I recently had the opportunity to interview Mike Bastine, a Native American Algonquin Elder, who has been speaking about the necessity of re-connecting to Nature as a means to reform consciousness.  It was an utter delight to spend time with Mr. Bastine, and equally uplifting to share common views with him.  He’s got revolutionary insights anchored in ancient wisdom.  Perhaps his words in this interview will contribute to your own conscious-reform for the better.  Or, perhaps these views might maintain your own re-connection to the Mother (Nature).  Enjoy!

Mike Bastine, Algonquin Elder

          The landscape cracks open like an egg in my view.  The bright orange yolk of sun hangs, suspended in the albumen of a clear liquid sky.  I’m driving along a curvy route to a quiet rural town to meet with Algonquin Elder, Mike Bastine.   

         On the drive, the scenery unfolds like a Monet; billions of auburn-amber leaves splatter like dots on the rolling hills of Autumnal glory.  It’s a two hour drive,  stuffed with Natural beauty.  The soft ride offers ample opportunity for me to ponder the upcoming meeting with Mr. Bastine.      

         Although diligent about suppressing any kind of pre-conclusions about this interview, electric expectation still amplifies my anticipation.  I am meeting a Native Elder, a virtual master of tenets that have ignited my own elevated understanding; tenets essential to the broader soul-growth of so many people over human history. 

            My time with Mike Bastine, however, produces no glamour.  No spiritual huff-n-puff.  No fluffy clouds filled with insubstantial vapors about spirituality.   Rather, Bastine proves to be a Plymouth rock of foundational wisdom.  He radiates reverence for simplicity.  He is rooted in the value of rekindling the heart of humanity; encouraging attunement with the energies of Nature, love and respect.  No fancy juju; just bare-boned wisdom, exposing a soulful, nurturing marrow.

            My car pulls into his driveway.  Beyond the weathered, wood-clad exterior of his home, rests acres of maples waving goodbye to their own falling leaves.  Rows of cornfields maze the back yard, their husks brown and crinkly, jutting up to the glassy sky.   

            My ears perk, hearing a yawning creak from the front screen door as I gather up my notebook, camera, and recording device from the car.  It’s Mike Bastine walking out to greet me. 

            Mike’s Native blood etches clear evidence of his Algonquin heritage in his appearance.  His skin is naturally tawny, obviously unaided by the sun’s tanning effect, especially as winter begins her progressive swallowing of solar rays.  His hair is long, pulled back in a pony tail.  It shines in onyx iridescence and reminds me of silky crow feathers. 

            He welcomes me with a smile; a smile that equals the cheer reflected inside his home.  I struggle to pull off my boots before entering. “Oh no, you don’t have to do that.” Mike says, chuckling, as I almost topple over.  ”Keep those on. Stay warm. Snow and mud aren’t sticking to the bottoms of our feet just yet.” We both break the initial conversational ice by agreeing how mild this year’s autumn has been.

           Mike and I sit at his kitchen table.  Pens and pencils stand at attention in a clean white cup, anxious to be put to use.  Books and papers are neatly stacked on the table too.  Mike thoughtfully pulls out a few of the many articles written about him for me to read.  He pauses for a moment and pulls out a few books for me to look at too. 

            Pam, Mike’s wife, offers me a hot cup of green tea and a cinnamon pecan danish.  I’ve just met these people, but it feels I’ve been a welcomed visitor in this kitchen for an eternity.  Time is irrelevant.  Indeed, the energy of their home is timeless,  comforting and tremendously safe.  I am calm, I am at home in their presence.

            The black pot-belly stove churns out its warmth as Mike begins to do what he does best:  Weave his spoken words into exquisite tapestries.  Native wisdom is his loom, and Mike threads rich value into each sentence spoken.  His voice is a smooth, lulling tenor and his words are framed in the rhythmic compassion that steadily beats within his heart.

            For decades,  Mike Bastine has travelled the US and Canada speaking about the wisdom of his Native ancestors, illustrating how Native ways are a catalyst for healing, renewal and reconnection to a higher way of living life. 

            “I’ve been bringing up a few terms in my workshops lately.” Mike begins, his soft brown eyes sparkling. “Terms we all learned in early schooling.  I ask people how they feel about the phrase ‘Divide and Conquer’ and most people tell me it’s kind of a standard of life today.”

            Mike explains that the modern Western civilized mind has been trained to weed out ‘weakness’ and conquer life by working hard at maintaining status quo.  “Mainstream thought mostly adheres to popularly accepted, spoon-fed education and doctrine.” He says in his sing-song dialect.  As Mike talks, my understanding lulls into compliance with his argument with this commonly accepted phrase.

            “Today, most people’s perception of strength and weakness is skewed. There’s more strength in the gentle than there is in the bold.  Gentleness accumulating over time – that’s where the power resides.” Mike taps his calloused-covered fingertip on the Xerox copy he gave me of Chief Seattle’s speech. “That’s part of what Seattle is saying in this address.”

            Mike closes his eyes, and I wonder what scenes are playing beneath his eyelids. “The idea of ‘conquer’ is equally misleading.” He says, “What is there to conquer? If we each lived aligned to our True Nature, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation!” He pushes back a bit from the kitchen table after finishing this thought, as if sitting objectively – seeing a broad view of the human condition from his wicker-backed chair.

            “The idea of ‘divide’ is just an illusion.  Nature shows us different. Nature shows us progress only comes with inclusion, acceptance, absorption.  Nature shows us surrender.  That’s what evolutional progress is about.” Mike lets out a lightly exasperated chuckle, with a slightly discernable shaking of his head.

