But if the Vision was true and mighty, as I know, it is true and mighty yet;for such things are of Spirit, and it is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the power of a profound vision and suggests that without it, individuals may become lost.
Black Elk's quote speaks to the significance of having a strong and true vision, which serves as guidance in life. He conveys that visions stem from a spiritual place, implying that they are essential for understanding one’s purpose and direction. In the absence of such a guiding vision, people may find themselves in confusion and darkness, underscoring the importance of clarity and insight in navigating one's life journey.
In practice
During a motivational speech, a speaker may use this quote to encourage individuals to pursue their true passions.
I cured with the power that came through me. Of course, it was not I who cured,it was the power from the Outer World; the visions and ceremonies only made me like a whole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds. If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be foolish.
The song and the drumming were like this: Behold, a sacred voice is calling you; All over the sky a sacred voice is calling.
The Universe is circles within circles, and everything is one circle, and all the circles are connected to each other. Each family is a circle, and those family circles connect together and make a community, and the community makes its circle where it lives on the Earth. It (the community) cares for that part (of the Earth) but cares for it as a circle - which is to say in a cooperative and egalitarian way, where everybody is cared for, and everybody is respected.
And as he spoke of understanding, I looked up and saw the rainbow leap with flames of many colors over me.
They told me I had been sick twelve days, lying like dead all the while, and that Whirlwind Chaser, who was Standing Bear's uncle and a medicine man, had brought me back to life.
Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.
You're born in pain and pain is what we're in most of the time. And I think that the bigger the pain, the more gods we need.
What is done out of love always occurs beyond good and evil.
In the visible world, the Milky Way is a tiny fragment; within this fragment, the solar system is an infinitesimal speck, and of this speck our planet is a microscopic dot. On this dot, tiny lumps of impure carbon and water, of complicated structure, with somewhat unusual physical and chemical properties, crawl about for a few years, until they are dissolved again into the elements of which they are compounded.
The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions.
Man's sin is in his failure to live what he is. Being the master of the earth, man forgets that he is the servant of God.
You know all the money we spend on nuclear weapons and defence every year? Trillions of dollars? Correct? Trillions. Instead, if we spent that money feeding and clothing the poor of the world,which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, not one, we could, as one race, explore outer space together in peace forever
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