Triangle thinking tries to squeeze patterns into triangles. This cannot work. Patterns do not have rigid lines like triangles. (Hanlen, 2002).
'Indigenous worldviews emerged as a result of the people's close relationship with the environment' (Hart, 2010). This relationship with the environment is not only important to Aboriginal Australians but is shared among many Indigenous peoples across the globe, particularly with Native American Indians tribes. This connection with the environment that occurs over many and many generations has instilled the importance of belonging with the natural world around them and is an integral part of pattern thinking among indigenous peoples worldwide. The relationship with nature gains knowledge and this knowledge is passed down through generations through various cultural practices such as art, dance and ceremony. Aboriginal Dreamtime is another way of passing this knowledge on through story. 'Old Aboriginal people have often stated that White Australians 'have no Dreaming', that is, they have no collective spiritual identity, together with no true understanding of having a correct or 'proper' relationship with land/reality' (Graham, 1999).
With natural law taking precedence over the Indigenous individual there is less of 'I' and more of 'we'. There are key principles that outline natural law and Indigenous worldviews which can be viewed as opposing western thinking. Leanne Simpson (2000) outlined seven principles of Indigenous worldviews. .
-First, knowledge is holistic, cyclic, and dependent upon relationships and connections to living and non-living beings and entities. .
-Second, there are many truths, and these truths are dependent upon individual experiences. .
-Third, everything is alive.
-Fourth, all things are equal. .
-Fifth, the land is sacred. .
-Sixth, the relationship between people and the spiritual world is important.
