Thread by @AlisonBlunt

A quote from 'How Science Ignores The Living World,' an Interview With Vine Deloria (July 2000) wrongkindofgreen.org/2020/11/22/how…
Derrick Jensen: So Indians believe everything has spirit?
Vine Deloria: Not exactly. It’s not something they believe.

[Vine Deloria cont...] What happens in the different Indian religions is that people become so intimate with their particular environment that they enter into a relationship with the spirits that live there. Rather than an article of faith, it’s part of their experience.

[Vine Deloria cont...] I think non-Indians sometimes experience this, too, when they spend a long time in one place.
Indians believe that everything in the universe has value and instructs us in some aspect of life. Everything is alive and is making choices...

[Vine Deloria cont...] that determine the future, so the world is constantly creating itself. Because every moment brings something new, we need to strive not to classify things too quickly. We must see how the ordinary and the extraordinary come together into one coherent, ..

[Vine Deloria cont...] mysterious story line. With the wisdom and time for reflection that old age provides, we may discover unsuspected relationships.
In this universe, all activities, events, and entities are related. ...

[Vine Deloria cont...] Thus, it doesn’t matter what kind of existence an entity enjoys; whether it is human or otter or rock or star, it participates in the ongoing creation of reality. To Indians, life is not a predatory jungle, “red in tooth and claw,” as Western ideology ...

[Vine Deloria cont...] likes to pretend, but a symphony of mutual respect in which each player has a specific part to play. We must be in our proper place and play our role at the proper moment. Because we humans arrived last in this world, we are the “younger brothers” of ...

[Vine Deloria cont...] the other creatures and therefore have to learn everything from them. Our real interest shouldn’t be to discover the abstract structure of physical reality, but rather to find the proper road down which to walk.

Quoting from wrongkindofgreen.org/2020/11/22/how…

Derrick Jensen: What, then, to an Indian, is the ultimate goal of life?
Vine Deloria: Maturity: the ability to reflect on the ordinary aspects of life and discover their real meaning.
wrongkindofgreen.org/2020/11/22/how…

Vine Deloria: About ten years ago, I spoke to members of the Society for Ecological Restoration. I told them that traditional Indian knowledge says that beings never become extinct. They go away, but they have the power to come back. I predicted that, in their restorations, ...

[Vine Deloria cont...] if they were preparing the area right, plants they thought were extinct would begin coming back unaided after four or five years. Plants would come back first, and then animals, and then birds.
Of course, my audience thought I was crazy. But later, ...

[Vine Deloria cont...] when I went to get a cup of coffee, several people followed me. They said, “You’re right. We’re seven years into a swamp restoration in Wisconsin, and all the original plants are back.”
wrongkindofgreen.org/2020/11/22/how…