Original Politics: Making America Sacred Again

by Glenn Aparicio Parry

Overview

To recreate a whole and sacred America, it is important to piece together the forgotten fragments of history that are currently keeping the country divided. Just as a traditional Native American potter begins a new pot with shards of old pots—honoring the ancestors, bringing the energies of the past into the present—Original Politics re-constellates the nation as a whole out of the seemingly disparate shards from our origins. The most significant forgotten piece is the profound effect Native America had on the founding values of this nation. Original Politics convincingly demonstrates how the best aspects of the founding vision of America were inspired, or directly appropriated, from living, Native American cultures: concepts such as natural rights, liberty, and egalitarian justice. Further, Parry traces the influence of Native America not only on the founding fathers, but on the ‘founding mothers’ of the 19th century women’s movement; as well as the 19th century abolitionist and modern ecological movements. Native America has inspired what Parry sees as the sacred purpose of the nation: bringing all the world’s peoples together on one soil in a harmonious cultural mosaic of unity in diversity. While there have been periodic setbacks (devolution) in our nation’s history, including today, these only serve as catalysts reigniting our sacred purpose. America is creating a new melting pot, and like the original vision, it will be a creation from the many into the one—only this time it must not leave anyone out. This includes the natural world. Original Politics is ultimately about respecting all forms of life and all forms of political expression as different aspects of one whole. It is a reclamation project that brings people, land, and nation together as one. The overall effect of the book is profoundly healing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590795033
Publisher:	SelectBooks
Publication date:	06/16/2020
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Glenn Aparicio Parry, PhD, is also the author of the Nautilus award-winning book, Original Thinking: A Radical Revisioning of Time, Humanity, and Nature (North Atlantic Books, 2015), and an educator, ecopsychologist, and political philosopher whose passion is to reform thinking and society into a coherent, cohesive, whole. The founder and past president of the SEED Institute, Parry is currently the director of a grass-roots think tank, the Circle for Original Thinking. He earned his BA in Psychology from Allegheny College and went on to earn both his MA in East-West Psychology and his PhD in Humanities with a concentration in Transformative Learning from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Parry organized and participated in the groundbreaking Language of Spirit conferences from 1999-2011, moderated by Leroy Little Bear, that brought together Native American and Western scientists in dialogue. He has appeared in several documentary films, including Journey to Turtle Island by Spanish film maker Miryam Servet and SEEDing Change: A Retrospective of the Language of Spirit Dialogues, directed by Joyce Anastasia and produced by the Foundation for Global Humanity. Parry is a member of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and the Theosophical Society as part of a life-long interest in bridging the arts and sciences. His first career was as a rock and roll booking agent in Woodstock, NY. He has lived in northern New Mexico since 1994.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Introduction xvii

Part 1 Unitive Consciousness 1

The Peacemaker and the Tree of Peace 3

1 Original Unitive Consciousness 7

2 The Seeds of a Uniquely American Character 25

3 Native American Influence on the Founding of the United States 39

4 Preserving the Union for the Long Term: Overcoming Division Through Checks and Balances 57

Part 2 Dance of the Opposites 77

5 Dual Aspects of Wholeness 79

6 The Birth of the Modern Democratic and Republican Parties 99

7 Historical Influences on the Politics of Gender and Race Relations 119

8 A Country in Conflict: The Civil War Comes Full Circle 135

Part 3 Maximum Diversity 153

9 The Apocalypse: The Ending of Our World Order? 155

10 The Turning Point: The 2016 Election Amid Changes to Society 173

11 The Trickster President: A Necessary Devolution Before Evolution? 193

12 Fascist America or Sacred America? 217

Part 4 Return to Wholeness 235

13 Making America Sacred Again: First Steps 237

14 The Dream of Mother Earth: A Turtle Island Renaissance 253

15 Biophilia: Love of Life and Nature in the Face of Climate Change 265

16 From Politics to Love: A Journey from Fragmentation to Wholeness 279

Acknowledgments 293

Endnotes 295

Index 315

About the Author 333

Editorial Reviews

"For peace and harmony to prevail, the truth must be told. We are instructed never to take hope from the people.”  —Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation Author of Exiled in the Land of the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations, and the US Constitution


