I recently found these Native American code of ethics - I am unsure of where this originated and of it’s accuracy. Regardless of where it originated, I like it and I wanted to pass it on. So much common sense, a great respect for the earth and everything that calls it home. I’m a big nature and animal lover so of course I’m posting it.
No Native American culture was perfect, but the Europeans could have learned from them.
Native American Code Of Ethics
Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often.
The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak.
~
Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path.
Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem
from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.
~
Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others
to make your path for you. It is your road, and
yours alone. Others may walk it with you,
but no one can walk it for you.
~
Treat the guests in your home with much consideration.
Serve them the best food, give them the best
bed and treat them with respect and honor.
~
Do not take what is not yours whether from
a person, a community,the wilderness or from a
culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours.
~
Respect all things that are placed upon
this earth – whether it be people or plant.
~
Honor other people’s thoughts, wishes and words.
Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them.
Allow each person the right to personal expression.
~
Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative
energy that you put out into the universe
will multiply when it returns to you.
~
All persons make mistakes.
And all mistakes can be forgiven.
~
Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind,
body and spirit. Practice optimism.
~
Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us.
They are part of your worldly family.
~
Children are the seeds of our future. Plant
love in their hearts and water them with
wisdom and life’s lessons. When they
are grown, give them space to grow.
~
Avoid hurting the hearts of others.
The poison of your pain will return to you.
~
Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the
test of one’s will within this universe.
~
Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual
self, Emotional self, and Physical self – all need
to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out
the body to strengthen the mind. Grow
rich in spirit to cure emotional ails.
~
Make conscious decisions as to who
you will be and how you will react. Be
responsible for your own actions.
~
Respect the privacy and personal space of
others. Do not touch the personal property of
others – especially sacred and religious
objects. This is forbidden.
~
Be true to yourself first. You cannot
nurture and help others if you cannot
nurture and help yourself first.
~
Respect others religious beliefs.
Do not force your belief on others.
~
Share your good fortune with others.
Participate in charity.
_______
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Tags: America, American, American Indian, culture, dignity, earth, ethics, honor, human interest, Indigenous, indigenous people, love, Native American, nature, positive psychology, respect, social philosophy, spirituality
I worked with some counselors at an Indian Reservation treatment center- and these “virtues” (as I’ll call them) are alive and well. It’s interesting, that even the extremely ill clients (alcoholism) still feel and live these- to the best of their abilities.
if all people lived by these simple codes we would be so well off
Only they did not treat other “tribes” like this at all.They killed and fought with each other all the time.
How little you know the truth about these incredible people. The American Constitution was based on the teaching of one of the tribes. Western man has fought, massacred,, bullied and killed, plundered, raped and everything else. How on earth can you even make a comparison. We are still doing it.
Thank you for sharing this.
I have Blackfoot DNA from the Canada Tribe. Princess Running Deer was my “GG” Grandmother. This Native American Ethics reflects well.The human race is unable to live by those ethics. WAR is the answer even for the Natives when you are shit on from those with a lack of understanding life’s gift a.k.a. Mother Earth.
In answer to Billerubins response..not all people or nations can or have the the power of disipline to live this code at all times. It is a very personnel walk. We can all mouth the words, but to live the walk of the red road takes disipline and courage and we all fail in many different ways.The Bible teaches love, kindness and truth…but wars have been fought in the name of Christ which goes against the very teachings he taught.It is the EGO of Man that destroys and twists the truth of these teaching for his own greed and importance. Here is a story of the war between good and evil that may sum up what I am trying to say.
A little boy went to his Grandfather and asked why he did bad things to others when he knew it was wrong to do so. The Grandfather looked at the grandson and said “We are all born with two wolves in our hearts…one is a good wolf and wants all that is good and loving for himself and others,is always kind and truthful,the other wolf is angry,detructive and hates and is always finding ways to make hurt others. These wolves are at war all the time within our hearts.” The Grandson was silent for a second then asked his Grandfather.”What wolf will win the war, the bad wolf or the good one?” The Grandfather answered. “The one I feed the most, son.”
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Those words are true and very powerful and universal more than you may realize. We are not here to consume and find pleasure but to take pain away from the earth through our positive or loving thoughts, by our gossip-less and honorable speech, and by the helpful efforts of our bodies. The world is a direct reflection of our collective efforts, no more no less.
As a Native American Studies major, I love that these are posted, one thing did urke me a little. It was the fact that Native American people did not live up to these values because they fought and killed eachother all the time. Well, Native AMerican warfare was very different than its European counterparts. Native American warfare came with rules and regulations. A huge army did not invade a village, kill and rape everyone. NO. First arrangements were made, each side brought the same amount of people to the battle ground. rules were laid out. If they killed ten of yours last time, then it was ur goal to kill only ten of theirs, not decimate the population. After the battle was concluded, if captives could be caught then they would be, but only to replace the dead that you lost. When captives were brought the the tribe the old women had the choice of torturing the person to death, or adopting them into the family. Usually captives were adopted into the tribe, treated well and given full freedoms and citizenship. Native AMerican warfare was very different then European, they simply fought because they were long standing enemies, and to replenish themselves and avenge their dead ones. This code of ethics, though definately too vague, is a great way to start living a near life.
