The Search for Peace in Times of Chaos—Volume worlds, is absolutely critical What Christian missionaries and others often dismissed as animism or polytheism was actually a way of seeing in the entire world, a wondrous creation in which humanity has a special responsibility to uphold the circle Christian missionaries often completely missed the sense of a single creating Spirit that permeates most First Nations’ sacred systems Animals such as the buffalo, which played a central function in the survival of the northern plains peoples, assumed a key role in the spirit world First Nations peoples prayed to the spirits of these animals for help, even as these animals were killed for human use Their use was not simply for consumption: they were regarded as an integral part of the kinship of all creation Prayers of intercession and supplication were not made for the sake of one person alone but for the entire community Thus, the spirituality of the community was defined not only by humans, but also by the entire spectrum of nature and reality as it appeared to the indigenous peoples Relating with the land in a sacred way is crucial to health Each Indigenous tradition includes wisdom about the healing and helping qualities of plants and animals and sacred places and spirits in the area of habitation In addition, Indigenous cultures include specialists of healing, such as herbalists, midwives, Shamans, and many others Many contemporary Native people blend traditional healing practices with conventional health and social service systems Nearly every human act was accompanied by attention to religious details, sometimes out of practiced habit and sometimes with more specific ceremony In the northwest, harvesting cedar bark would be accompanied by prayer and ceremony, just as killing a buffalo required ceremonial actions and words dictated by the particularities of tribal nation, language, and culture Among the Osage Indian, the spiritual principle of respect for life dictated that the decision to go to war against another people usually required an elevenday ceremony, allowing time to reconsider one’s decision and to consecrate the lives that might be lost as a result of it Because to be successful, the hunt required acts of violence, it was also considered a type of war Hence, the semi annual ǡ ~ 31 ~