            ” I ask these same people in my workshops how they feel about another common phrase we’ve all been taught: ‘In God we Trust.’ I get the same kind of mental agreement.  But I have to question this. How can we believe in ‘Divide and Conquer‘ and ‘In God we Trust’ at the same time?”  Mike’s passion about these points of contention is clear, but his core demeanor does not waiver.  He remains solidly anchored in a place of peaceful contemplation as he speaks to me.   

            The Algonquin Elder continues his thought-stream about Western culture’s unconscious acceptance of these two statements. “How can we be divided and yet trust in one God?  This mentality is where the breakdown of disconnect to Nature stems.” Mike says softly, sad kindness lacing his voice.   To him, unity is a far more viable solution to living a life of true freedom.

            Mike leans forward on the kitchen table to drive his point home:  ”Prior generations had Elders to teach us about relationships.  Primarily the marriage between humans and this planet.  But now those teachings have fallen by the wayside.  This causes separation.  We have become distanced from the higher wisdom of Nature, love and goodness.”  Mike further contends this disconnection has lead to an inflammation of humanity’s highest conflict: The conflict between the heart and the ego. 

            “We must think independently.  We can’t think what we’ve been educated to think, because it’s not what this life is about.  We must observe what’s going on today and rejoin the ranks of our Elders who looked to Nature for assistance with answers.”   

            Mike Bastine gently illustrates how many of today’s youth are no longer educated by their Elders who have been steeped in the nurturing, honorable ways of the Great Spirit and the ways of Nature.  Today, our youth are educated by capitalist systems whose primary impetus for functioning is money and conformity.  It’s a disturbing observation.  Mike points out a fundamentally flawed educational system that produces fact-filled sheep, designed to follow (and not overthrow) the powers that be, namely, the government.  More unsettling, is the valid observation of mass-media’s role in raising our youth.

            “If we look at the bigger picture of what’s happening around the world, and we see the events – how they connect.  How they unfold.  How they evolve.  We can start to see that disconnection is the source of great upheaval.”  Mike’s hands are upturned; his arms slightly raised in a supplicating gesture as he utters these words. He speaks like a man who sees problems and feels frustration because he knows how simple the solutions are.

            The furrow in Mike’s brow smoothes back into its customary serenity as he expands his revelations:  ”This disjointed gap….the inability to connect human thought and behavior with the deeper functions of Nature….this is the sole flaw that prohibits the flow of peace.”  This flaw, Mike explains,  is aggravated by the lack of unity and acceptance being taught by our modern elders, who are our politicians, educators, doctors, etc.

            “I wish there were little manuals written about how to be a good human. How to make choices that honor and respect our world and all that lives in it.”  I nod my head and smile, thinking about how Mike’s ‘How to be a Good Human’ manuals might not be the most ideal replacement for wise Elders in our modern-day global tribes.  But, I silently agree these manuals would be a good start at defining simple steps for reconnecting to the Golden Truths inherent in every human heart.  

             ”When enlightenment dovetails and becomes manifested into the outward happiness of being, do you think something like the definition of ‘a metaphor’ is essential to sustaining that education? No! It doesn’t take rocket science to gain a higher education.  This is about human interaction conducted with respect.”    Mike makes this statement with conviction backed by the wisdom of his lineage.  His faith in the cathartic, healing practice of unifying with the foundational energy of Nature, humility and honor is unshakable.

             As Mike Bastine carefully crafts his words and purposefully narrates his perceptions, I recognize him as a visionary educator.  Why?  Because he can see into the human heart and there he greets only the heart’s inherent potential for goodness in spite of the presence of malignant understanding.  It takes a visionary to see the spiritual gifts hiding behind ugly curtains of the ego. 

            I get the sense that Mike is not entirely aware of his ability to overlook the presence of fear feeding the human heart.  His unsinkable faith in each human’s inherent goodness overrides the presence of fear and pain glaring back at him when he speaks about ‘consciousness-reform.’   In every word and movement, it’s apparent Mike knows the path to higher societal evolution is born from virtue and devotion to the grounding cornerstones of Nature. 

            Mike continues his mission to reveal the true values indwelling every heart, and how each heart is hard-wired to reconnect with all life in loving ways.   His unwavering belief in human potential makes him both a visionary, and an exemplary educator in the realm of thoughtful unification with elements of life that truly matter. 

            The warm bubble of the Bastine’s hospitality cannot be popped as I drive back to the pointy edges of city life.  The yolky sun is pressed behind me now, enhancing a sense of warmth and nourishment. Driving back the way I came, my mind turns with the soft curves of the road as I think about our discussion.

            My intent for this piece was to capture the essence of Native American wisdom; writing about how the ways of Native Elders provide healing to the human heart – - healing wisdom that prepares each of us for future global shifts we are all destined to experience in the process of living life on this Earth today. 

            But really, after listening to Mr. Bastine, my lofty intent dissolved into particles of more substantial import.  As the hills of the countryside roll behind me, I think of Mike’s parting thoughts:

“The value of simplicity. The value of independent thought.  The value of re-connecting to Nature and its wisdom. These are small, incremental choices of honor we can all choose to make.  These are the functional building blocks for re-connecting to life’s vitality.”

            Ultimately, Mike Bastine helped me understand that it is not so much the intellectual or spiritual path we choose, but how we utilize our faith and educational choices -  that is the true catalyst for global unification and peace.  Essentially, every moment is an opportunity to ‘Unify and Conquer’ rather than divide and perish.

Other pages of interest:

Native American Symbolism

Algonquin Zodiac Signs (written for TokenRock.com)

Nature Symbols for Inspired Living