Behold this day. It is yours to make.
BLACK ELKThey 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.
More Black Elk Quotes
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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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I saw more than I can tell / And I understood more than I saw.
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Once we were happy in our own country and we were seldom hungry, for then the two-leggeds and the four-leggeds lived together like relatives, and there was plenty for them and for us.
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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.
BLACK ELK -
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.
BLACK ELK -
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.
BLACK ELK -
All over the sky a sacred voice is calling your name.
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I looked below and saw my people there, and all were well and happy except one, and he was lying like the dead – and that one was myself.
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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 -
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.
BLACK ELK -
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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Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
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Know the Power that is Peace.
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I cured with the power that came through me. Of course, it was not I who cured,it was the power from the Outer World.
BLACK ELK