Native Wisdom 

From Lakota People

The Land

The character of the Indinas emotion left little room in his heart for antagonism toward his fellow creatures… For the Lakota (one of the three branches of the Sioux nation), mountains, lakes, rivers, springs, valleys, and woods were all finished beauty. Winds, rain, snow sunshine, day night, and changes of seasons were endlessly fascinating. Birds, insects, and animals filled the world with knowledge that defied the comprehension of man.

The Lakota was a true naturalist- a lover of Nature. He loved the earth and all things of the earth, and the attachment grew with age. The old people came literally to love the soil and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power. All things are connected.                              

It was good for the skin to touch the earth, and the old people liked to remove theirs moccasins and walk with bare feet on the sacred earth.

Their tipis were built upon the earth and their altars were made of earth. The birds that flew in the air came to rest upon the earth, and it was the final abiding place of all things that lived and grew. The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing, and healing.

This is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life-giving forces. For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly; he can see more clearly into mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him.

Silence

Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politness and regardful of the rule that “thought comes before speech”.

And in the midst of sorrow, sickness, death, or misfortune of any kind, and in the presence of the notable and great, silence was the mark of respect.

More powerful than words was silence with the Lakota.

His strict observance of this tenet of good behaviour was the reason, no doubt, for his being given the false characterization by the white man of being a stoic. He has been judged to be dumb, stupid, indifferent, and unfeeling.

As a matter of truth, he was the most sympathetic of men, but his emotions of depth and sincerity were tempered with control. Silence meant to Lakota what it meant to Disraeli when he said, “Silence is the mother of truth,” for the silent man was ever to be trusted, while the man ever ready with speech was never taken seriously.