“There are things in this world that we need to have to survive and there are things in this world because we want them,” says Tiokasin. “We are going to have to relearn the difference. We are going to have to learn to take only what we need even if it means that we have to give up the excess of what we want and we can’t give too much to a way of life that’s not conducive to living with Earth.”

“Take a little time and acknowledge relationship and the action and the consciousness of it,” says Tiokasin. “We become comfortable when we are acknowledging relationship to not just humans but all those things that are not human — because just because they are not human doesn’t mean they don’t have consciousness or feelings the way we do. We are given this way of feeling and understanding as much as we can, how to survive, but there is something beyond just existing. Starting to live with the acknowledgement of what we are relating to.”

“John talks about taking time because the ‘enemy’ has come into us but it’s not an enemy in a military sense; he’s talking about what we hold inside and what we need to think about what we can do and can’t do with life and the treatment of other human beings and how we treat relationship, “says Tiokasin. “The enemy exploits the ego, exploits our needs and our wants. If we don’t understand the ego it works on us in a narcissistic way — it’s all about the self only which isolates us until we feel like we’re just an island in a storm. Many people feel this way today. This is a misunderstanding of what it means to have the enemy inside us. And if that’s true, then there’s no acknowledging the relationship and even the understanding that we could be getting when we learn how to relate to that understanding which gives us wisdom and what to do about it rather than react to it in the old standardized binary way of thinking.”

“Now is the chance to relearn the difference between needing and wanting; we have to learn to take only what we need not what we want,” says Tiokasin. “We can’t give too much to what we want because then we’ll forget what we only need. Earth gives us what we need. And that means learning to understand our relationship conducively to living with Earth.”

Production Credits:

Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Lakota), Host and Executive Producer

Liz Hill (Red Lake Ojibwe), Producer

Orlando DuPont, Studio Engineer, Radio Kingston

Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Audio Editor

Kevin Richardson, Podcast Editor

Music Selections:

1. Song Title: Tahi Roots Mix (First Voices Radio Theme Song)

Artist: Moana and the Moa Hunters

Album: Tahi (1993)

Label: Southside Records (Australia and New Zealand)

2. Song Title: World Spirit

Artist: Gregg Kofi Brown and Friends

Album: Together as One (2006)

Label: Wrasse Records, Ltd.

3. Song Title: We Are The People

Artist: Empire of the Sun

Album: Walking on a Dream (2008)

Label: Capitol Records

4. Song Title: On the Turning Away

Artist: Pink Floyd

Album: A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987)

Label: Columbia Records

About First Voices Radio:

”First Voices Radio,” now in its 33rd year on the air, is a nationally and internationally syndicated one-hour radio program originating from and heard weekly on Radio Kingston WKNY 1490 AM and 107.9 FM in Kingston, New York. Hosted by Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Lakota), who is the show's Founder and Executive Producer, "First Voices Radio" explores global topics and issues of critical importance to the preservation and protection of Mother Earth presented in the voices and from the perspective of the original peoples of the world.

Akantu Intelligence:

Visit Akantu Intelligence, an institute that Tiokasin founded with a mission of contextualizing original wisdom for troubled times. Go to https://akantuintelligence.org to find out more and consider joining his Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/Ghosthorse