Live life the best you can

FOUR ARROWS, aka DON TRENT JACOBS, Ph.D., Ed.D., is the author of numerous books, peer-reviewed articles, and chapters on applications of the Indigenous Worldview as a proven solution to our existential world problems. Former Director of Education at Oglala, Lakota College, and currently professor of professor at the School of Educational Leadership for Change at Fielding Graduate University, his academic work, spiritual life, and social/ecological justice activism have received international recognition. In part 3 of this series, he speaks with JUDITH NELSON from the Heartfulness Institute about how to work with worldviews and be the best person you can be.

Q:  You’ve spoken already about indigenizing our systems, but can you talk a bit about how to do that?

4A: I believe that the Indigenous and Dominant worldview reflections can be taught along with the CAT–FAWN methodology. CAT stands for Concentration Activated Transformation. You can think of it as self-hypnosis or spontaneous hypnosis. FAWN is Fear, Authority, Words, and Nature. All we have to do is say, “Okay, we’ve got this challenge, whatever it is – making money, stopping pollution, or whatever it is. Let’s use CAT–FAWN to get in touch with our world.”

We start with CAT – Concentration Activated Transformation. All right, what do we know? What are our assumptions, and are those assumptions true? Where do they come from? Most of our assumptions about life come from early childhood, but there are also things that have been taught by the authorities during times of fear. During times of stress, all creatures become hyper suggestible to the communication of a perceived authority figure.

So, we look at meta-cognition. “What am I thinking about thinking? What is the source of this?” And, if necessary, we think about how that idea came to us and why we believe it.

We hold on to that CAT idea, and now we go to FAWN and we start with Fear. What are we afraid of? How does fear – in any of its forms, from apprehension to paranoia – influence what we’re doing, what we’re deciding?

In the Dominant Worldview, fear is to be avoided. We don’t like it; we don’t like the taste or smell of it. In the Indigenous Worldview, once the fight-or-flight mechanism of fear is over, it becomes an opportunity to practice a virtue – patience, courage, generosity, fortitude, humility, honesty, persistence – the great universal virtues. Fear is an opportunity to practice those things.

Then, courage turns into fearlessness once we take action. Fearlessness means that, whatever the outcome, we’re fully engaged.

Now let’s take Authority. In the Dominant Worldview, authority is almost always external – the papa, the preacher, the Pope, etc. In the Indigenous Worldview, the highest authority is your personal reflection or lived experience, with the understanding that everything is connected. People think of Indigenous people as collective, and the Western people as individualistic. No, not really. Have you ever seen a more individualistic, autonomous individual than an Indigenous person?

Indigenous people have non-hierarchical cultures, so their authority, ultimately, is their own reflection; and the goal of their individuality is to help others, to help the community.

Okay, now let’s take Words. What words are we using? In the Dominant Worldview, we’re in a post-truth world; words are deceptive, children are using them deceptively, presidents are using them deceptively. It is commonplace. Books have been written saying it’s a survival thing to use deceptive words, right?

In the Indigenous Worldview, words are sacred vibrations, so you’ve got to do your best. Truth is multifaceted, and you do your best to communicate. That’s why a verb-based language is easier because it’s always flowing; it’s harder to concretize it.

As you begin to do the work, you can ask, “What words are we using?” When I taught hypnosis at UC Berkeley, a man came to me because his armpits sweated profusely whenever he was going to a meeting.
I asked, “What do you say to yourself before you go to the meeting?”
He said, “I don’t know, I look at my watch and go. I guess, ‘I have to go to this meeting.’”
I said, “Just change ‘I have to go to the meeting’ to ‘I want to go to the meeting’ and see what happens.”
He thought I had hypnotized him, but I didn’t! All hypnosis is ultimately self-hypnosis, and that’s how powerful words are.

Kipling said that words are humankind’s most powerful drug. That opinion comes from a Dominant Worldview, and it’s true, but Indigenous people would not use those terms. They would say that words are sacred prayers.
So, if a woman is obese and she comes to me to get healthy, I say, “What do you say when you look in the mirror?”
She replies, “I see a fat person, I’m fat.”
And I say, “Let’s look at the words and your accuracy. Is it possible? If you were fat, you’d be in a jar. I don’t understand how that can be.”
Pretty soon she’s got the idea, and she says, “Ah! I see myself in the mirror as a beautiful woman who happens to have more adipose tissue than she wants and is good for her health.”
Ta dah! Now we can work with that. That’s how powerful words are, and it changes everything.

Technology is the balance between worldviews,
and we can use technology to say,
“If that’s what these ants are doing,
it confirms that we need to be more
dedicated to working together.”

The last one is Nature. What are we learning from nature about how our organization can move forward, how our family plans can move forward? Nature is all around us. Something will show up: a line of ants will appear, or you’ll look out into the yard and see a fox. Something will come, trust me on this. Just open yourself up to it. Learn as much about that creature as you can. That is something we’ve lost. Technology is the balance between worldviews, and we can use technology to say, “If that’s what these ants are doing, it confirms that we need to be more dedicated to working together.”

