Friday, June 3, 2011

Native Wisdom


"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."
~Black Elk (Oglala Sioux)

"The Wise Man believes profoundly in silence - the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind and spirit. The man who preserves his selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence - not a leaf, as it were, astire on the tree, not a ripple upon the surface of the shinning pool - his, in the mind of the unlettered sage, is the ideal attitude and conduct of life. Silence is the cornerstone of character."
~Ohiyesa (Santee Sioux)

"When I was young I walked all over this country, east and west, and saw no other people than the Apaches. After many summers I walked again and found another race of people had come to take it. How is it? Why is it the Apaches wait to die- that they carry their lives on their fingernails? They roam over the hills and the plains and want the heavens to fall on them. The apaches were once a great nation; they are now but few, because of this they want to die and so carry their nails on their fingernails."
~Cochise, Chiricahua Apache

"You must speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight into our hearts. Speak Americans.. I will not lie to you; do not lie to me."
~Cochise, Chiracahua Apache (1812-1874)

"If you talk to the animals they will talk with you
and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them
you will not know them, and what you do not know
you will fear. What one fears one destroys."
~Chief Dan George

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