In the middle of what would be considered "Indian Territory" in Winnipeg is a building called "Thunderbird House".

http://www.winnipegarchitecture.ca/w...D_HOUSE_13.jpg

Thunderbird House is basically a cultural center for the native people living in Winnipeg. It really epitimizes the best of the Native people living and working in Winnipeg. It's a place where native people try to keep their culture alive.

http://thunderbirdhouse.com/

I was showing an empty apartment today to a young couple, both of which were obviously native. The guy had a jean jacket on, and on the back of it it was embroidered in black, white, yellow and red yarn:

"You do not have a soul.
Your are a soul.
You have a body."

Black, white, red and yellow are the traditional colours of native peoples. It's the colours they could make with the materials that were available in nature, and you'll find that most native art is done predominantly in these four colours.

I asked him where he got that, and he said that it's on a plaque in Thunderbird House, and I realized that those three simple lines fully explain the difference between traditional native "religion" and Judeo-Christian religion. The former teaches that everything has a spirit/soul, but those souls may inhabit bodies of different types. Birds and animals have spirits, and so it is necessary to pay your respects to the spirit of an animal you kill to eat because it's spirit is no less important than your own. Judeo-Christian religion teaches that we are basically bodies, and deep inside us is a soul which rises to heaven or descends to he11 upon our passing. Two concepts that are diametrically opposed, but both still provide a sound framework for spirituality.

That Indian impressed me and I thought I'd share it with the others in here.