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The Soul of the Indian · 5 of 29

Chapter II-a

THE FAMILY ALTAR Pre-natal Influence. Early Religious Teaching. The Function of the Aged. Woman, Marriage and the Family. Loyalty, Hospitality, Friendship. The American Indian was an individualist in religion as in war. He had neither a national army nor an organized church. There was no priest to assume responsibility for another’s soul. That is, we believed, the supreme duty of the parent, who only was permitted to claim in some degree the priestly office and function, since it is his creative and protecting power which alone approaches the solemn function of Deity. The Indian was a religious man from his mother’s womb. From the moment of her recognition of the fact of conception to the end of the second year of life, which was the ordinary duration of lactation, it was supposed by us that the mother’s spiritual influence counted for most. Her attitude and secret meditations must be such as to instill into the receptive soul of the unborn child the love of the “Great Mystery” and a sense of brotherhood with all creation. Silence and isolation are the rule of life for the expectant mother. She wanders prayerful in the stillness of great woods, or on the bosom of the untrodden prairie, and to her poetic mind the immanent birth of her child prefigures the advent of a master-man—a hero, or the mother of heroes—a thought conceived in the virgin breast of primeval nature, and dreamed out in a hush that is only broken by the sighing of the pine tree or the thrilling orchestra of a distant waterfall. And when the day of days in her life dawns—the day in which there is to be a new life, the miracle of whose making has been intrusted to her, she seeks no human aid. She has been trained and prepared in body and mind for this her holiest duty, ever since she can remember. The ordeal is best met alone, where no curious or pitying eyes embarrass her; where all nature says to her spirit: “‘Tis love! ‘tis love! the fulfilling of life!” When a sacred voice comes to her out of the silence, and a pair of eyes open upon her in the wilderness, she knows with joy that she has borne well her part in the great song of creation! Presently she returns to the camp, carrying the mysterious, the holy, the dearest bundle! She feels the endearing warmth of it and hears its soft breathing. It is still a part of herself, since both are nourished by the same mouthful, and no look of a lover could be sweeter than its deep, trusting gaze. She continues her spiritual teaching, at first silently—a mere pointing of the index finger to nature; then in whispered songs, bird-like, at morning and evening. To her and to the child the birds are real people, who live very close to the “Great Mystery”; the murmuring trees breathe His presence; the falling waters chant His praise. If the child should chance to be fretful, the mother raises her hand. “Hush! hush!” she cautions it tenderly, “the spirits may be disturbed!” She bids it be still and listen—listen to the silver voice of the aspen, or the clashing cymbals of the birch; and at night she points to the heavenly, blazed trail, through nature’s galaxy of splendor to nature’s God. Silence, love, reverence,—this is the trinity of first lessons; and to these she later adds generosity, courage, and chastity. In the old days, our mothers were single-eyed to the trust imposed upon them; and as a noted chief of our people was wont to say: “Men may slay one another, but they can never overcome the woman, for in the quietude of her lap lies the child!
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Themes
Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

The passage centrally depicts a worldview where birds are 'real people,' trees breathe the divine presence, and waters chant praise, embodying the doctrine that natural phenomena possess inherent spirit and personality.

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Bhaktisoteriology

The path of loving devotion and self-surrender to a personal deity as itself sufficient means of liberation — the Gita's 'to those constantly devoted, I come forward as their deliverer,' Kabir's and the Sant poets' love-religion, the devotional stream that parallels Sufi love-mysticism. Distinct from mystical_union (the resulting state), fana_annihilation (the ego's unmaking at the path's end), ladder_of_love (eros staged toward Beauty), and prayer (the practice of address): bhakti names devotion as the soteriological road itself.

The passage emphasizes instilling 'love of the Great Mystery' as a primary spiritual duty and path for the child.

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Cosmic Sympathycosmology

The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.

The passage suggests a resonance between the human spirit and nature, where 'all nature says to her spirit'.

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Dharmacosmology

The cosmic law that manifests as each being's own duty — right order known not as abstract truth but as the specific obligation of one's nature and station (svadharma), so that maintaining the cosmos and performing one's proper work are one act; the Gita's 'one's own duty, though defective, is better than another's well performed.' Sits beside asha_cosmic_order and maat_cosmic_order as a right-order concept but is distinct in individuating the order into personal vocation; distinct from good_thought_word_deed (ethical triad) in binding duty to cosmic station.

The parent's role is described as the 'supreme duty' and 'holiest duty', aligning with the concept of station-specific obligation.

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Emotional Epistemologysoteriology

The doctrine that emotions constitute a valid and necessary mode of knowing reality, complementing or surpassing intellectual cognition.

Spiritual knowledge is conveyed through 'love', 'joy', and 'reverence' rather than intellectual instruction alone.

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Inner Silencepraxis

The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence.

Silence is presented as a primary rule for the expectant mother and a core lesson ('Silence, love, reverence') taught to the child to foster receptivity to the divine.

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Love Of Neighbourethics

Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love.

The mother instills a 'sense of brotherhood with all creation' and teaches 'generosity' as core spiritual lessons. [quarantine-w3: love_of_neighbour x native_american — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]

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Meditationpraxis

Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.

