1.Wholeness. All things are interrelated. Everything in the Universe is part of a single whole. Everything is connected in some way to everything else. It is therefore possible to understand something if we can understand how it connected to everything else.
2.Change. All of creation is in a state of constant change. Nothing stays the same except the presence of cycle upon cycle of change. There are two kinds of change: the coming together of things (development) and the coming apart of things (disintegration). Both of these kinds of change are necessary and are always connected to each other.
3.Change occurs in cycles or patterns. They are not random or accidental. Sometimes it is difficult to see how a particular change is connected to everything else. This usually means that our standpoint (the situation from which we are viewing the change) is limiting our ability to see clearly.
4.The seen and unseen. The physical world is real. The spiritual world is real. These are two aspects of one reality. Yet, there are separate laws which govern each of them. Violation of spiritual laws can affect the physical world. A violation of physical laws can affect the spiritual world. A balanced life is one that honors the laws of both of these dimensions of reality.
5.Human beings are spiritual as well as physical.
6.Human beings can always acquire new gifts, but they must work to do so. The process human beings use to develop new qualities may be called “true learning.”
7.There are four dimensions of “true learning.” These four aspects of every person’s nature are reflected in the four cardinal points of the medicine wheel. These four aspects of our being are developed through the use of our volition. It cannot be said that a person has totally learned in a whole an balanced manner unless all four dimensions of their being have been involved in the process.
8.The spiritual dimension of human development may be understood in terms of four related capacities:
a. The capacity to have and to respond to realities that exist in a non-material way such as dreams, visions, ideals, spiritual teachings, goals and theories.
b. The capacity to accept those realities as a reflection of unknown or unrealized potential to do or be something more or different than we are now.
c. The capacity to express these non-material realities using symbols such as speech, art or mathematics.
d. The capacity to use this symbolic expression to guide future action – action directed toward making making what was only seen as a possibility into a living reality.
9.Human beings must be active participants in the unfolding of their own potentialities.
10.The doorway through which all must pass if they wish to become more or different than they are now is the doorway of the will (volition). A person must decide to take the journey. The path has infinite patience. It will always be there for those who decide to travel it.
11.Anyone who sets out on the journey of self discovery will be aided. There will be guides and teachers who will appear, and spiritual protectors to watch over the traveller. No test will be given that the traveller does not have the strength to meet.
12.The only source of failure on the journey will be the traveller’s own failure to follow the teachings of The Sacred Tree.
