My life working on environmental issues has taught me that a Spiritual approach to our environmental chaos is what is needed.

The root of our unfolding environmental disaster is the dominant White view that natural resources are commodities that can be owned and consumed without regard to the consequences. That is fed by an economic model that requires continuous grow, and therefore, consumption of resources, even those that are nonrenewable.

That could only have happened by a disconnect from Mother Earth.

I often think of the words of Arkan Lushwala.

Everywhere people ask, “what can we do?”
The question, what can we do, is the second question.
The first question is “what can we be?”
Because what you can do is a consequence of who you are.
Once you know what you can be, you know what you can do.

 Arkan Lushwala

Today the Spirit led me to read similar sentiments by John Trudell.

We have to re-establish our identity. We have to understand who we are and where we fit in the natural order of the world, because our oppressor deals in illusions. They tell us that it is power, but it is not power. They may have all the guns, and they may have all the racist laws and judges, and they may control all the money, but that is not power. These are only imitations of power, and they are only power because in our minds we allow it to be power. But it’s all an imitation.

See, we are power. They deal in violence and repression, we are power. We are a part of the natural world. All of the things in the natural world are a natural part of the creation and feed off the energy of our sacred mother, Earth. We are power. But they have separated us from our spiritual connection to the Earth, so people feel powerless.

We are power, we are a natural part of the creation, we were put here on the sacred mother Earth to serve a purpose. And somewhere in the history of people we’re forgetting what the purpose is. The purpose is to honor the earth, the purpose is to protect the earth, the purpose is to live in balance with the earth, the earth is our mother. And we will never free ourselves as human people, we will never free ourselves as sexual people, we will never free ourselves until we address the issue of how we live in balance with the earth. Because all our resistance and all of our struggle is hollow, it’s false, it’s another one of the oppressor’s hypocrisies. If we do not look out for the welfare of the Earth first, because I don’t care who it is, any child who turns on their mother is living in a terrible, terrible confusion. The Earth is our mother, we must take care of the Earth.

John Trudell, Thanksgiving address (1980): “They deal in violence and repression, we are power”

John Trudell’s words are the introduction to “Love Letters to God” performed by Nahko and directed by Josué Rivas.

No matter what they ever do to us, we must always act for the love of our people and the Earth.  We must not react out of hatred against those who have no sense.

John Trudell

Calling on the tribe to share this message and the debut of our Love Letters to God video far and wide today:

Standing Rock is a dream. The epicenter for our morality and dignity. A place where dark and light communicate and they work it out.

Standing Rock is a vision. The wildest manifestation of our ancestors. The heart of humanity and the blood of the Earth. Water.

An elder said a true warrior always guards the heart of the women and for so long now we’ve forgotten about our mother. Earth is us, we are it. The ones that can heal a relationship that is wounded. The ones that pray over and over. Protect.

Our oral history is vital for our survival and when we blend it with visual art it creates a bond, a prayer. This video is a sacred offering to those that are hurting. Because we must remember that love is the root of all good. Because by giving we open up to receiving. Healing.

We offer this timepiece on a day that ushers in a new era for all protectors and people alike. An era that will need music to act as the thread between front lines and front doors.

Stay in the prayer.
We stand with you.
For all our relations.

Our support goes out to the independent media that has been on the ground at Standing Rock. Without them we would have been in a total black out. Their sacrifice allows us to see the truth.

Nahko and Medicine for the People Love Letters to God