A Message from Those Who Come Before Us-The Traditional
Knowledge Ph. D, Program
A Reriqt W ANd, $unbo, $dan, and CWno
luly 28 dnd 29, 1999, Lohalna, Maul, Howall
Lumr Eclipe
Shtdents beforc you, gmduotes of the Tmdltloml Knowledge doctoml prcgmm,
1 993-2000, took a few ddys to relled on thelr expedence ln remembe ng
lndlgenous Mind. They reardd these thoughts os a gift fot you,
tlow Ty$o Drogo,,s Darl€, lqcth* ll7c Wuty of Opposldon
Pturrls of futsnbmtre
9 Parodoxtcal ond frustrottng lt we W to direct lt. lf I wont to sqeam, the
scream doesn’t come,
Q I hugh ond begln to cry.
@ TKN (dnd RfW died at the Shddows Residency Lodge durlng the student
“evoluotlon.” At that moment the P?ogram begon to llve. Esther Plnold, the
taditlondl Collfornld Mlwok heoler, acknowledged us students ond sold she
would teoch lr€r songs to us. Thls wds the flrst time sl/€ hod ever shored such
deep cultuml woys wfth o gtoup of multkulfirrol outslden! Was the “death,”
Eminotlon of our progrum, belng rcleosed W the UnlyeBW
odministmtion? lerminatlon dldn’t formally hoppen tor nearly a year ord
we dldn’t stop untll we grdduoted three yeors ldteL We did thts wlth no
progmm ond no funds. We ml*d our own monles and t E Eldds orrd AFlo
kept working with us, We become rcal as lnltlotes in tdbal mlnd.
Ngltt M@arr(,tt or MegE of dE Mosk
9 W” ho”” ,o di” ,o begln. Watk thtough the dorkness wlth new eyes to see
through to the lighl tn my tomer, western, woy of thlnking, going bock ot
lnto the da ness mode me wont to tun awdy ln fear. But the dd*ness hos o
messge for us to leam. lt we refuse to entq tll€ darkEss, tl/€ Shodotv
rctams each tlrne with more feor becouse we hove lost to lt, run oway from
it, before. Now we need to took bocl lnto ll to tind the tight, which ls the
stofting pointl As on indlvlduol this process opplles. That’s how students
onived. fhe dorkness tfrs to be through me. how t om, We teel the
comt€ctlon
indivlduolistk thinklng. t perceiye the whote (how opposites can lntegrdte,
the individual and whob of self/othen).
to self drrd ofiers in the dd*n6,’,s and thl beyond
Q We five our tives in d sepomte wdy (from Ancestors, our mothedond, etc.)
becouse we don’t want to embmce the dor*ness wherc everything is one. t
see thdt cen@r of pd@ ln n f krdmlng.
tlow Do We tk,ow we An ln alld Dgrtnrss?
9 Ln”, g”, ,y *oy, it teels llke t dm losing everything becouse t can’t see!
We must be prcpatd fot the bucket drcPplng on ow heodl ‘ t can’t Mleve
l’m hovlng so much bad luckl”
@ ndmifirg ny aarkness, i.e,, I remember thinking, ‘t don’t know if I
would llke to work wlth Apeld,’ ls whot creotes the orynlng.
@ Eoch person ls o mask ond ls o port of o gredter mosk belng tormed ,
9 There is tremendous fmr ond worry. frylng to see in the dd*ness we
nouce other sets of eyes looung back! That’s what mokes us wont to run
owoy in feor!
How Dow. k owwhdtwe HowLan,,Edttlcl,,conofDorLrl€st?
@ Don’t know when and how it changed but we dre brought to a new
consciousn*s through choos. tf you’fe not afrod you con cone ctose to
movement.
9 We hove to exwrience the opposlte energies ot doy and night, dark dnd
tlghl Westem mtlonat and rctlgious thought stresses the Light and crcates
lntolemnce.
@ Gays ore bom with the awo dtogons together. slowty heterosexuots hove
to rcallze thot being whole requlres both quolities loined. yet the boundory
doesn’t exlst. lt’s o pomdox. We don’t know how to weove the awo dmgons
together, TKN teaches us, 1.e,, dt tll€ beglnnlng of our Prcgrdm, we chosd
dwoy the whlte students but they kePt tollowing us. The more we ron the
more they chosed!
@ A Mohonk ,tudrnt obseved that we hdve to dcknowledge the exlstence
of the whtte wortd in us os individuols ond communlUes.
