Know the Power that is Peace.
BLACK ELKThe hawk swoops down on its prey, so does the Indian. In his lament he is like an animal.
More Black Elk Quotes
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They told me I had been sick twelve days, lying like dead all the while, and that Whirlwind Chaser, who was Standing Bear’s uncle and a medicine man, had brought me back to life.
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Perhaps you have noticed that even in the very lightest breeze you can hear the voice of the cottonwood tree; this we understand is its prayer to the Great Spirit, for not only men, but all things and all beings pray to Him continually in differing ways.
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And as he spoke of understanding, I looked up and saw the rainbow leap with flames of many colors over me.
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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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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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Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
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Now suddenly there was nothing but a world of cloud, and we three were there alone in the middle of a great white plain with snowy hills and mountains staring at us; and it was very still; but there were whispers.
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We should understand that the Great Spirit is also above all these things and peoples.
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So I took the bright red stick and at the center of the nation’s hoop I thrust it in the earth.
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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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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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As you walk upon the sacred earth, treat each step as a prayer.
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The Holy Land is everywhere.
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The life of an Indian is like the wings of the air. That is why you notice the hawk knows how to get his prey. The Indian is like that.
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And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.
BLACK ELK