Tiger and I are working on a joint presentation for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Annual National Conference in Denver, Colorado, September September 21-23. It is based on Tiger's Science Fair Project when he was 10. It is entitled , THE SACRED PIPE- A MODEL OF THE UNITY OF SCIENCE.
This how he explained this understanding when he was 10.
"The Sacred Pipe has many meanings. Some of the meanings are about the physical world, the world we can see and some are about the Spiritual World, the world we can't see. One of the important meanings of the Sacred Pipe is how everything is related to everything else, including all the branches of science.
The Stone Bowl represents our Mineral Relatives.
The Wooden Stem represents our Plant Relatives.
The Eagle Feather or animal designs on the Sacred Pipe represent our Animal Relatives.
When you put the Sacred Pipe together , the bowl the female and the stem representing the male, the and stand the Sacred Pipe, with the bowl upright,it represent a Human Being. We contain and are related to all Life.
The Sacred Pipe can also be utilized to understand the unity of all the branches of science. All the sciences can be organized within an integrative scheme of thought. For instance one of the Sciences devoted to the study of our mineral relatives is geology, our plant relatives-botany, our animal relatives-zoology and our human relatives-anthropology.
Everything within us and outside us can be progressively organized from ou Mineral Relatives, to our Plant Relatives, to our Animal Relatives and to our Human Relatives. Each of our Relatives has special Gifts and Powers. For instance, our Plants Relatives breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. Our Animal Relatives and Humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Each Relative is more complex and powerful than the Relative before it. For instance, plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. Animals and humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.
When we consider our Mineral Relatives, we find that they have the power of unity. Our Mineral Relatives unify all the other Relatives. Our Plant Relatives possess the qualities of the Mineral Relatives plus the power of growth. Our Animal Relatives possess the qualities of our Mineral and Plant Relatives, plus the power of the senses. The five senses of hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing and touching are not developed, yet, in our Mineral and Plant Relatives Likewise, the power of memory of our Animal Relatives does not exist in the same way as our Mineral and Plant Relatives.
Our Human Relatives have the power of unity, the power of growth, the power of the senses and memory and the power of rational thought, free will and the soul, that transcends time and space."
This is my brief reflection on THE SACRED PIPE- A MODEL OF THE UNITY OF SCIENCE.
Mato Gi, Brown Bear, Tiger Lane, Age 10, Ihanktowan Dakota, White Swan Oyate and Chickasaw Nation.