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A Lil' Bert Can't Hurt: Words and Wisdom for Daily Life

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Bert McCoy

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“Access to information can be empowering. When it overwhelms us, constantly bombarding us with data, infobesity eventually estranges us from ourselves and holds us back from proper decision-making. Obsessively waiting for the latest records creates fragmented minds, hinders us from deep thinking or exercising sensible choices, and makes us float on the wishy-washy waves of superficiality. (“The Infinite Wisdom of Meditation“)”

MeditationInformationDecision MakingSuperficialityDeep ThinkingInfinite WisdomWishy WashyInfobesityEstrange OneselfFragmented Minds
Author:Erik Pevernagie
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“When writing on the subject of civilization, one must understand that the ability to read or write a European language does not create a superior civilization. Nor does the ability to point exploding sticks that cause instantaneous death or injury, or to launch missiles that could blow the world apart, provide a moral basis to declare one’s culture more civilized than another. The question to ask when judging the values and merits of a civilization must always be: “How does the civilization respond to the human needs of its population?” By this standard, because they created social and political systems that ensured personal liberty, justice and social responsibility, most Amerindian civilizations must be given very high marks. When making an unbiased assessment, and comparing the values of early American civilizations with those of European civilizations, one cannot but find that the suppression and wanton destruction of American civilizations by European civilizations was in many ways a case of inferior civilizations overcoming superior ones. This is especially true in the area of respect for human rights. Although they were not as technologically advanced as the Europeans were by 1492, many Amerindian Nations possessed democratic political practices that were light years ahead.”

DecolonizationColonizationIndigenous PeoplesTurtle Island
Book:We Were Not the Savages: First Nations History ? Collision Between European and Native American Civilizations
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“The scientific descriptions of ethnology that we find in books are inevitably dry and do not give the least impression of the mysterious world of the Achumawi, whose life is so inextricably mixed in with the animals, the trees, the plants. But without forming some mental picture of that life, it is, I believe, almost impossible to understand how and to what extent the Achumawi Indian finds himself in a state of direct mystical connection with the universe that surrounds him. Now that is precisely his religion, and his entire religion.” — Jaime de Angulo from "Tracks Along the Left Coast" by Andrew Schelling”

IndigenousAnthropologyLinguisticsNative AmericaTurtle IslandEthnologyJaime De AnguloAchumawi Tribe
Author:Jaime de Angulo
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“The scientific descriptions of ethnology that we find in books are inevitably dry and do not give the least impression of the mysterious world of the Achumawi, whose life is so inextricably mixed in with the animals, the trees, the plants. But without forming some mental picture of that life, it is, I believe, almost impossible to understand how and to what extent the Achumawi Indian finds himself in a state of direct mystical connection with the universe that surrounds him. Now that is precisely his religion, and his entire religion.” — Jaime de Angulo Appears in the introduction of "Tracks Along the Left Coast" by Andrew Schelling”

HistoryCaliforniaIndigenousAnthropologyLinguisticsNative AmericaEthnographyTurtle IslandJaime De Angulo
Author:Jaime de Angulo
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“You say that to (Franz) Boas science is "austere and impersonal." You know, that is just the thing that gets my goat. They have managed to take all the life out of science. Why be ashamed of the joy and the exaltations that are the blood of knowl-edge? Why pretend that you have no emotions? In another century they will look aghast at the funereal aspect of our science. They will say: those people were doing penance for something! ... We have driven our libido underground.” — Jaime de Angulo, written in a letter to his friend and mentor, the linguist Edward Sapir (Appears in the introduction to "Tracks Along the Left Coast" by Andrew Schelling)”

NatureHistoryCaliforniaIndigenousAnthropologyLinguisticsEthnographyTurtle IslandJaime De AnguloAndrew Schelling
Author:Jaime de Angulo
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