The Map in the Head by David Peat

An expression of the Blackfoot's relationship to a reality of rocks, trees, animals and energies is expressed within what many Native Americans call "a map in the head". This map is a way of knowing where one is in relationship to the land, its history, society and all the living beings of nature. For the Blackfoot this map begins with Napi's body, which is traced out in the landscape in the form of rivers, buttes, hills and valleys. It is also the track left by Napi as he walked across his land. The Map in the Head is songs sung and the stories told around the fire at night. It is the relationship of the Blackfoot people to their world. The map in the head is a form of knowledge, but knowledge, for the Blackfoot, is no mere collection of facts but something that one grows towards. Knowledge, like a song, is a living being; a being with which one can come into relationship. Coming to knowing is an active dialogue with nature; with the rocks, plants and animals. As one Blackfoot put it, "the plants and animals are our microscopes and laboratories." Knowledge is relationship and relationship brings with it responsibilities and obligations. Thus it has been put to me that when Western science performs its experiments it is actually conversing with nature and, in this process, telling nature about ourselves. Are we willing to take responsibility for what we say? Each action in the laboratory must be balanced by its reaction somewhere else in the world. When we create order in one place we give birth to disorder in another.