Spirit and Science

In the video “The Spirit of Subsistence Living”, the indigenous ways of understanding nature are founded on the ‘interdependent relationships’ Native Alaskans had/or have with their environment. The value of this understanding of nature is in essence an element of survival. When you are required to use almost every resource available in your environment for survival, a thorough understanding of how it functions becomes crucial. The spirit embedded in all nature, sila, the “nurturing spirit” as it is referred to in the video, is aptly named, for nature is intimately responsible for all of your sustenance. Indigenous people, especially hunter/gatherers are especially linked to understanding connection- they are all, by their nature, scientists. Likewise, this understanding of connections is evident in any culture that still acquires it’s essential commodities directly from nature. Agricultural communities recognize connections. In the town I live in, Petersburg, commercial and subsistence fishermen recognize connections.

Western science doe not have the urgency of survival as an element to it’s understanding of nature. While some of the goals of scientific inquiry may be to save lives or improve man’s well-being, they are typically far removed from our immediate needs. Ironically, this luxury of time maybe waning as ocean acidification and climate change become better understood. By design, spirit has been taken out of nature in a western scientific view point as a function of objectivity. A western perspective is mechanistic, usually theoretical, with an emphasis on the “how and why” . The advantages of this, shown on the venn diagram from module 1 are that it frequently offers a bigger picture or global perspective as well as a micropersective. These are two important shortcoming of a native perspective in an increasing interconnected planet where pollution from coal fire power plants in China drifts over Alaska or toxins from ocean borne plastics bio accumulate in sea life. Thus, native science without a global view is shortsighted and dangerous as is western science with out a holistic outlook and an acknowledgement of the connected spirituality of nature.

The value of combining the strengths of each of these views is obvious. It would make for not only a more complete understanding of nature, but also of an enhanced respect for nature. As an educator, I strive to get my students to make local connections to the things we study in the classroom. Stealing an article in an old Whole Earth Catalog, we developed a series of lesson called the Home Repair Project based on essential questions like “When you turn on the tap, where does your water come from? When you flush the toilet, where does your waste go? When you flip a switch, where does the power come to turn on the light? These and other similar questions are then addressed in both science and social studies content areas. In a small town in Alaska, it is easy to trace the links that keep our communities working, that allow us to survive and prosper. Teaching about the spirit of nature is less direct and more challenging. Literature and writing work well as we read, write about, and discuss books on nature by Jean Craighead George, Gary Paulsen, excerpts from Richard Nelson, Tlingit myths and legends, and others. It’s my belief that understanding, like empathy, fosters respect and that any scientific undertaking should begin with respect for nature. A similar challenge of respect faces many Native Alaskans and their communities. They, too, are grappling with spirit in nature in their own ways. With the economic realities of our times, how does “sila” apply to native corporations that are involved in clearcut logging, hardrock mining, or factory trawling? Dustin Madden's story of becoming a teacher in Anchorage shows how a vision of a strong education is critical in keeping native communities healthy in a rapidly changing environment. In many cases, their future is dependent on wisdom and traditional knowledge of the elders combined with the technological skills and global awareness of their young people.