Manual for the Peacemaker: An Iroquois Legend to Heal Self and Society

by Jean Houston, Jean Houston

A thrilling retelling by master storyteller Jean Houston of the legendary exploits of the founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, known as the Peacemaker. Under his leadership they created a peaceful democracy among five tribes of Native peoples in the northeastern woodlands. This story has inspired American leaders from Benjamin Franklin to the present-day occupants of the White House, and is shown by Houston to be a potent guide to personal transformation and to the visioning of a peaceful world. Jean draws from the experiential workshops she leads, with the help of Margaret (Peggy) Rubin, to guide readers through group or individual exercises that "bring the story home."

Genres: Spirituality

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Jean Houston, PhD, is a renowned teacher, philosopher, and scholar and was one of the creators of the human potential movement. With a remarkable list of colleagues and mentors that includes Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, Helen Keller, and Buckmister Fuller, Houston shares her profound wisdom through engaging, firsthand accounts. With PhDs in both psychology and spirituality, Houston has worked in the field of social artistry and in over 100 countries and 40 cultures. As a consultant to the United Nations and other international agencies, she has created many programs offering training and solutions to cultural and social problems. She has written several dozen books, won numerous awards, and has been a professor at universities in the United States.

Reviews

[Michelle Boyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cultural appropriation at its finest: Pick an indigenous culture, any one really, and then steal pieces of its oral tradition, ceremony, language, practices, arts, etc, and then just re-market them in a self-help book. Holy shit this book is TERRIBLE and WRONG in so many ways.

Here are some famous lines from the author:

Given this, we find ourselves on the horns of an agonizing dilemma: to deliver this message is to write about a story that is not "ours," that will be said to have been "stolen" from the very people we wish to honor, and to commit again an act that will be construed as everything from political incorrectness at the least, to another appropriation of the cherished and precious material belonging to a population which we have done our best to destroy.

That view acknowledged, we say also that Deganawidah and Hiawatha are models stringently needed today, and if the news of their work can be spread even a little more widely through this book, then that is reason enough for this book to be written. (pg. xxv)

Let me just rephrase this for you, making it simple: We know we're stealing and appropriating but we're going to do it because we know this book will sell.

With this kind of crap statement in the introduction I'm not sure what I was expecting. But it does not get better. Throughout the book you are told one version of a Hiawatha story, are then 'taught' how to cleanse yourself using 'Native ceremonies' -- and for those of you that feel crafty, they will even teach you how to bead a peace belt. And you can drum. I believe their quote is actually: "Do Native American crafts, work with shells and beads, carve images in wood and, above all, drum" (pg. xix).

I am amazed that this garbage was published. But because it is about "spiritual healing" and "self healing" it seems anything can be repackaged and sold. Shame, shame on the publisher that picked this up. And really, the author is absolutely confused. You cannot teach Native ceremonies, making them up and randomly selecting 'guides' from groups you put together, and you are a thief. Cultural appropriate is NOT okay.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Manual for the Peacemaker: An Iroquois Legend to Heal Self and Society (Paperback)
by Jean Houston

Contains extensive footnotes.

[Robin Reichert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creative way to help you look into yourself by Jean's telling of the Native American Iroquois story of the Peacemaker and relating how the story brings messages of healing and restoration. I have many book marks and highlights in this one!

[Flower]

found on my bookshelf