Innate Knowledge

Inside every human being is the innate knowledge of its own well being­­knowledge of how to be a well human being. You inherently know what to do. The only thing remaining is choice…

Innate Knowledge
When we take a look at ourselves we'll find what brings wellness
From a talk by Don Coyhis

God made the universe in a way that didn't leave things to be a secret. Everything is either in harmony or out of harmony with the principles laws and values of natural law. For example, inside a salmon he wrote a blueprint. Every salmon knows how to be a good salmon. The salmon will not try to fly or wish it could be like a deer. A salmon will do things that salmons do. Inside of every bear is something that tells it how to lick her cub, how to handle it, and other information to be a good bear. The tree has all the

information inside it to be a good tree. They know how to be trees naturally.

Inside every human being is the innate knowledge of your own well being­­knowledge of how to be a well human being. You inherently know what to do. The only thing remaining is choice. Inside every young girl or boy is the innate knowledge of their own well being. That's where conscience comes from­­knowing right from wrong. If you are about to do something you know is not right, who are you arguing with? What generates that little voice? There is innate knowledge of our own well being, which is very, very powerful.

Inside every Circle that we gather within is the innate knowledge of its own well being as a Circle of people. Inside every tribe is the innate knowledge of the tribe's own well being. The Navajos' innate knowledge of well being is different than the Woodland people's innate knowledge of their own well being. As facilitators of healing and wellness Circles, your job is to trust that and to get participants to look there. Once you look inside yourself, then that innate knowledge comes up.

It's so simple, but we are not taught to look at what we already know. We are taught to blame. We say it's somebody's fault, or I was raised like this or that. This is the reason why we do mind maps as a central part of all our healing work in the many White Bison programs we offer. For example, we don't tell a person what respect is, we ask them what respect is to them. You might not understand the idea of innate knowledge, but when it comes out in a mind map it is true and it is good. When it comes directly from the people in the Circle then they've touched their own innate knowledge even without calling it that. Innate knowledge is not in a person's belief system. Things beyond our usual belief systems come out in the making of the mind maps that we do in our healing programs. What we learn about ourselves there eventually turns into healthy beliefs. When those beliefs are beliefs that are in harmony with the natural principles, laws and values, then the cocoon of safety and protection for a person gets re established.

As an example of this, suppose you have a museum that has a long hallway. On the left hand side of the hallway is a line of glass cases that portrays the story of your life. In the first display case is your life from birth to age four. There are your baby shoes, and your toys, and the gifts you were given at your naming ceremony. The next case tells the story of the next part of your life. Your family traveled here and there and you lived in all these places. Then there is a display case for your teen-aged years, including all the memorabilia of high school as well as the crazy or wonderful things you did. Just as in all the other display cases, there are spotlights highlighting all the things you did––your boyfriends and girlfriends, and so on. In the next case is marriage, your own children, maybe a divorce. There are more cases as you walk down the corridor

You know what you are seeing in those display cases very well because you lived the things that are highlighted, you lived all the signs and events that are spotlighted. But at the end of the line of cases there are a couple of empty spots to be filled in because you haven't lived them yet. So stay tuned, you will add more to your museum.

Down the other side of the hallway, opposite the display cases, is just a blank wall that seems to have nothing on it––except every once in a while, if you look real hard you can see a little peep hole. The peep holes are not even labeled or marked. One day, after avoiding them for a long time, your curiosity gets the better of you and you decide to take a look into one of the peep holes. And when you do, you are totally amazed.

Looking through that peep hole you see incredible stuff. What you see there tells you who you really are. You learn about God, the available, abundant system we live under, and you see the principles, laws and values of natural law shown in such a clear way.

When you turn back to face the hallway and the many display cases that tell your story of life, you are shocked to realize that for all those years you never knew the peep holes were there. You glance down the corridor from where you came and notice that there are peep holes opposite every display case from your past. But you can see that they are not labeled. You never took a look into any of them. Now you stand at the peep hole that you did look into and you know that one brief look into the peep hole, that one microsecond of looking in, has changed your life––and it will never be the same again.

Lets take a look at how we are conditioned. We are attracted to all the drama and stuff that makes up all those display cases. For example, during the course of a day, no matter what you are doing––having conversations, driving down the road, in the airport, and so on––ninety-five percent of all self-talk is not about what's going on, it's about the past. We are always referring back to our story of life, as told by the scenes in the display cases. No one is paying attention to what is going on now. We prefer to go back and dig up our life history, applying our life history to current moments. Ninety-five percent of our thoughts are based on past and previously recorded information. They are not focused on what is really going on now. It's all about the museum and its display cases. If somebody says something, you go to the wall with the display cases and say, "Well I did that, see? See that sign? I did the identical same thing." Ninety-five percent of a normal conversation lacks awareness of the present. It's all about the past. The peep hole brings us to right now––but we don't know it's there, or we choose not to look into it.

