It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds.
BLACK ELKThe center of the universe is everywhere.
More Black Elk Quotes
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It is not enough to have a vision. In order to have its power, you must enact your vision on earth for all to see. Only then do you have the power.
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The Great Spirit is everywhere; He hears whatever is in our minds and our hearts, and it is not necessary to speak to Him in a loud voice.
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It is in the darkness of their eyes that men lose their way.
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And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.
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Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.
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When I got back to my father and mother and was sitting up there in our tepee, my face was still all puffed and my legs and arms were badly swollen; but I felt good all over and wanted to get right up and run around.
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Hear me, four quarters of the world-a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds.
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Know the Power that is Peace.
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All over the sky a sacred voice is calling your name.
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He who is well prepared is he who knows that he is nothing compared with Wakan-Tanka, who is everything; then he knows that world which is real.
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The visions and ceremonies only made me like a whole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds.
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Also, as I lay there thinking of my vision, I could see it all again and feel the meaning with a part of me like a strange power glowing in my body; but when the part of me that talks would try to make words for the meaning, it would be like fog and get away from me.
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The Universe is circles within circles, and everything is one circle, and all the circles are connected to each other.
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But the Wasichus came, and they have made little islands for us and other little islands for the four-leggeds, and always these islands are becoming smaller, for around them surges the gnawing flood of the Wasichu; and it is dirty with lies and greed.
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If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be foolish.
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The power of a thing or an act is in the meaning and the understanding.
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Everywhere is the center of the world. Everything is sacred.
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The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.
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The Holy Land is everywhere.
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Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice.
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But I think I have done right to save the vision in this way, even though I may die sooner because I did it; for I know the meaning of the vision is wise and beautiful and good; and you can see that I am only a pitiful old man after all.
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We should understand that the Great Spirit is also above all these things and peoples.
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I think I have told you, but if I have not, you must have understood, that a man who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until after he has performed the vision on earth for the people to see.
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I might have been less good to the people than some man who had never dreamed at all, even with the memory of so great a vision in me.
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Everything tries to be round.
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We should understand well that all things are the work of the Great Spirit. We should know the Great Spirit is within all things: the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and the four-legged and winged peoples; and even more important.
BLACK ELK