What can we learn from Standing Rock? Part One

I’ve been deeply moved by the indigenous people gathering at Standing Rock in North Dakota ever since I first heard of their cause. And, while I’m definitely in alignment with the cause, I’m most deeply impacted by their methods. The deeper cause, of coming together in a peaceful manner to put a stake in the ground for life.

From the beginning I’ve felt they are modeling something important for us all. After a week in the Rosebud Camp at Standing Rock, serving in a medic tent for 12 to 16 hours a day as the wind howled and the snow blew sideways, I’m more certain than ever. We, the people of this country—the people of this world—must pay attention. Our future depends on it.

It’s going to take awhile for me to “unpack” my time on that land with the people. The energies I felt there, the people I interacted with, and the stories that were shared with me. My intention has never been to blog about my experience there. It was deeply personal. And yet, many are asking. It feels important to share perspective, to explore what the indigenous people are showing us, and what their methods and history can teach us.

Each newcomer to the Standing Rock camps is asked to attend an orientation session in which the principles of the camp are explained. The four principles the camps live by are:

• We are indigenous centered.
• We are building a new legacy here.
• Every person is important and useful.
• Bring it home.

I’ve been contemplating each of these principles since I first heard them, and feel there is much we can learn by diving into them. And so I offer what I can to you all: my perspective, my words. Over the next weeks, as I unpack, I will share my thoughts here, with you.

Part One: We are Indigenous Centered

Indigenous means native. Natural. Inherent. For me, it means one who is deeply connected to the essence and interconnectedness of all of Life. Sacred.

There are some on earth who walk with the memory of this natural, inherent connection with All that Is. Many indigenous cultures have retained this wisdom. Many who are non-indigenous, who have had this inherent wisdom domesticated out of us, generation after generation—we are seeking, learning, working at re-connecting. And many don’t have a clue, or even a care, as to what I’m talking about.

Standing Rock is an indigenous camp. This is made abundantly clear in every facebook post, every online site, every communication from the camp. To create a movement that is indigenous centered is to honor the sacred essence of life. What makes the movement at Standing Rock unique is that is has been, from its inception, a prayer-based movement, initiated by women and youth, and held by the elders. This is the connection that those of us who are non-indigenous are being stretched to comprehend, and to live within.

The indigenous people gathered at Standing Rock have opened their hands and their hearts to non-indigenous people across the globe. They asked for our support and invited us to their home. The camps are filled with white faces—definitely the majority. Some of these people get the principle of in indigenous centered camp, and some don’t.

Sure, on the surface the principle is simple. We’re the boss here. Right? But it is so much more. We have been invited to take a look at our assumptions of white privilege, and to set them aside and move in a new way. To honor a different way of being in the world—one that is connected to the source of life, to the earth, to the heart. To set aside our impatient way of moving, our judgments as to what is or is not effective, our ceaseless questioning. Our ceaseless questions.

To remember always that we are guests, and that indigenous wisdom is at the heart of this movement.

Again and again I witnessed native people gently correcting the assumptions of white people. A personal example: when the blizzard stopped, I went outside to find someone and encountered a Lakota elder shoveling snow. I greeted him, and made an offhand comment about how I didn’t like it when it rained for hours before the first snow, as it had done in this case. Leaves so much ice under the snow, I said. What a mess. The man held my eyes in a gentle gaze, and he said “Mni waconi. Water is life, and she comes to us in many ways. I am grateful.”

My perspective shifted immediately and profoundly. No chastisement, no shaming. Open-hearted. Grateful. Gentle. My offhand comment, one that is as much a part of Minnesota heritage as “Hey, is it hot enough for ya?,” is a demonstration of my own disconnect with nature, and all the ways she comes to us. An old habit of sliding into sanctioned cultural sound-bites, rather than taking a moment to appreciate what is.

We, the white folks of this land, have been domesticated out of our connection to source, to nature, to life. For generations we’ve been told we have dominion over the earth, the skies, the animal world, even other races of humans. Many of us are coming home to this understanding, bit by bit. We’re talking the talk, which is a start. The indigenous tribes at Standing Rock are showing us how to walk the walk.

We live in a world of preference and aversion. How things “should” be, even how rain and snow should fall from the sky. We’ve been taught to question everything. That there is an answer for everything. Maybe even that we know the answer to everything. Really?

What would it be like to live in a world where we walked in intimate connection with life? With nature—the plants, the water, the animals, the land? Where we were comfortable sitting with a question in our heart, receiving the many cues and teachings from life related to that question organically, as they emerge?

Where we appreciated the many facets of nature, from rain to snow to hot summer sun? Where we trusted the wisdom of our elders, and treated them with respect. Always. Where we understood the power of prayerful intention, and knew when to put a stake in the ground for life?

Where we invited others—even those whose ancestors played a role in colonizing and nearly eradicating our race—to join hands and hearts with us?

This is no small action. Native Americans are the most marginalized people in this country. And yet they are reaching out to us. To white people. To colonizers. There’s a willingness to show the way forward. A humble knowing that there is no other way. This is an unprecedented act of wisdom and courage. From where I sit, if we (white people) stand a chance at waking up, at survival, we must pay attention to all of our indigenous brothers and sisters. Those who have not lost their connection with the source of life. Those who remember how to pray. Those who know how to gently but fiercely protect all that is sacred.

We don't need to be present on the land in North Dakota to receive these teachings. Listen. Watch. Learn. Take it in. All of it. Even the squirmy parts when our white privilege is revealed to us. And for each of us who reads these words and thinks we're already there, that we're already "doing it," I challenge you to dig more deeply. Pay attention. Once you open this doorway, once you ask for this teaching, it will come to you. In countless ways, it will come.

Each one of us who makes this request is making an unprecedented act of wisdom and courage. Stay open to the whisper-teachings that are coming to us in this time.

Because the time is now.  

With respect,

Zardoya