Guest Essay - Part II

Indian Country's Historical Trauma and Mental Health Issues of the 21st Century

Mike Raccoon Eyes Kinney in Native Health. Discussion »

SAN FRANCISCO - The Creator shows us by example that we must sacrifice something lesser in order to have something greater. In order to return to Native spirituality and to make Spiritual transformation, one must learn our songs, our dances, learn the medicines and above all else; learn the prayers.

Every thought and word is a prayer.

There are different ways of praying. The Spiritual power of prayer can permit Native people to do anything in a good way. If you do not do the medicine or prayer in the right way, then you can't expect to benefit from it. Every thought and word, 24 hours a day is a prayer.

That is what has to guide our lives.

Mike Raccoon Eyes-Cherokee

The Creator is interested in what is good and spiritually right for us. We have to approach the Creator in a good and humble way. When a Native individual has become gifted with spiritual blessing from the Creator, it represents a different kind of power, a different kind energy and a different kind of strength for we Native people.

The Creator wants you stand up and be proud when you pray. Be proud to be alive and thank the Creator for the life he has given you on Earth Mother. Be thankful at the same time you are standing before the Creator, rather than bowing down like a slave.

I would like to see our Native youth and young adults learn to pray like the old time Natives with proper respect and regard for all the life forces that Creator has placed here including ones self.

Always pray over all of your medicine, even modern medicine to give it strength and direction as to what you want it to do, you should pray over all of your food and drink to make healing medicine out of it.

With Spiritual transformation, it will mean Native People can redefine and rethink how we perceive ourselves as Native people. You can redefine what your spiritual commitment to Native families and communities shall be as well.

A spiritual objective for Indian individuals and families is to try to do everything a little better tomorrow than it was today. Continuous improvement is the path to a higher standard of spiritual leadership for today's issues in Indian Country. We need to acknowledge that attachments such as power, privilege and material possessions can make it difficult to maintain high moral and spiritual standards for Native people.

By the same token, personal observations and a spiritual commitment to the truth, will lead us to see things as they really are and to understand the true needs of Indian Country people. We must be able to spiritually feel our Indian communities, not just intellectualize the needs of our Indian people.

We must spiritually strive to serve Indian Country.

It will increase our bonds with our people and move us forth as individuals, and challenge us to reach higher standards that will help place us in step with the times.

Each of us in Indian Country must have a spiritual commitment to live by, a standard code of spiritual conduct. For if we do, our Native and non-Native leaders will have to follow. Each one of us in Indian Country is setting a spiritual example for someone else, and each one of us has a spiritual responsibility to shape the future of our families and communities.

Mike Raccoon Eyes is of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. He is a Native Advocate for more human and civil rights for Indian Country for the past 25 years. Kinney is the San Francisco Bay Area delegate for the Inter-Tribal Council of California. He is a writer and author on traditional and contemporary issues of Indian Country, as well gives inspirational motivational talks about the spiritual empowerment of Native Peoples. Kinney currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

posted August 20, 2011 6:30 am edt