Worldview, Peace, and the Socially-Purposeful Life: Four Arrows Workshop on the Worldview Chart

Four Arrows leads a lively discussion on the use of the Worldview Chart to create a socially-purposeful life and peaceful world

In this lively discussion and Worldview Chart Workshop, Four Arrows leads us, and Veterans For Peace members, through how to view the recently updated Worldview Chart and how it can be used to create a socially-purposeful life and peaceful world.

Read the introduction to Restoring the Kinship Worldview on Kindred free. Support independent booksellers and our nonprofit work by wording the book here.

Kindred World launched the Worldview Literacy Project, a self-directed or community learning program exploring rebalancing life on earth with worldview literacy, in August 2024. The WLP features the Worldview Chart by internationally renown Indigenous studies scholar, Four Arrows, as well as instructions for how to participate in a 90-day engagement with the Worldview Chart ending with a survey to gather participant’s stories and insights.

Kindred is proud to partner with Veterans For Peace to launch the Worldview Literacy Project. If you are a VFP member, we have a dedicated web page and survey for you to use here.

Read the press release about the Worldview Literacy Project launch and partnership with the Veterans For Peace here.

 

Enjoy this free educational program and materials by:

Visiting the Worldview Literacy Project website to learn more about the chart and to participate in the self-directed or community learning study and survey.

Downloading color or black and white versions of the chart here.

Purchasing a poster of the Worldview Chart here.

Enjoying a collection of resources exploring the chart, including excerpts from the book Restoring the Kinship Worldview,  here.

Taking the 90 day study and survey as part of a self-directed or community learning program here.

Reading Four Arrows’ Seven Considerations for Using the Worldview Chart below or here.

 

Watch Four Arrows Explore the Worldview Chart’s precepts of Kinship Worldview and Dominant Worldview, THEN take the Worldview Literacy Project’s 90 Day Study with the Chart and Reflections on the Chart’s Survey at www.WorldviewLiteracy.org

 

Seven Considerations for Using the Worldview Chart

By Four Arrows

Download the color or black and white version of the Worldview Chart, along with a PDF of the Worldview Literacy Project Study and Survey Guide here.

1.  Understand “Worldview”: Consider “worldview” as a set of fundamental, and often uninvestigated, beliefs that manifest in primary aspects of cultures, religions, educational institutions, economic systems, sports, science, and media. Not all individuals within these systems believe all the precepts on one side of the chart or the other, but enough support, tolerate, or comply, whether forced or not, allowing these systems to operate in ways that ultimately reflect either the “Dominant Worldview” or the “Indigenous Worldview.”

2.  Distinguish Between Worldviews: The “Dominant Worldview” refers to beliefs that emerged around ten thousand years ago, reflecting human-centeredness and a sense of human superiority over nature. It also generally describes the consequences of colonialization. The “Indigenous Worldview” refers to beliefs that guided humanity for most of our history. It is nature-centered and understands humans to be interconnected partners with other sentient beings that make up the rest of the world.

3.  Practical Phrasing of the Contrasting Worldview Precepts: The chart uses well-researched and practical contrasting worldview beliefs to help individuals “walk in balance” by recognizing the degrees to which they engage with the precept. One may believe in the Indigenous worldview precept but still live in ways that help maintain the Dominant worldview precept in life systems. For example, consider the contrasting precept pairs described in #12 on the chart. While an individual may espouse the Indigenous perspective that “words are sacred and truthfulness is essential,” the use of “words to deceive self or others” is a prominent reality in most Dominant Worldview systems listed in #1. For positive transformation, the person studying the chart should do so with honest self-reflection. Acknowledging the degree to which one is engaging or supporting the Dominant side and the reasons for it, and using other related precepts, one can make affirmations for transformation, using trance-based learning (and believing in it as per the Indigenous worldview precept) to actualize it in one’s life.

4.  Interconnected Precepts: Many people hold beliefs represented on both sides of the chart in varying degrees. However, the precepts are highly interconnected and ultimately inseparable. One cannot pick and choose a few Indigenous worldview precepts while practicing a number of Dominant worldview precepts to rebalance life systems. Each Indigenous worldview precept must be lived as interrelated for a life system to be considered balanced via the Indigenous Worldview. For example, one may decide to no longer support rigid hierarchy or strict authoritarian control and may begin transformational work with much success. However, if they continue to have low respect for the feminine or see humans as superior to animals, the Dominant worldview is maintained.

5.  Non-Binary Thinking: The Indigenous worldview precept about non-binary thinking is crucial for understanding the two sides while realizing the goal of moving toward the proven healthier Indigenous Worldview precept. Seeking complementarity between the two sides is not about acceptance of or compromise with the Dominant Worldview. Rather, it is about understanding the Dominant worldview precepts empathetically and holistically in ways that complement or enhance the ultimate embracing of the Indigenous pathway for rebalancing life systems, always recognizing the tension and potential of the contrasting pairs.

6.  Contemporary Indigenous Cultures: Individuals in contemporary cultures we define as being Indigenous may or may not still live according to the original “Indigenous worldview,” depending on the degree of colonization they have suffered. However, where this worldview is still operating in the categories described in #1 above, life systems are proven to be healthier. We define this nature-based, interconnected, non-materialistic, spiritual, kinship-oriented worldview that potentially belongs to all people as “Indigenous” to recognize its “indigenous” (small i) aspect and to recognize the groups most likely to still express it. (See ProvenSustainable.org for contemporary examples).

7.  Misappropriation vs. Embracement: While misappropriation of Indigeneity is a real problem, studying, teaching, or embracing Indigenous Worldviews is not misappropriation. The “Indigenous worldview” belongs to all creatures on Mother Earth. With a good heart and being an ally of the remaining First Nations as one can, restoring the Indigenous worldview should be a goal for all of us. Indigenous place-based knowledge, however, can only belong to each of the unique Indigenous cultures or First Nations. To have such knowledge requires fluency in the language, intimate knowledge of traditional ceremonies, generations of handed-down wisdom about local flora and fauna, etc. Saving such cultural knowledge and giving sovereignty to those who have it is a vital goal for everyone.

About Four Arrows

Four Arrows (Wahinkpe Topa) aka Dr. Don Trent Jacobs is now core faculty at Antioch University’s online Ed.D. in Educational and Professional Practice. He is proud to be part of the educational team maintaining the progressive legacy of Antioch’s original founder, Horace Mann.

He was formerly with Fielding Graduate University for 24 years, Dean of Education at Oglala Lakota College and tenured Associate Professor at Northern Arizona University. With doctorates in health psychology and in Curriculum and Instruction (with a cognate in Indigenous Worldview) he has authored 21 books and numerous other publications relating to wellness, critical theory, education and Indigenous worldview. His publications have been praised by a number of notable thinkers, including John Pilger, Greg Cajete, Noam Chomsky, Thom Hartman, Henry Giroux, Sam Keen, Bruce Lipton, Dan Millman, Vine Deloris, Jr. and many others.

AERO elected him as one of 27 visionaries for their text, Turning Points, and he is recipient of a number of recognitions for his activism, including the Martin-Springer Institute’s Moral Courage Award.

Read Four Arrows on Kindred.

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