“The Cutting Edge of Physics: Western Science Is Finally Catching Up With American Indian Tradition”

 Stephen M. Sachs

Since the 19^th Century, western physics has moved from a mechanical model of the universe to seeing reality more as a thought. Increasingly in recent years, western science (and, indeed, Western culture more broadly), and particularly contemporary physics, is coming closer to viewing reality as American Indians traditionally have perceived it.¹ The connection was enunciated early, when it was said that Einstein’s theory of relativity, including the application of the Lorenz Transformation showing that the rate of passage of time varies according to (or is relative to) the speed of an object, was understood by only a few of the world’s physicists, and the Hopi Indians.² 

Prior to Einstein, western physics looked at time as a constant flow – a medium of linear measurement. Traditionally, the Hopi, and other Native people, see time more relatively, “not as a liner measurement, but as a relationship between events. These events reflect the intensity of the observer, for time varies with each observer.”³ This is very close to the popular explanation given for the new scientific view of time in relativity, early on, about time one enjoys appearing to move much faster than time one does not enjoy.

Another aspect of current scientific thought about time which has come to approach Indigenous American conceptions is the idea that the measurement of time in terms of natural cycles is relevant to place. A January 23, 2007 article in The New York Times science section, Natalie Angier, “Making Sense Of Time, Earthbound and Otherwise,”⁴ discussed the various ways of measuring time in terms of natural cycles, from the very smallest particles (such as the 10^-22 of a second that it takes an electron to orbit a proton) to the very long cycles of the cosmos as a whole. In between, Angier noted, were the cycles of rotation of the planet around its star, in our case the sun, and of the planet on its axis, which with their relative constancy on Earth for the past 4 billion years “have set the dials and counters of virtually all of life.” “Elsewhere in the solar system are other worlds taking care of their business, working their quirky times. Saturn, for example, spins as snappily as it accessorizes, completing a day 1n 10 1/2 hours; but being almost 10 times farther than the sun, it needs 30 years to finish its own. Mercury, by contrast, orbits the Sun in just 88 days, but rotates at a miserly one and a half times during an entire mercurial ‘year,’ which means that the side facing the sun has a chance to bake at 700 degrees Fahrenheit, while the half staring out into space turns as cold and miserable as that poor little demotee from the planetary pantheon, Pluto.”

The Native relativity of place is more detailed, as the Hopi year is marked by a series of nine precisely astronomically timed ceremonies,⁵ that would have a different timing in a different location – or totally other ceremonies would be held – because of differences of place. And place is sacred, which western science is, at most, barely coming to approach. As Gregory Cajete states, “Particular places are endowed with special energy that may be used but must be protected. This sentiment extends from the notion of sacred space and the understanding that that the Earth itself is sacred. The role of people is to respect and maintain the inherent order and harmony of the land.”⁶

The relativity of place, and the relation of place (and time) to the observer, that is fundamental in Native views, has been an emerging element of post Newtonian physics. Two observers, traveling at different speeds, may see the same event differently, and simultaneously correctly – without contradicting each other – from their separate locations.⁷ In the Indigenous way of seeing, each place has its own quality and perspective. But it is critical that each of the separate places only have meaning in their relation to the whole, composed of all the other places. That everything is related is central to Native cultures. The Lakota, for example, when completing a prayer or passing a sacred object say, Mitakue Oyasun: “all my relations - amen!” - a word, which like the Hindu Om (representing the prime sound in the universe, in which everything is vibration), when fully stated, contains all the vowels⁸ The Muscogee, like numerous other indigenous nations, have a very similar approach to interrelatedness, and when they dance the first friendship dance, recognizing and honoring the creator that surrounds all things and beings, they chant “iyabileyuppe,” which also contains all the vowel sounds.⁹

The unity of all beings (and for Native people, everything is alive, even the rocks, who are eldest, and share their wisdom in such ceremonies as the Sweat Lodge¹⁰) combined with their diversity, the difference in their qualities and ways of seeing, has social implications in indigenous understanding. Each person, family, group of people, human nation, tradition, as well as each nation of animals, plants, etc., has a place – with its unique perspective, qualities and talents to offer – in the circle of the world (or of being). Thus each must be respected, and everyone affected by a decision, must have a say in its making, in an inclusive participatory process (though the method for building consensus varies in traditional Native societies).¹¹

