Remember the Wisdom that Progress Forgot: Sharing the Gems of our Ancestors

By Suresha Hill, B.S. M.S., Ed.S.

This book contains interviews with timeless wisdom from members of various indigenous groups around the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781626757929

Book preview

Oyasin.

INTRODUCTION

Our world is inexplicably beautiful and full of immeasurable richness of every imaginable kind as well as some we can’t yet imagine. The majesty of the mountains, the mystery and depth of our oceans and skies, the exquisite, color-filled, diverse wonder of its life forms and the miracle of life itself are a daily source of wonder and awe.

Each of us knows this on so many levels every time we go outside for a walk, lie on the beach and lift our skin to the sun, stare at the infinity of a starry night, or rest under the shade of a tree in our yard. We can’t help but smile at the new blossoms in Spring or when we inhale the subtle and sublime fragrance they release.

Nature is so healing and balancing we know to go for a hike or a sail, or to take a vacation in a place where we will immerse ourselves in it. We know all this and more about our glorious earth, and one more bridge will help us to appreciate, love, and respect it even more. This is the bridge of recognition that we are connected to nature in more ways than the most vital ones of it feeding and breathing us every second.

There is so much more it can teach us.

WAYS WE WALK ON THE EARTH

I have heard of ways where a visionary could look through a hole in a rock and see the future; where there were tribes who could speak at a distance with a drum, and elders who could intervene in life circumstances through consciousness before physical manifestation. I’ve heard of those who hear the voices of plants and flowers and can then know of their healing properties, their growing cycles, their food value, and which parts of the plant to use.

There were those who knew where vortexes were in the earth so that even in unsatisfactory or scarce conditions, yielding of crops could still happen as enough to feed the entire clan. I’ve heard from those who live without money, where everyone owns everything and disagreements are settled with a decision from the one all respect. I’ve heard of villages where the children don’t cry, where the only competition is in play, and violence is unheard of.

I’ve met people who were born awake with full consciousness, those who can become invisible, especially when it pertains to leaving a mark on the path they walk. I’ve heard of those who can tell the mood, emotion, health, and decision-making process - over 1,000 bits of information by looking at a footprint, and those who found a lost child by asking a nearby horse. I spoke with a woman who said, Bugs don’t bite on my land because there is harmony and balance here, and countless stories of people whose lives have been saved by animals.

There are stories about trees who catch a blight and transfer the information to nearby trees who then produce an antidote to that pest. There are also stories that if a man enters a room and cuts a stem of a plant, all those near it shriek and continue to shriek when the man comes back into the room.

Nature is intelligent, sensitive, and aware. Nature is an astounding source of healing, of wisdom, of life, of beauty, majesty, of compassion and serenity. For millennia there were ways of being that recognized, respected, and honored the gifts of Nature, and treated her as a valued and sacred part of the community.

There are still a few members of the global community who walk in this way that we could learn a lot from; who can teach us how to hear, see, and sense nature in new and deeper ways so that its many more dimensions can be revealed. They can teach us to live in the ways of sacred relationship that would extend not only to Nature, but to one another as well.

ECOSYSTEMS AND BIODIVERSITY

How we walk on the earth touches everything that lives here and its ability to survive and thrive. Bio-diversity is influenced naturally by climate factors, predators, and the amount of food available in any given season, and recently numerous man-made factors have been added into the mix.

Every species is part of a circular ‘chain’ of life that is inextricably intertwined and interdependent, as is true of the human body. If one foot becomes broken, paralyzed, or amputated, it would be very difficult for the rest of the body to continue moving freely. Many activities would have to be omitted, or greatly modified, and several compensatory muscles would become strained if one part were reduced in capability.

Although most of the body appears to be at a distance from the feet, the form and function of our bodies are dependent upon them.

In an ecosystem, every species has the potential of undergoing an exponential population growth, but these tendencies are kept in check by various balancing interactions within the system. Exponential runaways will appear only when the ecosystem is severely disturbed. Then some plants will turn into ‘weeds’, some animals become ‘pests’ and other species will be exterminated, and thus the balance of the whole system will be threatened.

Web of Life

All living beings, including humans, are dependent upon the biodiversity of the Earth’s ecosystems. We are not always aware of how all the diverse species make contributions to the whole, just as we are still trying to understand the roles that many of the cells in our bodies play. Lack of understanding doesn’t make their roles any less significant. Unfamiliarity with a particular species doesn’t mean that we can live well without it.