“Parry’s richly-textured book holds out hope and guidance for this moment of political conflict over diversity amid fear for the continuation of life on the planet. Inviting us to see how this challenge is the stimulus to transform the conflict into unity of purpose, the author provides us with a roadmap for how to do it through a new worldview that reestablishes an Indigenous connection with the natural world. This worldview priv­ileges place over time, relationship over product, and revalues the femi­nine, enabling us to rebalance culturally and ensure the survival of life on the planet.”—Sally Roesch Wagner, Founding director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation Author of Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee Influence on Early American Feminists and The Women’s Suffrage Movement


“Thank you, thank you, Niawen (in Mohawk), K’olabal (in Maya Tzotzil), muchas gracias, merci beaucoup, to you. If all ‘white’ people held such a deep consciousness for Natives as you do, the world would already be truly blessed and sacred. There is no way one can stay neutral when reading you, I’m crying, I’m touched, shaking and totally stirred up!!! This is all so good in spirit.”—Ohki Simine Forest (Canadian Mohawk), Author of Dreaming the Council Ways, is a vision-holder and spiritual teacher


“Some people are aware of the impact Native cultures had on the develop­ment of the US. The vast majority are not. Original Politics finds a unique way of telling the true story.” —Harlan McKosato(Sac and Fox Nation), Former long-time host of the nationally syndicated radio show Native America Calling


“In a fractured time when a rude politics of nationalism rides in the high saddle as the climate crisis and many other environmental problems demand effective international co-operation, the world needs Glenn Aparicio Parry’s Original Politics: Making America Sacred Again. Engag­ingly written, mixing the best of the past and present, the indigenous and immigrant, appreciating everyone’s beauty: that is how we forge a sustain­able future. Parry traces a path. Life on Earth will be better if everyone— everyone, regardless of race, religion, and class—re-learns what many indigenous ancestors call “the original instructions.” Read this book, enjoy it, and pass the word: we cooperate, or we face a hot, miserable future world squabbling over toxic crumbs.” —Bruce E. Johansen, Author of Forgotten Founders: How the American Indian Helped Shape Democracy and The Iroquois: The History and Culture of Native Americans


“In a brilliant historical retelling, Original Politics makes clear that Amer­ica’s sacred legacy—while appearing to have fallen in the ditch of a crude and phony populism—is destined to be a thriving pluralistic democracy and a sanctuary of ecological values.” —James O’Dea, Former president of The Institute of Noetic Sciences, author of Cultivating Peace and The Conscious Activist


“Original Politics: Making America Sacred Again is an important and timely book for helping the United States move beyond its current crisis. Parry’s writing flows beautifully and thoughtfully, as he shows how return­ing to the nation’s mix of Native and European roots can effectively meet its current problems and heal its divisions.” —Stephen Sachs, Author of Honoring the Circle: Ongoing Learning from American Indians on Politics and Society, with Bruce Johansen, Betty Booth Donohue, Donald Grinde, et al.


 “In Original Politics, Parry draws on his lifetime of work in association with Native scholars and teachers as the lens through which he considers both the current polarized and dysfunctional American political situ­ation and the coming global environmental catastrophe. Parry gently suggests that our public business, our politics, can only change when we return to the spiritual, caring values that characterize the way Native people see their purpose in life regarding nature: as guardians and care­takers, not as masters, users or exploiters. These concepts were inherent in the principles the founding fathers appropriated from Native Amer­ican tribes whom they lived and worked with . . . principles from which we have allowed ourselves to stray from at our peril.” —Senator GeraldP. “Jerry” Ortiz y Pino, New Mexico Legislature
 

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