Reflections on Indigenous Peoples Day

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”

John Muir, Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness.

John Muir also wrote: “Into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul”.  He was born in Scotland but emigrated to the U.S. and was an early advocate of U.S. forest conservation, and who was largely responsible for the establishment of Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park. He and other conservationists founded the Sierra Club in 1892. His quotes were chosen for this post because of his commitment to the land, and the soulfulness that it inspires, supports, and encourages. His messages always pointed to the truth that the way out was the way in…that by respectfully, lovingly, intelligently exploring Creation in its natural beauty, a path emerges to truly discover our own true (inner) Nature.

Mr. Muir’s evocative travels and musings provided an alternative to the prevailing Manifest Destiny doctrines of the 19^th century that sought to extend colonial (and American) sovereignty. That century was a century of a continuous land-grab. First the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, doubling our size, followed with: the  Texas Annexation, the Oregon expansion, the states ceded under the Mexican-American War (California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico), and ending with Alaska and Hawaii as territories. The idea that “land”, and Nature, could not owned, bought, or acquired was truly a novel idea. It is also a very old idea, a way of living that has been the way for countless generations of indigenous peoples everywhere, for millennia. It could rightfully argued that it is an approach older than civilization, and a philosophy intuitively understood by people everywhere. In some part of our souls, we are ALL “Indigenous”, but some of us have forgotten, and others have chosen to remember.

The idea for a special day honoring Indigenous people originated in the UN in 1987 during a conference on discrimination against indigenous peoples in the Americas. Fifty years later, eleven states recognize the October 12^th time as a time to remember and honor Indigenous People, and 10 others have other days set aside for the same purpose.

We are often called a nation of immigrants, but we often forget that there were millions of people here before the first white arrivals. It is estimated that there were 50-100 million people in all of the Americas before the voyages of Columbus. (There are no hard facts). That is roughly the equivalent to the populations of Europe. When we attempt honor those who lived on these lands, we are forced to deal with our relationship with what is at the heart of being “indigenous”- or relation to the land, our connection to Mother Nature.

I live in Massachusetts, in a state attempting to come to terms with its own troubled history and interactions with those who lived here for thousands of years. On October 4, 2026, the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans concluded their historic Second Annual Homelands PowWow. Subtitled “Tending the Fire,” the two-day event took place over the weekend of October 3–4, 2026, on the campus of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. The theme of “Tending the Fire” represents the ongoing community effort, care and commitment required to sustain the cultural ties rekindled during the inaugural 2025 powwow. After being forcibly displaced to Wisconsin in the late 18^th century, over 160 Stockbridge Munsee tribal members made the journey back east for the gathering, making it the largest assembly of Mohican people in their original homelands since 1786. A step in the right direction.

How can we, wherever we find ourselves, honor these ancestors from a different mother. For me, one of the most effective ways is to bring into my HeartMind their philosophies. It means following the path of John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt, and innumerable others seeking to reestablish their (inner) relationship with Creation. I am of a partially Irish background and that heritage is (loudly) “indigenous”. If we dig beneath virtually all of Western culture and groups, there is an indigenous soul still there. Hidden perhaps. Paved over with a parking lot, perhaps. But still there. Perhaps 100 feet in Manhattan, but still breathing.

Fredrick Law Olmstead was a 19^th century landscape architect, famously known for his work in designing Central Park of NY City, as well as Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Less known is his considerable conservation work at preserving Yosemite Valley and Niagara Falls. There are many ways to celebrate our natural world, and many ways to participate in its glory. If you live in a city or other urban area, take the time to wander in a park. Find a tree somewhere, perhaps a rock that calls to you. Talk to it, listen, and learn to breathe with your totem.

I live in a more rural environment and have endeavored to create a small area that could be called a Sanctuary…one dedicated to the Mother. I walk the land and invite others to do so with (self)awareness, humility, respect and love. What we bring to the land is returned many fold in Her offerings. Find a tree and let it be your Teacher, your Guru. Sit on a rock and feel the understanding underneath. Mostly learn to breathe and learn to receive. Her gifts are boundless and the education is (almost) free. The only cost is the giving up of the acquisitive, possessive attitude that has long separated us from our indigenous friends and fellow humans. If we are to make peace with them, and with our heritage, we must first make peace with Nature. Go find yourself your outer healing spaces, so that you find true inner peace.