Organs we believed to not be needed in the human body were later discovered to have an important function, such as the spleen, appendix, and tonsils. In the October, 1999 edition of the Scientific American, an article by Professor Loren G. Martin at the University of Oklahoma in the department of Physiology states:

"For years, the appendix was credited with very little physiological function. We now know, however, that the appendix serves an important role in the fetus and in young adults.

Endocrine cells appear in the appendix of the human fetus at around the 11th week of development. These endocrine cells of the fetal appendix have been shown to produce various biogenic amines and peptide hormones, compounds that assist with various biological control (homeostatic) mechanisms.

Among adult humans, the appendix is now thought to be involved primarily in immune functions. Researchers have also shown that the appendix is involved in the production of molecules that help to direct the movement of lymphocytes to various other locations in the body."

Mankind has been perpetrating the loss of countless species on a weekly if not daily basis without understanding clearly how they contribute to the health of the whole. We’ve also added into the mix countless unnatural chemicals and substances that infiltrate vital systems that we know we cannot live without. Some of these chemicals disrupt our endocrine system which is essential to health.

The endocrine system is one of the body’s main communication networks and is responsible for controlling and coordinating numerous body functions. Hormones are first produced by the endocrine tissues, such as the ovaries, testes, pituitary, thyroid and pancreas, then secreted into the blood to act as the body’s chemical messengers where they direct communication and coordination among other tissues throughout the body.

In the traditional view, the nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system are separate and serve different functions…. studied in three separate disciplines - neuroscience, endocrinology, and immunology. However, the recent peptide research has shown in dramatic ways that these conceptual separations are merely historical artifices that can no longer be maintained. According to Candace Pert, the three systems must be seen a forming a single psychosomatic network.

Web of Life

For example, xeno (foreign) hormones have been released into the air from the production of plastics and pesticides. They resemble and therefore mimic natural hormones so the body absorbs them. Xenohormones, like GMO’s and some pesticides, antagonize natural hormones and block the receptors of natural hormones like progesterone, thyroid, and androgen in males.

Some repercussions include increased reproductive cancers, reduced fertility, low sperm count, increased PMS, low testosterone and an abnormally small penis. New research funded by the NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) also found that endocrine disruptors may affect not just the offspring of mothers exposed during pregnancy but future offspring as well.

We are also impeding nature’s ability to communicate with itself while knowing that we aren’t able to understand these functions’ relationship to the whole. This lack of understanding is the cause of the current result. Life is a vibrant, continuous, interconnected loop of systems that each plays a role in the circle of life. We cannot afford to alter, reduce, or eliminate uncountable species and their functions in nature and expect a healthy outcome.

NATURE MIRRORS OUR BODIES

Nature provides checks and balances towards its own sustainability, but the in-built adaptations are quite slow, and cannot match the rate of modern demands. For example, the vegetation around bodies of water regulates and stabilizes water runoff acting as a modulator of extreme conditions like flood or drought. Much of that vegetation is now gone.

Advancing to even smaller levels in their explorations of the phenomena of life, biologists found that the characteristics of all living organisms - from bacteria to humans - were encoded in their chromosomes in the same chemical substance, using the same code script.

- Fritzov Capra

In addition, millions of people have built homes and businesses in recent decades where forests with important functions used to be. Clear-cutting for lumber, cattle grazing, or agribusiness reduced the quality and quantity of water, reduced wildlife and bio-diversity, and produced harsh weather conditions that has resulted in increased fires and floods.

People in our society are in a health crisis largely because their adaptogenic systems are being overloaded with enormous quantities of toxic and unnatural substances, combined with increased stress, less exercise, a faster pace, and reduced rest where the body would be able to release, reset and restore. The earth is in health crisis because it’s also being overloaded with scores of toxins and losses that it doesn’t have enough time to mend, adapt to, or to restore.

If our intestines are irritable, clogged, and imbalanced in its natural, diverse flora due to stress, bad diet, or too many antibiotics, they will have difficulty breaking down and absorbing nutrients to strengthen the body.

Soil, like our intestines, is dependent upon microorganisms to transform waste from living organisms into nutrients for the soil. We’ve infested the soil with pesticides that wind up hurting earthworms and kill helpful microorganisms minimizing the nutrients available for the soil and the food that grows there. Our bodies and the body of the earth mirror each other.

