The Tocobaga people, like many of the nations around them, experienced cosmic nature as the Great Mystery. In this painting, the Great Mystery is represented as the rattlesnake in the clouds, a sacred creature. For many of the southeastern cultures the feathered serpent represented the connection between the earth and the sky.
Surrounded by the gift of mangroves, with their life-embracing roots, the shallows teeming with variety, and Florida’s magnificent sky, this man is caught in the moment. We can imagine that in the mix of emotions: his love for his wife and their new baby, his parents, the smiles of his friends, and the generous society of which they’re a part.
His prayer –
“Open up my heart and open up my mind so that I may learn.
Open up my heart and open up my mind so that I may grow.”
All over the world, people are simply, tragically, and wonderfully, people. Everywhere they developed a perspective from the landscape. People, who grow up in the jungle have a very different viewpoint from those growing up in the desert.
The people of the Americas had a wide variety of world views.