Ever since my early teens, I've had a deep sympathy for the indigenous North Americans, mistakenly referred to as “Indians”. All those westerns in which I saw them being cowardly slaughtered by supposedly “heroic” cowboys or soldiers revolted me. Pure barbarism, at the behest of the representatives of a single bourgeois and colonialist way of thinking, claiming to be superior to all others, was no
thing other than the worst facet of a humanity I love, and to which I submit. I studied their existence through literature and audiovisual works. Even today, I find it unbearable to see them perjured and portrayed as savages, depraved alcoholics and so on. The same goes for other ethnic groups, such as Gypsies, Tutsis, Uighurs, Yezidis and so on. Four works crystallized my attachment: Arthur Penn's film “Little Big Man” (1971), Jack Jackson's comic book “Comanche Moon” (Artefact - 1980) and two books: “Pleure Geronimo” (Forrest Carter/Folio/Gallimard) and “Soleil Hopi” (Don C. Talayesva/ Terre Humaine/ Press Pocket). Sensitized at an early age to ecology and recycling, to respect for living things, whether animal, vegetable or mineral, I found in Wakan Tanka a form of belief, or rather a natural and existential philosophy, that channeled my spirituality and curiosity. Previously, in my Judeo-Christian upbringing, there had been too many contradictions between man and nature, and the role of women had been too simplistic. After several decades away, necessary to discover other horizons of thought, Wakan Tanka's poetry came back to me. It allows me to become aware of and imagine things differently, to address the catastrophic context into which modern society is dragging us. A world of unbridled consumerism and energy consumption, plundering the planetary resources on which it depends for survival. A nonsense that is accelerating. And a double penalty, with the pollution produced by waste. Without the earth as Mother, and the sun as Father, no life is possible. Science itself, which does not dwell on the sacred, confirms this observation. Why do religions, especially monotheistic ones, need to conceal this obvious fact, by placing Man at the center of creation? This leads to too many dogmatic beliefs, which become bloodthirsty. Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism... In short! I didn't find what I was looking for in these beliefs or religions. I don't want to be an enlightened person, perched on the edge of a saving belief. Nor in any way, be a follower of these sectarian escape routes, which are so many dead ends: groups of xenophobic, revanchist, racist worshippers, and sympathizers of some new order. My approach is purely sociological and ethnological. I'm only interested in the cultural and social history of peoples, particularly indigenous peoples, through their adherence to their spirituality. I'm not insensitive to magic and wonder, either on my own or in the company of others. My natural curiosity, combined with my investigations, are enough for me to avoid the gurus and charlatans of all stripes who gravitate to the spheres of the irrational. There's no need to explain everything, as Wakan Tanka teaches. This belief, or philosophy of the natural, has become a spiritual necessity for me, to love and preserve our common good: Maka Earth, our beloved blue ball, as beautiful from space (it seems) as Hanwi, the Moon, is from here. Do you know of any more precious stones? Finally, a word of clarification: Wakan Tanka is one of the few, if not the only “religion” taught to mankind by a female representative: Whope. The masculine and feminine among the Indians have a completely different meaning from that instituted since Rome. Its study is well worth the detour.
