The Original Instructions
What Is It?
The Original Instructions are “a constellation of teachings,” shared by the original peoples throughout the Great Lakes region of Turtle Island, aka “America.” They convey lessons on how humans can live ecologically, in and with the wider world, cultivating care, reciprocity, and abundance.
What Does it Do?
These teachings show us to see the world through the lens of ecological integrity, recognizing everything is a part of, entangled within, and made of everything else. That the shared condition of existence is one of “bodies within bodies, houses within houses”—a condition of kinship. As such, existence is endowed with inherent value and dignity.
How Can It Be Accessed?
Potowatomi scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer provided access to them through her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, a lightly woven bundle of stories heavy with wisdom. Toolshed presents Kimmerer’s book as a tool that opens up onto a world of tools. These tools take the form of encounters with common plants—including sweetgrass, pecans, strawberries, and aspens—our other-than-human companions on Earth. That Kimmerer makes these culturally specific instructions and lessons that fall out from them available to a broad audience raises questions about how culture is shared and assimilated versus appropriated.