Furthermore, the web of interrelationships based upon each requires a striving for balance, harmony, or as the Dine (Navajo) say, beauty (hozo).¹² With the Muscogee (Creek), for instance, as seen in their creation story, and in all their related stories telling how everything is interrelated and must be kept in balance, as set forth by in Jean and Joyotpaul Chaudhuri, for example, “The beautiful astronomical legends give us a picture of the balance of male and female energies, thereby showing the patch of darkness in light and light in darkness, all circling in the search for harmony in motion. The legends provide a humanities parallel of the science of the Creeks which also sees the search for balance between the four elements and the synergy linking the cycles of dynamic energies of the earth, the water, the sun (fire), and the sky (air). This is no romantic pipe dream, but the vision of an earth-centered culture with sacred trust responsibilities. The Earth centered physics involves exchanges between and transformations of various forms of energy and the cycles of energy among soil, water, nutrients, animals, sunlight, air and rain in an environmentally balanced manner.”¹³

This dynamic balancing, that is necessary in the physical sphere, is also necessary in society, in which all the elements: men, women, the different clans and the two moieties - indeed all individuals - each have their unique and essential functions that must be kept in, and returned to, balance.¹⁴ The same is true of the individual, who if internally out of balance can not act socially in a balanced way. “In the Muscogee Creek cosmos, all things consist of particular combinations of body, mind and spirit. When these are not in harmony, one is truly lost and healing becomes necessary for the entity to continue.”¹⁵

In a more limited way, the interconnectedness of everything is now a major element of contemporary physics. Since Einstein wrote with Nathan and Podolsky in 1935,¹⁶ it has been noted that quantum mechanics, on its face, indicates that there can be instantaneous linkage between two widely separated events with subatomic particles. More recently, it has been shown in the laboratory that intervening space does not isolate particles from each other, so that even extremely widely separated particles can act simultaneously as if they were in direct contact.¹⁷ Even over tremendously long distances, “Something that happens over here, can be entwined with something that happens over there even if nothing travels from here to there – and even if there isn’t enough time for anything, even light [which travels at a constant speed of 186,000 miles per second], to travel between the events.”¹⁸ Moreover, in contemporary physics, “The weirdness of relativity arises because of our personal experience of space and time differs from the experience of others. It is a weirdness born of comparison. We are forced to concede that our view of reality is but one among many – an infinite number, in fact – which all fit together in the seamless whole of spacetime.”¹⁹ Among the variety of places from which we see, “the central principle of special relativity is that no observational vantage point is singled out over any other,”²⁰ just as for American Indians all of the places in the circle must be given equal respect.

The extent to which the interconnectedness exhibited amongst particles, together with the “seamless whole of spacetime” of contemporary physics approach the wholeness and interrelatedness of Native views, is arguable (including the range of interpretations within physics). But there are at least three additional points that increase the extent of convergence. First, in recent years the view of western physics that most of space is empty has been in the process of being replaced with a conception, somewhat reminiscent of the older western idea that space is composed of ether, that space is filled with an ocean of energy fields, called Higgs fields, forming a Higgs ocean. Thus if all of space, all matter and energy, are within an all pervading Higgs ocean (which is standard current physics theory, but has yet to be supported experimentally), then there is a unifying container of all that is.²¹ A key part of the theoretical reason for believing that there is a Higgs ocean, stems from the second point increasing Native worldview – contemporary physics convergence, that it appears necessary to complete the symmetry of the universe suggested by the set of symmetries for which there is solid experimental evidence.

