This poetic and evocative book, drawing on the personal experiences of Good Buffalo Eagle, presents the meditations of an ancient Native American tribesman who rejects his family and community and walks off into the desert. During his journey, he discovers the seven paths of the Anasazi way, each path teaching a lesson symbolized by an element of the natural world: light, wind, water, stone, plants, animals, and finally the unity of all beings with the Creator, the path of We. By walking these paths, he discovers the roots of his conflict and the way toward reconciliation.
For years, this book has been privately distributed by ANASAZI Foundation, an award-winning nonprofit organization whose work with troubled youth in a wilderness setting has been extraordinarily effective. But there is benefit here for all. The Seven Paths gives access to a source of wisdom and renewal familiar to native people but lost to the rest of us. As Good Buffalo Eagle writes in the foreword, this book “presents what might be described as a course in healing—seven elements among nature that combine to heal human hearts.”
People have moved away from Mother Earth, bringing heartache, pain, and other maladies of the modern age. The “self-help” movement claims to offer peace and fulfillment to individuals, but this solitary approach takes us only so far. Ultimately, it is in communion with our fellow beings and the natural world that we are made whole. We need to leave the path of Me and follow the path of We.
The Seven Paths reveals a source of wisdom, restoration, and renewal familiar to native people but lost to the rest of us, seven elements among nature that combine to mend human hearts.
Founded in 1988 by renowned wilderness pioneers Larry D. Olsen and Ezekiel C. Sanchez (Good Buffalo Eagle), ANASAZI Foundation gives young people an opportunity for growth through a primitive living experience and a philosophy that invites healing at the hands of nature.
ANASAZI’s family-focused intervention programs inspired the international bestseller The Anatomy of Peace and were the subject of an episode of the Emmy-award-winning MTV series True Life. It is estimated that more than 40,000 people have participated in programs designed by Olsen and Sanchez.