This tread is about my contemporary, Thomas Merton influenced, youth of the 1960s counter-cultural mission and [associated] international geographic site name-changing movement. In Minnesota, "the land of ten thousand lakes", there is a large and beautiful lake named Mille Lacs. Its outlet river is named Rum. The “Sioux”, or Dakota Indian, name for the Rum River is Wakan, which is translated as Spirit or Great Spirit. According to historical documents found in, "Minnesota Geographic Names", a book written by Warren Upham, and published by the Minnesota Historical Society... in the late 1700s, white men gave the Rum River its current name by way of a "punning translation" that "perverted the ancient Sioux name Wakan". I became aware of this profanation of the sacred Dakota name for the “Rum River” some twenty five years ago. And then 10 years ago I established a movement to change the river's profane name. When I discovered this profanation of the sacred Dakota name Wakan, I was participating in a - worldview around the word wakan - movement. (The word wakan sometimes translates as sacred or holy) This movement originated as a part of the 1960s youth counter-cultural revolution. A revolution with a mission to establish a single united global culture, a culture made up of the best of the past of all the worlds’ different peoples’ cultures and traditions. A culture wherein, we hoped, all of humanity would eventually be united. This movement was founded on lyrics in the Beatles' song Imagine: "hope you join us and the world will be as one". And this movement is still active. Near Summertown, Tennessee, there is a 250-member and very successful youth of the 1960s counter-cultural commune with a - worldview around the word wakan - hippie visionary mission. Its founder and leader [Stephen Gaskin] is internationally known and his commune has gained national recognition as a creditable environmental organization. The "Sioux" are used to portray all Native tribes in Hollywood, anyone wanting to see a "real Indian" wants to see a war bonnet and a tipi. Therefore, I believe that the world psychic views all Natives as “Sioux”; and that when people watch the traditional Hollywood movies about Natives they often hear the "Sioux" using the word wakan [sacred], or the combined words Wakan-Tonka [Spirit-Great]. Hence, a lot of people believe that the word wakan and the name Wakan-Tonka are used by all Native tribes. Stephen Gaskin once wrote: "The word wakan has a strong and universal concept and people all around the world know something about it." Because the members of my organization believe that Native culture has the most valuable features of all cultures, features such as kinship tribalism, an ecological spirituality, a charismatic spirituality...etc., and also because we have therefore made it the predominant culture of our globalization movement, we therefore describe our movement as a - worldview around the word wakan - movement. And it is by way of our Rum River name-change movement that we are promoting respect for traditional Native culture and spirituality. And we are doing so by showing respect for the sacred Native word wakan as well as the sacred Native name Wakan. The Tekakwitha Conference is an international Catholic Native conference that represents many tribes throughout North America. And at the 1983 annual Tekakwitha Conference, a conference that I attended, a missionary Priest addressed the conference and said: "There is a whole worldview behind the word wakan". And during the 1983 conference I was interviewed by Matthew Fox. At the time Fox was the international leader of the Catholic Church's single united global culture movement. And at the beginning of the interview, Fox told me that Thomas Merton had asked him to reach out to the youth of the 1960s counter cultural revolution with the intent to help them find the truth and live holy lives. And then Fox asked me, a hippie counter cultural revolutionary, what I thought about this connection with Thomas Merton. I responded by telling him about my - strongly influenced by Merton - worldview around the word wakan - hippie counter-cultural mission. And near the end of the interview Fox ask me to keep in touch with him, so as to keep him informed about the progress of my mission. And just recently Fox, emailed me to give his support for the effort to change the profane Rum River name. And during the 1984 Mr. & Mrs. I. C. Rainbow family reunion my uncle Don Rainbow addressed the seventeen families gathered at that Rainbow family reunion and said: " A Rainbow is a sign of God's salvation plan and I believe that we may be used to glorify God more than any other family in the world." He made this very grandiose statement after I spoke to him about my vision of our family coming together in kinship tribalism in order to promote the tribal way and to also promote my expression of the counter-culture's - worldview around the word wakan - mission. Years later I met and became friends with Chris McCloud, an internationally renowned song writer who in the 1960s socialized with Paul McCarthy and other internationally known counter cultural leaders. When McCloud was socializing with McCarthy he was of the, strongly influenced by Thomas Merton, Catholic expression of the counter culture's world unifying globalization movement, and he is still of the Catholic expression to this present day. In the 1960s, I met and became friends with Richard Carter. Carter was a San Francisco Bay area leader of the counter-cultural revolution and he occasionally met with Stephen Gaskin. When Gaskin and his commune moved to Summertown Tennessee, Carter his wife [Lois] and myself traveled to Wahkon, Minnesota. Currently, Carter is an internationally renowned environmentalist. And the headquarters of the Rum River name-change movement are now located in Wahkon. Wahkon is a different spelling of the name Wakan. These mentioned above experiences inspired me to increase my dedication to my mission of promoting my expression of the counter-culture's worldview movement around the word wakan, and to do so, by showing respect for the Native word wakan. And in order to show due respect for the sacred Native word wakan, I, as previously mentioned, established a movement to change the profane name of the Rum River. My organization’s efforts to change the river's name has received support from a very long list of organizations and individuals. Some of them include: a Mdewakanton Dakota Community, a Mdewakanton Dakota organization, Cankdeska Cikana Community College, Tekakwitha Conference (an international Catholic Native organization), the UN Secretariat of the Permanent Forum On Indigenous Issues, the National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans, Joe Day (Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council), Russell Means (internationally renowned American Indian activist), Pat Albers (Chair of the University of Minnesota's American Indian Studies Department), Archbishop Harry Flynn (of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul), American Indian Cultural Research Center at South Dakota's Blue Cloud Abbey, the University Creation Spirituality, Pax Christi USA, and many other human rights organizations, internationally renown Native activists, historic preservationists as well as thirty pastors of Christian churches located within the "Rum" River area. For more information about the Rum River name-change movement click http://www.towahkon.org Click the following link to read more information about the - worldview around the word wakan - hippie counter-cultural movement. http://www.towahkon.org/links.html
As early as next week we will be hitting the streets of San Francisco to spread the word. Within the month we will be covering Berkeley. Within the next 6 mo. we are expecting to have support of most of the west coast. You are encouraged to raise awareness among your community! remember to let people know that if they hate the war they are one of us even if they dont join. the one rule we have is BE LOUD, MAKE THE VOICES OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HEARD Be happy, spread the peace! love creates confusion, confusion brings peace. we are not religious, we are not politically biased we are a new century, with a new war! the people are fucking pissed, but thats ok, show your anger through love, music, community, and arts The Festival of Life. Unity of the people Fuck the war. there is a link to the first resurrections of it in my sig. tell everyone you know, bring your family, bring your friends, bring love! The event page for the first meeting!
Wow Wahkon, thats so cool I have Native American blood myself, so this really is interesting to me I'm definitely going to look more into it! p.s - I'm sure you meant to put this, but Imagine was a John Lennon song, he was no longer with The Beatles when he wrote it.
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