Point of Departure

Returning to Our More Authentic Worldview for Education and Survival

By:
Four Arrows, Antioch University

Published 2016

Point of Departure offers a practical metacognitive and transformational learning strategy for human surviving and thriving. Using five foundational and interactive Indigenous worldview beliefs that contrast sharply with our dominant worldview ones, everyone can reclaim the original instructions for living on Earth. Without the resulting change in consciousness that can emerge from this learning approach, no modern technologies can save us. The five foundational Indigenous precepts relate to a radically different understanding about: (1) Trance‐based learning (2) Courage and Fearlessness (3) Community Oriented Self‐Authorship (4) Sacred Communications (5) Nature as Ultimate Teacher

Praise for Point of Departure:

Four Arrows provides a quintessential critique of how the collective human departure of modern society from “Indigenous Consciousness” has led to the current wholesale exploitation and destruction of “Indigenous Nature” ... while providing the impetus for the urgency of a return to the “Indigenous Mind” as one of the true pathways for our future survival. ~ Greg Cajete Director of Native American Studies, University of New Mexico. Author of Native Science and Look to the Mountain

Recognizing the disastrous consequences of the dominant worldview pervading global society, Four Arrows teaches metacognitive strategies to help shift us back toward the Indigenous worldview—the only worldview that can restore balance amidst planetary crisis. With his characteristic insight, he reminds us that interconnectedness with all of creation is the basis of courage that will help each of us, Indigenous and non‐Indigenous alike, rise to action in defense of Mother Earth. ~ Waziyatawin
Dakota author and activist from Pezihutazizi K’api Makoce (Land Where They Dig for Yellow Medicine) in southwestern Minnesota

Four Arrows continues to open our eyes to the possibility of a new society, one founded on the empirical data of thousands of years and within the paradigms of traditional wisdom and the people connected to all of life—theirs, ours, animal brethren and Mother Earth. Point of Departure is a MUST read for anyone who wants to be part of the solution. ~ Rebecca Adamson Founder/President First Peoples Worldwide

Anyone who is even slightly Indigenous will nod in recognition all the way through Point of Departure. Using the four sacred directions as cognitive bridges into the circle of all, Four Arrows walks the reader through trance‐based, Transformative learning; courage, Indian‐style, as connection - not fear-based; and the Indigenous grammar of communication and truth-telling, with neither restricted to humans. Then, binding the hoop together for “all our relations,” Four Arrows recommends re-acquaintance with Nature. The handy “take‐away” discussions and “how‐to” manuals concluding each discussion draw the reader into the circle, if only the reader is willing. ~ Barbara Alice Mann Associate Professor of Humanities, University of Toledo. Author of Spirits of Blood, Spirits of Breath: The Twinned Cosmos of Indigenous America

CONTENTS
Authors Preface. Introduction. CHAPTER I: Trance‐based learning. CHAPTER II: Courage and Fearlessness. CHAPTER III: Community Oriented Self‐Authorship. CHAPTER IV: Sacred Communication. CHAPTER V: Nature as All. Appendix: Using the Medicine Wheel: Two Personal Stories.

REVIEWS
"Point of Departure is a unique and profound book. It offers a lucid presentation of ideas that are often rendered in the overly abstract language of metaphysics. This is a huge achievement! More than that, it presents simple techniques for putting Indigenous worldview into practice. Perhaps most remarkable is its appendix, where Four Arrows tells two personal stories that illustrate the effectiveness of Indigenous methods – stories whose outcomes are “miracles” when seen through Western worldview but are fully understandable when seen through Indigenous worldview. Anyone can achieve similar outcomes using trance-based learning. It’s a matter of remembering that “fear offers an opportunity to practice a virtue; authority comes only from honest reflection on lived experience with the realization that everything is related; words and other forms of communication are understood as sacred vibrations; and Nature is the ultimate teacher." Kevin Barrett in truthjihad.com blog (Read full review)