Freedom vs. balance

Spiritual balance is goal of the people[T]he concept of freedom is fundamental to Western civilization, if not one of its defining concepts. Great Western thinkers such as George Hegel and Karl Marx envision the main evolutionary path of human history as a struggle to gain greater individual and social freedom. There will be freedom, in many senses salvation, at the end of history. Many conservative liberals hold this same vision today and argue for the long-term value of free markets and political democracy. The idea that freedom is realized through history is a secular version of Christian salvation, and derives from the vision of the emergence of national freedom when the Israelites escaped from slavery and tyranny in ancient Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.

Freedom, however, is not a central core theme in the teachings of indigenous peoples. There are sometimes evolutionary themes, but those themes, such as among the creation teachings of the Navajo or Pueblos, focus on lessons of gaining increasing moral community and knowledge about how to sustain spiritual balance among tribal members, other peoples, and the powers or spirits of the cosmic order. Spiritual balance, the golden rule, moderation, working within ritual and life constraints, fulfilling ceremonial duties, maintaining individual and community moral commitments, and accepting individual and community responsibility for proper moral and ceremonial relations are core values for indigenous communities.Comment:  Perhaps Indians didn't philosophize or worry much about freedom because were naturally free. People tend to obsess about something only when they don't have it.

When Europeans from hierarchical, top-down societies first encountered Indians, they were surprised. They had never really understood that people could live without popes, kings, and lords telling them what to do.

For more on the subject, see Indians Gave Us Enlightenment and Hercules vs. Coyote:  Native and Euro-American Beliefs.