One Spirit, Many Peoples: A Manifesto

In One Spirit Many Peoples, Stephen Buhner has written a book that needed to be written. Taken from his own personal experience, Buhner writes of the conflicting views centered around Native American spiritual traditions, and both the seeking out of those traditions by many non-natives, and the sharing and withholding of ritual and ceremonies by American Indians. Buhner gets to the heart of the matter, as he notes that he and his wife both have come under attack from Indian groups who oppose any sharing of native spiritual traditions - he describes some of his own spiritual awakenings, and provides quotes, profiles and histories regarding views from native elders and others over this issue. In the end, Buhner sees the conflict as one between what he calls The Colonizing Mind, or The Machine Mind, and The Indigenous Mind, or a mind concerned foremost with earth-centered spirituality. It is fair to say that Buhner feels the universalist approach, as opposed to one of separation, would do more to heal ourselves and the earth at this time. It's a fascinating and provocative book, one which I hope will elicit response from a lot of people, natives and non-natives. Great reading.