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.
BLACK ELKI was four years old then, and I think it must have been the next summer that I first heard the voices.
More Black Elk Quotes
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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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I had a vision with which I might have saved my people, but I had not the strength to do it.
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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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The hawk swoops down on its prey, so does the Indian. In his lament he is like an animal.
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It is good to have a reminder of death before us, for it helps us to understand the impermanence of life on this earth, and this understanding may aid us in preparing for our own death.
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Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice.
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The song and the drumming were like this: Behold, a sacred voice is calling you; All over the sky a sacred voice is calling.
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It’s in the darkness of men’s eyes that they get lost.
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Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
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Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.
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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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For instance, the coyote is sly, so is the Indian. The eagle is the same. That is why the Indian is always feathered up, he is a relative to the wings of the air.
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There can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.
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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.
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And when I breathed, my breath was lightning.
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But if the Vision was true and mighty, as I know, it is true and mighty yet;for such things are of Spirit, and it is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost.
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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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Behold this day. It is yours to make.
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I cured with the power that came through me.
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Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.
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It is in the darkness of their eyes that men lose their way.
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The life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.
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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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It is hard to follow one great vision in this world of darkness and of many changing shadows. Among those men get lost.
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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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I was four years old then, and I think it must have been the next summer that I first heard the voices.
BLACK ELK