Jamie Graham—Abram Quote: Wind for the Navajo

 “For the Navajo, then, the Air—particularly in its capacity to provide awareness, thought, and speech—has properties that European, alphabetic civilization has traditionally ascribed to an interior, individual human ‘mind’ or ‘psyche.’ Yet by attributing these powers to the Air, and by insisting that the ‘Winds within us’ are thoroughly continuous with the Wind at large…the Navajo elders suggest that that which we call the ‘mind’ is not ours, is not a human possession. Rather, mind as Wind is a property of the encompassing world.” (Abram, p. 237)

    This quote comes from Abram’s The Spell of the Sensuous in a section where he writes in depth about air, specifically wind in this case. Abram’s observation highlights how, for the Navajo people, Wind holds the properties that European civilization traditionally assigns to an interior mind or psyche. The key difference is location and ownership. Western philosophy, influenced by the alphabet and the written word, tends to isolate consciousness within the individual brain. Our thoughts are our own, private, and internal.


    The Navajo view challenges this separation. By attributing cognitive power to the Wind and insisting that the ‘Winds within us’ are  ‘continuous with the Wind at large,’ the Navajo elders offer that the mind is a possession of the Wind itself, not the individual. Mind as Wind is a property of the world, a shared medium of awareness that flows through all beings and connects them. This implies that thinking is not just an individual activity, but a mutual phenomenon. When a person thinks, they are participating in a universal consciousness. This view shifts responsibility and relationship: if the mind is shared with the  air, the one’s thoughts and speech have a continuous impact on the surrounding environment. The sense of participation increases exponentially.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kip Redick Introduction

  You be able to write your blog by clicking “new post” in the appropriate class.   Make sure to start the blog with your name and the subject of the entry. Blog entries will be considered informal writing assignments and as such will be graded more in relation to content than style. Blog entries will contain questions and answers to questions, as well as reflections that relate to daily classroom discussions, completion of exercises, and reading assignments. Any questions the student has while reading or completing assignments should be written in their blog. Reflections may relate to connections the student makes between discussions in this class and those in other classes, between arguments raised in the readings in this class and those raised in other classes or from informal conversations. Students are encouraged to apply the ideas learned in this class to activities that take place outside of the class. These applications make great reflections. The stu...
Read more

symbols, culture death, bones

 I find it ironic that skulls, at least in our culture, represent death when in most cultures, death seems to be accepted as something that's not final, in a sense. While it does seem to marry well with the concept of erasure, the erasure that death speaks to seems--to me, at least--to be that of a previous state of being, or a former self. This view of death is usually explored as a type of cleansing and a way to (for lack of more abstract terms) wash away the old to uncover the new or the reformed; a necessary destruction for the purpose of rebirth.  Skulls, however, are a phenomenon, usually reserved for the representation of decay and rot, which is why I find the conflict between this symbolism and this particular view of death so interesting. Out of all symbols that we use to represent death in our culture, why is the skull so prevalent? What makes it so representative of the American worldview that we landed on it as our, for the most part, definitive symbol of mortality...
Read more

Isabella Mann: Cabeza De Vaca

 In the 1991 film, Cabeza de Vaca, the protagonist's transformation from ship wreak survivor to healer and spiritual figure underscores the profound relationship between human survival and the natural world. Stripped of his colonial power and status, he learned to depend on the land not only for sustenance but also for its meaning. The sacredness of place and ecology becomes central to his journey, as the environment itself serves as a teacher, teaching him resilience, humility, and interconnectedness. His journey through surviving and helping various tribes allowed him to fully experience the true meaning of life. His survival is not only achieved through domination but through listening, observing, and adapting to the rhythms of nature and the different spiritual practices around him. 
Read more