natives; but, in fact, is the expression of a respectful person.[11]
Mino-Bimaadiziwin, ‘the way of the Path of Life’, and Oshkaabewis, ‘the new one’ are two of the major tenets of Anishinaabe philosophy. These are given to differentiate between ‘doing good’ and ‘being good’. The purpose of a good life is not to simply do good, since this is only the outward expression of action. I must go to the centre of my being, like the centre of the Seven Directions Medicine Wheel, and there find goodness.[12] Being good is the actualization of the potentiality of the Path of Life, of Gzhe-mnidoo’s Original Instructions. Being good means that I have made reflected choices and that I have taken full responsibility for those choices.[13]
The Medicine Wheel
The Medicine Wheel is the template that allows a systematic discovery of the varying aspects of Mino-Bimaadiziwin. The Medicine Wheel is a tool, and a dynamic tool at that. There is no definitive Medicine Wheel that is used by all Aboriginal people. In fact, there is no definitive wheel used by all Anishinaabeg as a whole. As a static representation, it moves in real time and space. As such, there is no absolute position of any division. The wheel conceptually divides what is interconnected in Creation. It allows a person the ability to grasp the utter complexity of Creation in small, manageable pieces so that they can begin to reflect on various aspects, and then move to the next. Traditionally, the Medicine Wheel is divided into seven directions; namely, the four cardinal directions, the direction above, below and the centre.[14] It is said that a person goes to each of the six outward directions to find a new Teaching, either actually or symbolically. In early age these Teachings come to the child, but as that person grows older they venture out themselves. This is evident in the third stage of life where the young person wonders and wanders, searching out new knowledge and answers.
Gradually, a person always returns to the nisaway’ayiing (centre), the seventh direction, to reflect on the Teachings and integrate those lessons into his or her life. This is where I find myself. This is the direction that I return to after travelling to the outward directions. This is the place of spiritual balance.
Gzhe-mnidoo
In Anishinaabe philosophy, the divine is always central. The thing that differentiates this philosophical tradition from those of the West is the fact that Gzhe-mnidoo is both immanent as well as transcendent. By immanent, I mean that Gzhe-mnidoo is in the world or universe. By transcendent, I mean that Gzhe-mnidoo also lies outside of Creation as the unlimited divine power that defines ‘Being’. Like the Elder who is both librarian and library of traditional knowledge, Gzhe-mnidoo is both the actor and the action of Creation. Gzhe-mnidoo is the all of Creation and the one. This seeming duality of immanence and transcendence can be further understood as unity in movement. Once Creation is no longer seen as some kind of differentiated substantiality but as unity, a state of physical-spiritual balance is found.
In our discussion of the Anishinaabeg’s orientation concerning Mino-Bimaadiziwin we have come to understand its place in the lived experience of a person’s life. We have reviewed the underlying philosophical structures that delineate the process of life, consequently uncovering the ‘process of the process’, or the horizon or ground upon which life is able to find its footing. Each person is potentially the Oshkaabewis understanding the meaning of Mino-Bimaadiziwin. My task in life is to express the good being that lies within. Consequently, I can unleash the power of truth, uncovering the possibility of a balanced life and of the realization that life is a process, within the process of Creation. This good is found in the simple act of choice-making; i.e., doing good. However, it is the ability of wisdom, love, respect, courage, honesty, humility, moderation, and truth that allows me to take complete responsibility for those choices; i.e., being good. As I have come to realize, the Path of Life is set out as pure potentiality by Gzhe-mnidoo, whereby it is my responsibility to make reasoned choices for its actualization and take responsibility for those choices. As such, I am always free to choose.
Consequently, the Anishinaabeg do not see Mino-Bimaadiziwin as something that lies within the realm of simple process, but rather, that Mino-Bimaadiziwin is the way as well as the result, the means and the end, of being a good person.