Challenge to Civilization: Indigenous Wisdom and the Future

by Blair Stonechild

Rediscovering, valuing, and embracing Indigenous spirituality and wisdom is critical for humanity to survive in the future.
 
Civilization is a western, Eurocentric construct borne from a distrust of nature, a desire to endlessly exploit it and profit from it. Despite being a relatively recent development, civilization's inherent logic has resulted in over-population, inequality, poverty, misery, war, and climate change and now threatens humanity's very survival. How can humanity expect to survive if it continues to look for solutions from the very structures and ideologies that have brought it to the brink of extinction?
 
In this final book of his trilogy, Dr. Blair Stonechild deftly illustrates how Indigenous spirituality, wisdom, and land-based knowledge is critical to human survival in the face of environmental destruction and human-induced climate change. Reinterpreting world history from an Indigenous perspective, Stonechild's solution to this unfolding catastrophe is "ecolization," a state in which humans recognize they are not the central purpose of creation and a way of existing harmoniously with the natural and spiritual worlds.
 
Beautifully written, urgent, and critical, Challenge to Civilization reminds us that it is not Earth that is in danger of extinction, but ourselves, and Indigenous spiritual wisdom can be the guiding light through what will otherwise be humanity's final, ever-darkening days.
 

Genres: Indigenous, Nonfiction

232 pages, Paperback

Published January 27, 2024

Reviews

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenge to Civilization: Indigenous Wisdom and the Future is the third book in my series on Indigenous spirituality. The Knowledge Seeker addressed the nature and viability of Indigenous beliefs, and Loss of Indigenous Eden examined how Indigenous sacred knowledge became oppressed, suppressed, and discounted. This book will demonstrate that Indigenous spirituality is not only still relevant but will be critical to human survival in terms of restoring balance with both natural and supernatural worlds.

Dr A. Blair Stonechild is a Cree-Saulteaux member of the Muscowpetung First Nation, professor of Indigenous Studies at First Nations University of Canada, a residential school survivor, and the author of several books on Indigenous history and spirituality. Stonechild’s Challenge to Civilization perfectly captures humanity’s current precarious position at the brink of self-destruction and makes the dual points that there was nothing inevitable about the rise of Western civilisation — one need only look to the Australian Aborigines’ sixty-thousand years of continual culture to recognise that a life lived in spiritual harmony with the environment is stable and indefinitely sustainable, whereas our six thousand year journey of greed and expansion since the first city at Ur has brought us to the point of collapse — and that it’s not too late to embrace the original, Indigenous practices that were once common to everyone on earth. I found quite a bit of this confronting, but mostly because I’m a product of Western culture and its education system; really thinking about what Stonechild has to say, it’s hard to find fault with his conclusions. Fascinating, mind-expanding read. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quotes may not be in their final forms.)

Civilization has waged a relentless and often violent campaign to colonize Indigenous Peoples emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Part of this campaign has been to portray Indigenous societies as proto-civilizations that would have eventually trodden the path of human self-centredness, greed, and destructiveness. As an alternative, I create the word “ecolization” — a state in which humans recognize that they are not the central purpose of creation, remain grateful for the opportunity to experience physical life, and continue to obey the Creator’s “original instructions”.

Stonechild describes his “ecolizations” as hunter-gatherer societies, in which people lived in harmony with nature, only taking what they needed from the commons, and making decisions through group consultation, meditation, and communication with the spiritual. If I had a complaint about this, it would be that he treats all communities outside of Western civilisation (including pre-colonised India and pre-Opium Wars China) as living this way — from the Aztecs, to the Celts, to anyone the Romans called “Barbarians'' — and I’m not sure that this is strictly true. On the other hand, there’s no denying that if Homo sapiens have been around for 600 000+ years, and it has only been since 1820 that “civilised” folks outnumbered the Indigenous around the world, the survival of our species did seem better guaranteed in pre-civilsed times. More than once, Stonechild takes issue with the Hobbesian “nasty, brutish, and short” denigration of a life lived in harmony with nature.

In mainstream education we are taught that archeologists, geneticists, and other scientists are convinced that life originated from some sort of biological soup. It is contended that we, as humans, are simply advanced apes — a sort of evolutionary accident. But such an account never existed among Indigenous Peoples. The theory of evolution has been around for less than 200 years, compared to Indigenous stories, such as humanity’s coming from the stars, that have existed for tens of thousands of years. So why are Indigenous stories not given more credence, or at least equal exposure to scientific accounts?

