|
|
Gabriel Horn begins the first chapter of Contemplations of a Primal Mind with a quote from Nippawanock:
"Civilized man seems a curious creature to primitive man, who would not wantonly trade places with him because the resultant loss would be too great."
And then he moves forward, singing praise of the primal mind, speaking of dreams and realities that separate those who follow the inner and real light of their true selves from those who follow the artificial light of a civilization divorced from nature. He writes about the conquerors of today, who practice environmental holocaust; and mourns the fact that even many Native Americans are walking a path of wanton destructiveness, of dissociation from their "original instructions" on how to live life as a part of a mysterious and interconnected universe.
Horn speaks in many voices in Contemplations of a Primal Mind. Sometimes he is a moralist; sometimes a philosopher; sometimes a storyteller. Always, he is as much a poet as a prose writer. In his first chapter, Horn discusses the differences in the ways civilized people and primal people think. In his third chapter, he tells the story of an apparition of an Indian maiden watching his children one morning on a sunny Florida beach.
Like his earlier book, Native Heart, Contemplations of a Primal Mind created intense emotions inside me. I wept with Horn over the death of his wife, Simone. I wondered with him as he swam with the dolphins.
And, like Native Heart, Contemplations of a Primal Mind sowed in me seeds that will grow into my own poetry.
However, this book did not leave my soul dancing in the same way that Native Heart did. As I read Native Heart, I was filled with the joy and wonder of being an Indian in today's world, even after all the murders and thefts against my own people through over five hundred long years. Contemplations of a Primal Mind left me feeling a deep doubt about where I am going, where any of us are going; and a terrible sense of responsibility for a world that has created me in its image far more than I have created it in mine.
By the time I had finished reading this book, I had become aware of an intense struggle between my own primal core and my civilized façade. I became aware of how much I have grown into oneness with the conquerors, despite all my intentions to remain one with my own people.
And so I wrote a poem.
And now for the inevitable book rating: On a scale of 0 to 10 (0 meaning, "Don't ever read this book, even if you are slowly tortured to death for refusing to read it;" and 10 meaning "Drop everything immediately, including the baby at your breast, and don't do another blessed thing until you have read it"), I give Contemplations of a Primal Mind an 8.
reviewed by Sondra Ball
Click here to purchase this book.