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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

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Black Elk
Age: 86 †
Born: 1863
Born: December 1
Died: 1950
Died: August 19
Heyoka
Medicine Man
Tribal Chief
Firsts
First
Must
Voices
Years
Summer
Think
Heard
Thinking
Four
Voice
Next

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Peace will come to the hearts of men when they realize their oneness with the universe, It is every where.
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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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You see, I had been riding with the storm clouds, and had come to earth as rain, and it was drought that I had killed with the power that the Six Grandfathers gave me.
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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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As you walk upon the sacred earth, treat each step as a prayer.
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To use the power of the bison, I had to perform that part of my vision for the people to see.
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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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Any man who is attached to things of this world is one who lives in ignorance and is being consumed by the snakes of his own passions
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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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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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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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Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished.
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The boys of my people began very young to learn the ways of men, and no one taught us we just learned by doing what we saw, and we were warriors at a time when boys now are like girls.
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The power of the world always works in circles.
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The Holy Land is everywhere.
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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.
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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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Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus should we do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World.
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One should pay attention to even the smallest crawling creature for these too may have a valuable lesson to teach us.
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The center of the universe is everywhere.
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