WHO IS AN "ELDER"?
Some thoughts on dreamkeepers.net from Harvey Arden

I'm often asked how I "choose" the Elders, the Dreamkeepers, the
Wisdomkeepers I have featured in my books and now on dreamkeepers.net.  As a
white man raised and educated in an urban society, it's not in my power to
choose who is an indigenous Elder and who is not.  There is no position of
"Elder" in American society at large.  We have "Senior Citizens"--of which I
am now proud to be one--but no "Elders," in the sense of spiritual Elders
respected and revered by their People, and given a central role in their
Nation's ceremonial life and political decision-making.  

When I first began this work in 1981, while still a staff writer for National
Geographic Magazine, I had the idea of writing an article about Native
American "Medicine Men"--a common misnomer.  But I soon found out, as I
traveled among Indian communities-and I've visited more than a hundred since
then--that what I should be looking for was not "Medicine" (better translated
as "Power") but "Wisdom"--another indefinable term, yet one that totally
changed the focus of my search.  I myself wanted no "Power" nor "powers" of
any kind, but I did crave with all my soul this indefinable "Wisdom" that
many Elders have generously shared with me and which I have tried, in turn,
to share with as many others as possible in an age when that ancient yet
thoroughly modern "Wisdom" may be the saving "Power" for all of humankind.

Early on in my travels, I had the great good fortune to meet Lakota (Sioux)
Elder Mathew King-Chief Noble Red Man---and he explained the indigenous
concept of Elder to me: "In our Way," Mathew told me, "the Elders give
spiritual direction to the People.  The wisdom of thousands of years flows
through their lips.  In our Way, when we grow old, we become Elders."  And he
spoke those words with a radiant pride.  Then he looked at me, shaking his
head sadly, and said: "In your way, Harvey…in white man's way…when you grow
old…well…you just grow old..."

Another wonderful Elder, Onondaga Chief Louie Farmer, told me this: "You want
to know who's a real 'Medicine Man'?  Well, I'll tell you: He's the one who
doesn't say 'I'm a medicine man.'  He doesn't ask you to come to him.  You've
got to go and ask him.  And you'll always find he's there among his own
People.  He doesn't go off to the city and open an office.  Once a medicine
man leaves his own territory, he loses most of his power.  All the sacred
plants he knows are where he comes from.  He doesn't know the plants of other
places.  The Creator gave him his gift so he could help his own People, not
somebody else.  The people he's supposed to help are where he's from.  So he
stays home and helps them.  That's who a real medicine man is."

And when Tadodaho Leon Shenandoah of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy was
asked: "Leon, what's the greatest power?" --Leon closed his eyes, swayed
slightly in his chair, deep in meditation, and finally looked up and said
softly: "I myself have no power…Real power comes only from the Creator.  It's
in His hands.  But if you're asking me about strength, not power, then I can
say that the greatest strength is gentleness."

Yes, the greatest strength is gentleness…and that's a quality I find in all
the Elders whom I call Dreamkeepers and Wisdomkeepers.

Also, they all seem to be infused with a quality of "goodness."  Mat King
told me: "There's only goodness in God, in Wakan Tanka…And that same goodness
is in us all.  You can feel it in yourself, can't you, Harvey?  You know when
you feel good inside… Well, learn to love the goodness in yourself.
 Then--and this is the most important thing--reach deep inside yourself, grab
the goodness you find there…and, then, put that goodness out into the world!"

For my books, all five of them now, I have taken the philosophy that I meet
whom I meet.  One person can meet only so many people, so many Elders.  We
rarely choose whom we meet.  Often, it seems like they choose us.  So, yes,
again, I meet whom I meet, and write of whom I write, and I make no claims
beyond that.  If those persons seem like Dreamkeepers or Wisdomkeepers to me,
I refer to them as such--but I am making no formal acknowledgement of their
role within their own local or over-all indigenous society.  Their own People
must do that.  I have tried not to ask these Elders a lot of leading
questions, but have simply asked them to share whatever it is they care to
share with the world.  Rarely do they speak to me of "medicine"--of herbs,
formulas, remedies, "secrets," etc.  That kind of knowledge is too easily
misused by outsiders.  Nor do we dwell on "ceremony"--which is to be shared
by outsiders only when personally invited, and then only in the company of
those to whom that ceremony belongs.  What these Elders do share, along with
their wit and memories--and, yes, even, occasionally, their prophecies--is
that indefinable yet clearly recognizable thing called "Wisdom."

How do I recognize that "Wisdom"?  I'm not at all sure that I can--and I'm
certain there have been many times when I've missed it completely.  What I do
recognize--at least at times--is an undeniable Poetry of words, thought,
deeds and presence, offered in a sharing way in a spirit of gentleness,
humbleness, and goodness of heart--a simple, clear, highly practical and
life-enhancing Message about what I've come to think of as "the art of being
human."

Every older person in indigenous communities is hopefully an Elder within
their own family.  Some are Elders to their Clans, their Tribes, their
Nations…even, at times, to the World.  I envision the time not too far off
when there will be scores, even hundreds of Elders on
dreamkeepers.net...Elders of many kinds--local, regional, national and
global.  We need them all--the little granny making corn soup up at Akwesasne
or the dramatic spokesman-Elder and Ceremonial Chief addressing the United
Nations...they all have their place on dreamkeepers.net, as do those
non-Elders and, yes, even non-'indigenous' people, whom we at
dreamkeepers.net take to be of good heart and who have a luminous message of
love (sometimes tough love, to be sure) and wisdom and poetry and spiritual
power to share with the rest of us in this darkly shadowed modern world.
 It's not up to me, or to any one person or group of people, to "choose"
them…In a very real sense, they "choose" us…We at dreamkeepers.net are
transmitters and enablers, nothing more--but nothing less.  

We at dreamkeepers.net welcome an association with the Minneapolis American Indian Center.  
I append below our advance notice with much more information.  I invite your
comments and suggestions.

Many thanks,
                              /Harvey Arden
                              4101 Legation St., N.W.
                              Washington, DC 20015
                              harvey@dreamkeepers.net
                              (202) 244-4693


FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: pam@dreamkeepers.net   

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