I did find this line of thought confronting — that evolution is a “theory”, no more valid as an explanation for the appearance of human consciousness than the Indigenous belief that we came from the stars (and again, is this a universal Indigenous belief?) — and while on the one hand I can feel defensive of the scientific tradition (in which I was raised and educated), on the other, I have to agree that science seems to be mostly in the service of extracting resources, expanding populations, and providing militaries with ever-deadlier weapons of mass destruction; what if we did all behave as though our purpose on earth was to learn through relationships without harm? (And speaking of science and those who thought of First Nations as “primitive” because they didn’t have Old World technology, Stonechild writes, “Indigenous Peoples, given tens of thousands of years of careful development guided by higher virtues, would have eventually discovered all of today’s sciences and technologies, and even more. However, these would have been acquired in a wisely considered way, and as such, would be safe and beneficial for future generations.” More to think on.)

The wetiko (greed-driven) cultures that are now in control of world affairs pretend to solve problems through a combination of rationalism, economic development, and military threat. Unfortunately, they lack spiritual authority and will never possess it until they reconcile with Indigenous Peoples and their ancient wisdom. Only a moral revolution can bring humanity back to its original path. What if we could redirect our intellectual, economic, and technological energies into healing Earth? This would lead us closer to a future that recognizes, celebrates, and honours the higher nature of our species.

Stonechild writes that even if we made the decision today to embrace Indigenous wisdom as a way to direct world affairs, it could take thousands of years to regain harmony and stability. He acknowledges that we’re not going to give up all of our comforts, but he’s not wrong that Western society is sick and pushing the planet to environmental ruin. Reading this book, and really taking the time to think about what he’s saying — dismissing the voice of rationality that says, “How? There’s no way. Others will always be greedy even if I’m not...” and embracing the spiritual voice that says, “You were not made to live like this...” — there’s something to Stonechild’s argument that feels satisfying and true. And yet the rational voice keeps popping up because that is what I’m steeped in. I know I’ll keep thinking on this and am enlarged for having read this.

[LeeAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author begins with this powerful statement: "This book questions the dominant narrative that civilization is in fact humanity's greatest achievement. I contend that it is not."

The heartbeat that pulses through this narrative stems from the pride of the Indigenous peoples whose stories are being told throughout. "Civilization eventually whittled away at these beliefs," the author writes, "surrendering to the Achilles heel of humanity - its tendency to place its own self-interest above that of the rest of creation."

Through the author's gravitas and focused research, as well as multiple cultures' knowledge and wisdom from around the globe, the reader is presented a vivid tapestry of life before - and beyond - civilization.

"Remember," the reader is told, "Indigenous Peoples regard their sacred duty as one of respect for creation and living in harmony. The action of placing humanity and its selfish interests above all else was a critical mistake."

Ultimately the author calls for global reform, and for the thoughtfulness of world-leading entities and individuals alike.

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The parts on Indigenous spirituality were excellent. The part favouring China may not be something I totally agree with (Uyghur persecution and the one-child policy and all). Some of the components circled a bit. Overall, I learned a lot about the Indigenous Worldview and learned some useful things to apply to my further research on Canadian environmentalism! I'll have to go back and brush up on the first two books in the series for sure.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a wonderful little primer on indigenous stewardship in the past and how indigenous thinking can improve our modern world. It is concise and easy to follow.

[Adam Fryatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interested in Indigenous Wisdom, Spirituality and looking for paths towards an alternative future to the one that seems to be confronting us this book is a good starting point. Ultimately it requires further exploration and investigation into other texts and books for a deeper understanding. If I had to guess I would say the book was written to be more accessible, because it could have expounded a lot of the ideas and claims with longer chapters and deeper explanations to some of the ideas.

One of the main sentiments is that indigenous beliefs and systems across the globe (not just in North America) were on a sustainable path of existence with a much longer continuum. This argument is evidenced by the fact that the indigenous way of existence was sustaining humanity for 190,000 years as 'ecolizations' rather than the current form of civilization that has been developing for only the last period of human existence and has put us on the brink of catastrophe. Reconnecting with a deep spirituality and living in line with the 7 Virtues (7 Grandfather Teachings of the Ojibway) that were meant to keep us on the path of Stewardship on behalf of the rest of existence are proposed as solutions towards a better future. It's a compelling thought, especially for anyone that already leans towards spirituality, cosmology, de-growth and a deep reverence for nature.

There were many thoughts and sentences that I highlighted that resonate deeply with me. I think it is definitely worth reading.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

extremely wild takes

[Diane Rembert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, although educational and very informative, was not what I expected at all.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well the book was very enlightening but I do think that the Europeans would have behaved exactly as they did whether they had the Vactian's involvement or not.