Cannasatago, a Onondaga Haudenosaunee spokesman once said “You who are wise must know that different Nations have different conceptions.” Connasatego made this statement to an English colonial official in 1744. The relevancy of this philosophical statement to this day and age is uncanny. Cannastego was a member of the Onondaga tribe. The Onondaga tribe was a member-nation of the Six Nations or Iroquois Confederacy. Mohawk, Oneida, Onondasa, Gayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora, were the tribes that compromised the Haudenosaunee or “People of the Longhouse.” Though their reach once compromised a bulk of the Eastern North America, their reservations are now in New York, Quebec, Ontario, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.

The Haudenosaunee political foundation is centered on the idea of the Seventh Generation. The idea is that individual humans and human communities are responsible for taking actions that positively affect Seven Generations hence forth. They must avoid negative actions that affect the Seventh Generation.

The Haudenosaunee believe in the mantra “To be of one mind.” Essentially, each human is committed to directing their individual strengths so that the spiritual instructions of the creator are carried out. The idea is grounded on the life of harmony in nature that was created by the “Almighty Creator.”