Indigenous Wisdom
Indigenous wisdom refers to the beliefs, knowledge, perspectives and lifestyles of tribal peoples from around the world. This wisdom is intuitively human wisdom, but is preserved more wholly in the indigenous tribal cultures that still survive. We are all indigenous somewhere, and at some point. Indigenous wisdom comes from people living in ways that have worked for millennia – ways that work to maintain a dynamic balance with all life, where the individual, culture and land create a mutually reinforcing cycle that works for all. It informs us about human potential and about our inherent capacity to live fully. From this perspective, we can get a sense of what is possible.
This is not to ‘romanticize’ native peoples, or to say that they are saints, but to acknowledge that they live in a way that works great for humans, and for the rest of the community of life. Nor is the purpose of this perspective to play at being ‘Indian’ – it is to learn from the wisdom of cultures far more functional than ours so that we may take the steps necessary to create our own functional culture (one that does not destroy these other cultures).
Indigenous wisdom applies in both a general and specific way for ELP. In a general way, the philosophy of ELP is deeply informed by the intuitive wisdom of indigenous people. In a sense, indigenous wisdom is the soil out of which the other pillars grow, for it is through this that we tap into human potential, in the broadest and most specific ways. Examples of how this may apply specifically include learning about local wild edible plants, the Sweat Lodge and the Medicine Circle.
Click here to read an article on the wisdom of indigenous people
