Within the great multiplicity of North American indigenous cultures, Joseph Epes Brown has perceived certain common themes that resonate within many indigenous traditions. He demonstrates how themes within indigenous traditions connect with each other, while also upholding the integrity of individual traditions, and he illustrates each of these themes with in-depth explorations of specific indigenous cultures including Lakota, Navajo, Apache, Koyukon, and Ojibwe.

Back to back -- Changeless at the heart of change : concepts of time and process -- Fixing a center : Native American sacred geography -- Silence, the word, and the sacred : evoking the sacred through language and song -- "There is no word for art" : the creative process -- Relationship and reciprocity : a metaphysics of nature -- A unity of experience : purification, expansion, and identity through ritual.