Symmetry has been becoming increasingly important in physics.²² A symmetry exists when an object can be subject to a manipulation with no effect on its appearance (such as rotating a sphere does not change how it looks to an observer), or when a law of physics operates equally in different places (the equality of perspectives is such a symmetry). “The reason that these symmetry operations are so useful lies in the fact that they are closely related to ‘conservation laws.’ “Whenever a process in the particle world displays a certain symmetry, there is a measurable quantity which is ‘conserved;’ a quantity that remains constant during the process. These quantities provide elements of consistency in the complex dance of subatomic matter and are thus ideal to describe the particle interactions.”²³ Symmetry has now become so prominent, that, “From our modern perspective symmetries are the foundation from which laws spring.”²⁴ The growth of the importance of symmetry in physics then begins to touch Indigenous American concepts of balance, harmony and beauty, referred to above.

The third, and very much related point of the increasing physics - Native view connection, involves the current understanding in physics of the nature of particles. A subatomic particle, such as a photon, is in fact both a particle and a wave.²⁵ The wave aspect of a particle in motion is such that the location of the particle can be in a multitude of places, with a probability of its location being in any one location (which, shortly, will bring us to the next point). The wave itself extends everywhere. Everything concrete that we know of either is a particle, or is composed of particles, all of whose waves extend everywhere. Hence, without getting into the speculative question of just what that involves, for which western science does not yet have any firm answer, it is clear, that at a minimum, all the waves overlap, which implies an interconnection: a relationship. To what extent this agrees with what a Lakota means in saying Mitakue Oyasun (all my relations) is not yet discernable. But there is now at least some minimum point of congruence that did not exist prior to the rise of quantum mechanics.

The fact that the location of a subatomic particle is variable in principle, and can only be said to be fixed through a measurement that cannot simultaneously measure the particle’s momentum (Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle). Indeed, the defined location is the result of the observer’s interaction with the particle in the process of measurement (which means that we are in a relationship with everything we observe!). As Werner Heisenberg states, “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.”²⁶ In this view, the center of the universe is nowhere, which means that it is everywhere in a universe in which everything is interrelated with everything else. This is the resulting principle of ‘nonlocality.’²⁷

The Sun Dance Ceremony is held annually because in the interactions of life the world gets out of balance, and so there must be a return to the center, a renewal of the world, a renewal of harmony and balance. As the Chaudhuris tell us of the Muskogee tradition, harmony, balance, beauty, peace is not automatic, one has to work continually to attain and maintain it at every level. “Given the unpredictable elements of nature and the quirks of human nature, the search for harmony takes sustained effort in all social institutions.”³⁰ Hence, in personal inner work and in all relationships, including with the natural environment and all its nations of plants, animals, etc., one continually participates in processes for returning to harmony. Each Native culture did this in a different manner, but almost all followed the same general principles (at least until they became too large or events put them sufficiently out of balance).³¹

Thus for Native people the world was seen as exceedingly complex, with many uncertainties. The Ojibwa, for instance, saw reality as fluid and circumstantial. “The successful hunter and power seeker kept his options open. An aspect of one’s environment could shift form at any moment, act unusually, reach out for one’s attention and reveal its hidden identity. Stones might speak, lightning could strike from a cloudless sky and winds might kick up from a weird direction. Through this force field of subjective actions, one maneuvered with caution.”³² Though, perhaps strongly stated to make its point concerning a Native view of uncertainty, this comment is not just about relations with the other than human environment, but involves human interaction as well. In a complex world with many uncertainties, it is wise to have available a number of strategies and tactics, but to begin with hospitality and peace building diplomacy when interacting with strangers, or with those who may be powerful, and hence dangerous. And if you are to be in conflict with one party, it is a good idea to keep peaceful relations with others, not only to avoid having to fight on multiple fronts, but because one never knows who may become an ally or a peacemaker, when needed. Scott Pratt writes that this was precisely the view of the Narragansett, that greatly influenced the development of Roger Williams ideas on tolerance.³³ It is a pragmatic, experiential basis for the principle of respect, and the inclusiveness that follows from it.