Toxins or bad diet can harm our kidneys and liver, just as pollutants in the soil and water can erode their filtration systems. Wetlands in particular are filtration systems for the earth and water. They’re effective filters for pollutants like heavy metals, while also frequently destroying harmful organisms and reducing the demand for oxygen.

Vegetation is essential for the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and for the maintenance of water and humidity levels. Undisturbed forests help maintain rainfall in a given area as it recycles the moisture back into the atmosphere. It also provides nests and roosts for diversity of birds that pollinate and control insect populations.

In addition to being a vital source of food for countless species, vegetation supplies important medicines and remedies for injuries, disease, and other weakened states. In the same way that our bodies cannot be force-fed heavy doses of toxic substances that are foreign to it while having reduced enzymes to metabolize them, damaged excretory systems to eliminate them, and insufficient time for rest to accomplish this daunting task, neither can the earth, air, or water. Whatever we do to impact Nature impacts us to the same degree, and most often in the same way.

BIODIVERSITY AND DISTURBED HABITATS

If your instrument in the symphony of life is not being played in the same key, it throws off the sound of the entire piece of music.

After two decades of intensive research, the precise details of this code (script) were unraveled. Biologists have discovered the alphabet of a truly universal language of life.

- Fritzov Capra

Dozens of species have become extinct while awaiting federal protection, and those are only the ones that we know about. Our orchestra has lost many of its instruments. Some may never be heard again, others play in a different key as a result. Many symphonies will have lost their harmonies, their rhythms, and some of symphonies will never be played again. According to SustainableTable.org:

"Although many of our most important crops are wind-pollinated and do not require pollinators, 39 of the leading 57 global crops benefit from natural pollinators, such as birds and insects. Agro-biodiversity is the result of thousands of years of human intervention in selectively breeding traits in animals and crops for particular agricultural advantages.

This abundance of diversity is the result of farmers artificially selecting traits over generations for specific purposes, like resistance to disease, tolerance to high altitudes or poor soils, etc. This diversity is important for food security—in the event that a particular crop variety fails due to drought, flooding or a disease, another variety might survive to avoid food shortages.

The FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the U.N.) has estimated that during the last century, 75 percent of crop genetic diversity has been lost, a phenomenon referred to as genetic erosion. in the 1970s, a lack of genetic diversity in US corn varieties resulted in the loss of over 1 billion US dollars due to a lack of resistance to leaf blight. Unfortunately, the situation has not improved today as increasingly, industrial food production relies on fewer and fewer crop varieties and animal breeds."

The World Resources Institute reports that many forested areas are breeding grounds for wildlife and protect the genetic pool for a variety of species. We don’t know yet how long it would take to remedy a loss of habitat and bio-diversity from manmade circumstances. To date, almost 500 species of genetically distinct trees are endangered worldwide, and over 1500 varieties of rice have already become extinct in Indonesia in less than two decades.

THE DOMINO EFFECT OF GENETICALLY MODIFYING PLANTS

The domino effect of the loss of one species, or of one habitat, or one regulating function can have broad and catastrophic consequences that will then lead to other sweeping effects. Sudden loss of an entire crop to disease has already plagued oranges, potatoes, rice, corn, and wheat from loss of diversity that introducing GMO’s only complicates. In this way, the healthy remaining strains of crops and vegetation become contaminated.

Most animals refuse to eat it

Dr. Joseph Mercola, who reports on recent research states, I strongly believe that one of the most obvious clues about the danger of GMO foods are that just about EVERY species of animal that is offered a GMO food versus a non-GMO food will avoid the GMO one. Many times they will do this to the point of starvation, as they have an intuitive sense of the danger of this food.

Those who eat it die soon after

He goes on to say that in 2005, Dr. Irina Ermakova, one of the senior scientists with the Russian National Academy of Sciences, reported that more than 50 percent of the babies from mother rats that were fed GM soy died within three weeks, compared to a 10 % death rate among the controls… a death rate five times higher than normal, identical to the findings in the more recent hamster study.

In a small village in Andhra Pradesh, buffalo grazed on cotton plants for eight years without incident. On January 3rd, 2008, the buffalo grazed on Bt cotton plants for the first time. All 13 were sick the next day; all died within 3 days. Bt corn was also implicated in the deaths of cows in Germany, and horses, water buffaloes, and chickens in The Philippines.

