What was the real significance of "war paint", of the rituals of shamans, of the mysterious communion with animals, plants, mountains, and wild waters? Looking beneath the surface of tribal communication, this book is the first to focus on the myriad forms of traditional expression that were the outward manifestation of a sophisticated ethical and spiritual ecology that existed for millennia before contact with European culture. Cooper describes practices of tribal cultures world-wide and examines the communication ethic of the Dine (Navajo) of northern Arizona and the Shuswap people of British Columbia. As this world of indigenous meaning opens to us, so does the possibility that these groups may have originated from higher -- not more "primitive" -- cultures. In an age when we find advertising deceptive, entertainment violent and meaningless, and politics laced with corruption, we can learn rules for living from the deeper, ethically grounded communication of Indigenous Peoples.