Q: I’m really struck by the common threads between what you’ve been saying and Heartfulness. For instance, you practice self-hypnosis and we practice meditation, and we also use beautiful, positive ideas and affirmations to see the world in a different light, to see people advancing, to see them develop, etc.

4A:  Yes, it’s the same thing. Meditation with affirmations is self-hypnosis; meditation without affirmations is being receptive to whatever comes. There are two sides to that coin. When you bring affirmations into meditation, then it becomes, by definition, a hidden hypnotic phenomenon. In Yoga, they do that very often. Often, it’s just tuning in, and other times it’s sending out love to the world through affirmations.

So, if we could look at this series of worldview assumptions using affirmations, in one generation we would see changes happen. The Neusiok/Miwok Indians had lost their language, they were alcoholics, they couldn’t grow things, and some of the women thought, “We can bring back our ways.” In one and a half generations, they brought back the language, the ways of being, and now their sheep grow bigger, their corn grows bigger, and there’s hardly any alcoholism. Theoretically, we can return to our original worldview and live the heart-minded way. That’s one of the worldview precepts – living with the heart, following with the head, rather than the other way round. I think the yogic traditions are helping to bring us closer and closer to that also.

Everyone can change, and they can do it from whatever tradition they wish. If we look at the religions – let’s take Christianity. An expert on Western Christianity showed me how the Church has created racism and maintained racism. But you can also look at Christianity and find things that resonate so beautifully with our worldview. So, a person can stay a Christian, because Jesus did many things that relate to this.

Any culture can keep its unique diversity and find the place where it can include this worldview.

Meditation with affirmations is self-hypnosis;
meditation without affirmations is being
receptive to whatever comes.

Q:  I understand that, as I come from a religious background and ended up in a meditation practice because I wanted to understand life from a very different level. Meditation leads to a meditative life, a meditative state, in a way that I think you’re describing the connection to everything. If practiced well, you realize the connection with everything.

It’s interesting that there are many threads working toward the same ends. It’s exciting to see how many systems are trying to connect to the same thing from different angles, because we’re not all the same. I picked up from your interviews that it’s about honoring our personal experience, instead of following someone else because they are an authority figure.

4A:   You’re absolutely right. Ultimately, it’s the experience. That’s where our teachings come from, not from somebody telling us; we have to experience it.

Q: Are there any practical ways to reduce our footprint and environmental destruction, rather than waiting for governments to solve this for us?

4A: Well, everybody can live with a light footprint. Just do your best. Buy locally produced food, be mindful of what kinds of products you buy, know the corporation’s footprint, etc., and all those consciousness activities.

A healthier definition of hope is the certainty
that whatever you’re doing is worth doing
regardless of the outcome.

But I’ll close by saying that I don’t think we’re going to be able to turn things around. I was at the University of British Columbia the first time I said that, a year before the pandemic. The audience didn’t know whether to throw things at me or cry!
Then the logical question came back, “Then why are you here? Why are you doing this work? Why are you writing these books?”
And I answered, “Because I want to continue trying to be the best human being I can be.”

I wrote a little book called Sitting Bull’s Words: For a World in Crisis. Sitting Bull didn’t have hope: all the buffalo had been killed, smallpox was wiping people out, and he was being chased. And yet, he never stopped being generous, he never stopped laughing, he never stopped writing songs, he never stopped his spiritual practices, he never stopped resisting, and he never stopped caring for the future of children.

I don’t think hope is the certainty that things are going to turn out okay. A healthier definition of hope is the certainty that whatever you’re doing is worth doing regardless of the outcome. I find that people feel liberated by that and they have less burnout. They say, “I see what’s happening with the oil spills, I see the wars, I see the injustices and the political corruption, but the direction I’m going in personally, experientially, in my work, makes sense.”

The practical thing is to live our lives as best we can, and that means personal health and vitality, compassion, and empathy for others. I believe that we’re bodies inhabited by spirits, and our spirits can practice this and learn the lessons that we’re uniquely given in this life. Then, the chances are that when we rebuild, it won’t be like the post-apocalyptic movies, with guys with machine guns raping women. We’ll see people living according to our original worldview.

The practical thing is to live our lives
as best we can, and that means personal health and
vitality, compassion, and empathy for others.

Q: Thank you. That’s a lovely note to end on, because you’ve given a positive and helpful ideal for people who feel overwhelmed with all that’s going on. If we understand, “I can change myself. I’m not responsible for everything out there,” it provides a calmer sense of our part in this. As you say, if everybody does this, it will make all the difference.

It reminds me of something one of our Heartfulness teachers said when he was asked, “How do I distinguish between right and wrong?”
He replied, “Just ask yourself, ‘What if everybody did it?’ and you’ll get the answer.”
He made it so simple. If we ask ourselves “What if everybody loved?” it would be fine; “What if everybody killed?” it wouldn’t be fine.

Thanks again Don for a fascinating interview.

Interview by JUDITH NELSON