“We are earth people on a spiritual journey to the stars. Our quest, our earth walk is to look within, to know who we are, to see that we are connected to all things, that there is no separation, only in the mind.” Lakota Seer
Introduction
A little speck of dust in the air is what our solar system is in comparison to what is beyond earth in space. The thought of this is scary but at the same time very fascinating! What is out there is not fully known of course, except we know of chemical-like reactions or star formation happening among the stars and planets. In addition, the process of a planet formation takes over millions of years. 1Our planet has a “life” on it. “Every step we humans took was a step into the unknown. There is nothing to guide us, no histories we could look to and know what might be expected. Science has been arguing about the existence of life on other worlds, or the cosmic space and time.” 2Our Earth has been formed over 4 billion years ago through the same process according to western science. Humans have constantly had question about what is out there. The little speckle in a huge space that we live on, makes one more curious, more fascinated, and more imaginative to know what is out there! There are some who rely on indigenous science to answer some of these questions. As we learn through the western science or modern science and the indigenous science that is sometimes referred to as native science, we learn about our universe. Western science is textual, researched and categorized, while indigenous science is contextual is often based on belief or tradition mostly from oral tradition.
In the Dine perspective, the space beyond earth entails stories of the earth, from the birth of the universe to the existence of humans that were told generation to generation. The Native Americans believe that human lives are connected to the stars and the existence of what is out there. As for now, the composition of the stars and planets remains of interest to Native American astronomers. The study of stars, and planets, are known to our astronomers as they study them each day. Not only are the astronomers interested in what is out there, but in other people living on earth as well. It is fascinating to wonder what you may see or encounter daily. The only thing we could do was try to seek answers to the questions with the findings.
Imagination has been one way we deal with what is out there today. We are eager to hear who is out there, and what is out there? The imagery of many speculations is told even by writers of science fiction. I for one can share a story of my experience with seeing lights about me and the possibility that it was a spaceship which zoomed off into darkness. This only makes me wonder and begin to look for more encounters. Images, the imagination of spaceships buzzing by, the interaction between humans and other aliens with big heads as they greet one another. Or using lasers to shoot each other in a futurist way of life that does not exist on earth but is based on the reported findings. The character in the movie, “Superman” has these superhuman abilities on earth due to where the he comes from. Superman has powers and the ability to do things that humans cannot do. Children today are interested about learning of space through stories. This unit will allow children to use their imagination at the same learn about the existence of stars, planets and life.
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