Prudence for protection aside, in a complex and changing world one never knows where resources, whether ideas and information, useful assistance, or tangible goods may come from. Thus facilitating good, inclusive relations is advantageous. This can be seen in the career of a very successful contemporary Indian activist, LaDonna Harris (Comanche). Harris, a founder and first President of Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity, in 1965, and of Americans for Indian Opportunity in 1970, as wife and political ally of Democratic Senator from Oklahoma, Fred Harris, was in a position to facilitate amongst and for Indians on many issues in the federal government. Position merely provided the potential for opportunity. Personal stature and ability transformed that potential into success. Harris, acting with traditional Indian inclusiveness, was able to bring all but the most extreme people together on indigenous issues, to develop mutual understanding and find common ground. In addition when she met people of ability who supported her goals, she would make note of them. Later, when their perspective or talents were useful for the task at hand, she would involve them in the work. For about a decade, she and a few other Natives, mostly women, were the prime catalysts in gaining Indian advances in Congress and the national executive branch, so that in 1979 the Ladies Home Journal declared her the Woman of the Year and the Decade.³⁴

Furthermore, in a complex world, major developments often begin with a small action, and relatively weak actors may have the power to initiate change if the conditions are right for it at a particular moment. Traditional knowledge of that has guided some Indigenous activists to make connections, which might eventually provide important opportunities, and to remain conscious of the need to act when leverage moments occur. For example, Vine Deloria, Jr,, a former President of the National Congress of the American Indians, reported that there were a few occasions on which he could suggest to a member of Congress, and get put into a bill, as high paid lobbyists are often able to do, a small change, such as adding “and Indian Tribes” after, “authorizing States”, when there was no opposition to the proposal.³⁵ He also stated that it was not a bad thing being a ‘token Indian,’ if one remembered who one was. As the sole Native on the board of what later became the National Museum of the American Indian, Deloria saw that a leverage moment existed in a board meeting just before a press conference launching an important exhibit opening. This enabled him to force the appointment of more Indians to the board, under threat of his embarrassing the board with a statement at the Press conference. That began the turnover of board members that soon brought Native people into the majority, setting the stage for the eventual development of the National Museum. Deloria was always careful in choosing his battles. While criticizing many anthropologists’ actions involving Native people, he did not simultaneously complain about historians, though he had similar concerns of many historians treatment of Indians.

The Indian approach to complexity and uncertainty is very close to chaos theory, and related complexity theory, which have arisen in the last 30 years in physics, particularly the social science versions of it that have developed as traditional western category and academic field boundaries have been becoming more permeable, as western thinking moves toward the holism that characterizes traditional Native American understanding.³⁶ Indeed, Chaos theory itself is an interdisciplinary development, though that development was slowed in its early stages because one of its key developers could only publish about it in his own field.³⁷ Chaos or complexity theory, in physics often called quantum chaos, is a methodology for studying complex systems with dynamics that are non-linear and too great to measure. It is a method for holistically looking at a system when reducing it to its component parts – the traditional main thrust of western science, including physics – is not practical. At first such systems appear to be in chaos – beyond description, including mathematical description. But further analysis shows the system to be explained more simply, often by finding fractals (the term derived from fractional): any image that displays the attribute of self-similarity. This often means that a simpler equation or explanation may duplicate the complex relations of a larger system. In addition, complex systems in chaos and complexity theory often involve “the butterfly effect (the long term significant impact on atmospheric conditions that might be caused by such a minute action as a butterfly flapping its wings, at that tipping point when conditions are open to major change from an extremely small action),” where a seemingly insignificantly small action or variation can result in very large impacts, ultimately changing the state of a system, such as the appointment of Vine Deloria to a museum board, ultimately transforming the museum.

One of the applications in physics of chaos theory has been to deal with the rough and seemingly random quantum jitters that appear in the smallest of known subatomic levels. Working at that level has recently given rise to super string theory, according to which the smallest particles are actually vibrating strings of energy.³⁸ This would seem to be an extension of Einstein’s realization, with E=MC², that energy and matter are interchangeable, and it is consistent with the ancient Hindu belief, long widely held in the east, that everything is energy, and everything is vibration. It also resonates with the view of many American Indians that singing is a sacred expression of being.³⁹ Perhaps, one could say that the world – the cosmos – is the song of the creator.