I’ve recently found my interest peaked by the Native American culture and the codes that they live by; this list confirms that they strive for authenticity in the society so often lacking in such a resource. Thank you for sharing…
Thank you for sharing this. It was heartfelt. I will share this with other friends to allow them to feel what I just felt when reading this.
dear sandy stewart,
thank you for your response to billerubins…it silenced my angry wolf
these are great i will print them out and put them on the fridge
good thoughts, good words, good deeds…
i think as our technology Advances, we need to advance our morals or we will end up killing ourselves. If you are still interested in evolution, morals and technology follow the link
http://tenmillionslaves.blogspot.com/2009/08/evolution-of-virtues.html
peace and joy fill thine heart children of THE GREAT SPIRIT
Thank you for sharing this with us we should all try to live with these Code Of Ethics and ba humbug to the comments that say its a pity that the Indians did not live by these let it go and just read the wonderful comments some people just don’t want to hear anything positive!
What is the source of this? When and where was it discovered. If it was written, what language was it written in?
Perhaps it is part of an oral tradition but it seems to be more of a modern American Buddhist philosophy passed off as American Indian tradition.
I like this list…
@Bradley Winchell there are no “princess’” in our culture…
[...] Native American Code Of Ethics [...]
Where is the part about the GOOD deeds/energy that are also multiplied and come back to you?
with the greatest respect to the “”north”" american Indian. I can’t quote because i don’t have the evidence in front of me.but they were not the indigenous people of “america” but rather an eastern nomadic people who settled in a new world discovered at the end of the ice age. the true peoples of america were either wiped out or bred into the new so called Indigenous peoples. America, If thats what you want to call it. was very much a lost land like Australia. the closest we get to seeing cavemen.It would be great if a renowned historian could put me right or put the record straight. put my mind at rest.! so i don’t always trust what i read. P.S. with the greatest respect all “american” indians.
once the true history of the American indian is fully established. we can then understand their ethics. And roots of reason.
They murdered,tortured and killed like any humans do.
Beautiful!
Thanks for sharing,
Carnival of Illusion
Arizona, USA
I truly love this. because it is so true and if people could just really uphold and follow this I believe the world will be a better place to live.
Actually, they were hardly cavemen – many of the nations were incredibly organized farming communtities with large trade networks stretching from coast to coast. The arival of the small pox virus decimated the population, even before the actual settlement of the europeans, as it traveled the country from the first explorers. A fascinating book to read: 1491:New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus. by charles Mann. Recommend it.
its a wonderful code of etics
and also pardon me for not getting some words right: in one paragraph it says: do not take what is not yours wether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture, etc.
well how is one supposed to eat, because food belongs to wilderness, so when you eat you have to take what is not yours, so i guess that can not be taken literally, or what do u think?
It means don’t take more than you need, just take what you need to survive. Otherwise your taking what does not belong to you.
To the writer of this blog, what a beautiful post! After reading the other comments, I agree that all human beings fail in being the best people they can be, even Native Peoples. We always try to live up to a higher standard though. And all faiths have many beliefs in common. Buddhist, Christian, First Nations, Muslim – all these hold their followers to a higher standard than “do what you want” and if you boil them down to core beliefs, they pretty much all have the same standards as what was shared above. Thank you for reminding me of this, Saved by Slow Death.
Thank you Sonia! I
Native American ethics? There is more that one Native experience. From which tribe/nation did these ethics come from?
I think the question was answered in the first paragraph of the post – you must have somehow missed it. It’s not a lesson in history because this is NOT a website about history and is only meant as inspiration.
thats FOOZY
I have to disagree with the poster on a couple of items. The Indians were not the first to occupy the US. They came after several other groups. Also, these groups weren’t the eco friendly people others try to portray. They wiped out many species. The Mammoth, the camel, and others. I can go to any religion and find these same, “Words of Wisdom”. But that doesn’t mean that all are peaceful, good people.
But having said all of that, it would be nice if we could all live by those words.
Apparently you didn’t read what I wrote Thos….I Never said they were the first, I said, “it was the Native Americans who lived on the American continents for a very long time.”
I also said, “Native Americans weren’t perfect.”
And at the very beginning I said, “I didn’t give any credit to where this list of ethics came from and am unsure of it’s accuracy.”
So I am unsure on exactly how you disagree with me.
GOD BLESS NATIVE AMERICANS!! Long live “The Rez”!
Astonishingly beautiful article thank you for sharing
I love this kind of stuff. Shared it with all my friends.
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i lov them … always loved them
[...] Native American Code of Ethics Interesting how this code of ethics matches up fairly well with Christianity, and with other peace-seeking religions as well. [...]
What a great read to start the day. If only those who control the world could understand these words of wisdom…..May We All live in peace…
Hi Darrin I love this! I am exploring your site more and more, and I really think it’s wonderful.
Rachel
Thank you Rachel. You inspired the post I have coming next week. Something you said made me think
Darrin you are so kind! I will be here reading!
Rachel
Just found your site through StumbleUpon. I’ll be back. This Code of Ethics is excellent. As some have said, it is the foundation of many faiths and philosophies. When ideas show up on many paths, you can bet they are Truth. The world would be better if all people practiced these daily! I will share them with my friends, for sure.