Live Life the Best You Can

FOUR ARROWS, aka DON TRENT JACOBS, Ph.D., Ed.D., is the author of numerous books, peerreviewed articles, and chapters on applications of the Indigenous Worldview as a proven solution to our existential world problems. Former Director of Education at Oglala, Lakota College, and currently professor at the School of Educational Leadership for Change at Fielding Graduate University, his academic work, spiritual life, and social/ecological justice activism have received international recognition. In part 3 of this series, he speaks with JUDITH NELSON from the Heartfulness Institute about how to work with worldviews and be the best person you can be.

- DON TRENT JACOBS

Q: You've spoken already about indigenizing our systems, but can you talk a bit about how to do that?

I believe that the Indigenous and Dominant worldview reflections can be taught along with the CAT-FAWN methodology. CAT stands for Concentration Activated Transformation. You can think of it as self-hypnosis or spontaneous hypnosis. FAWN is Fear, Authority, Words, and Nature. All we have to do is say, “Okay, we've got this challenge, whatever it is – making money, stopping pollution, or whatever it is. Let's use CATFAWN to get in touch with our world."

We start with CAT Concentration Activated Transformation. All right, what do we know? What are our assumptions, and are those assumptions true? Where do they come from? Most of our assumptions about life come from early childhood, but there are also things that have been taught by the authorities during times of fear. During times of stress, all creatures become hyper suggestible to the communication of a perceived a authority figure.

So, we look at meta-cognition. “What am I thinking about thinking? What is the source of this?” And, if necessary, we think about how that idea came to us and why we believe it.

We hold on to that CAT idea, and now we go to FAWN and we start with Fear. What are we afraid of? How does fear - in any of its forms, from apprehension to paranoia – influence what we're doing, what we're deciding?

In the Dominant Worldview, fear is to be avoided. We don't like it; we don't like the taste or smell of it. In the Indigenous Worldview, once the fight-or-flight mechanism of fear is over, it becomes an opportunity to practice a virtue - - patience, courage, generosity, fortitude, humility, honesty, persistence - the great universal virtues. Fear is an opportunity to practice those things.