While photographing this magnificent bobcat, I got a first hand experience of the relationship between native cultures and the natural things around us. Here is an explanation with example:

The relationship between native cultures and wildlife was more than utilitarian; it was deeply spiritual. Native cultures believe (and still do today) that all living and nonliving things – plants, animals, rocks, stars – were imbued with a type of force or power. All natural phenomena were interpreted in spiritual terms and regarded as having life, and therefore power. This power varied depending on the animal or other natural object. The bear or mountain lion or Bobcat carried much greater power than the deer mouse or pocket gopher. Because this force was capable of good or evil, it was in the native people’s self-interest to ward off evil or to seek assistance from the powers surrounding them. Naturally the spirits controlling food supply required special attention. Native peoples were concerned with how the “living” phenomena around them affecting their welfare and how they could manipulate these mysterious powers to their benefit.

The power of “living” phenomena was evidenced to me in my recent Spring 2012 journey to the Navajo back-country of Arizona, when the guide I was with requested I not stand on top of a certain rock outcropping to take a photograph, as he was protecting the rock and the spirit it held within!