Indigenous Worldview Can Preserve Our Existence

Voice over by Four Arrows. Three-minute Indigenous Worldview video used to close UNESCO Sustainability Conference. Our dominant ways of life are guided by an underlying worldview that has been the main driver behind climate change, pandemics and extinction rates. Overwhelming evidence reveals that our original Indigenous, nature-based worldview is an antidote. Supporting and Re-embracing this interconnected way of living is the most urgent course of action we must take.

Video Interviews and Presentations

Entangled Minds

In this episode, Four Arrows takes me on a journey exploring the Indigenous worldview, non-duality, and origin stories and myths. We talk about anthropocentrism, this idea that humans sit atop the pyramid of life and that everything else on Earth is inferior to and here for humans to use and then discard as they see fit. This human-centric worldview lies at the root of our entangled crises and we explore some untraditional ways that worldviews and ultimately culture, might shift.

California Institute for Integral Studies

Indigenous worldviews, and the knowledge they confer, are critical for human survival and the wellbeing of future generations. Author and Professor of Education, Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), and author and Professor Emerita of Psychology Darcia Narvaez have both written and lectured extensively on the need to integrate Indigenous worldviews into every aspect of society—from education to sustainability, wellness, and justice. Through their work and writing, Four Arrows and Darcia emphasize the deep need to move away from the dominant Western paradigm—one that dictates we live without strong social purpose, fails to honor the Earth as sacred, leads with the head while ignoring the heart, and places individual “rights” over collective responsibility. Their most recent collaboration as editors of the anthology Restoring the Kinship Worldview, presents 28 powerful excerpted passages from Indigenous leaders including Mourning Dove, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Winona LaDuke, and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.

Our Million Year-Old Embodied Wisdom: Indigenous Worldview, With Darcia Narvaez and Four Arrows

Most philosophical positions are rooted in western enlightenment assumptions of human superiority to and separation from nature, the notion of human cultural progress, and individualism—all part of what anthropologist Marshall Sahlins called the ‘western illusion of human nature.’ Virtually all prior and contemporaneous cultures had a different orientation, one of human interconnectedness and partnership with the biocommunity and a cyclical panpsychism. Social anthropologist Robert Redfield concluded that there are essentially two worldviews—a set of implicit assumptions that guide one’s values, philosophy, and attitudes towards life. We name these the dominant and the Indigenous worldviews.

Restoring the Kinship Worldview with Don Trent Jacobs PhD Four Arrows

Can Indigenous wisdom help heal humanity? Tune in for a discussion with Don Trent Jacobs, Ph.D., Ed.D., Four Arrows, on his new book Restoring the Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Planet Earth. Moments with Marianne airs in the Southern California area on KMET 1490AM & 98.1 FM, ABC Talk Radio!

Wahinkpe Topa and Darcia Narvaez, Restoring the Kinship Worldview

Village Books Interview. The authors emphasize our deep need to move away from the dominant Western paradigm--one that dictates we live without strong social purpose, fails to honor the earth as sacred, leads with the head while ignoring the heart, and places individual “rights” over collective responsibility. Restoring the Kinship Worldview is rooted in an Indigenous vision and strong social purpose that sees all life forms as sacred and sentient--that honors the wisdom of the heart, and grants equal standing to rights and responsibilities. All author proceeds from Restoring the Kinship Worldview are donated to Indigenous non-profit organizations working on behalf of Indigenous Peoples.

Inviting readers into a world-sense that expands beyond perceiving and conceiving to experiencing and being, Restoring the Kinship Worldview is a salve for our times, a nourishment for our collective, and a holistic orientation that will lead us away from extinction toward an integrated, sustainable future.

Four Arrows and the Shaman's Message Journey (Part 1 of 3)

A personal narrative by Four Arrows and original photos and audio of his near death experience on the Rio Unique and his encounter with Raramuri Shamans