Ofelia Rivas to Offer Insight into Native American Worldview

By Syndie Eardly

For centuries, indigenous people throughout the world have lived in ways that maintain a balance between human beings and their relationship to the natural world and all creatures in it. In contrast, much of modern culture evolved into an anthropocentric view, a view which holds that humans are at the center of existence.

The anthropocentric viewpoint often ignored, dismissed or even attempted to obliterate the indigenous wisdom, disrupting the balance held as sacred in these communities. With the emergence of concerns about the environment, an appreciation for native perspectives has burgeoned around the world.

In response to this, Centering Space in Lakewood is offering a series of ZOOM conversations with Ofelia Rivas, founder of O'odham Rights Cultural and Environmental Justice Coalition and the O'odham VOICE Against the Wall. The four-part program, titled Renewing the Sacred Fire, will be held on four Thursdays, April 22, May 6, 13 and 20 via Zoom, from 7-8:30 each evening.

The conversations will be facilitated by Robert Toth, who served as Executive Director of the Merton Institute for Contemplative Living for 12 years. He is a founding member of the Contemplative Alliance and currently Board Chair of The Lake Erie Institute. Toth met Ofelia six years ago at a Contemplative Alliance meeting of Native American elders and since, she has been a source of indigenous wisdom.

Through sharing traditional stories and her life experience Rivas will interweave the central concepts and beliefs that form the foundation of a Native American worldview grounded in a relationship with Nature and a spirituality that recognizes the sacredness of all being.

“My people are the O’odham from the desert; O’odham means people,” said Rivas. “The O’odham oral history teaches us where and when we originated and how to live on the land and follow our way of life called the Him’dag.”

Historically, the O’odham inhabited an enormous area of land in the southwest, extending South to Sonora, Mexico, north to Central Arizona (just north of Phoenix, Arizona), west to the Gulf of California, and east to the San Pedro River. This land base was known as the Papagueria and it had been home to the O’odham for thousands of years.

From the early 18th Century through to the present, the O’odham land was occupied by foreign governments. With the independence of Republic of Mexico, O’odham fell under Mexican rule. Then, in 1853, through the Gadsden Purchase or Treaty of La Mesilla, O’odham land was divided almost in half, between the United States of America and Mexico.

Today, the O’odham continue to be involved in conversations about the further development of the wall between the U.S. and Mexico, due to the impact it has had on the natural environment of the O’odham lands.

“The traditional O´odham hold their alliance to Mother Earth,” Rivas noted. “No written documents are required. I carry the words from my traditional elders and ceremony leaders that call for solidarity to defend the sacred places of our people for our survival.”

As long ago as 1947 John Collier, Commissioner for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, recognized the importance of the wisdom offered by the indigenous people of North America.

“They had what the world has lost,” Collier wrote. “They have it now. What the world has lost, the world must have again. The deep cause of our world agony is that we have lost the passion and reverence for human personality, and for the web of life, and the earth which the American Indians have tended as central, sacred fire since before the Stone Age. Our long hope is to renew that sacred fire in us all.”

Forty-five years later, Ewert Cousins, theologian and scholar of world spirituality, wrote about his experience living with the Sioux on the Rosebud Reservation.

“I became increasingly aware of human values that the Indians preserved and that we had lost: their love of the land, their organic harmony with nature,” Cousins wrote. “As we look toward the 21st century with all of the ambiguities and perplexities we experience, Earth is our prophet, and the indigenous peoples are our teachers.”

The conversations with Ofelia Rivas are a continuation of a series offered at Centering Space in 2021, focusing on the spiritual systems and practices of a variety of belief systems throughout the world.

To learn more about Rivas’ presentation at Centering Space or to register, visit www.centeringspace.org.

About Centering Space

Centering Space is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, located in a spacious century home in Lakewood, Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie. The organization hosts weekly prayer, monthly meditation opportunities, retreats and a host of programs throughout the year focused on spirituality, mediation and prayer. Centering Space strives to enable ordinary people from any background to discover the presence of God in their lives through quiet attention to the voice of the Spirit. Visit us at 14812 Lake Ave., Lakewood, OH 44197. You can view our programs at www.centeringspace.org. For more information, contact us at (216) 228.7451.