Some of the past that we refer to is angry past, and some is fear past. It's what took place in one of those display cases. But the opportunity is glaring right in front of you. You have the potential and the ability to be in harmony with God's will. But you say, "No, let me go back to that case over there. I can't look into the peep hole, I can't do it." Some die that way.

It may be a matter of taking somebody aside and saying, "Look, I want to tell you about this other wall. There's a little peep hole there. Just peek into it one time." Maybe you don't want to this week, or this month, or maybe you have to be sick and tired of being sick and tired first. But when you do look in there, when you look inside of yourself, how God has made you––that you're a loving, powerful woman, or a clear, balanced man––you will see that this line of cases on the other wall is a lie. When you look inside you, you will start to discover the truth.

Isn't that what the 12 Steps do for us? Step 1 asks you look into your display cases very honestly. "I admitted that I was powerless over my dysfunctional behavior––that my life had become unmanageable." You know what you see there is unhappy, unproductive and unmanageable. Then the Step process has you go peek into the peep hole. I came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity... says one of the Steps. Ohhhhh! You say. It hits you––check it out! That's what happens when you look into the peep hole

The Elders say we are coming into a time of the feminine. This is not like coming from the industrial age to the information age. It doesn't have to be created because it already exists. The web of the feminine is already here. It's a matter of somebody saying, "Look in the peep hole." Perhaps ten years ago nobody would know what you are talking about. But people will go look there now because it's a new world. Our women's focus on Hoop Journey 3 that we took in 2002 is exactly about this. We've entered the time of the feminine.

The reason we chose to Journey in the West instead of the East for Hoop Journey 3, focusing on Native American women and children is this: In some of our ceremonies the woman's back is to the west––she faces the east. The man's back is to the east, he faces the west. She always sees first. She knows when the sun comes up. If a man stands facing the east, he will have that perspective, but that's typically not the stance most of us take. The Elders have also said that our communities will heal in proportion to how our women heal. It can never go any faster than that. This is female knowledge that women already know. That female intuition is already inside women.

Here is a little exercise you can try right now. Point to yourself. Just hold up your finger and point to yourself. Where did you point? You'll probably notice that you pointed to your heart area. You probably didn't point to your head or to your arm or leg. Why? Because that's where it's written. People have a knowing about where they really are.

Our programs at White Bison (for example, Daughters of Tradition, Sons of Tradition, and the Medicine Wheel and the 12 Steps) are designed to activate this innate knowledge. The programs are not hard to facilitate because each individual has innate knowledge of their own well being––it just has to be drawn out. The mind mapping process that we do as part of all our programs helps bring this out. The mind map is a process of getting at the innate knowledge. You don't have to call it "innate knowledge," but that's what comes out when the Circle does a mind mapping session.

We say that inside every human being is the innate knowledge of its own well being. There is knowledge of a natural order that is in alignment with this innate knowledge. How does it work? If our lives are unmanageable, we know it because we are looking at the results we are getting in our lives. But those results are caused by some action that you did. Those actions had to be created very specifically by a certain number of thoughts. You can't keep thinking what you are thinking and doing what you are doing and expect different results.

Thinking comes from ourselves as human beings, but the human being is motivated by the will. He or she has to be willing to change or willing not to change. But where does the will come from? It comes from the spirit and intent. The spirit and intent is the culture––for example, the principles, laws and values, such as trust, respect, honesty, commitment, and other positive values that are part of our cultures. If you want to be like the values contained in the spirit of our cultures, then your thinking will change, your actions will change, and the results of your lives will change. As you change your thinking in this process, the cocoon of safety, well being and protection begins to form around you.

A second natural order contained in this path of events is this: thinking creates actions, actions repeated create habits, habits build character, and character gives you your destiny, or the direction in which life takes you. Our White Bison programs are about character building. They are not particularly about getting a degree or making money, not about success or power, but about building your character.

This is a natural order created by natural law, and the natural law itself gives you the consequences. So, for example, if you lie you will experience the consequences. If you tell the truth you will experience the consequences. If somebody tells me the truth, I develop high trust for that person––that's the consequence. The consequence of truth in a relationship is high trust. But if someone lies a lot, I develop mistrust for them. We begin to align to this natural order of being as we start living from our innate knowledge.

We talk about innate knowledge because sometimes pointing out the existence of something to a person, even if they are not ready to go there, is a statement of hope. By talking about this you'll be informed that there is a place to go when you are ready. It's never too early to be told. It’s like you are planting a seed.

There is so much hope in all this. Maybe it's not easy, but there is hope to help Native communities, white communities, black communities, and yellow communities––all the people of planet earth. You don't necessarily have to work this like a 12 Step program; but there is hope to realize that the peep hole is there and all you have to do is look through it. No matter how you come on it, it is easily grasped. You don't have to be a 12 Step person in recovery from alcohol or drugs. All you have to do is look through the peep hole into yourself––look into that peep hole of hope.

Don Coyhis, Mohican Nation, is Founder and President of White Bison, Inc.

Mind Maps from the Free Spirits Circles of Recovery Group in Louisville, KY. Making mind maps is a way to discover the innate knowledge of individuals or groups.