Ronnie Pontiac

“Tom found the local tribes gentle and considerate. He hoped to bring a better life to them, and he would certainly be more tolerant than the Pilgrims who saw the tribes as devil-possessed, barely human creatures. Tom wanted to understand Indigenous culture. He learned the language and believed that some words had the same pronunciation and meaning as their Greek or Latin equivalents, which led him to suggest that the tribes were descendants of ancient Troy. He insisted he didn’t trade them guns and metal knives only for profit; he wanted to help them defend themselves from stronger tribes invading to take their lands. He listened to their gossip and their dreams. Most English thought it ironic that the tribes lived a life of what Europeans thought was poverty amid the abundance of the New World. But Tom, who could not resist imagining all the ways the abundance could be exploited, nevertheless understood that Indigenous people were not to be dismissed, as John Locke dismissed them, for “wasting” the natural resources of the New World. He understood their contentment living simple lives in harmony with nature. He even wondered if the tribal lifestyle made the European idea of wealth wrong. What good were piles of possessions that required constant protection? The tribes lived without want, in communities of mutual trust. Could that be the true definition of wealth?”
― Ronnie Pontiac, American Metaphysical Religion: Esoteric and Mystical Traditions of the New World