In India, animals graze on cotton plants after harvest. But when shepherds let sheep graze on Bt cotton (genetically modified) plants, thousands died. Post mortems showed severe irritation and black patches in both intestines and liver (as well as enlarged bile ducts). Investigators said preliminary evidence strongly suggests that the sheep mortality was due to a toxin… most probably Bt-toxin. In a small follow-up feeding study by the Deccan Development Society, all sheep fed Bt cotton plants died within 30 days; those that grazed on natural cotton plants remained healthy.

Pollination can spread the GM effects to healthy crops

After corn, soy and wheat, alfalfa is the most widely grown crop in the US. Allowing GM alfalfa to be deregulated could spell disaster in several ways. It’s easily cross-pollinated by bees and wind, and it’s a perennial, meaning GM alfalfa could live on for years, spreading their genetically modified traits far and wide for a long period of time.

They do not decrease the use of pesticides

Closely tied to the production of GM crops is the use of the herbicide Roundup, which contains glyphosate. Monsanto’s Roundup is the most widely used herbicide in the world, and contrary to the popular belief propagated by industry, pesticide use has significantly increased - DOUBLED since 2005 - rather than decreased with the use of GM crops.

They cause damage to the soil

Dr. Mercola reports, "As it turns out, this is a serious problem for more reasons than one. Not only are GM food crops saturated with more pesticides than ever before, which naturally ends up in your body when you eat them, but glyphosate may also be killing the soil itself. This startling conclusion comes straight from one of the USDA’s own scientists, Dr. Kremer. According to this article in Grist, include evidence that glyphosate causes:

damage to beneficial microbes in the soil increasing the likelihood of infection of a crop by soil pathogens

interference with nutrient uptake by the plant

reduced efficiency of symbiotic nitrogen fixation

overall lower-than-expected plant productivity"

Doctors Warn Against GMO’S

Jeffrey Smith has done extensive research on the effects of genetically modifying food and has shared some of his findings that the medical community has confirmed. The findings are so staggering, that some doctors called for a moratorium on the practice. Jeffrey’s article states that the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling.

AAEM’s position paper stated, Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food, including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastro-intestinal system.

They conclude, There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation, as defined by recognized scientific criteria. The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies.

Evidence is conclusive that they damage human health

Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, President of AAEM, says, Physicians are probably seeing the effects in their patients, but need to know how to ask the right questions. World renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava goes one step further. After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, he concludes that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans.

Among the population, biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute warns that children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems related to GM foods. He says without adequate studies, the children become ‘the experimental animals.’

The Institute of Biological Sciences at the University of Brazil reports that the Bt (Bacillus Thuringensis) toxin in Monsanto’s genetically modified corn and soy has been linked to organ failure in humans. It has turned up in the bloodstreams of pregnant women and their fetuses. Now, a study published in the Journal of Hematology & Thromboembolic Diseases suggests that some forms of the Bt toxin may also contribute to certain blood cancers, such as leukemia.

GMOs Provoke Immune Reactions

AAEM states, Multiple animal studies show significant immune dysregulation, including increase in cytokines, which are associated with asthma, allergy, and inflammation—all on the rise in the US. According to GM food safety expert Dr. Arpad Pusztai, changes in the immune status of GM animals are a consistent feature of all the studies. Even Monsanto’s own research showed significant immune system changes in rats fed Bt corn. A November 2008 by the Italian government also found that mice have an immune reaction to Bt corn.

GM soy and corn each contain two new proteins with allergenic properties. GM soy has up to seven times more trypsin inhibitor—a known soy allergen, and skin prick tests show some people react to GM soy but not to non-GM soy. Soon after GM soy was introduced to the UK, soy allergies skyrocketed by 50%. Perhaps the US epidemic of food allergies and asthma is a casualty of genetic manipulation. We’ve in many ways created numerous far worse problems than the initial one. We’ve effectively dropped an atomic bomb into our food supply to kill an insect.

GMOs Remain Inside of Us

The only published human feeding study revealed what may be the most dangerous problem from GM foods. The gene inserted into GM soy transfers into the DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines and continues to function. This means that long after we stop eating GMOs, we may still have potentially harmful GM proteins produced continuously inside of us. Put more plainly, eating a corn chip produced from Bt corn might transform our intestinal bacteria into living pesticide factories, possibly for the rest of our lives.

