The Induetsu

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The Induetsu were a Native American tribe that lived in the desert region of Utah known as Monument Valley, a region known for its strange rock formations. These rock formations, set against the aesthetic backdrop of desert monotony, were held by the Induetsu to be extremely significant and helped form their peculiar religious beliefs and even more peculiar social customs. They saw the monuments as being a type of door to the spirit world. Like most early civilizations, their housing structures simply featured openings that functioned as doors rather than the object we commonly think of when we think of a door, a “nothing” set against a “something.” The monuments are “somethings” set against “nothing.” As could be easily guessed, desert life can be harsh, food and water are hard to come by, and much of one’s life is dedicated to work to keep the society alive and well. The religious concepts arising out of such a life bear many similarities to our familiar Judeo-Christian concepts of a utopian afterlife of Heaven, a realm they referred to as Onglata. Onglata was a paradise where none of the earthly problems applied, where there was plenty of food and water, where people were happy and did not have to work.

Whereas the Judeo-Christian tradition arrived at moral codes for individual living that, if followed, would allow a devotee upon death to be reborn into a perfect life in Heaven, the Induetsu failed to arrive at a concept of an afterlife and instead strove to literally pass through the spiritual doors into the world of Onglata in this life. Their technique was breathtaking. During a child’s upbringing, lessons on the glorious Onglata were frequent, easing the difficulty of living under such harsh conditions. The transition to manhood was marked by a ritual that was repeated every year by those able and willing, a ritual of trying the door. The Induetsu had succeeded in designing catapult-like contraptions, not for siege warfare, but for painful spiritual journeys. Men would be hurled against the impenetrable surface of the rock monuments in the hopes of breaking through to Onglata. Many survived particular occasions of the ritual, but it was rare for men to die for any other cause...