Death & Dying in the tradition of the American Indian 
(Speech from the Medical Conference at Aula University in Graz Austria)


During the Dalai Lama visit & Kalachakra Event 10/25/2002

 
One of the continual questions I am confronted with in the Q&A part of my lectures and seminars is “How Indians manage to handle death and dying”. “What do we think about: how do we prepare; do we believe there is a hereafter; do we come back as an animal or spirit?
Although in the past, I would hesitate in search of, just the right and most accurate answer, because many times, I felt the questions were posed in a kind of, “invasion of privacy manner”, from persons with a facial look of, “should I ask or not” and the contorted look on some faces as everyone else seemed to hold their breath waiting for my answer. I must admit, that for a long time the questions annoyed me, until I realized how serious these people were about really finding out. I never knew just how much it meant to the people that attend my presentations, especially those from the American and European white population. One day I remembered my mother’s favorite saying to me, “Curiosity killed the cat”, of course we all know cats have nine lives, which is why when we ask a cat to come to us, it will always give us a look of, “I don’t care what you want” and walks away. I also had many disturbing questions such as these to ask of my mother, and I’m sure some were not easy for her to answer either. Therefore, I often heard the “cat” anecdote.
  
Some young people have told me, that they actually fear to think about death and dying. How can people talk about their love for their God and yet have such fears? Is it a lack of strong faith or the lack of learning the real meaning of “true love” at an early age?

I have to be honest, that I myself had never given much thought to death and dying, because it is something that Indians have lived with all their lives and is taken for granted. It’s like living in NYC and never taking the time to see the Statue of Liberty because it’s in your own back-yard, or living in Paris and never taking the time to visit the Eiffel Tower, after all, it’s not going anywhere and Parisians are way too blasé to think or worry about it on a regular basis.

  
For an Indian, death and dying is much the same. It is ingrained in us at a young enough age that we never forget it. We know we are born and that someday we will have to die. It is part of the structure of being part of Mother Earth. You know? We live pretty much by the standards of Mother Nature. During the summer, we enjoy the flowers that will not be there in the winter and in the winter we enjoy the snow, which melts away in the summer. Birth is treated as a miracle, not knowing when it will end we treat each day with love and great respect. We are thankful for every day we open our eyes, and for this we thank the Creator. Some of us believe in the hereafter and others believe our spirits go on to another place.
 
 
Still there are those that believe that our ancestor’s spirits are always with us in one form or other. I have had some amazing revelations with spirits myself. One such incident occurred to me in a studio where I almost felt my father’s spirit guiding me through some flute musical exercises. I believe sometimes the energy of some spirits is so strong they have the power to use Extra Sensory Perception. If one who is gifted, as many humans sometimes, unknowingly are: with strong concentration, clear mind and true faith eventually, spiritual communication with those of the spirit world is possible.

It is normal for an Indian to prepare him or herself for that final day. Sometimes this pattern causes much dismay in some of the little children who tend to become very attached to the “Old Ones”. Indian children learn, at a very young age, that birth, death and dying are part of the same equation. Just as learning to listen in order to learn, was a great part of the Indian child of the past. Indian children never had the books to fall back on or refer to in case they forgot something. So, the mind of the Indian was forever active, alert and spiritually alive.

Indian children had total respect for their teachers. Most times the teachers were their grandfathers, grandmothers or respected Elders of their Nation. The instruction was simple, done in a story-telling fashion. Much time was devoted to teachings concerning full respect for everything in and around Mother Earth and Mother Nature. Above all, they were very strict in their teachings of The Creator. This belief and respect has not changed to this day.
 
As much as I would like to avoid and say that religion had nothing to do with the beliefs of the Indian philosophy on death and dying in the past as well as today, I do believe I would be performing an injustice if I did not mention the following facts. The general belief of all Indians in America is in the Creator. It has always reinforced our power and spiritual energy in the acceptance of death and dying. The belief in the hereafter certainly would not be as strong were it not for the faith and strong belief in the Creator, for we know and faithfully believe the Creator will protect us in the present time as well as in that of the hereafter.

