Whole Health

HAUDENOSAUNEE RUNNER

Special Edition of the Haudenosaunee Runner, Fall 2000

Haudenosaunee Well-Being:

"It is the Creators way that all are taught to direct their energies towards the well-being of the unborn generations. This is part of the natural way which all are encouraged to follow. The unborn generations’ faces come toward us from our Mother Earth, still part of her flesh and spirit. They are the community of human beings whose welfare our actions today affects, and it is they who will judge the life which we who are living now leave them." Sotsowah, The Creator’s Way, AKWESASNE NOTES, Late Summer, 1975.

Well-being of the unborn generations? Just what does that mean. It is true that we have a responsibility to think of the future, to assure that the future generations have a happy and healthy life. However, that future is dependent upon what we do today. It is our way of being that will determine the kind of future the Haudenosaunee will have.

Some things will always need to remain the same because we still live on the same Mother Earth that our ancestors lived. The basic patterns of nature have not changed. We still live in the same areas as our ancestors, so we understand how nature works in our territories. The Original Instructions that we received still apply to our lives. We are to keep the basic traditions of Thanksgiving alive. Yet, we must recognize that the life in our communities has changed dramatically over the generations. Change is inevitable, but our culture is a mechanism that can be used to make sure that the changes are not detrimental to the social, ceremonial, economic, educational, and political life of our communities, now and the future.

Our culture is a problem-solving tradition by which our values are turned into real actions to benefit the people and the community, while not jeopardizing our true responsibilities to other living things. The underlying values of our culture are in the collective conclusions reached by the Haudenosaunee as a society. We must help people learn our way of life, and not just criticize them for they don’t know or what they may be struggling with. Generosity is an expression of friendship and sharing essential aspects of our lives with others. Reciprocity is important. The Haudenosaunee is launching a series of events, forums and resource materials to help us improve the way we live. The focus of this initiative will be on improving our mental, spiritual, physical and social well being.

Mental Well-Being: Restoring Haudenosaunee Thinking:

Your mind is a precious gift from the Creator, intended to help you solve the problems that you face. By using the values of our ancestors you can find answers to the dilemmas created by the modern world. Logic and reason are traditional attributes of the Haudenosaunee and these function best without interference of drugs, alcohol or negative thinking. We need to restore what our ancestors called the Good Mind.

The best model for this is found in the Gianensehgonah, the Great Law of Peace, which was established hundreds of years ago by the Creator through the Peacemaker to bring Peace, Power and Righteousness to all nations. We need to better understand the cultural foundation of these terms. Peace is not just the absence of war, it is a way of being that promotes deep love and caring. Power is not a military power, it is the strength that comes from social and political unity when people are treating each other fairly. Righteousness is the equity and justice applied to all humans.

The first and main principle of the Great Law is Peace. When the Peacemaker came he relayed his Good Message to the people, the people agreed to bury their weapons of war under the Great White Pine that was uprooted, so that the many generations of young people yet to be born would not experience violence. Instead, violence would be replaced with Kanikonhri:io (The Good Mind: one head, one mind, one heart and one belief). We are instructed to use spiritual power, think in peaceful terms, not using our voice in anger, saying harsh or hurtful words, or speaking untruths. It is really the power of the Good Mind to use reason over violence.

The men of the Nation, those who do not have titles are Hodiskengehda’ which means "the men who carry the bones, the burden of their ancestors, the ancient ones, on their back." The men of the nation have a responsibility to maintain their inheritance of peace, to respect the way of life of the ancestors and work constructively to assist the Chiefs in council, Clan Mothers, Faithkeepers and to promote peace by using kind, supportive words and the Kanikonhri:io. The most important first step is to end the violence in the home and in the community. You must find peacefulness in your life. You need to love the life you live, and show respect to those around you by using the power of the Good Mind to solve problems.

Physical Well-Being: Healthy Living:

By changing our eating and medical habits we can restore the natural healthiness of our bodies, which in turn feeds our Good Mind and healthy inner spirit. Our ancestors learned about the healthy use of medicine plants from watching the animals. There is an important protocol for steps in picking, preparing and using these sacred medicines and people need to respect these protocols otherwise the medicine will not work the way in which it was intended.

Each community will have its own medicines and traditions about them and we need to seek the wisdom of the elders on how to use these sacred gifts. Modern medicine provides some important practices, however, we need to keep the traditional practices alive as well. Medicine and healing is a spiritual process. People have to believe in the power of the medicine and cleanse themselves so that the Creator can do the healing. The ceremony itself does not heal, it is part of the entire process of healing.

