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Nature's Law
Spiritual Life, Governance, Culture, Traditions, Resources, Context and Background
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Spiritual Life

Introduction

Natural/Supernatural

Spirit Realm

Visual representation of nature's laws


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Albert LightningAlbert Lightning was a revered old Cree ceremonialist and medicine person from the Ermineskin band in Hobbema. He was a favourite guest at spiritual and official gatherings. Meli followed his career and reports the following:

He spoke of natural law and how the truth will never lead anyone astray, but individuals must be strong enough to hold on to their good decisions. People must not look for physical or material results from everything they do. Instead, they should pay attention to their dreams and develop their spirits, feeling good about helping others and putting themselves last. They must see what is real in life, not the unreal. I remember Albert nodding in agreement with Chief John Snow’s words to the crowd: "Although people think the grandfathers have abandoned us, what with all the bad things that have been going on in the Indian world, these spirits have always been with us. It is we who have forgotten about them." Albert made it clear he wanted to share his knowledge of the spiritual undercurrents in everyday life with conference delegates and invited them into his magnificently painted tipi to see black-and-white, poster-sized photographs of spiritual images he had collected. One, taken at the top of a mountain in the Kootenay Plains area of the western Rockies, showed the distinct form of what looked like a veiled figure standing out in white against a gray, cloudy sky.

"I show these pictures because so many people need to see proof before they will believe. I show them so people might come closer to believing the spirit world and that the Creator looks out for us," he told the group.

Albert talked a lot about natural law. He said that humans’ inner natures are an exact copy of the nature of the universe, and deep knowledge of the self comes from nature. Western society’s materialism and technology is unnatural to the point that many people are unaware of natural cycles and energies and even fear insects, animals, trees, and birds. As humans become unbalanced, so does their world. Medicine people understand natural laws and work with varying frequencies of energy to accomplish what seems impossible. They know there is a right time and place for everything and what is possible given a certain set of circumstances. They know when to pick herbs and not to waste anything, because waste is unnatural. (Meili, 82f.) Assiniboine People

In the Cree language, to take only one example, the prefix kihci denotes a wide range of meanings associated with our word, the sacred…admiration, respect, greatness, venerable, esteemed, holy, hallowed, much regarded, highly thought of, great value, ultimate, saintly, sanctity, heavenly, piety, consecration, being blessed, having to do with deity, taking an oath. Yet it also can have less spiritual connotations, as for example, thinking one’s self to be very good (i.e. being ‘snooty’), making a good start on things, making reference to the queen or a grand chief and even a great body of water. Consequently, one would adjust one’s understanding of the word used by the context in which it as uttered, and even then, one might contend that the usage was not up to standard. Thus we have suggested in the Introduction that Nature’s Law can be translated as Kihci weyasowewin kisipikaskamihk, which can be parsed into the prefix kihci (Ultimate, or Sacred) plus weyasowewin (Law) plus kisipikaskamihk (All-over -the-World). What this means; however, cannot be reduced to the meaning of each of these terms, for the first word alone could be translated a number of ways, as we have suggested, providing rich potential meanings.  The following meanings are merely suggestive, not exhaustive.
 

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