Balance Restored: Remembering the Indigenous Design of American Democracy
It is now manifest that life in the United States in the 21st century is perilously out of balance. Hundreds of years of warnings from Indigenous leaders, as well as roughly 70 years of dire predictions from scientists, social philosophers and artists, have gone unheeded. In this 2 hour presentation Dr. Leslie Gray will elucidate the original, ingenious design of American democracy. She will highlight the deep intelligence and emphasis on personal agency embedded in this design that were intended to be a roadmap for righting oneself in the midst of chaos.
The removal of civics instruction from schools, the proliferation of false narratives on social media, the failure of political leadership to uphold governmental norms and laws —as destructive as these things may be — they are not, Dr. Gray proposes, sufficient to account for the extent of the helplessness, delusions and violence permeating American society today.
To come to terms with our dispiritedness, and to remedy it, Dr. Gray suggests we must first take an “x-ray” of the hidden structure that sabotages American life, and second we must fill in the fundamental gap in our education about democracy. In this way we can reveal basic human (not superhuman) characteristics that drive and sustain a healthy democracy, thereby positioning ourselves to be spirit-warriors who restore the balance.
About the Teacher:
Dr. Leslie Gray, executive director and founder of the Woodfish Institute, is a Native American psychologist who has studied with medicine people and elders from various tribal backgrounds. She advocates (and embodies) a new vision of health care—the integration of ancient healing and modern medicine.
Dr. Gray has a private practice in San Francisco, California, teaches workshops and seminars worldwide, and conducts travel/study programs to ancient sites. She has lectured at various universities including the University of California at Berkeley and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She consults with individuals and organizations on the practice of ecopsychology, and her work has been featured in such periodicals as East-West Journal and Re-Vision Journal, as well as in the book Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. Dr. Gray has served on the board of directors of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, and is currently an Associate of the Milton Erickson Institute of the Bay Area.