In this strange and wonderful book, thirty elders of the ancient Hopi tribe of Northern Arizona -- a people who regard themselves as the first inhabitants of America -- freely reveal the Hopi worldview for the first time in written form. The Hopi kept this view a secret for countless centuries, and anthropologists have long struggled to understand it. Now they record their myths and legends, and the meaning of their religious rituals and ceremonies, as a gift to future generations. Here is a reassertion of a rhythm of life we have disastrously tried to ignore and instincts we have tragically repressed; and a reminder that we must attune ourselves to the need for inner change if we are to avert a cataclysmic rupture between our minds and hearts. Book jacket.