Discussion of "The Sacred Tree"

We started off class today by discussing all of our values—what we hold important, what we consider key to human understanding and survival. I haven’t really thought about this much at all before, to be honest. This came as a shock to me, given the amount of time I spend at protests and rallies against things. Given the amount of time I spend focusing on what I dislike, I spent so little time thinking about what I did like and respect, I was somewhat repulsed. The kicker? One of the traits I settled on was “introspection.”

I don’t think this is just an individual thing, though—western society in general seems to ignore deep, introspective thought. That’s one of the things I’ve enjoyed so much about my American Indian class—while nothing we’ve read comes close to the “wise Injun” stereotype, there does seem to be a greater emphasis on mindfulness throughout the literature we’ve read and experienced. I feel that through this class, I’ve been realizing more and more about who I am as a person, what I value, and even what some of my limits are.

So what are my values? I wrote down five on a sheet of paper:
•    Creativity
•    A sense of adventure, but one tempered by
•    Moderation
•    A degree of introspection or mindfulness
•    Kindness.

Most interestingly about this, though, is the bias present in the values I hold. I believe it was Dr Hobby in class who noticed and was repulsed by how traditionally “western” his list of values was. To a very large account, I’m repulsed by that, too. Very little of the values I hold have any basis in a society outside the traditional west. For example, community, perhaps one of the most important aspects of “The Sacred Tree,” the book that sparked this discussion in class, holds little to no place in my list of values. In fact, the similarity between the things I hold important and the things Eurocentric culture holds important is dismayingly similar.

Dr Hobby was repulsed by how western his value system was. Perhaps we all should be.