Out of string theory has come a debated development in physics, of grand unified theory (GUT), in which a unified explanation of the universe, working with what is currently accepted about its subatomic levels, is possible, if one posits that reality exists in a number of dimensions beyond the three, and four if one includes time, that we are normally aware of in everyday life.⁴⁰ This set of theories, and proposed theories, which would include the possibility of phenomena such as teleportation and worm holes, allowing travel or transportation across space (and conceivably time) through a dimension beyond the normal four, would be consistent with, and provide a necessary condition for (though other such conditions are conceivable) the kinds of spirit phenomena and reported powers of Indian medicine (or holy) people presented in Vine Deloria, Jr., The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men.⁴¹

Perhaps more important, grand unified theory does provide a deeper basis in physics for viewing all that is as a unified whole, in which everything is related. Current GUT theories do not yet encompass the hypothesis that everything is alive, according to traditional biological definitions, though GUT does see the universe as a self sustaining system, composed of other self sustaining systems – for example the Earth – which in some scientific views is the essence of life. Moreover, unlike the 19^th century view of the universe as a more or less static machine, contemporary physics understands the universe as dynamic and evolving, through a number of stages (which is also the case with living organisms).⁴² This has very rough parallels in the view of some Native peoples, such as the Hopi, who say that life has been developing through a number of worlds.⁴³

For the idea that everything, including the earth, is alive, to approach being considered seriously in western science, one needs to look to biology. There, one can find that for the last few decades, some mainstream biologists have been discussing the idea that the living matter on the earth functions as an interacting system, as if the planet were a living organism: the Gaia Hypothesis.⁴⁴  In addition, there is the report in Science, during December 2006, of the discovery of a far smaller microbe than previously known, living in very inhospitable conditions in water as caustic as battery acid, containing high concentrations of toxic metals, including arsenic. “Scientists say the discovery could bear on estimates of the pervasiveness of exotic microbial life, which some experts suspect forms a hidden biosphere extending down miles whose total mass may exceed that of all surface life. It may also influence the search for microscopic life elsewhere in the solar system, a discovery that would prove that life in the universe is not unique to Earth but an inherent property of matter.”⁴⁵ It has not happened yet, but the convergence between western science and Native worldview has advanced so far in a little over a century, that is now possible to at least imagine a mainstream scientist being comfortable with the idea of, ‘all my relations’. Mitakue Oyasun!

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FOOT NOTES

1.Reflecting indigenous views more broadly, it can be said that contemporary physics is coming closer to traditional views from culturally outside the west, as exemplified by the relationship of the developing western physics and traditional eastern thought set forth in Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1984). As to American Indian views, themselves – as indicated in the discussion of place below – they are in principle, and in fact, quite varied. But there is an underlying, generally agreed on set of values, way of seeing and doing. This is indicted, for example, in A. Timas and R. Reedy, “Implementation of cultural-specific intervention for a Native American Community,” Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1998, pp. 382-393; James A. Moran, “Preventing Alcohol Use Among Urban American Youth: The Seventh Generation Program” in Hillary and Weaver, Voices of First Nation People: Human Service Considerations (New York: Haworth Press, 1999), pp. 51-68; and Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, “Oyate Ptayela: Rebuilding the Lakota Nation Through Addressing Historical Trauma Among Lakota Parents” in Weaver Ed., Voices of First Nations People, pp. 106-126. That there is generally a set of common values in indigenous world views around the world, referred to in relation to Capra’s writing, above, showed specifically in the collaboration of Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO) of the United States with Advancement for Maori Opportunity (founded with collaboration from AIO) of New Zealand, based on a common set of principles, as can be seen by looking at the AMO web site (http://www.amo.co.nz/), and by frequent statements made to that effect by members of both organizations, witnessed frequently by this author.

2.On relativity, see Ibid., pp. 50-53, but also pp. 5, 28. 43, 66-71, 134, 136, 147, 150-173, 178, 185, 188-191, 193-196, 249, 252, 264, 278 and 288; and Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space Time and the Texture of Reality (New York: Alfred Knopf, 2004), particularly Ch. 3.

3.Frank Waters, Pumpkin Seed Point: Being with the Hopi (Athens, OH: Swallow Press Books, 1969), p. 104. For a broader discussion of time for the Hopi, with some comparison to the modern view of time in the west, see Chapter 9, “Time.”

