Remembering the Indigenous Mind:
A Journey of Healing and Transformation

by: Illana Berger, Ph.D.

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De-colonizing

De-colonizing must begin by remembering the old ways of being/knowing held by our ancient Ancestors in each of our cultures of origin. By engaging in this process, we provoke our cultural and ancestral memory and bring consciousness to our innate connection to the sentient world.

Self identity is at the root of healing on the individual level, as well as culturally and socially. If we do not know who we are, we cannot awake to the wisdom held in our own bodies, as our own DNA, as a result of which we cannot come into our “Whole Mind.”

The whole mind or good mind, as the Hotinonshon:ni or Iroquois call it, is a mind or a consciousness that knows the humility of unity. Knowing that we are a part of the whole, we also know that our part, our presence, is as important, no more nor less, than the snail darter, trees, ants, cells, or atoms. The good mind also knows the importance of prayer and ceremony for holding energy and catalyzing Spirit in maintaining wholeness and harmony.

Each of us was brought into this lifetime with a biological make-up that is determined by lifetime after lifetime of our Ancestors. Their dreaming, their intention, willed us into existence. Encoded in our bodies not only is the wisdom of the past, the promises of the future, and the holiness of this moment, but also the map for our purpose in being alive.

Most of us will go through life oblivious to the duty required of our lifetime. Some of us will get glimpses of our duty and turn away out of fear, indifference, or laziness. Some will refuse to do the difficult work of transformation and insist on participating in the deep sleep imposed by the dominant culture. There will be some, though, who will answer the call of the Ancestors, answer the voice of the Sacred and the Divine, and come to know themselves and the task each of us has been given by incarnating at this time. It is my hope, my intention, that my work can and will awaken this in those whose lives are destined to catalyze the healing of the world, and with whom I am given the privilege to encounter.