Mending the Sacred Hoop
By Little Bear and Hummux

Integrating the Theory of Process with Native American Mythology
In the beginning of time, Creator sat the children around in a circle on Mother Earth and told each race about its individual responsibilities and its roles in the great sacred hoop of life. The sacred teachings were divided into four equal parts and one given to each tribe. The four root races were then sent to the four directions, each given a special knowledge of creation.
The Yellow People were entrusted with Spirit and the element of fire.
The Black People were given Soul corresponding to the element of water.
The White People learned about the Mind and the element of air.
The Red People had Body and the element of earth.
Each race was therefore given a quarter of the whole truth of creation. But as time passed, they forgot that their knowledge was incomplete. Each thinking their knowledge was the whole truth; they began to quarrel with each other.
The White People were told that they had a special mission to counsel the other races and bring them all together. In three previous periods, a different race had been given this task, but they each abused their privilege and so the creator destroyed all the people with their own powers. Volcanoes destroyed the world during the period of fire. An ice age came and destroyed the world during the period of earth. The deluge came and destroyed the world during the period of water. and now this is the period of air.
The White People were told that knowledge of the Mind was very powerful and to be careful or this world would be destroyed by damage to the air. Unfortunately the White People forgot the Creator's warning and as they traveled the earth, instead of counseling with the other races and incorporating their quarter of the knowledge into the whole truth, they used the power of the mind to dominate the other races.
They went to the Yellow People and brought opium addiction to enslave them instead of learning about Spirit. They went to the Black People and put them in chains and made slaves of them instead of learning about Soul. When they came to America, they brought with them the Yellow People and the Black People as slaves as they began their conquest of the Red People. They did not attempt to learn about the Body and caretakership of the earth from the Red People, but rather attempted to destroy them. And sure enough, in our time, the destruction of forests which produce oxygen and habitat, the pollution from fossil fuels, and the chemical destruction of the oceans and the ozone layer all lead to destruction of this world by the contamination of the air -- the White People's own special expertise, represented by the Mind.
There are many native mandalas with varying degrees of correspondence with Arthur Young's Theory of process. The one we will discuss is this:
The people of the Mind believe their knowledge is all that is needed. So they destroy the Body of Mother Earth, and ignore Spirit and Soul altogether:
Addition by Lee Mason:
We can still mend the Sacred Hoop and help restore the world to balance, but we must become healthy ourselves, we must ensure that the younger generation is emotionally, spiritually, socially and physically healthy; we must focus great attention on helping our communities to become healthy in order to accomplish this great task, and we must teach with a kind and gentle heart, we must help our White brothers and sisters realize the importance of balancing Mind, Body, Spirit and Soul at the same time, and we must do this in a kind and gentle manner.