The ReSET research group focuses on traditional ecological knowledge, in Africa, Americas, and what is left of ancient knowledge in Europe. In this series of texts we focus on supporting and restorating the ancient knowledge about horses, sustainability and protection of all life. The following text is extracted, quoted and translated from the GIFT group of Research for Lakota Traditional Sciences, and after discussing with Dr Yvette Running Horse Collin, registered member of the Lakota Oglala Nation.
GIFTS : the purpose :
As Lakota, our advanced sciences, lifeways, culture, governance systems and ceremonies taught us that we as human beings are a part of all life, never separate from it or above it. Our ancestors taught us that each of us are, in fact, a unique ecosystem, as our physical experience here on Unči Maka (Grandmother Earth) is made possible by countless “little relatives” (now described in mainstream science as “microbes”) and many other critical life forms with which we interrelate and interdepend. Indeed, much of our bodies are made up of what mainstream science now refers to as the “DNA” of other life forms, which symbiotically co-exist within, on and around us. We are part of them and they are a part of us. We all collaborate to give each other the most precious gift imaginable … the experience of life, itself.
Quoted from : Taku Skan Skan Wasakliyapi, Global Institute for Traditional Sciences © 2023. All rights reserved.
Translation by Association Cheval Communication, Dans les Pas des Chevaux.