Maka Si Tomni (Surround The Universe)

Future leaders have the ability to read the world, learn about new viewpoints arising in human knowledge and experience, and integrating the past, present into a vision of future where effective action is sculpted in others missions, in designing our world together. Future leaders are comfortable living in uncertainty; change, growing in wonder, embracing a multi-verse and experience joy in social relations. How can social relations become the fundamental praxis in our living together?

Our ancestors believed the universe was a mystery? The stories, songs and dances expressed a movement of spirit in natural law, living in the present moment. They did not live in time rather timelessness. Now, in this present moment, humanity is disclosing even a greater mystery in biology, physics and cosmology. Humanity is entering an Age of Activity where contemplation from birth to death may become the praxis of living and designing our world together?

Questions do not need answers as much as caring, feeding and nurturing in conversations opening the space of exploration in reflection and possibly enacting new ways of being and seeing. The Great Race is an ancient spiritual Lakota Legend that is deeply connected to the Lakota People and inspires a new understanding of the meaning of “Paha Sapa - the Black Hills” and a special surprise for human beings! Humanity needs a good surprise right now!

May Tunkasali’s bless our conversations, may we listen and wonder in our children’s questions, may we find humility in our arrogance, certainty and grasping destroying our daily lives, and may we enter an age of maturity where “not knowing” is a pathway to an endless mystery, perfect ordered harmony, peace through unity, a sustainability in integration and praxis of legitimacy-in-coexistence with All Life.

The Great Race

The Lakota legend describes the formation of the Black Hills to the Great Race, a tremendous earth-shaking event to which all the animals of the earth were summoned for a competition to establish order out of predatory chaos. Gathering on the prairie, the animals joined in a race around a course laid out to them. The earth shuddered and groaned beneath their weight and pounding hooves until the ground subsided, causing a majestic pile of rocks to the inside of the track – Paha Sapa – the Black Hills - the Heart of Everything That Is. The blood from all the wounded feet left a band of red encircling the Hills. The Buffalo was running the fastest and as he neared the finish line, the Magpie who was riding on his back jumped off, crossed the finished line first; thus winning the race for the two-legged beings.

The Lakota People are a 1st nation people that inhabited the Black Hills of South Dakota and to this day value the spiritual connection in the web of life. In their creation story the two-legged, human beings, are humble, social loving animals, connected to the land, stars, plants and animals. In the Lakota Paradigm: life is a mystery, the family is the altar, and living is a celebratory process of individuation from birth through death is the praxis of living. The oral languaging of this unity of humanity is a precious priceless heart-song of wisdom passed from lips to ears by grandparents to grandchildren sharing social ethical virtues: humility, perseverance, respect, honor, love, sacrifice, truth, compassion, bravery, fortitude, generosity, and wisdom. The Lakota culture lives in balance, integration, coherence and wholeness as a grass-rooted democracy by knowing their place within the web of life, understanding natural law, and practicing virtues in living as a way of being.

We live in an extraordinary moment in human history. Our families, beliefs, politics, enterprises, and social relations are being destroyed with conflicting beliefs about the essential nature of what it means to be a human being. We are being challenged in our current breakdowns to awaken: in the reflection of our identity - self-generated stories, in our creativity and innovation in promises we make to one another, and in the collective geopolitical context of globalization as a human family sharing one home - the Earth.

Patriarchy is (a linguistic cultural distinction of exclusion and appropriation, now manifesting elite corporate plutocracies) bankrupt and offers no manageable solutions in designing a sustainable future world together. Poverty, terrorism, extinction of bio-diversity and global warming in our biosphere are disclosing new human fears, panic, despair and scaring our children. We are frozen (Paradigm Paralysis) and our moods of cynicism, denial, and hypocrisy are restricting our capacity to see a future of ‘Building the Earth’ in harmony within the web of life.

The Lakota People's Culture is offering us an exploration in real-time and pure-play to the notion of natural law and a biological root of human realization that is present. The exploration may be interesting to explore as we begin to create an “Encyclopedia of Life.” They have been listening to insects from the beginning! There may be something hidden in their language that may assist us in understanding this unknown biosphere we are destroying? Maybe the Lakota People are the real scientists among us? Maybe the surprises we are discovering in biology, physics and cosmology are old news? The good news is these human beings are still breathing!

The Lakota Paradigm offers a dynamic learning exploration within this ever-narrowing consumer inferno of cheaper, better and faster (BPM’s) that is deeply rooted in the biological fundaments of being a biological social-loving human being. This critical thinking process offers a new exploration in leadership where consensual respect in conversations and co-structured consensual social relations is the character of future servant-leadership, the common man is included in decision making, no one is excluded, and every viewpoint has legitimate-in-coexistence. It is praxis of living where there is respect for the presence of the other in natural law.