Still there are those in the white society that fanatically believe Indians do not have a religion. To counter this, I would like to say that our way of life, which by the way, most of the time, does not include the word “religion” for that is a word introduced to us by the white European. Ours is so closely related to Mother Earth and Mother Nature that each and every day is a day of prayer. We inherently walk and live religion. We live with the understanding that everything on Mother Earth is related and therefore have learned from Nature and our friends in the animal world, to such an extent that we associate and fashion our life according to our surroundings. Our beliefs of death and dying are closely related to all elements of Mother Earth: all the animals in the forest that live their lives by instinct. I might add that for this way of thinking, the European called our people in the New World, “savages”. However, we should not forget that much of the Roman civilization was founded on the basis of twin babies that were supposedly nursed and brought up by an animal…a mother Wolf.

 
Death and dying differs with every American Indian Nation and there are 554 different ones, with over 300 hundred different languages spoken. But, as much as they differ in Culture and Language, their acceptance of death and dying is somewhat similar. When an Apache dies, all his possessions are destroyed so they do not stand in the way of the deceased one’s path to the Spirit World. The name is never again spoken or mentioned after death. Strangely enough, the Apache ritual of placing the head facing in an Eastward direction with the feet toward the west is similar to those practiced along the Nile by some Sudanese of ancient times.
  
A quote from a young Apache girl while doing her Sacred Sunrise Dance Puberty Ceremony, a strenuous four day event that is still practiced today, best describes, just how an Indian thinks of life, death and dying. And I quote: “The singers sang louder and louder of our Apache ways, love and friendship. I didn’t understand all the words, but I knew what they said. They were telling me to be strong in life and to live each day of my life to it’s fullest. The louder they sang the harder I danced”.
The American Indian holds many lessons about grief and its duration. Most always associated with nature or the animal world. Another example comes from the Shoshone Nation. The traditional legend of the Caterpillar people should present another lesson for the white world of still another way Indians exercise their grief. The legend is told during the funeral services of a Shoshone deceased.
“Long ago there were two caterpillar people who loved each other very much. When the caterpillar man died the caterpillar woman was overcome by grief. In her remorse she withdrew into herself and pulled her sorrow around her like a shawl. She walked and mourned for a year and because the world is a circle she ended up where she had started. The Creator looked down upon her and told her that she had suffered too long. “Now,” he told her “is the time for you to step into a new world of beauty.” He clapped his hands and the caterpillar woman burst forth as a butterfly. Her world was now full of beauty and color.”
Many American Indian Nations see the butterfly as a symbol of everlasting life. The Wilik-Wilik Waashaashut or the Butterfly Dance enacts this legend. The women dancers line up single file and pull their shawls over their heads to cover them. This represents the caterpillar in the cocoon. The drummers sing and drum in a slow sad tone. After the head dancer returns where she began, the dancers open their arms and display the brightly colored shawls. The song becomes more upbeat and the women dance to represent the fluttering of wings.

The Warm Spring Indian Nation compares death of a loved one to a landslide from Mother Nature. “When your road is blocked by a landslide, you clear it by taking away one rock at a time.” In times when the white world looks for definite answers as to a quick fix, they should heed the wisdom these legends impart and try to be more in tune with the surroundings of Mother Earth.

The following are suggestions I have prepared and propose at my presentations when I am confronted and find myself obligated to answer the most important of all questions: How can we deal with the ever present thought of death and dying? Short of becoming an American Indian and living as many Indians still live today: without many of the modern conveniences and resources of the modern world; which would mean giving up much of the white way of living in this 21st century. I say this:
 
Create a system that teaches stronger spiritual beliefs beginning at an early age. More dedicated efforts from parents on subjects like: “True family love”: respect for others, despite the color of their skin. Accept the fact that we are all brothers and sisters under one Creator, for if you believe in Adam & Eve, then we must all be, at least related.
  
And how can this relieve the pain of so many that spend so much time grieving on the issue of death and dying? It is my strong belief that we need to reverse the way the population of the world has been taught to be careless of others. Only thinking of themselves and most of time nothing else. The strong principal, on which the world was founded, “The True family” is becoming obscured to the point of being lost. Without it, it is like a tree without healthy roots or a house with a weak foundation. Teachers have taken over much of the responsibility of, trying to teach the young from a governmentally constructed program that is not, at all family oriented or in tune with Mother Earth. That is what causes fear, especially in the children, who long for the security from an honest and true loving “family”. More and more the family is becoming less wholesome and real. Since few children seem to have that earthly feeling of security and strong spiritual beliefs, how then, can they grow up into adulthood feeling secure about the hereafter or anything else for that matter, when they are not being taught these precious loving values here on this our Mother Earth.