Sacred Planet

In the beginning,

humans lived in small groups...

that collected food

by hunting and gathering,...

taking only what

they needed to survive.

Today, only a few humans still dwell

in the depths of nature...

in some of the last

pristine places on Earth.

They continue

a traditional way of life...

that has been practised,

almost unchanged,...

for thousands of years.

A way of life that has

stood the test of time...

and allowed them to live in harmony

with their natural surroundings.

These may be some of the last remaining

people to live a traditional lifestyle...

based on the wisdom passed down

through countless generations.

Many people have never

heard their voices.

Now it may be time to listen.

L"ve always been taught

by my parents and grandparents,...

the same message they received from

their grandparents for many generations,...

that we treat the Earth as our mother.

When we respect the Earth Mother,

then she provides for us.

And all the things

that we see along the way,...

the four-legged animals,...

the ones in the ocean,...

even the hills and the boulders.

They"re our relatives.

By then learning that we"re all related,...

we also learn the responsibility

to keep our planet alive.

As a young boy,...

when I stood next to a great tree,

a big, full-grown tree,...

I felt really small.

I felt that I still had a place,...

that here"s this great tree,

bigger than me,...

been on the Earth longer,...

and I feel one with it.

The way that my ancestors

were able to maintain a unity...

within the natural environment...

was to see all things sacred,...

meaning there was spirit in everything.

We always respected our elders.

We admired them

for coming so far in life.

My grandfather was a wonderful teacher

and a great storyteller.

It seemed as if, as he spoke,

he also healed.

And I wanted to learn that.

What my grandfather told me...

is that when I speak,

I will touch the hearts of many people.

I know now what he meant.

And there is a healing in the story.

There"s power in the word.

That"s how we built

the power of our communities.

That is how we taught our children

to be great leaders,

to be great medicine people...

Through the stories.

The most basic balance that

is important to our traditional way of life

is to have enough food to eat,

to have water to drink,...

and to have firewood

to keep ourselves warm.

The land provides us

with our basic needs,...

so we are completely

dependent on nature.

Without these things,

we cannot survive.

Lessons can be learned

from other cultures,...

but we"ll also learn from their mistakes.

If the people continue

to treat the Earth with no respect,...

our traditional way of life

will come to an end.

When we kill an animal, the remains

will be shared between the people.

The skin will be used for clothes,

for our blankets.

If it"s a big animal, the meat

will be sun-dried to be eaten later,...

and all the meat will be eaten up.

Sharing is a very important thing

in our culture.

If you don"t share with other people,

they will not share with you.

Sharing is just a natural way of life.

The most important message

I would teach the children...

is they must not forget

about our land and our culture.

Ancient teachings have been passed

down through generations of our people.

These teachings say

all life forms are interconnected.

Everything is part of

one whole and living organism,

and each part is vital

to the survival of the whole.

I believe the Earth is one living being.

The end of any one life form

will lead to hardship of another.

And if there are too many hardships,

the whole may suffer beyond healing.

I was taught that the most important thing

is to have a peaceful heart.

When we are content

with who we are,...

we treat other life forms

with compassion and kindness.

Nature will always contain mysteries.

We don"t need to solve them all.

We just need to be open

and let it fill us.

The energy of nature moves through

the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

And it continues on and on,...

moving from one form of life

to another.

Long before humans were able

to communicate through modern means,...

cultures separated by vast oceans

were sharing the same values.

They speak

in many languages,...

yet their messages continue

to echo one another across the globe.

I am a man of the people of the tides.

Much of who I am comes from the sea.

Much of our spirituality

comes from the sea.

Somehow we"re called back

to that place where it all began.

When there"s things alive in the sea,

then the sea becomes beautiful.

When there"s animals

and creatures on the Earth,...

then Mother Earth becomes beautiful.

When life is good,

then we have time for the artist,...

then we have time to see the art.

It reminds us

of the heritage of our tribe.

I live in a place

where I could see all of nature,...

and this is how I learn.

All the lessons to living are out there.

When I go into bear country,

I do a ceremony for the bears.

Through ceremony, we are thankful,...

and say a prayer

for being part of this Earth.

I respect other creatures,

other animals,...

because we"re living together.

I come from a society where each one

of us is responsible for a ceremony...

to heal Mother Earth.

It heals our family.

It heals our nation.

It heals our tribe.

People, they already know

how they should keep the planet clean.

This is the way we used to live.

We"re the ones that are

the endangered species.

That"s what the ravens say.

That"s what the eagles say.

When you are living in the forest

with the insects and the animals,...

you build a culture

around the presence of those things.

You always feel something is there,...

warming you up, or even frightening you,

or making you happy.

The forest does speak to us.

The basic value

of the traditional way of life...

is a strong sense of belonging,

of having a place.

For me, a family includes my community,

because they are so close to us,...

and we share our life with them every day.

People can learn a lot

from the traditional way of life.

If there is one thing, I think it is

to learn to live humbly on the land,...

to live humbly in this world.

Whether this is the last generation

to have traditional thoughts and beliefs,...

it may well be.

That"s the sad thing

about traditional knowledge,...

that if you don"t take it now,

it will be gone forever.

We also want our children

to have a good future.

We also want to have this land

intact for our grandchildren.

We are nothing without the animals,

we are nothing without the forest.

This is what we hope is transmitted

to the younger generation.

When I was young, I used to climb

the trees to look for all sorts of fruits.

I could go right to the very top

and look way out,...

and I often wondered,

"What is it like?"

"What are people like

on the other side of the mountain?"

In every culture,

the elders hold the knowledge of the past,...

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