"The Universe"

Being someone who is very interested in space studies, I chose to comment on the "Common Ground" portion of the Venn diagram shared by "Traditional Native Knowledge" and "Western Science" with the topic of "Universe is Unified".

Western Science has traced time of the universe back to the "Big Bang". The farthest back look in time (earliest actual photograph of the universe) that we currently have is the image of the cosmic background microwave radiation that is said to be at a time when the universe was about 300,000 years of age. Before that (an even younger universe), the theory states that there was a rapid inflation of space and time, but due to not yet formed "matter" as we know it today, no frequencies of light were "released" from the universe. Our "Western Science" states that the entire universe started as one singularity and thus today's universe, with its billions of galaxies, billions of stars, etc. and of course our earth, both physical and biological, are all from the same origin.

We, the earth itself, with everything in and on it, are made up of specific combinations of atoms. Carl Sagan called this "stardust", meaning different atoms are the result of just one of the many cycles of nature, the stellar life cycle. (The Handy Astronomy Answer Book by Charles Liu) Nature, from the largest galaxies to the smallest sub-atomic particles, are an organized phenomena that has been observed and tested by scientists for decades.

Traditional Native Knowledge is similar to Western Science as Alaska's Native Elders have taught about a holistic point of view...the connection of everything. For centuries, village Elders have shared their vast array of accumulated knowledge and life wisdom through stories and demonstrations. They speak of the universe as a system that is intertwined and intratwined with itself and the importance of cycles to maintain a balance in nature. The stars have a spirit along with the grasses and all nature in between.

Like Western Science, Alaska Native Elders have attained their knowledge of the natural world by observation and testing in the form of application of their knowledge for centuries. (Teacher's Domain)

I teach in a community where there are very few Alaska natives and look forward to reading other views, especially those class members from communities who are predominantly Alaska native.