Maka Si Tomni is a think tank of common people, a small cadre of 1st nation riders expressing sovereignty-in-action, committed to bringing forth effective action in exploring a thriving priceless heart song for all of humanity. We invite your assessments, concerns, questions in this endeavor and may the beauty, friendship, wisdom and surprising learning unfold in all our social relations that bring forth a new responsibility and realization in this ecological age, the 21st century!

Some Initial Areas of Discussions:

Scientific Explanations and Paradigms: Since Rene Descartes, the Father of Modern Philosophy and inventor of the “Scientific Method” we have created scientific discourses investigating and providing new explanations for reality: biology, physics, cosmology. Scientist’s in these primary fields of investigation are currently providing new explanations of reality and are sometimes “blinded” by a prejudicial viewpoint operating without question? Thomas Kuhn, a historian of science, invented the word “Paradigm” and defined it as “an entire constellation of beliefs, values, and techniques shared by members of a given community.” One belief we could explore is the belief that human beings are naturally aggressive, violent, dog-eat-dog, or only the strong survive. Is that true? Is it our nature or culture that creates aggression? Or, maybe we are social loving animals and the experience of friendship daily is the root of being and natural human experience?

Every human being parachutes as a “cognitive agent” into a paradigm (historcality, historcicity) and is blinded as an ‘observer’ to who they are by the praxis they are embedded in. Is it possible to reflect within the box, orthodoxy, taken for granted ways of being and seeing, and “observe” the ‘observer,’ and maybe begin to navigate consciously in the drift of living? If we are able to reflect and ‘see’ a new possibility of who we are, can we change our human behaviors, can we create a new future together?

Our interest in this scientific discussion is to “observe the observer” in the taken-for-granted paradigms operating in our human experience. Paradigm Paralysis is defined as the “inability to see beyond the current models of thinking.” Praxis is defined as an “ethic for living.”

Biology: The Theory of Autopoiese and the Philosophy of Structural Determinism by Professors Humberto Maturana & Francisco Verela in the fields of biology, language and cognition have brought forth new awarenesses of living systems and how language is the “teeth and claws” in human beings. The declaration of an "Axis of Evil" and "War on Terrorism" is a declaration from a mouth generating a reality! In the praxis of living humans take for granted language and especially leaders. The “observer” is never taken for granted in Theory of Autopoiese and is always the source of the creation experienced, and there is the “Autopoietic Paradox.” As a human being realizes his true identity within the universe, the responsible source of creation, self-deception is dealt with, and a praxis of living arises in realization, where the “individuated identity” becomes “one with the universe.” Maybe this is the moment in our history when individuals jump out of the orthodox boxes, only to discover, they are the center of the universe living in realization?

Physics: When Galileo offered the church a radical explanation of the universe, "the earth revolves around the sun," he was imprisoned for life! Rene Descartes was careful not to offend the powers of patriarchy even though he opened honest scientific investigation. Isaac Newton is responsible for disclosing gravity, time and basic mechanics, and modernity arose and now we run around like robots in a matrix of insanity. Albert Einstein gave us E=MC2 and today in quantum physics we are living in a new exploration where there is just one dynamic universe, one harmonious order, and billions of galaxies. What is going on? Yet, in all the technological discoveries, and digital confusion of coherent transactional value chains of computer-to-computer, person to computer, computer to person, we are lost in space to Person-to-Person, social relations? What is a conversation? Life in modernity is so complex, we don’t know what to do? Or, is there a possibility arising in global consciousness where we can go within, connect to a ultra stable undefinable presence, and calm down in our hysteria? We need some Lakota laughter!

Cosmology: The Lakota People have a viewpoint that is thousands of years old. It is a cosmological story of creation that operates within natural law and has been passed down from grandparents to grandchildren forever. They come from the stars, the rocks are alive, plants are gifts from the mother, animals are brothers, and water is the communion of life, itself! Recently, Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams offered a new cosmological investigation called “THE VIEW from the CENTER of the UNIVERSE: Discovering our extraordinary place in the cosmos.” They offer the western mysteries of Egypt and the Kabala as mythological reference points in the conversation. What they do disclose is that .01% stardust constitutes all the seen universe and visible atoms, alive composing all living systems, .5% hydrogen and helium, .4% invisible atoms, 25% cold dark matter, and 70% dark energy. And human beings are stardust playing an essential role of realization in living for the entire universe by being the center of creation, itself!

It is interesting and surprising that the mineral gold in the Black Hills of SD was left undisturbed by the Lakota People while Patriarchy went crazy to exploit every ounce and lock it up in Ft. Knox? The Lakota creation story starts in a cave and now the Homestake Gold mine in the Black Hills is leading the scientific investigation into the mysterious substance of “dark Matter.” Maybe its time to learn who these Lakota People are? Maybe we can begin to realize that science is an explanation in language for creating a praxis of living together?

References:

“THE VIEW from the CENTER of the UNIVERSE” by Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams, 2006

“Encyclopedia of Life” by OE Wilson, winner of the 2007 Ted Award. WWW.ted.com