Photo by Melissa Michal. Image of blue sky with fluffy white clouds and a flagpole with a Hiawatha Belt on a flag.

The Good Mind

As Onondaga Faithkeeper Oren Lyons outlines, Haudenosaunee lifeways come from The Great Law of Peace which creates the Good Mind:
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We lived contentedly under the Gai Enesha Go’Nah, The Great Law of Peace. We were instructed to create societies based on the principles of Peace, Equity, Justice, and the Power of Good Minds. Our societies are based upon great democratic principles of the authority of the people and equal responsibilities for the men and the women.…Our leaders were instructed to be men of vision and to make every decision on behalf of the seventh generation to come; to have compassion and love for those generations yet unborn…We were instructed to be generous and to share equally with our brothers and sisters so that all may be content. We were instructed to respect and love our Elders,…to love our children, indeed to love ALL children. (Lyons)
 
Good Mind means a way of thinking and being that is both spiritual and relational. We are connected to all parts of the earth and each being has a role and significant traits to offer and we are important in our own rights. We treat everything with care and love. There is first the mental control where we are aware of the importance and we act in everything we do with kindness. Second, the relational actions see others’ ideas and stories as things that could add to our knowledge, but not something that takes over our own values. The Good Mind means that we listen and that we learn and that we love for the next generations. Good Mind is an intricate lifeway and a spiritual ideology where individuals and ancestors build a consciousness for a community.  Nicholle Dragone by way of Lyons outlines, the Good Mind theorizes through three principles: “peace in mind and community,” equity resulting in community justice, and “the power of the Good Minds, which embodies good health and reason” (qtd. In Dragone 47). The principles allow Good Minds peace and connection to the world where no one wars or presumes they are worth more than another and that no knowledge or way of being is considered better than another.

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Please see the following videos and links to learn more about the Good Mind and the Peace Confederacy which brought the Good Mind to our communities.
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Ganondagan--Site in Victor, NY for learning and the new Seneca Art and Cultural Center
ganondagan.org/learn/good-mind