Riddle of America, The - Waldorf Research Institute

OraibibyEdward WarrenOraibi––the center of the world––is a small Hopi Indian villageplaced on the great rocky spur of Third Mesa. Here the people settled aftertheir great migration to the North, South, East and West of the North andSouth American continents. Here they waited for centuries for their LostWhite Brother. Here they received prophecies about the use of valuableminerals under their land. Why would they settle on the North Americancontinent’s most barren land? Why do they live in one of the most difficultclimates? Why should they settle on ground that contains vast quantities ofuranium? Who is their Lost White Brother? Why is he missing? How coulduniversal brotherhood be a central motive in the lives of a few Hopi on theArizona desert?Answers to some of these questions were made public by Hopitraditionalists shortly after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as acontribution to world peace. Their oral traditions—creation myths, legendsand prophecies—which vary greatly, were published by Frank Waters in TheBook of the Hopi, by Harold Courlander in The Fourth World of the Hopi, andby Albert Yava in Big Falling Snow.The Hopi creation myths tell of a people who are now living in theFourth World, one of good and evil, beauty and bareness, heat and cold,height and depth. In this world humans must choose between good andevil if the next three worlds are to pursue change.At the beginning, Taiowa, the creator, gave a being called Sotuknangthe task of creating the First World, Tokpela. Sotuknang gathered from theendless spaces the solid substances, the waters, and the air. He then createdSpider Grandmother, who created the animals, plants, and minerals beforeforming male and female human beings. These people understood andfollowed their guardian, Mother Earth.1