4.Natalie Angier, Making Sense Of Time, Earthbound and Otherwise,” The New York Times, January 23, 2007, D1, D3.

5.Waters, Pumpkin Seed Point, 105-107.

6.Gregory Cajete, Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence (Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers, 2000), p. 70. See also pp. 74, 77, 89, 91, 93-95. See also, Peter Nabokov, Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places (New York: Viking, Penguin Books, 2006); and Vine Deloria, Jr. and Daniel R. Wildcat, Power and Place: Indian Education in America (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Resources, 2001), pp. 2-3, 13, 36-37, 75-76.

7.Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, Ch. 3, particularly pp. 55-56, 58-61, 65, 67.

8.See Gerald Mohatt and Joseph Eagle Elk, The Price of a Gift: A Lakota Healer’s Story (Lincoln: the University of Nebraska Press, 2000), pp. 3, 35, 145-146, 298-199; and Joseph M. Marshall III, The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons of Living (New York: Viking Compass, 2001), pp. 211, 227.

9.Jean and Joyotpaul Chaudhuri, A Sacred Path: The Way of the Muscogee Creeks (Los Angeles: UCLA American Indian Studies Center, 2001).,p. 26.

10.Raymond A. Bucko, The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat Lodge: History and contemporary Practice (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998), pp. 38-39, 77, 82, 136, and 236, note 32. Bucko provides a large number of references to other sources. Particularly interesting is the version of the Lakota creation story, recorded by James R. Walker [Raymond J. DeMallie and Elaine A. Jahner, Eds., Lakota Belief and Ritual(Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1991), pp. 50-51), in which “Before there was any other thing, or any time, there was Inyan [Rock] and his spirit was Wankan Tanka [Great Mystery].” To have a companion Inyan created Maka [Earth] out of himself (but note, in relation to chaos and complexity theory, to be discussed below, the process did not proceed exactly as Inyan had intended), and “he shrank and became hard and powerless.” Nabakov, Where the Lightning Strikes, pp. 28-29, reports that in the complexity of Ojibwa views, not all stones are alive, but some are. That many peoples find rocks alive, is shown though the book.

12.See Kluckhohn and Leighton, The Navaho; James F. Downes, The Navajo (New York: Holt Reinhart and Winston, Inc., 1972), particularly chapters 2, 3 and 8; Robert W. Young, A Political History of the Navajo Tribe (Tsaille, Navajo Nation, AZ: Navajo Community College Press, 1978); and Alice Reichard, Navaho Religion (New York: Pantheon Books, Bollingen Series, 1950).

13.Chaudhuri and Chaudhuri, A Sacred Path, p. 19.

14.Ibid., Ch. 5-10.

15.Ibid., p. 23, the theme pervading chapter 4.

16.Ibid., pp. 254-271, but particularly pp, 268-271, “the Return of the Aether.” A. Einstein, N. Rosen, B. Podolsky, Physics Review, Vo. 47, p. 777, 1935, reported in Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, p. 11.

17.Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, p. 11-12, Ch. 4. On p. 84.

18.Ibid., p. 80.

19.Ibid., p. 78, see also p. 75.

20.Ibid., p. 118.

21.Ibid., pp. 254-271, most particularly pp. 268-272, “The Return of the Aether.”

22.On Symmetry, see Capra, The Tao of Physics, Ch. 16; and for a more current view, Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, Ch. 8, particularly pp. 219-225.

23.Capra, The Tao of Physics, p. 239.

24.Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, p. 225.

25.Ibid., Ch. 4, 6 and 7. See particularly p. 90.

26.Capra, The Tao of Physics, p. 127, Quoting Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1958), p. 58. For more on this point, see Ch, 10 and 11.

27.See David Bohm and B.J. Hiley, The Undivided Universe: An Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Theory (London: Routledge, 1993), especially chapter 7, “Nonlocality”. This is true both for American Indian and a variety of traditional Eastern ways of seeing. For a discussion of the uncertainty principle in the course of a consideration of the parallels between contemporary physics and ancient Eastern metaphysics see Capra, The Tao of Physics, pp. 125-129, 143-146, 178-179, 207-209 and 251-253.

