Table of Contents
Navajo Traditional Teachings presents a lesson about memory and duty. The teacher says each person is a sacred being, the offspring of holy people, and that a life came before this one. A Navajo term, heard here in more than one spoken form, is explained as a call to learn about that earlier existence. It is said to apply to all the people, and the teacher says English has no word that carries it correctly. Ceremony is mentioned only as part of the wider lesson. The language, the teacher says, is being lost, and children feel embarrassed and unhappy when they cannot speak it. Before birth, people are described as spirit beings who enter a cycle of becoming physical, with mind, feelings, and spirit. The teaching also links that earlier life with organizing the earth. Listeners are asked to remember where they came from. The teacher adds that someone may live a life that feels wholly personal, while a larger history is easy to mistake for a private story.
Key points
- The teacher says each person is a sacred being and the offspring of holy people.
- A Navajo term is taught as a call to learn about existence before this world, and English is said to lack an exact word.
- The teacher says the language is being lost and that children are unhappy when they cannot speak it.
- People are described as spirit beings who become physical, with mind, feelings, and spirit.
- The lesson asks listeners to remember where they came from rather than treating life as only a private story.
Short quotes
learn about our existence before we came into this world.
Navajo Traditional Teachings, Remembering a Life Before This World
He says the point of that teaching is to learn about a life before this one. Watch at 2:22
children are embarrassed and unhappy to not be able to speak it.
Navajo Traditional Teachings, Remembering a Life Before This World
He says children are ashamed when they cannot speak the language. Watch at 4:45
the previous world as a spirit being, you watch history unfolds
Navajo Traditional Teachings, Remembering a Life Before This World
In this teaching, a spirit in an earlier world watched history happen. Watch at 6:57
Video by Navajo Traditional Teachings. Watch on YouTube.