by Paula Stahl

Created on: March 16, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

The American Indian culture is rich in spirituality. Many people mistake this for a religion but it is not. It is a way of life, or a way of balance and living each day accordingly American Indian culture is not one culture, but many that were all here on this land for thousands of years before European influence. . Most practice a way of life that lives very closely in each word and deed with Creator, yet each Tribe may have different ideas and ceremonies to do that. So seeing "it" as a "religion" is really lumping all these cultures that had different ways and beliefs into one large culture. This is a very false deduction.

Sadly today the American Indian cultures are much divided among themselves. The Full Blooded and carded ones are leery of the mixed bloods and try to keep them out. The mixed bloods are leery of whites. Whites are either envious of the culture and seek the teachings or seem to be prejudice against the
American Indians. They all look at each other with different views and attitudes and none of these views to me, follow what the cultures truly teach.
There are groups of American Indians we refer to as "traditionalists". That label in itself is deceiving. It implies they follow traditions. The truth is,
Many people who fit into this group are mixed blood who were never raised on a reservation and do not know all the teachings at all themselves. What they are, is against exposing the teaching to outsiders..or to those who have no Indian blood. They have a belief that the white man already stole everything from the Native American cultures and all they have left is their sacred teachings and Ceremonies. They guard them. They do not want these teachings put in print or shared with those "outside" the Indian community. These people are also upset that so much of the teaching has been misinterpreted. As I said above it all gets lumped together into one big culture called "Indian" and becomes a mixing bowl of beliefs and thoughts that don't fit any of the cultures at all but are rather instead more of a New Age teaching. The traditionalists are tired of seeing this, and of seeing their culture corrupted and miss-taught, and ultimately, misunderstood.
I understand this line of thinking and even respect it. As I was taught to respect all people. Yet I can not suppress the need to speak and share what I was taught. I am a mixed blood American Indian. I was blessed to have Grandparents who taught and guided me, although none of my family was ever on

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