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Two other
concepts essential to the Navajo view of an ordered, structured universe are those
of nilch'i, or the Holy Wind, and the inner forms. After the Emergence onto the
earth's surface, wind and inner forms were placed within all living things as
a source of life, movement, speech, and behavior. Rather than being and independent
spiritual agency that resides within the individual, like the Western notion of
the soul, Holy Wind is a single entity that exists everywhere and in which all
living beings participate. The concept of the Holy Wind has far-reaching implications.
First, it exists as an underlying element that unifies beings and phenomena that
Anglos perceive as distinct and isolated entities: deer, bison, spiders, stars,
clouds, and pinon pines share the unifying element of the Wind, which exists within
all of them. This means that all living beings are related and that nothing exists
in isolation. Inherent in this relationship is a sense of kinship with other living
beings and of the reciprocal responsibilities that accompany kinship. This means
that the earth and the animals and plants that live on it (as well as the sky
with its entities and phenomena) are related to and will provide for humankind
as long as humanity recognizes and carries out its reciprocal responsibilities
toward the other beings and phenomena of earth and sky. Furthermore, breath and
speech are intimately related to the concept of Holy Wind. Nilch'i also refers
to air and thus involves the act of breathing. Because nilch'i has a holy quality
not acknowledged in Western culture, the act of breathing is a sacred act through
which the individual participates in an ongoing relationship with all other living
beings. This is why it is possible for the patient in a ceremonial actually to
breathe in the live-giving power of the sun outside the hogan. The intimate relationship
between speech and breath - and thus, the life principle - makes the speech act
sacred. Words have a sacred, creative power and the ability to summon forth that
which is uttered. In Navajo Creation stories, the Holy People spoke, sang, and
prayed the world into existence. Finally, because of the essentially unitary nature
of the Holy Wind, it is the same force that animates the Holy People themselves
with life, movement, speech, and behavior. Individual human beings therefore have
"direct access to the thought and speech of the Holy Ones." The inner
form, or Bii'gistiin ("one who lies within it" or "an inanimate
object lies within"), is a being independent of the object it happens to
occupy. As Haile explained, the entity or phenomenon itself is not animated but
a humanlike personification, a soul, is placed within it. Human beings also have
inner forms. Because of the inner form concept, the sun's disk (sha) is quite
distinct from its carrier (johonaa'ei, who carries a round object here and there
in daytime). Significantly, a solar eclipse is called johonaa'ei daaztsa (who
carries a round object here and there in daytime died), which means that it is
the inner form of the sun that has died rather than the (unanimated) sun disk
itself. Because each person has an inner from and participates in the omnipresent
Holy Wind, each has a Holy Person located within. Harry Walters explained that
people contact these inner beings by breathing; therefore, the human voice box
- the means of breathing and of speech - is where the Holy Person lives. Just
as the inner form is independent of the entity it occupies, so too this inner
Holy Person is not a part of people's physical being. This conceptualization embodies
the sacredness of Holy Wind: the reason why the acts of breathing and speaking
are sacred is because the diyin dine'e, the Holy People, are everywhere, within
everyone. With the peace that comes of the realization of oneness with the universe
comes the responsibility to live as the Holy People live, by treating one's fellow
creatures on this planet with the same respect that one would have toward oneself.
Pgs. 72, 73 As previously discussed, each living thing has an inner form and Holy Wind placed within it through which it has the capacity to live, think, speak, and move; Holy Wind is also the means of communication between all elements of the living world. Messenger winds from the inner forms of various natural phenomena based in the four directions inform, advise, and protect people and also report back on their behavior. When Changing Woman and the other diyin dine'e departed after completing Creation, they left gifts and instructions about the correct way to live. These Holy People are based in the cardinal directions, and thanks to the messenger winds they are all-knowing. Pg. 96 Furthermore the act of breathing connects human beings to all living things. It is important to remember that nilch'i, Holy Wind, can also be translated as "air," and is "an omnipresent entity in which (all) living beings participate." In the act of breathing, air is constantly being exchanged and boundaries being altered: "On inhaling, the powerful ones (the Holy People) enter one's lungs and are both a part of the breather as well as his being a part of and linked to all other beings." Thus, by breathing, one has direct access to the thought and speech of the Holy People. This is why the patient rises from the sandpainting and leaves the hogan to breathe in the power of the Sun. Through this ritual act the patient inhales the lifegiving, healing power of the Sun into his being. Pg. 193
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