"Not Just the Great Spirit": Traditional Native American Views of Consciousness

Richard Honeycutt

doi:10.13189/ijrh.2018.060303

Abstract

"Not Just the Great Spirit": Traditional Native American Views of Consciousness

Highlights

Consciousness and healing are important topics in our world, but that has not always been a universal condition
Francis of Assisi’s love for animals by autopsying his body! In Material Monism, consciousness is an epiphenomenon of the brain
No word that directly translates “consciousness” is to be found in the Cherokee or many other Native American languages, but some comprehension of indigenous views can be derived from their cosmology

Summary

Introduction

Consciousness and healing are important topics in our world, but that has not always been a universal condition. Many investigators find consciousness research futile, since they attempt to find an explanation of consciousness in Material Monism. This is much like trying to find St. Francis of Assisi’s love for animals by autopsying his body! No word that directly translates “consciousness” is to be found in the Cherokee or many other Native American languages, but some comprehension of indigenous views can be derived from their cosmology. Understanding this cosmology does not occur through mental reasoning, but through immersion in the mythopoetic stories taught by the grandfathers to the children. I will do my best to give the reader an idea of the indigenous cosmology

First Steps into Indigenous Cosmology

Discussion