Posted in Life

Native American 10 Commandments

Posted on by Penny Wilson Writes
Image by David Mark from Pixabay 
  1. Treat the Earth and all that dwell therein with respect
  2. Remain close to the Great Spirit
  3. Show great respect for your fellow beings
  4. Work together for the benefit of all Mankind
  5. Give assistance and kindness wherever needed
  6. Do what you know to be right
  7. Look after the well-being of Mind and Body
  8. Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater Good
  9. Be truthful and honest at all times
  10. Take full responsibility for your actions

Compiled by Kathy Weiser-Alexander, updated April 2020.

Author:

Penny Wilson is an international writer who writes in several genres. She has written articles for WOW Women on Writing. Her poetry has been published in online journals, such as Ariel Chart, Spill Words Press and the Poppy Road Review. Penny is a member of the Austin Poetry Society. Her poetry has been featured in the publication America's Emerging Poets 2018 & 2019 by Z Publishing and Poets Quarterly and Dual Coast Magazine published by Prolific Press. Most recently, you can find her poetry in an anthology by WordCrafter Press called Poetry Treasures. Penny is an advocate for Mental Health Awareness and has the page "Mental Health Help" on her blog. She writes about the struggles of mental illnesses and Depression. She is passionate about spreading awareness for Suicide Prevention and Domestic Abuse. She expresses her passion through her writings of poetry and life experiences. You can find more of her writings on her blog at https://pennywilsonwrites.com/

11 thoughts on “Native American 10 Commandments”

  1. They are undoubtably some good rules to live by.

    But, when I read them, something really triggered my cultural appropriation alarms. The fact that it seems to be shared by a bunch of white people without any sort of citation or link back to an authoritative source, other than more white people, lead me to believe that it’s just another example of romanticizing the “Indians”, past tense, without acknowledging the presence of actual Native peoples in our midst today.

    So I did a little digging. The first thing I looked at was wikipedia, which cited the website of a band of Cherokee in Alabama. But they simply posted the list without any further information about the history, which still felt… fishy.

    So I clicked a few more links. A Catholic site had a slightly different version, that at least sounded less modern new-agey, but probably still too influenced by the biblical 10 commandments to point to any sort of actual Native American roots.

    Finally I clicked on. https://threehundredandsixtysix.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/the-10-native-american-commandments/ . To summarize, they seem to have first appeared in the late ’80s, created by a poster company,

    So… Maybe just call them “Rules to live by” ?

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    1. Thank you very much for your comment and your visit to my blog. The post was done out of the upmost respect. I hope you did not see it as anything else. I have always loved Native American heritage and learning more about it. This was something that I simply saw as admirable and wanted to share its wisdom and beauty. “Rules to Live By”, indeed!
      Thank you!

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  3. Pingback: It’s Decolonization or Extinction. And that starts with Land-Back. – The Free

    1. Thank you for sharing. I do understand the reason for compiling the list that you have here, but a reference back to Where you obtained the information would be appreciated. Simply a Date including a link does not let your readers know where the information came from.

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  6. Pingback: Native American 10 Commandments — Penny Wilson Writes (maybe this is why the white men killed the Native Americans…they couldn’t possibly live up to the commandments the Native American’s lived by. They still can’t. Gigi) | Rethi

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