My people are known as the Lenni Lenape, which translates
as the True People. This is how we thought of ourselves, since back then
we knew of no one else and even after our People met other tribes along the
east coast of what later became the North American Continent; even those tribes
recognized the greater wisdom of our People and considered our name as
accurate.
Part of what we always handed down from one generation to
the next was to always be kind to all creatures. No matter what animal you
confronted, even if your intent was to take that one back to make it a meal for
your family, it was best to be kind to it beforehand. In other words, do not
kill something out of cruelty, only necessity, for one who kills from cruelty
deserves nothing less in return.
Something else that was passed along to each new generation, and
this was not something that had to be told, for it was passed on through simply
living, was to live as one was born, that is as simply and pure as the day each
of us emerged from our mother's womb - naked - or nude if you prefer. We
remained this way at all times, unless weather dictated otherwise, or
necessity, such as entering brambles and bushes in search of prey when hunting.
No one cares to have thorns scratch deep marks along the skin, drawing blood
and possibly producing sickness if the thorns were poisonous, so animal hides
often were adorned at such times.
But nudity was the accepted way of life and that is because
clothing is a choice, while nude is simply being. There is no choice in nudity
for nudity simply IS! Therefore if we were to draw upon the wisdom of our
ancestors and live as they before the Europeans came to this land we would
certainly cast off the constraints of wearing clothing, other than when weather
or work demands we wear something, and live our lives as did the People, my
People, the Lenni Lenape, free and open, caring not that everyone sees one
another, for there is no shame in being who each of us is, as we are born
being. Shame comes only through the deceit planted within our minds from
childhood, from those who desire to enslave us and bring us under subjection to
man's laws, thereby forcing us to live by man's fabricated laws, wearing
fabricated skins, when we would all be much happier living by natural laws,
living in our own skins alone.
I wear only my own skin as much as I am able, for this honors my
ancestors and the Spirit we worship. The Sacred Breath lives within us and
breathes through us when we live as we are born - free and pure. This is why I
live this way, placing man's skins over my skin only when forced to do so in
order to interact within man's society and not be arrested by man's laws.
With the most recent unrest in our society resulting in such
great violence as it has, perhaps it would be better if society were to look
back to these old ways and consider what they have to offer. Views on who our
neighbors are, whether we are to live peacefully with those around us or seek
to kill them simply for being different would vanish along with the outer
garments that portray these differences if we sought after the old ways.
Certainly it is clear that harboring prejudices against others of the same
species as ourselves can never be good for any of us.
I myself am light-skinned, and like so many of this mixed-racial
culture, my heritage is comprised of several ethnic backgrounds, but the one I
identify most with is that of my Lenni Lenape ancestors. Why? Because they more
than anyone seem to hold the answers to the discord that seeks to devour us.
Still, I do not prefer that you look upon me and see me as “Native American,”
or “European American,” or the portion that is in there from my paternal grandmother’s
side that would make me “African American,” but that you see me as I prefer to
be, a Naturist American. It is this more than anything that exemplifies my true
inner being, that which displays who I am from the inside-out so that all may
see the true me.
If you desire to live more simply, to be free of many mental
illnesses, depression, anxiety, uncertainty, hatred, bigotry, and so many more
illnesses of the mind that are brought on by modern society, try living in this
manner, free and pure, without such constraints. Live as the Lenni Lenape
before Europeans invaded this land and see how free your mind becomes. Put
aside the outer skins and allow your natural skin to absorb the sunshine as
necessary, to breathe in the Sacred Breath as our bodies were intended. Cleanse
your bodies as you cleanse your minds and find that the world is not as you
perhaps once perceived it, but far less conflicting as you see others in their
natural state even as are you.
