It is believed to have originated with the Great Law of the Iroquois – which holds appropriate to think seven generations ahead and decide whether the decisions they make today would benefit their descendants.
"In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine."
[...] Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground -- the unborn of the future Nation.Oren Lyons, Chief of the Onondaga Nation, writes: "We are looking ahead, as is one of the first mandates given us as chiefs, to make sure and to make every decision that we make relate to the welfare and well-being of the seventh generation to come.
"[5] In reaction to consumerism, another interpretation[citation needed] that stresses stewardship owed to generations past and future sometimes arises in popular culture and discourse.
[citation needed] A variation on the seven generation thinking where self is placed at the center is to expand the span of years that touches one's own lifetime.