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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

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
World
Consumed
Attached
Passions
Ignorance
Passion
Lives
Things
Men
Snakes

More quotes by Black Elk

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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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The Holy Land is everywhere.
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It's in the darkness of men's eyes that they get lost.
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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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After the horse dance was over, it seemed that I was above the ground and did not touch it when I walked.
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Every place is the center of the world.
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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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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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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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Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.
Black Elk
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Grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.
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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. 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.
Black Elk
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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.
Black Elk
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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.
Black Elk
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Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
Black Elk
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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.
Black Elk
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The power of the world always works in circles.
Black Elk
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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.
Black Elk
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As you walk upon the sacred earth, treat each step as a prayer.
Black Elk