I have heard that in Blackfoot linguistic traditions, one does not say ‘I know (something)’. They may say he knows, she knows or they know, but to declare that I myself ‘know’ is a taboo that will result in severe derision.

They have many traditions that make some of ours look extremely primitive. But this one may have something to do with the perspective that »knowledge is communally held, developed, curated, and authorized.

Thus one cannot ‘authorize themselves’ in the way that ‘I know (something)’ would imply. When asked, for example, if a person knows a story, they will not say yes. They will say no. I suspect they »might be able to say ‘I have heard it’, or ‘I am aware of it’ or something of this nature. Perhaps ‘I noticed’ is also possible. But not… ‘I know it’.

I believe there is much we might learn and discover from ancient and indigenous cultures. One of the most important of such things might be to acknowledge they are vastly older than our culture. Another is that it is an atrocity to pretend this land we live upon can be ‘owned’, or that ‘it belongs to us moderns’.

There are many others, some too urgent or radical for me to here suggest…