Interconnection
Indians saw God, human beings, and nature as completely interconnected. The Indians saw themselves and the various aspects of nature as an extended family. They understood themselves to be descended from, and connected to, the nature around them. They spoke of Thunder Beings as their Grandfather. They had a Grandmother Spider and a Corn Mother. This family metaphor exemplifies the tendency of the Indians to view the world as interconnected. While European religions tended to emphasize sharp boundaries and separation—the distinction between God and humankind, civilization and nature, mind and matter, life and death—Indians perceived “oneness” amongst themselves and the world.
This sustained belief in the interconnectedness of human life and the spiritual world could sometimes generate cultural patterns that we, today, might classify as religious extremism. Indians believed, for example, that when an enemy killed part of their family in war, the Indians could then kidnap members of their opponents’ families to spiritually replace their lost relatives. While many of these kidnapped outsiders became cherished, viable members of Indian communities, other unfortunates were marked for sacrifice. Believing that a chosen victim who suffered before death would gain better fortune in the afterlife, Indians were known to torture captives.
The notion of oneness extended to the Indians' understanding of consciousness. They believed that individuals had access to the spirit worlds through their own inner experiences. Several Indian rituals—from intense dancing ceremonies to the famous vision quests—were intended to push participants to new levels of consciousness. The intense hunger and disorientation that accompanied a vision quest—an extended, solitary journey into the wilderness—tended to prompt vivid dreams and apparitions. Indians believed that their Manitou and spirits sent them visions and communicated with them through these experiences. Shamans and healers were particularly attuned to alternate states of consciousness. In their approaches to healing, they strove to re-establish harmony and balance within the body and mind of their sick neighbors.