28.Arthur Amioette, “The Lakota Sun Dance,” in Raymond J. DeMalle and Joseph R. Parks, Eds., Sioux Indian Religion (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987), p. 79.

30.Chaudhuri and Chaudhuri, A Sacred Path, Ch. 9, especially where quoted at p. 68.

32.Nabokov, Where the Lightning Strikes, p. 33.

33.Scott L. Pratt, Native Pragmatism: Rethinking the Roots of American Philosophy (Bloomington: Indiana Press, 1997), Ch 5, particularly after p. 84, and Ch. 6, particularly pp. 130-134.

34. See Stephen M. Sachs, “LaDonna Harris, Founder of Americans for Indian Opportunity: Leadership in the Tradition of Native American Women’s Voices,” to A Leadership Journal: Women In Leadership: Sharing the Vision, Vo. 3, No. 1, fall 1998, and “Working in the Circle:  American Indian Leadership and Collaboration through Applying Traditional Values in the Context of the Twenty-First Century,” Proceedings of the 2042 American Political Science Association Meeting (Washington, DC: American Political Science Association, 2004). Some of this information comes from the author working with Ms. Harris and AIO for 17 years.

35. Stated by Vine Deloria in a panel discussion at the 2005 Western Social Science Association Meeting, attended by the author. The incident concerning the expansion of the museum board was confirmed in a discussion of Vine Deloria’s career, attended by the author, at the 2006 Western Social Science Association Meeting, by Suzanne Harjo, President of the Morningstar Foundation, and a long time proponent of the development of the National Museum of the American Indian. She stated that she was one of a number of people whom Deloria had contacted to be prepared to speak publicly if the board did not agree to appoint more Indigenous members.

36.A large collection of articles on complexity theory and chaos theory is available at Complexity Pages: Exploring the New Science of Chaos and Complexity at: http://www.complexity.orcon.net.nz. For a social science application of complexity theory in Indian affairs, see Nicholas C. Peroff, Menominee Drums, Tribal Termination and Restoration (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982). On Chaos theory in general, also go to: “Chaos theory” - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, looking up: Chaos Theory (disambiguation) or physics, at: en.wikipedia.org; Chaos Theory: A Brief Introduction, at: www.imho.com; What is chaos theory? - a definition at: whatis.techtarget.com; “The Chaos Experience,” at: library.thinkquest.org; Chaos Homepage, at: www.zeuscat.com, and What is Chaos? An Interactive Online Course for Everyone, at: order.ph.utexas.edu.

37.Edward Lorenz, a meteorologist, was only able to publish his findings in meteorological journals. See: http://www.imho.com/grae/chaos/chaos.html.

38.Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, Ch. 12.

39.To begin with, wind is life, living spirit. When wind blows through a human being, a whistle or a flute as song, it is a sacred expression of being.

40.Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, Parts 4 and 5. See also the recent experiment stopping a pulse of light, then restarting it in another place,, in Kenneth Chang, “Wizardry at Harvard: Halt Light and Then Move It,” The New York Times, February 8, 2007, p. A11.

41.Vine Deloria, Jr., The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2006).

42. Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, Part III, mostly in chapters 9-11. See particularly pp. 254 and 320-321.

43. See Thomas E. Mails and Dan Evehema, Hotevilla: Hopi Shrine of the Covenant, Microcosm of the World (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1995), Ch. 2; Frank Waters, Book of the Hopi: The First Revelation o the Hopi's Historical and Religious Life (New York: Ballantine Books, 1963), Ch. 1-5; Elise Clews Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966), Ch III.

44.“Gaia hypothesis,” from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_theory_(science); Gaia Hypothesis, at: http://erg.ucd.ie/arupa/references/gaia.html; Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 5: The Universe, Earth, Natural Spheres, and Gaia, (d). The Gaia Hypothesis, at: http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/5d.html; and The Gaia Hypothesis Resource Document – Index, at: http://www.mountainman.com.au/gaia.html.

45.William J. Broad, “From Scum, Perhaps the Tiniest Form of Life,” The New York Times, December 23, 2008. p. 1.