A religion or spiritual belief system is an ideal not a race. Is their a race requirement to be a Christian, or a Catholic, or even a Buddhist? I feel that if one feels in their soul they are a Christian, or a Buddhist or a Native American, then they should have the freedom to practice that belief.
We are each free to express our views I guess, but what he preaches here is exactly what the new agers want to hear: that anyone should be able to 'practice Native American' if they 'feel Native American in their soul'. This type of teaching, is what colonialist- and consumerist- minded white people will use to justify the further exploitation, mockery and appropriation of Native traditions. More importantly, 'Native American' is not a religion. Christianity and Buddhism are both religions and they also have written scriptures, temples open to the public, and even both have long histories of sending missionaries out to get other people in other cultures to give up their indigenous beliefs and practices. Another crucial difference is that the concept of localized community is not an important element to the teachings of those religions, but in the sacred traditions of NDN cultures, it is very important (ie. social context is often the foundation for many ceremonies).
Yet another important difference is the fact that unlike religions, the traditions of Native cultures have rarely ever been seen as religious systems of thought that need to be imposed on others. In other words, evangelism is religious, but it is not Native. So considering all this, it is dangerous to declare that a non-NDN can 'practice Native American'
anything unless they are a positive part of a Native community who is open to sharing their ways with them, and it is an authentic part of their life. Too many white people just start reading a bunch of bogus books or learning from fakes, holding bogus ceremonies, and before you know it, they are selling people workshops and offensive pseudo-'shaman' stuff.
Sure, in a better world in which there were decent people, it would be nice to be able to just say "yeah if someone wants to learn, let them learn. If white people want to go seek a vision in a humble way, who should stop them? That is between a person and the Spirits, no one else." In fact, there are a few authentic Elders who do share this kind of philosophy, and that is why I mention it. I respect it, but at least in this forum, I have to say that in this consumerist and ego-centric society, it isn't a realistic philosophy. White people will not just go humbly seek a vision, they will come back declaring that they have become a reincarnated cherokee medicine man or some kind of mayan mystic or something like that, and before you know it, they are misrepresenting some culture, and/or selling people workshops and offensive pseudo-'shaman' stuff.
After all, in Native American history many non-natives joined tribes and worked their way up to being, chiefs, shamans, and medicine people – and they were not even born members of that tribe.
This is true, and there is nothing wrong with that, but something that should seriously be emphasized is that these people became a part of those tribes by living with and being a part of the tribe. It was a matter of community, rather than just simply 'feeling it in their soul'. To be a part of any social community, there has to be at least some form of mutual understanding. I could see it very likely that newagers would encounter 'Swadwa's' teachings, and not really understand the difference. I'm also a little bit curious if he even really understands the difference.