Food is another form of medicine. Food is a sacred gift of Creation meant to nourish our mind an bodies. However, we have been caught in a deadly trap of fast foods and other unhealthy foods. We need to return to the original diet of the Haudenosaunee if we are to strengthen our mind, bodies and spirit. People need to have a Good Mind when they plant and nurture the plants because food is a sacred gift from the Creator and so that the power of the good mind will grow and follow this cycle. You need to use a Good Mind when you harvest and prepare food. The energy you put into food is shared to those who consume it.

We still know where to plant our crops, where to hunt and fish, and where to gather our resources. However, surrounding pollution has changed the land, water, air and animals that we depend upon. It is time to learn as much as we can to restore the health of the land itself. No one can do it all. We need to acknowledge and rely on each other, for each has some knowledge that is useful to others.

Spiritual Well-Being: Assuring a Healthy Spirit:

We have inherited much pain and suffering from the tragedies suffered by our ancestors and we need to break the bad habits that have resulted from this inheritance. Many of our people tend to live with different kinds of addictive behaviors. We need to break the cycle of addictions that have held us back. We all need to make choices about what is right and wrong.

The Ongwehonweka, Our Way of Life, provides us with a clear path on which to build our healthier lives. We still have many of the traditions that allowed our ancestors to survive. These very same traditions will be essential for the future generations. Keeping the traditions alive and viable is the responsibility of this generation. Our gift to the future will be how well we maintain all of the things we have been given. But these traditions are not simply words on paper that can be studied when needed. The traditions must be practiced each and every day. The Haudenosaunee Way of Life requires a commitment to make it happen, in spite of the current trends and desires of the people to change those traditions.

The life force within each of us is immortal and connects us to the spirit world. The unhealthiness of our life force affects our daily existence and we need to pay attention to our spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual needs. People must give the best effort they can in all things. Courageous actions are important to confront the many difficulties we face. From time to time, we need to take risks, not foolishly, but for the benefit of the family, community, nation or the environment.

However, without a solid foundation of identity and belief, it will difficult to know which way to go. Our ancestors kept the traditional way of life going so that we would have something to lean on as we face the difficulties of life. Our Way of Life is a form of medicine that can bring balance and harmony to our lives. Its purpose is to bring peace of mind. We are directly connected to the natural world and should have a lifelong relationship with the power of Creation. We must give thanks, show respect for all living things and treat each other with kindness. We need to show compassion and forgive each other in order to create a closeness and peace of mind as we follow the Original Instructions, the Great Law of Peace and the Gaiwiio.

Social Well-Being: Healthy Community Living:

Much of our dysfunction resulted from a generation of Haudenosaunee that were taken away to boarding schools. Families were made to feel inadequate. Children suffered a culture and language loss. There was a failure to thrive in loving human relationships. As a result we have people with no positive memories of family, community or nation. Some have often blocked out the abuse or loss they suffered as a child. Yet those negative feelings come out as a form of oppression against friends, relatives as well as strangers. We might mistreat each other by our thoughts, words or actions. We tend to pull each other down rather than be supportive. We attack people through gossip and rumors. The rage and hurt are transferred toward each other. There is much violence in our communities.

We also have addictive behaviors because of this oppression and these tend to pull each other down. To overcome this pattern people need to help one another deal with the problems - to be a mirror rather than a judge. The Talking Circles have worked well for people to discuss their issues and let their emotions flow. It is important that we keep up our traditions like the Friendship Ceremony so that each person has a mentor and friend that they can turn to.

Our nations will survive only if we help the young people become more active, contributing members of our society. We need to be inclusive and make the values of sharing, respect, and responsibility a part of our daily lives. To do so people must speak their truth and share the problems, concerns and ideas they have. We need to listen carefully to each other, not argue with each other. We are not to use words to be hurtful or meant to spread distrust. We need to spend less time on rumors and gossip and more time in expressing our support for one another. Respect for parents, children, the elders, for family, and community leaders must always be shown. Respect is earned by the conduct of the people. Children must be respectful of their parents and relatives. But we all need to find better ways to understand what is respectful behavior.

These four components of well being will be the center of our Whole Health Initiative. We only ask that you start thinking about these things, talking with others and seek practical ways in which you can do your part. We will be hosting a series of dialogues on these issues, and need your input. We hope to have a summer youth program where we can share these ideals with our youth and empower the next generation to walk the Good Red Road to Haudenosaunee Well Being.

(Reprinted with permission from the Special Edition of the Haudenosaunee Runner, Fall 2000.)