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The worship of the "Great Mystery" was silent, solitary, free from all self-seeking. It was silent, because all speech is of necessity feeble and imperfect; therefore the souls of my ancestors ascended to God in wordless adoration. It was solitary, because they believed that He is nearer to us in solitude, and there were no priests authorized to come between a man and his Maker. None might exhort or confess or in any way meddle with the religious experience of another. Among us all men were created sons of God and stood erect, as conscious of their divinity. Our faith might not be formulated in creeds, nor forced upon any who were unwilling to receive it; hence there was no preaching, proselyting, nor persecution, neither were there any scoffers or atheists.
The author discusses forms of ceremonial and symbolic worship, the unwritten scriptures, and the spirit world, emphasizing the universal quality and personal appeal of Native American religion.
Charles Alexander Eastman (1858-1939) was a physician writer, national lecturer, and reformer. Eastman was of Santee Dakota, English and French ancestry. After working as a physician on reservations in South Dakota, he became increasingly active in politics and issues on Native American rights, he worked to improve the lives of youths, and founded thirty-two Native American chapters of the Young Men's Christian Association. He also helped found the Boy Scouts of America. He is considered the first Native American author to write American history from the Native American point of view. Contents: Indian Boyhood Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains The Soul of the Indian From the Deep Woods to Civilization
This revised and updated edition contains the most important writings of Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa), the first Native American author to live simultaneously in both the traditional world of the Santee Sioux and the modern civilization of the white man. Dr. Eastman also attended the injured at the Battle of Wounded Knee. Ohiyesa's works represent a complete explanation of the philosophy and moral code of the Plains Indian. Ohiyesa's message speaks to every person who seeks a spiritual way in the midst of a society increasingly dominated by materialism and industrial technology. Sun Dance chief, James Trosper writes, It is a small miracle that these important spiritual teachings have been preserved for us. This new edition contains 10 sepia photographs from Eastman's life and a thought-provoking foreword by Raymond Wilson.
"The Soul of the Indian," written by means of Charles Alexander Eastman, offers a profound and enlightening exploration of Native American spirituality, subculture, and wisdom. Charles Eastman, of Santee Dakota background, turned into now not simplest a carried out creator but additionally a respected recommend for Native American rights within the early twentieth century. In this e-book, Eastman gives readers with a deeply insightful and personal attitude on the spiritual and cultural background of his people. He draws upon his personal experiences and upbringing to offer a window into the spirituality and traditional way of life of the Dakota Sioux. The paintings are a testament to his com...
WHAT boy would not be an Indian for a while when he thinks of the freest life in the world? This life was mine. Every day there was a real hunt. There was real game. Occasionally there was a medicine dance away off in the woods where no one could disturb us, in which the boys impersonated their elders, Brave Bull, Standing Elk, High Hawk, Medicine Bear, and the rest. They painted and imitated their fathers and grandfathers to the minutest detail, and accurately too, because they had seen the real thing all their lives. We were not only good mimics but we were close students of nature. We studied the habits of animals just as you study your books. We watched the men of our people and represented them in our play; then learned to emulate them in our lives.
The Sioux bands from the Upper Midwest are the main subject of Old Indian Days' tales, which are set during the reservation era and had little interaction with white people. Charles A. Eastman, a mixed-blood Sioux best known as the author of almost a dozen novels, wrote about his people's traditional life, rituals, loving family ties, respect for animals, and survival. He is one of the few Indian writers who are both storytellers and oral historians. Old Indian Days, first published in 1907, relates to historical people such as Little Crow and Tamahay, as well as events Eastman witnessed as a boy, the 1862 Sioux Rebellion in Minnesota.
He is a princely youth, among the wild Sioux, who hunts for his tribe and not for himself! His voice is soft and low at the campfire of his nation, but terror-giving in the field of battle. Such was Antelope's reputation. The more he sought the "Great Mystery" in solitude, the more gentle and retiring he became, and in the same proportion his courage and manliness grew. None could say that he was not a kind son and a good hunter, for he had already passed the "two-arrow-to-kill," his buffalo examination. On a hot midsummer morning a few weeks later, while most of the inmates of the teepees were breakfasting in the open air, the powerful voice of the herald resounded among the pine-clad heights and green valleys.
In The Soul of the Indian, Eastman brings to life the rich spirituality and morality of the Native Americans as they existed before contact with missionaries and other whites. This is a rare firsthand expression of native religion, without the filters imposed by translators or anthropologists. Rather than a scientific treatise, Eastman has written a book, "as true as I can make it to my childhood teaching and ancestral ideals, but from the human, not the ethnological standpoint." His discussions of the forms of ceremonial and symbolic worship, the unwritten scriptures, and the spirit world emphasize the universal quality and personal appeal of Native American religion. Charles Alexander East...