Can there Be Protection for Indigenous Wisdom?

[Carol Sawyer]

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2010/04/make_that_change.html
http://video.pbs.org/video/1482401142These links go with my comment.

I am interested in the wisdom contained in indigenous cultures, and whether modernization can slow down enough so this valuable wisdom is not lost. Our discussion should focus on wisdom carried in any indigenous culture; the Maori, Hopi, Raj, Tungus...etc., and the two movies on PBS that have come to my attention. Following are summaries of these movies. Please review what is contained in the links.

First, Unmistaken Child , about the search for the reincarnation of a Tibetan holy man by his disciple. The film is very sensitively done, revealing with great respect the faith and daily life of the Tibetan people, and their highly developed method for verifying the reincarnation . http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/unmistaken-child/film.html
http://phuntsokrinpoche.com/blog/about/

Second, Children of the Amazon , about the Amazonian Indians. Their culture cares for all without use of money (although rubber tree farming was introduced in 1900,) They are working to preserve their forests from cattle farming. (At first, they had massacred what they perceived to be trespassers.) Yet, the forests have been considered the lungs of the world. Clear cuts pollute their waters, and many unique medicinal plants, and animals have disappeared. Healing wisdom has also disappeared as shaman are converted to Christianity.

http://www.itvs.org/films/children-of-the-amazon

I wish the movies were available. But, let's consider how Western culture can rein in its destructiveness. Already people are viewing these movies who had known nothing about the situations. The Amazonian Indians have been able to have the governments create a large preserve for their people. This progress is just a beginning.
As China and India modernize, more infringements are taking place, and Tibetan life threatened. I agree with the Dalai Lama, that by focusing on the positive, nonviolence, prayer, and movies such as these, the destructiveness of the grab for resources will be reigned in, and these pristine cultures will survive, and continue to enrich our world. If the cultures are lost, I believe the wisdom will change, and be more difficult to access.

[Carol Sawyer]

In synchronicity, I saw Bill Moyer's Journal, the "Finale", had a guest addressing this very topic. Barry Lopez discussed his books "Resistance" and "Crossing Open Ground", and Paul Woodruff's book "Reverence". In Greek mythology, when Prometheus stole the gift of fire, he was told by Zeus it would fail without the use of two other gifts: Justice and Reverence. He teaches there is another response to horror other than Self Destruction. That is to open oneself to both Light and Darkness conceptually, and with one's language. The Dalai Lama is able to do this, and so, is able to be joyful in the face of destruction.