u/NoFatBroads

There was a post about land acknowledgements here a few days ago that received a considerable number of unfortunate comments. I'll not rehash them here, or say anything about the nature of the comments. I'll also not respond here to comments coming from these unfortunate perspectives, because I believe the ways we think are simply too dissimilar. Our respective worldviews haven't enough in common to engage in any substantive dialogue in the absence of any robust point of contact in our distinct ways of using our minds, and in the ways we each individually perceive and conceive the world. I'll probably not respond much at all, since I try to keep off of the internet as much as possible.

Additionally, it seems there has been a considerable increase in anti-Indigenous sentiment in general, particularly in media/social media lately. This hateful sentiment has been here for 500 or so years now – and it will likely always be here – but lately it's been weighing down a lot of minds (in my own experience, and from what I've heard others say).

For example, I was getting my regalia ready to head out to a pow wow yesterday, and I checked the post noted above, just to see how it was going. I was saddened by what I read. I rifled off a pretty strongly-worded comment, but deleted it right away. I didn't want to carry around that negative energy in my head, didn't want to contaminate my regalia with that bad medicine, and certainly didn't want to bring it into the dance arena.

So I took a little time (almost late for Grand Entry!) to think about a couple of Kanien'kehá:ka teachings that touch a little on the nature of 'mind' – about its relationship with us, and our relationship with it.

I just want to jot down a couple of those thoughts here, just in case it might help a little if anyone's finding things a little saddening lately. To be clear: I'm not an Elder or Knowledge-Keeper – just someone who sometimes thinks a little about this kind of thing.

But first, a random photo of a beautiful fledgling Tsiskó:ko for your viewing pleasure! It's been such a treat to see what seems to be an unusually high number of them in my yard this spring! I thought of this little guy when the drum played a Crow Hop yesterday. Really wish I could hop like this mystifying little spirit of joy was hopping!

Shé:kon Tsiskokó:wa!

Anyway, in Kanien'kéha we call the mind O’nikòn:ra. I've heard it translated as "spirit" and "sense" as well. But as you know, Onkwehón:we languages are more about describing than labeling. As such, the word o'nikòn:ra describes the mind's function: it says something like "it takes care of you, it watches over you, it protects you."

I recently heard a saying that touches on this:

>Tóhsa sathón:tat naiesa'nikonhráhkhwa

It was said that this means something like:

>Don't let them take your protection from you – your mind protects you, it keeps you safe, protect the mind and it will protect you

I think one vital function of a protector is to refuse to be wielded as a weapon; the mind, as protector, should not harm the one who carries it, nor those it encounters. It knows and it lets us know that it is better to love than to hate, better to be happy then to be angry, better to be humble than to be inordinately proud.

In terms of these contrasts, we see the support of 'reality' in the experience of the contrasts. The feelings associated with the experience of these contrasts are self-evident validation for those who are vigilant in their relationship with the mind they carry, and such vigilance helps you to not acquiesce in those occasions when the mind tries to drag you astray into an unhealthy place.

We say of the mind – when it is functioning as it is meant to function – that it is sha'oié:ra. I've heard it said that this word says something like:

>It follows the way creation goes; it is 'natural'; it does what Is and it shows you what Is; it is what is really real

This is why it's important to avoid what Handsome Lake calls the "mind-changers" – things like alcohol or religion or anger. Such things blind you to sha'oié:ra, and lead you astray to things that are unnatural and therefore fallible. They take away your ability to relate to your mind as was intended. Allowing your mind to succumb to such things is a kind of voluntary colonization, or self-colonization. You surrender your mind to a foreign body, and an unnatural force seizes the power that is your natural mind.

Just one more thing that I hope ties it all together: we have the word Ka'nikonhrí:io. At it's most basic explanation, the word says 'good mind,' but it says far more than that.

An Elder called Kahentí:io takes the three parts of the word to be saying (I'm paraphrasing here):

• Ka- refers to concepts such as female/feminine; generativity/creativity; power; alteration; change
• -nikonhri- is clearly related to O’nikòn:ra (mind), and as such refers to the elements of human being that put ka- out there in the world, so they are tools of the self such as spirit, soul, consciousness, thought, and mind. They are the aspects of our selves that construct our perceptions of the world, and in turn shape the world
• -io refers to good; nice; real; positive. It's also our word for "you're welcome"

To sum up: good mind (Ka'nikonhrí:io) is a mind (o'nikòn:ra) that its carrier friend has set in loving accord with reality (sha'oié:ra).

Let's be real. Let's be good. Let's protect one another.

In other words, let's be Onkwehón:we.

That is all.