Module 2 Blog

Module 2 Blog Post

By: James Berrigan

 

For the Module 2 Blog Post I selected to watch “In the Light of Reverence”.  This is a PBS sponsored film and the film description is “is a 72-minute documentary on Native American struggles to protect landscapes of spiritual significance”.  Specifically, this short film describes the struggles of three Native American Tribes, the Wintu, Lakota and Hopi, and their struggles relating to their continued land loss both on public and private land. 
 

I really like this film as it provides both sides of a particular debate in real time.  The film showed both Native Americans and Non Native Americans perspective, sometimes back to back, throughout the film allowing the viewer to absorb both sides instantaneously as opposed to hearing one person or groups perspective in full then hearing an opposing view.  I believe this method used by the film makers to be much more effective.  When I finished watching the video I went back and watched the beginning sections about the Lakota people and their spiritual/religious connection to the Black Hills in Wyoming.  For some reason I was intrigued by comments made by the non-Lakota people in regards to not understanding how the Lakota could have a spiritual/religious connection to land and how their own beliefs clouded their judgment and reasoning when interpreting the wishes of the Lakota.  It was stated around the fifteen minute mark that religious observations outside of a formal structure like a church, are considered “recreation”.  Again, around the Nineteen minutes and forty five second mark a comment was made about how the Lakota’s connection to the land has no similarities to church at all. 

I find these comments to be completely ridiculous and rather ignorant and am embarrassed for the people that chose to voice such ludicrous words.  Personally, I am an avid outdoorsman and can attest the spiritual/religious awakening I receive every time I am in some of my most favorite areas of the Adirondack Mountains.  Additionally, I was raised in a very religious family and can honestly say that I have never had that same feeling in church.   More so now than ever, I feel the sadness, while not to the point of the native peoples of the short film, shared by the indigenous.  I recently relocated from my home in Upstate New York to northern Texas.  Having only been a little more than a week, I can already tell/feel that I will need to find a similar release in my new home.

Unlike the Lakota or any other tribal group who were robbed of their sacred land, I have no immediate ties or ownership to these areas of the Adirondack Mountains that provided me with the aforementioned religious like experiences.   Much if not all of the property in New York I explore is open to the public.  However, it does sicken me when people to do not respect the land in which I so greatly appreciate and utilize as my form of religion or church.  As such, I cannot imagine the feeling of blatant disrespect felt by the Lakota and other tribes mentioned in the film. 
 

I voluntarily relinquished my spiritual place for my career with hopes that I one day can return indefinitely.  While I will have intermittent spurts of being back in the mountains I love and need so much, as mentioned above, it will not be enough and am longing to find a similar connection in my new home.  Again, I do not know what I would do if forcefully removed from or had to bear witness to someone or group of people disrespecting my sacred place.

While I understand nature is not for everyone and for those who do not or cannot understand the spiritual connection between humans and nature keep in mind that some of us feel the same way about your beliefs.  However, we all need to be accepting, understanding and tolerant of what our fellow humans consider sacred and holy.