You don't have to be white to have a white
mind. What is a white mind? As Anne Wilson Schaef
learned during her travels throughout the world among
Native Peoples, anyone raised in modern Western society
or by Western culture can have a white mind. White minds
are trapped in a closed system of thinking that sees
life in black and white, either/or terms; they are
hierarchical and mechanistic; they see nature as a force
to be tamed and people as objects to be controlled with
no regard for the future. This worldview is not
shared by most Native Peoples, and in this provocative
book, Anne Wilson Schaef shares the richness poured out
to her by Native Americans, Aborigines, Africans,
Maoris, and others. In the words of Native Peoples
themselves, we come to understand Native ideas about our
earth, spirituality, family, work, loneliness, and
change. For in every area of our lives we have the
capacity to transcend our white minds--we simply need to
listen with open hearts and open minds to other voices,
other perceptions, other cultures. Anne Wilson Schaef
often heard Elders from a wide variety of Native Peoples
say, "Our legends tell us that a time will come when our
wisdom and way of living will be necessary to save the
planet, and that time is now." Anyone ready to move from
feeling separate to a profound sense of connectedness,
from the personal to the global, will find the path in
this mind-expanding, deeply spiritual book.
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