When evidence of gene transfer is reported at medical conferences around the US, doctors often respond by citing the huge increase of gastrointestinal problems among their patients over the last decade. GM foods might be colonizing the gut flora of North Americans.

Here is a key area where an attempt to solve one problem generates several new problems without solving the original one. Not only do we wind up with less production from the plants, it doesn’t decrease the need for pesticides, it stimulates disease, sterility and early death in those who ingest the plants, and it damages the soil - this failed attempt to solve a problem has dominos that are still falling, yet it is still allowed to be used as a solution.

THE COST OF UNEXAMINED CONCEPTS

Technology Author David Abrams comments, As technological civilization diminishes the biotic diversity of the earth, language itself is diminished. As humans reduce their environment, so they reduce themselves. Peoples’ options, their insights and visions, their ability to perceive, think, or sense an existence that is beyond what is presented and programmed by the schools and media will shrink into a spectrum of color and sound that continues to weaken in its artificial redundancy.

Compared to children in limited technologically advanced cultures, Western children’s brains are already less able to perceive ranges of colors and sounds, and less able to comprehend language and to notice or draw meaning from their surroundings. Brain function is being altered by the virtual reality it has entered into relationship with neurologically.

Some doctors are now prescribing Vitamin ‘G’ for green, for time in nature. Studies show and I quote from Dr. Ben Kim’s newsletter.

A study published in the 1997 issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that when people move from urban areas to rural areas for a few days, they are less irritable, concentration and problem-solving abilities improve, and mental fatigue is reduced.

A recent study published in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that the percentage of green space in a person’s living environment is positively associated with their perception of their general health. In other words, the more green space they are exposed to in their living environment, the healthier they feel they are.

A study published in the December 2002 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that senior citizens living in a densely populated urban megacity (Tokyo) lived longer if they had easy access to a public green space (e.g. a park) where they could take walks.

Modern advances in technology in many instances have been extremely helpful and I am not advocated getting rid of it, but to maintain in every instance a balance on a personal, industrial, and ecological level.

Climate change

A recent, comprehensive report from the Global Humanitarian Forum has warned the world that climate change alone is a silent crisis that is killing 300,000 people each year. They have estimated that this number will double by 2030 and that more than 300 million people are already seriously affected by the gradual warming of the earth. Of these 300 million, 90% are affected by gradual environmental degradation leading to malnutrition, disease, and diarrhea. 99% of these deaths are in developing countries who contribute less than 1% of carbon emissions.

Much of the destruction the planet is experiencing at the hands of mankind is frivolous, unexamined, and unnecessary. For example, 57 million trees a year are cut down for catalogues alone, overlooking the alternative approach that 30 million pounds of greenhouse gases per year could be eliminated by using recycled paper.

The Union of Concerned Scientists report: Just to be clear, there are not two sides to this story. Sea levels are rising. The flooding from Hurricane Sandy was undeniably worse because of it.

Industrial toxins

Other forms of industrial toxins produced by paper mills include nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic chemicals which are released into the air through leaky valves and open-ended lines. These air emissions often produce the unpleasant odor found in the vicinity of many mills. Additional industrial toxins generated by the papermaking process include mercury, which is used in fungicidal processes; cellulosic fibers, which congeal into toxic sludge; and chlorophenolic wood preservatives and anti-sap stains.

For Our Water

The fish downstream of a paper mill in North Carolina in the Pigeon River were seriously affected by the pollutant released into the water called dioxin. Studies showed that their hormonal, endocrine, and metabolic systems were adversely affected, their DNA damaged, and cancerous lesions were created.

Humans were poisoned by the same substances that we poison the water and its fish with. People living in the Pigeon River area who used the water and ate the fish had increased cancer rates. Environmental Defense cites that, Over 7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released by industry into the nation’s environment each year, including over 100 million pounds of recognized carcinogens.

For Our Food

One of the toxins that has been cited by the EPA as a known carcinogen with no known safe levels of exposure is dioxin, produced in paper production. Dioxin is formed as an unintentional by-product of many industrial processes involving chlorine such as waste incineration, chemical and pesticide manufacturing and pulp and paper bleaching.

Due to their treated food supply, it is most often found in beef, chicken, and their ‘by-products’ - milk and eggs, but also is absorbed into fish from the water they swim in. Through our food supply,