Reflection for Indigenous Peoples’ Day

One of the enduring mysteries about Native American tradition is how it understood the variety of people that made up the human family long before contact. Many indigenous people in this hemisphere were not surprised when they encountered Europeans for the first time.

Their traditions had told them that human diversity, like all of the diversity in life, came in different colors. The archetypes of black, red, white, and yellow symbolized the four directions of human form and beauty. Many Native people welcomed the newcomers because it meant the circle of creation was being made complete. In other words: we needed one another to be whole. We are all the same.
 
I wish this deep spiritual insight had been available to the first
explorers before they set sail. I wish it were more present in our world right now.
 

—- Retired Bishop Steven Charleston, Episcopalian, Choctaw Elder
Facebook Page (April 19, 2021)

Bishop Steven Charleston is an Episcopal Bishop, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, and a Native American elder. He was the national staff officer for Native American ministries in the Episcopal Church and the President of the Episcopal Divinity School, as well as a professor of Theology. He is an author, a speaker and has thousands of people who read his daily meditations on Facebook. Two of his books are Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder’s Meditations on Hope and Courage (2021) and The Four Vision Quests of Jesus, (2015).