"The Cosmos is Within Us"

Explain

When Carl Sagan said that the cosmos is within us, it sums up some of the known ways that we are connected to our surroundings. All living creatures are connected to each other through biological processes and similarities. We are connected to the earth itself through our chemical makeup which is made from earth's elements. Modern physicists are also studying ways that the universe is connected to us atomically.

Among different populations, there are contrasting ways of understanding these connections. Here in Alaska, Native knowledge about our surroundings is centered around the types of knowledge needed to live in and have coexistence with the environment. The underlying purpose is not to set out to explain how nature works, but instead to gain an understanding of how to coexist with nature in an interconnected system. Knowledge is a whole body of information, rather than being split up into "science" and "spirituality". Native ways of knowing are connected to learning from the experiences of others, living close to nature and seeing the whole system and our part in that system as an everyday part of living. The learning of this type of knowledge is connected to both language and customs and people are dependent on their family, community and elders to teach them. This knowledge is used to help the family and community coexist and survive in their environment.

By contrast, Western science has a very different perspective on understanding the same systems. Western ways of knowing are much more involved with setting out to find an explanation for various components and phenomena. The "spiritual" or "supernatural" are not seen as forces in Western science. Through isolating and studying compartmentalized aspects in a more removed setting, research follows an analytical approach. Knowledge of this type may not come from being directly passed from individual to individual, but rather is "educated" through lectures and books. It is based on theories and laws which are often "proved" by recreatable results.

Extend

I watched a clip from a video titled, "The Birds of Winter" in which Nita Yurrliq Rearden from Shishmaref shares some advice given her by her Yupik grandmother upon her return from completing high school.

"You could adopt, adapt, use their strategies if it's worth doing. Know how to get along with them."

The advice concerned encouraging her to further her knowledge base in the Western ways of knowing, but it stood out to me that her advice should apply to anyone, that it should go both ways. Since cultures worldwide are intersecting more and more through technology, through population shifts and growth, knowing how to get along with and use other ways of knowing should be an advantage to Western science.

Evaluate

In subsistence lifestyles of Native Alaskans, getting food

involves knowledge of the winds, currents, tides, seasonal

changes and migrations as well as the social skills and

values involved like sharing, family and community.

Each is not a separate subject as they are all

interconnected in the way of living and being. An

advantage of understanding both Native and Western

ways of knowing is that Western science has the

technology to increase our vision beyond the earth and

see deeper into the universe. Understanding the Native

ways of knowing as well can help us see the universe as

a whole and consider the ways we may be connected on

an even larger scale. Maybe both ways of knowing

together can help to discover the ways, as Carl Sagan

said, "the cosmos is within us."