As some of my western journeys brought me into contact with the culture and religious sensibilities of Native Americans, I had much occasion to consider the contributions that the American Indian perspective can make to our own.  I do not think I need to remind anyone of how white America has abused, terribly, its Native counterparts, and how even today far too many Indians continue to eke out battered and forgotten lives in the hinterlands of one of the richest nations on the planet.  This is tragic in many ways, of course, but one denouement of particular note is that many of us have missed what the Indians have to say about social and ecological harmony.
     Whereas many Westerners tend to view the world in black and white terms, that is, it is humanity against the rest of the creation, and to believe that, under the spell of centuries of misconstrued religious fervor, they are destined to dominate all things, the Native Americans view life very differently.  Rather than seek domination, the Indians seek harmony.  Rather than strive to divide, Indians pursue comity.  A Lakota phrase, wolakota, puts this well.  It means, "to ensure the harmony of all things."
     Would that we all would take this to heart.  Whether or not we believe that God created the world, we should understand that we did not decide to put ourselves here, nor did we have anything to do with why anything else is here.  We are recipients of the gift of life as much as any other living thing.  Indian or not, we all live in a world we did not make.  For this reason, Indian or not, we do well to live not to grasp, but to let go, to treasure, not exploit the world, and to nourish, not abuse the planet:  to seek harmony and peace, with ourselves and every other living thing. 
     After all, that's the essence of being whole:  acknowledging and learning from the fullness of reality.  We'll never find who we are if we are constantly ignoring that from which we have come.  And we'll never achieve inner peace and outward harmony if we continually denigrate the total web of life that sustains us all.
     Also, we'll never know what is possible unless we admit that we are not possibility's end.  It's hard to find meaning if we are always running from it.
     So does Jesus say in John 3 that unless a person is "born again" (that is, willing to let go of the idea that she is the end and formulator of all things), she will not see (experience) the kingdom of God?