The text emphasizes 'secret meditations' and 'Silence and isolation are the rule of life for the expectant mother' as central spiritual practices.

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The text describes the expectant mother wandering 'prayerful' in nature and engaging in whispered songs as a form of spiritual address.

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Related passages · 15 of 118 parallels
hinduism|The Bhagavad Gita|Chapter XVIII, Section 1c
“Agriculture, tending cattle, trade, (this) is the natural duty of Vai s yas, And the natural duty of S ûdras, too, consists in service. (Every) man intent on his own respective duties obtains perfection . Listen, now, how one intent on on…”
Shared concept: Dharma — The cosmic law that manifests as each being's own duty — right order known not as abstract truth but as the specific obligation of one's nature and station (svadharma), so that maintaining the cosmos and performing one's proper work are one act; the Gita's 'one's own duty, though defective, is better than another's well performed. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XVIII-b
“A certain thing of this kind also may take 71 place in the harmony and crasis of the universe: for the same things may be the salvation of the whole, through the perfection of the things inherent and the recipients; but may be noxious to th…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 328 (part 2)
“And if it is in eternal perfection, it has no points of time and place at which it will achieve perfection; it will, therefore, have no concern about attaining to any such points: it will, therefore, make no measurements of time or place; i…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 300
“Section 13 13. The Ineluctable, the Kosmic Law is, thus, rooted in a natural principle under which each several entity is overruled to go, duly and in order, towards that place and Kind to which it characteristically tends, that is towards…”
Shared concept: Dharma — The cosmic law that manifests as each being's own duty — right order known not as abstract truth but as the specific obligation of one's nature and station (svadharma), so that maintaining the cosmos and performing one's proper work are one act; the Gita's 'one's own duty, though defective, is better than another's well performed. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 53 (part 11)
“They are never erring, perpetually recurring numbers, unveiling, to him who studies the secrets of Nature, a truly divine System, an intelligent plan in Cosmogony, which results in natural cosmic divisions of times, seasons, invisible influ…”
Shared concept: Animism — The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. (derived)
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVIII (part 5)
“If we consider the emotional nature of man as self-contained, as serving life and not serving knowledge we shall never understand its true content and significance. Emotions serve knowledge. There are things and relations which can be kno…”
Shared concept: Emotional Epistemology — The doctrine that emotions constitute a valid and necessary mode of knowing reality, complementing or surpassing intellectual cognition. (derived)
hinduism|Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III|Sutra 7
“This threefold power, of Attention, Meditation, Contemplation, is more interior than the means of growth previously described. Very naturally so; because the means of growth previously described were concerned with the extrication of the sp…”
Shared concept: Meditation — Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 71 (part 10)
“There reside mankind along with Daityas and Danavas, as well as with spirits of Heaven ( Gandharvas, Yakshas, Kimpurushas, etc .) and gods. " ( Chapter iv. ) There is but one exception in the case of King Priyavrata, the son of the first…”
Shared concept: Animism — The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology|Chapter I-a
“Wheat is the Divine Gloom. T rinty, which exceedeth all Being, Deity, and Goodness! 514 514 Lit. “Super-Essential, Supra-Divine, Super-Excellent.” Thou that instructeth Christians in Thy heavenly wisdom! Guide us to that topmost height…”
Shared concept: Prayer — Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialogue-g
“Wherefore not only can we never discourse about things divine, but we cannot even think of them without detracting from, rather than adding to the glory of them; so that the best thing to be done with regard to them is, that man, in the pre…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
hinduism|Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III|Sutra 3
“When the perceiving consciousness in this meditative is wholly given to illuminating the essential meaning of the object contemplated, and is freed from the sense of separateness and personality, this is contemplation (samadhi). Let us revi…”
Shared concept: Meditation — Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting. (derived)
hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat|Section 1a
“The Secret Sermon on the Mountain <This dialogue is in many ways the culmination of the whole Corpus, summing up the theory of the Hermetic system at the same time as it provides an intriguing glimpse at the practice. The focus of the dial…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
hinduism|The Bhagavad Gita|Chapter VII, Section 1b
“Whichever form (of deity) any worshipper wishes to worship with faith, to that form I render his faith steady. Possessed Of that faith, he seeks to propitiate (the deity in) that (form), and obtains from it those beneficial things which he…”
Shared concept: Bhakti — The path of loving devotion and self-surrender to a personal deity as itself sufficient means of liberation — the Gita's 'to those constantly devoted, I come forward as their deliverer,' Kabir's and the Sant poets' love-religion, the devotional stream that parallels Sufi love-mysticism. (derived)
hinduism|Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I|Sutra 39
“Or meditative brooding on what is dearest to the heart. Here is a thought which our own day is beginning to grasp: that love is a form of knowledge; that we truly know any thing or any person, by becoming one therewith, in love. Thus love h…”
Shared concept: Love Of Neighbour — Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love. (derived)
biblical|Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901)|50:20-50:26
“[50:20] And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. [50:21] Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them…”
Shared concept: Love Of Neighbour — Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love. (derived)