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Article
Water in Native American Spirituality: Liquid Life—Blood of the Earth and Life of the Community
Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications
  • June-Ann Greeley, Sacred Heart University
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
4-1-2017
Abstract

Water: The life force of all creation, the generative dynamism of existence. Long before scientific experimentation and quantifiable instrumentation verified the facts, human beings have perceived and understood water to be the essence of all life, both material and spiritual. From the beginnings of recorded history and even before, across the expanse of human settlement and migration, indigenous as well as extraneous religions and spiritual traditions have celebrated water as the primordial source: water was sacred before it was material and water took on for multitudes of generations until even today an expansive inclusivity that scanned the literal to the metaphoric.

Citation Information

Greeley, J. (2017). Water in Native American spirituality: Liquid life—blood of the earth and life of the community. Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts, 2, 157-179.