The Great Mystery by Chief Luther Standing Bear
“ Nothing the Great Mystery placed in the land of the Indian pleased the white man , and nothing escaped his transforming hand .
Wherever forests have not been mowed down , wherever the animal is recessed in their quiet protection , wherever the earth is not bereft of four-footed life — that to him is an “ unbroken wilderness ”
But , because for the Lakota there was no wilderness , because nature was not dangerous but hospitable , not forbidding but friendly , Lakota philosophy was healthy — free from fear and dogmatism .
And here I find the great distinction between the faith of the Indian and the white man . Indian faith sought the harmony of man with his surroundings ; the other sought the dominance of surroundings .
In sharing , in loving all and everything , one people naturally found a due portion of the thing they sought , while , in fearing , the other found the need of conquest .
For one man the world was full of beauty , for the other it was a place of sin and ugliness to be endured until he went to another world , there to become a creature of wings , half-man and half-bird .
Forever one man directed his Mystery to change the world . He had made ; forever this man pleaded with Him to chastise his wicked ones ; and forever he implored his God to send His light to earth . Small wonder this man could not understand the other .
But the old Lakota was wise . He knew that a man ’ s heart , away from nature , becomes hard ; he knew that lack of respect for growing , living things soon led to lack of respect for humans , too . So he kept his children close to nature ’ s softening influence .”
Chief Luther Standing Bear – Oglala Sioux
16