The Common Ground Project · Book 16
Glossary of Time
Eighty-five cultures. Complete profiles. One reference.
The Glossary of Time is a per-culture encyclopedia. Not a glossary in the dictionary sense. A full reference companion to every tradition documented in The Common Ground Project — eighty-five cultures in complete profiles.
Each profile covers historical territory with maps showing then versus now, cosmology and key concepts, how the tradition marked time and meaning, conflict history, contemporary status, and direct cross-references to every relevant book in the Common Ground Project series.
Every profile closes with Dig Deeper — critical thinking questions that ask the reader to reason across traditions rather than simply accumulate facts. Designed for independent readers and the classroom.
What each profile contains
Spread 1–2
Opening Profile
Full illustration. Cultural name and indigenous name. Fast facts. Territory maps: historical extent versus current status. Time vocabulary — how this tradition understood and marked time.
Spread 3–4
Cosmology and Conflict
Core beliefs and cosmological structure. Conflict history — how this tradition engaged with war, resistance, and survival. What the tradition is contending with right now.
Spread 5–6
Dig Deeper + CGP Cross-References
Critical thinking questions that ask you to reason across traditions, not just recall facts. Direct cross-references to every CGP book where this tradition appears in depth.
Sample Entry · Tier I · Indigenous & Oral Traditions
Lak👛óta · Great Plains, North America
Mitákuye Oyás’i⅕ — All my relations. The phrase that opens every Lakota ceremony is not a greeting. It is a cosmological statement. Everything in Lakota ceremony, governance, warfare, and healing flows from this single acknowledgment: existence is relational.
Historical territory: approximately 60 million acres. Current reservation land: approximately 3.5 million acres. The U.S. Supreme Court awarded $106 million in 1980 after treaty violation. The Lakota refused. The unclaimed sum, with accrued interest, now exceeds $1.3 billion. Their position: the land was never legally sold.
In the CGP Series
The Ground Beneath — Mitákuye Oyás’i⅕ as foundational evidence for Pillar I · How We Fought — warrior societies, Little Bighorn, and the contemporary warrior tradition · What We Listened To — olowan ceremony songs and the courting flute · The Common Trickster — Iktomi the Spider