21. Navigating Indigenous Knowledge and Spirituality

Podcast transcript⁠ (pdf) It is an understatement to say that we live in stormy times. Media stories and personal conversations routinely touch on themes of searching, dis-orientation, and anxiety about navigating daily challenges, not to mention finding a safe pathway through a foggy and uncertain future. Feeling lost in a stormy sea kind of sums up the emotional experience. Many of us in mainstream culture, as well as those who are indigenous, are exploring fresh insights offered by a wide array of offerings and guidance by those who are, and some cases those who just claim to be bearers of indigenous knowledge and wisdom. This raises intriguing and sometimes perplexing questions about who really is indigenous, who can speak with authority about indigenous wisdom, and if and how those in the mainstream can benefit from and even incorporate some of that wisdom into their own lives. So, let’s begin with an important question: who gets to be recognized as “indigenous”?