“Slowly, I began to see something…”

image via zerflin

An Interview with Benjamin Jancewicz.  This email interview grew out of a comment to a post on this blog, where Mr. Jancewicz noted his concerns over a statement by Carl Jung concerning the Naskapi tribe of Northern Canada.

CCSeed: Would you consider my invitation to guest post on these issues, clarifying the point you made and even expanding it if you wish?  While I believe the insight and demonstration of the inner companion is a helpful teaching tool, I in no way meant any disrespect with my ignorance.

Jancewicz: While I respect Jung as a philosopher; he glazed over a lot of different cultures, making broad statements about them.  One of the cultures he talked about was the Naskapi tribe; a tribe I grew up with. They’re a tiny tribe in Northern Quebec, so it’s pretty easy to talk about them without much argument. The most damaging assumption Jung made with regards to these people, however, was the idea that they were “cultureless” because they were nomadic; or that they couldn’t come up with organized, artistic or sociological thought because they had to constantly hunt to survive.  Jung and other philosophers and theologians often used bits of the Naskapi worldview to support their various theories. I don’t mind this at all… the Naskapi world view is something that has kept me grounded myself, though I now live down in the United States.  I just wish he hadn’t tried to morph them into something they weren’t.

CCSeed: What was your childhood like with the Naskapi tribe?  How were you introduced to the spiritual principles and myths of the culture?

Jancewicz: Childhood was never boring, I will say that.  I moved to the village (called Kawawachikamach) when I was 5. My parents, Bill and Norma Jean Jancewicz, are Bible translators with Wycliffe. The Naskapi had been asking for a copy of the Bible in their language for a long time (since missionaries had contacted them back in the 1800’s with the Hudson’s Bay Company). My father would often go out and visit the elders in the village, notepad and tape recorder in hand, listening to them and learning the language, with me tagging along.  He wanted to make sure the he went further than just a literal translation, and got the meaning of the biblical stories translated into concept the Naskapi were familiar with. He purchased a number of books on the Naskapi (there are only a few of them) and studied them, comparing them to what the elders were telling him directly.  In order to get different words, we would often go out hunting with them, and inevitably, they would talk about various aspects of the way of life of the Naskapi, both current and in times past.

CCSeed: What aspects of their culture that you observed remain vivid in your memory and shape how you live your life today?

Jancewicz: I can remember feeling as though the Mista-Peo awoke within me at one point. I had been out walking in the woods, a couple miles from my parents cabin. As remote as Schefferville, my hometown, was… everyone had a cabin out by a vast lake that was even more remote; a full days drive from the town.

My father and I had spent most of the day talking with Joe Guanish, an elder, who had come to visit us at our cabin. It was the middle of summer and quite warm, and I had gone out exploring. I found an ancient caribou herd-trail, and had followed it for several miles, when I came to a clearing in the thicket. The same came through the trees, and I felt as if something had awakend in me.  And there really wasn’t a question for me who it was; it was as if another part of my personality had been trying to talk to me for a very long time, and now finally had a chance to get my attention.  It was as if he and Chamindo (God) were talking at once; as if the Mista-Peo understood things that God was trying to teach me, and was trying to get me to understand them.

When I was out hunting with Tommy Einish, another hunter, he once asked me to stand very still, and pointed into the woods. I didn’t see anything at first. Tommy told me to look deeper. Slowly, I began to see something… and then an eye blinked. A ptarmigan (northern pheasant) was sitting midway up one of the spruce trees directly in front of us, but was so well camouflaged it was almost impossible to see.  Almost.

Standing in the woods, miles from anyone, I began to see everything. It’s as if suddenly I’d wiped my eyes after a long night’s sleep, and could see again. Everything was more vivid, more intense… and infinitely more peaceful.

Living down in the States, I’ve found that there are a million things to pay attention to at once, and it seems like attention to God and the Mista-Peo are the first to get ignored. Dreams get dimmer, and I find I get more irratable and melancholy.  It’s lonely, not hearing from the Mista-Peo and feeling disconnected from God. Once in a while, I’ll escape into a nearby forest and just get back in touch. It helps me to keep focused on things that are really important.