9 The Luo, Hawalian mortiol orts, taachet movement in datkness, survival
skills, Luo con be o stdfilng Nnt to help us exPlorc ln ou own traditions.
Q coing into the do*ness we acquire a charge or energy that others con
feel or see. Even tolking about the Prccess reledses energy qnd vltdllzes,*
N@lgdrqCho6
Q th” bigg.r, .irroke you con moke is trying to fix it! lt will blow uP in
your foce if you fight it, .RElAXl
Q Th” lorn, ,onrot be curtoiled; the Prccess connot be controlted, l/vrrutoity
used to soy, ‘Make yoursell smoll. Even cutt up in a little ball when it comes
neot. Don’t run from it. You might be surprised at whdt you frnd oul”
9 fi you admit your bod feetings, they tift.
Q saying lt out loud helps,,.e.g., t hote him right now!
@ Mr, uokua mid that we often think so block ond whlte but there is groy
in between, d lot of shddes.
@ Knowing the stages of loss, grief; having them detined os you dre going
through them is paradoxkal and ironic.’.it doesn’t change anythlng excePt
that you can name the stoge you’re lnl
@ Even if you con see it, you’re not going to find a woy out of it. Untit you
ore out of it.
Q ft’, funry ho* good you con see ofter! Friends’ Ptoblems seem so
obvious.
@ fn” s*Aot pon wos thot I was toklng on olt of his emotions. He was
trying to get me to do it so he didn’t have to. He was tylng to make me fel
tlte hurt so he cdn run arcund dnd feel hdpry.
@ con’t us” -tio*l mlnd. Totklng doesn’t work. tn the dorkness, you feel
ond must open to ond use othet senses. The consequences of athmpting to
use the mtlonal mlnd to n anage chdos? The fl’l,t yeot everyone got slck!
Q We hove nottced thdt the dork journey is the power of money, sexuottty,
ond tmrrttornotlon.
@ Sitence ls a key, Sllence ls wherc we meet, not tonguage. The silence is the
Mtnd of lndlwnous People. lt unlus dlve6e cuttures.
MB o,i Cfilr,6 of Wolnq lh,ougl, lhc Urrtagud
@ fm mot” ,omtottobte ln the dartness.
@ Less tikely to be controlled by fedt, anger, elrl-.
@ We get an mergaic chorge to us; when we gct together, Ignltlon!
@ Peopte can see this energy ond ore drawn towords it.
Q Woking through the ddrkness honors our oncestors becouse thot’s where
tlrey ore, ln the obsutity ot the Fst our htstory.
Q n go back to the Wst, to remember, Mr. Makua toys, oWe rccelve the
$d,test glft of the oncestots, which is the preent. That’s why they coll it a
prcsentl’
@ w” n*n rt h rhe paln; we brlng llfe fowdrd.
@ ft’, o prrodor. ln chaos, we lough ond cry dt one momen- Betorc we
dldn’t allow contradictions and amblgulties to coexist Now we can, ond lt’s
why we an cone bock! (frcm the underworld)
9 I coutdn’t see the me.,nlng or the creative prccess becouse lt was ln
dd*nessl This ls oduolly d protectlon,
9 ft was meant to be thot way or we wouldn’t hove the dorkness to light
message of the TKN procus.
9 A Spirit roming to live in s body must exryrience the density ond dorkness
of material form; it’s the only way to affive.
@ Embodiment of the whole is entering ddtkness; thetefore, wotk through it.
Accept lt,
9 TH, is th” pror”s, to ground the western Mind,
Q’This trip through the dorkness has been the curriculum; is the curriculum.
When we live it the cu lculum becomes usl Now we can pdss it on,
Summary
How do we know this is on occutote rcpresentqtion of a crestive process? There
are trdditlonal stoties that pertoin, such os, the Raven Breaks Ught Olingit). ln
one ve6ion, told by Chief Danowak (circo 1982), the people livlng in dorkness
refuse to shorc with the Greot Creotor Roven who punishes them by breaking
light on them. All the belngs dre ftightened qnd run to hide. Those who jump
into the water become sea creotures-wholes, etc. Those who flee into the woods
take on vadous onimol forms. They all become separute beings who see theb
seporuteness.
lgnltion of the lndlgcnous Mlnd
Thls is the mystery of the rcrnembrance Process-thot llfe renews, lt is a messdge
of freedom, power, ond Wce.
Whole Mlnd