The term primal is used to refer to original or primitive in reference to individuals of a certain area or region of the world (Nguyen, 2011) . Primal people had a certain way of doing things, thus practices that were guided by certain beliefs and norms. Those practices and ways of doing things can be a source of the directive, which the current society can now use to make today’s society better. Indian Americans in particular, are a group of primal people, from whom Americans today can gain lessons crucial and beneficial lessons from. The aim of this essay, therefore, is to establish some o the lessons American can learn from Indian Americans, as a primal people.
Indian Americans, also Native Americans or the indigenous peoples of the Americas whose practices have many important lessons. Among the lessons Americans can learn from Indian Americans is with regard to avoid wastage. Whenever Native Americans killed an animal for food, they used every part of the animal in respect to the notion of “waste not, want not” (Nerburn & Overdrive Inc., 2010). Native Americans considered it disrespectful to the spirit of the animal to throw away some of its parts. Therefore, Native Americans found a use for all the body parts including using the bones as tools and the skin as clothes and tents. Americans should therefore also practice the same and avoid being wasteful with things such as water and other resources, which will promote the conservation of natural resources.
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Another lesson Americans can learn from Native Americans is that of being one with nature. Currently, Americans try to conquer nature as opposed to living alongside nature as did Native Americans (Peate, 2003). This has led to the destruction of Mother Nature, which has its implications including the extinction of certain species of animals, as well as contributing to global warming. Just as Native Americans lived side-by-side with nature observing and accommodating the presence of Mother Nature works, so should Americans do presently. This will prevent incidences o the negative implications of human activity on Mother Nature, thus preventing the associated adversities.
Another lesson that American can learn from Indian Americans is that of the associated advantage of believing in spirits. Native Americans believed that there was a bit of God or the “Great Spirit” in everything (Brown, Cousins, & Oxford University Press, 2001). They believed that the “Great Spirit” could be seen in the animals, the rivers, and trees. This resulted in them having and showing great respect for everything around them, which prevented destruction and disrespect towards nature. Nature was treated as a living thing, which deserved respect and to be taken care of, thus the practices of Native Americans that prevented wastefulness. If Americans take up such a lesson, they would also treat nature as if it were living and as having a personality and feelings. This will ensure that Americans are more considerate of the factors that have negative implications n mother nature such as wastefulness, destruction, as well as pollution.
Conclusion
The way of life of Native Americans or Indian Americans is based n spirituality and living as one with the world or nature. Native Americans believed in the “Great Spirit”, which they believed was in everything, thus their respect or every aspect and inhabitant of Mother Nature (Brown, Cousins, & Oxford University Press, 2001). Such practices resulted in many lessons that Americans can today adopt in an effort to make society better. The lessons include preventing wastefulness by using natural resources adequately and efficiently. Americans can also practice respectful practices with regards to nature by deeming it a living thing with a personality and emotions. Overall, Americans can learn how to live as one with nature by adopting lessons learned from Native Americans as primal people (Peate, 2003).
References
Brown, J. E., Cousins, E., & Oxford University Press. (2001). Teaching Spirits: Understanding Native American Religious Traditions . New York: Oxford University Press.
Nerburn, K., & Overdrive Inc. (2010). The Wisdom of the Native Americans . Place of publication not identified: New World Library.
Nguyen, N. T. (2011). Nature's primal self: Peirce, Jaspers, and Corrington . Lanham, Md: Lexington Books.
Peate, W. F. (2003). Listening with your heart: Lessons from Native America . Rio Nuevo Publishers.
