“One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right if the head is totally wrong. Only through the bringing together of head and heart-intelligence and goodness-shall man rise to a fulfillment of his true nature.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
I’m writing this post about the “bringing together of head and heart” in time for Native American Heritage month. But I can already hear people asking “how does this Dr. King quote relate to Indian culture?”
Read on to find out about the inspiration for the first art piece I will finish in my new studio. It is a new sculpture named after an Indian Prophecy about “bringing together of head and heart”, as Dr. King advised.
THE PROPHECY OF THE EAGLE & THE CONDOR
As my studio becomes fully functional (and fully lit), I am preparing for the completion of a piece called “The Eagle & the Condor.” Inspired by the Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor, it is the 13th and final assemblage sculpture of the “Ancestral Spaceship” series.
ORIGINS OF THE PROPHECY
The Prophecy of The Eagle & the Condor originated from the Quechua people in Ecuador. It speaks of the Indigenous world coming together, North and South. North America is represented by the Eagle, and Central and South America is represented by the Condor. Within a broader context, the joining of these iconic sky dwellers symbolizes the integration of the mind (eagle) with the heart (condor).
A few years ago I found a poignant description of the prophecy in a seemingly unlikely place; a book my brother gave me entitled Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins.
In it Perkins offers the following breakdown:
“Nearly every culture I know prophecies that in the late 1990’s we entered a period of remarkable transition. ‘The Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor’ states that back in the mists of history, human societies divided and took different paths: that of the condor (representing the heart, intuitive and mystical) and that of the eagle (representing the brain, rational and material).
In the 1490’s, the prophecy said, the two paths would converge and the eagle would drive the condor to the verge of extinction. Then, five hundred years later, in the 1990’s a new epoch would begin, one in which the condor and the eagle will have the opportunity to reunite and fly together in the same sky, along the same path. If the condor and eagle accept this opportunity, they will create a most remarkable off spring, unlike any seen before.”
GALLERY- THE “BIRTH” OF “THE EAGLE & THE CONDOR” SCULPTURE
The 1990s were, indeed, a time of serious networking among indigenous nations. These interactions led to, among other things, ongoing international forums with a strong native presence in the United Nations.
In fact, in January of 1992, one of the most admired Native leaders of the past century, Audrey Shenandoah (1927-2012), spoke and served as advisor to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (The Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro. Audrey Shenandoah was a clan mother and spiritual leader of the Onondaga nation of the Iroquois confederacy or Haudenosaunee (“People of the Longhouse”).
The Haudenosaunee league of nations is made up of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora Nations. This confederacy of originally warring nations was formed between the 12th and 15th centuries as a result of the teachings of the Great Peacemaker (original name withheld out of respect). It makes up the oldest living participatory democracy on earth, the blue print used by the founding fathers to draft the U.S. constitution. It is also the world’s first United Nations, of which Onondaga is the central fire and capital!
At the Earth Summit, with the encouragement of the U.N., the Haudenosaunee offered their Earth Restoration Strategy Overview and Perspectives. This included a document containing principles for environmental restoration and sustainable development. In it they maintained that our traditional strategy for sustainable development practices and coexistence is a model for the future survival of humanity on earth.
…for more info on Peacemaker and the League of Six Nations click here:
https://alyssahinton.com/2017/11/06/travelogue-pittsburgh-pa-and-wvu-native-studies-department/
A BALANCED AMALGAMATION:
The Eagle & the Condor is a high-tech futuristic bird, a reconciliation of heart and head, a balanced amalgamation of ancient knowledge and modern technology. It uses circuit board imagery as well as found wood, acrylic, pencil, photos and actual copper coils (from my old iMac computer).
It represents, not only Indigenous survival through unification and continued cultural identification in the digital era, but the future survival of humanity on earth through environmental stewardship. This can be achieved through the bringing together of head and heart in order for mankind to rise to the challenge of environmental sustainability by “rising to a fulfillment of his true nature.”
Stay tuned for updates on this sculpture!!
