Abstract

In this dissertation I weave together my own personal story of reconnection and healing with my analysis of the need for reconnection and healing in the dominant Western worldview and way of life. The four sections follow the four-fold process of Dine healing: first, there is an awareness that an imbalance exists; secondly, the causes of the imbalance are identified and an appropriate healing ceremony is prescribed; third, the ceremony is held, which involves entering deeply into the origins and dynamics of the cosmic process in order to reconnect with the powerful forces of the universe; and fourth, there is a period of integration in which the patient absorbs his or her experience and reenters daily life as a changed person. ;The first section looks at the environmental, social, political, and psychological evidence of imbalance in the Western culture, including our addiction to consumerism and undifferentiated growth. ;The second section explores various theories of the underlying causes of the imbalance, especially Catherine Keller's work on the deep roots and consequences of patriarchy and Brian Swimme's identification of a rage against the human condition underlying our drive to transcendence. ;The third section describes Native American epistemology, ethics, and ways of raising children. The accepting way in which children are raised in iv Native American culture leads to a relational ego which can take in the cosmos in an intrasubjective way. The ceremonies then function to help people open up and reexperience their connection to the movements of the cosmos, including to the Earth as a nurturing mother. ;The fourth section compares certain ideas from complexity theory and Edgar Morin's complex thinking to Native American thought in ontology, ethics, and epistemology. Such theories can be doors through which modern Western people can begin to go beyond dualism in their thinking and return to a view of the cosmos as a place to be trusted. I also speculate about how the institutions of education and psychotherapy might be changed when allowed to grow out of a connection to the cosmos