Treat the Earth and all that dwell therein with respect Remain close to the Great Spirit Show great respect for your fellow beings Work together for the benefit of all Mankind Give assistance and kindness wherever needed Do what you know to be right Look after the well-being of Mind and Body Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater Good Be truthful and honest at all times Take full responsibility for your actions
~ Author Unknown ~
Circles
You have noticed that 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 all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.
Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle. The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.
The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.
~ Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950 ~
Give Us Hearts To Understand
Give us hearts to understand; Never to take from creations beauty more than we give; Never to destroy wantonly for the furtherance of greed; Never to deny to give our hands for the building of earths beauty; Never to take from her what we cannot use.
Give us hearts to understand; That to destroy earths music is to create confusion; That to wreck her appearance is to blind us to beauty; That to callously pollute her fragrance is to make a house of stench; That as we care for her, she will care for us.
We have forgotten who we are. We have sought only our own security. We have exploited simply for our own ends. We have distorted our knowledge. We have abused our power.
Great Spirit, whose dry lands thirst, Help us to find the way to refresh your lands. Great Spirit, whose waters are choked with debris and pollution, Help us to find the way to cleanse your waters. Great Spirit, whose beautiful earth grows ugly with misuse, Help us to find the way to restore beauty to your handiwork.
Great Spirit, whose creatures are being destroyed, Help us to find a way to replenish them. Great Spirit, whose gifts to us are being lost in selfishness and corruption, Help us to find the way to restore our humanity. Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice we hear in the wind, Whose breath gives life to the word, hear us: We need your strength and wisdom. May we walk in Beauty.
~ Author Unknown ~
Traditional Code of Ethics
1. Each morning upon rising, and each evening before sleeping, give thanks for the life within you and for all life, for the good things the Creator has given you and for the opportunity to grow a little more each day. Consider your thoughts and actions of the past day and seek for the courage and strength to be a better person. Seek for the things that will benefit others (everyone).
2. Respect: Respect means "To feel or show honour or esteem for someone or something; to consider the well being of, or to treat someone or something with deference or courtesy". Showing respect is a basic law of life.
a. Treat every person from the tiniest child to the oldest elder with respect at all times.
b. Special respect should be given to Elders, Parents, Teachers, and Community Leaders.
c. No person should be made to feel "put down" by you; avoid hurting other hearts as you would avoid a deadly poison.
d. Touch nothing that belongs to someone else (especially Sacred Objects) without permission, or an understanding between you.
e. Respect the privacy of every person, never intrude on a person's quiet moment or personal space.
f. Never walk between people that are conversing.
g. Never interrupt people who are conversing.
h. Speak in a soft voice, especially when you are in the presence of Elders, strangers or others to whom special respect is due.
i. Do not speak unless invited to do so at gatherings where Elders are present (except to ask what is expected of you, should you be in doubt).
j. Never speak about others in a negative way, whether they are present or not.
k. Treat the earth and all of her aspects as your mother. Show deep respect for the mineral world, the plant world, and the animal world. Do nothing to pollute our Mother, rise up with wisdom to defend her.
l. Show deep respect for the beliefs and religion of others.
m. Listen with courtesy to what others say, even if you feel that what they are saying is worthless. Listen with your heart.
n. Respect the wisdom of the people in council. Once you give an idea to a council meeting it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the people. Respect demands that you listen intently to the ideas of others in council and that you do not insist that your idea prevail. Indeed you should freely support the ideas of others if they are true and good, even if those ideas ideas are quite different from the ones you have contributed. The clash of ideas brings forth the Spark of Truth.
3. Once a council has decided something in unity, respect demands that no one speak secretly against what has been decided. If the council has made an error, that error will become apparent to everyone in its own time.
4. Be truthful at all times, and under all conditions.
5. Always treat your guests with honour and consideration. Give of your best food, your best blankets, the best part of your house, and your best service to your guests.
6. The hurt of one is the hurt of all, the honour of one is the honour of all.
7. Receive strangers and outsiders with a loving heart and as members of the human family.
8. All the races and tribes in the world are like the different coloured flowers of one meadow. All are beautiful. As children of the Creator they must all be respected.
9. To serve others, to be of some use to family, community, nation, and the world is one of the main purposes for which human beings have been created. Do not fill yourself with your own affairs and forget your most important talks. True happiness comes only to those who dedicate their lives to the service of others.
10. Observe moderation and balance in all things.
11. Know those things that lead to your well-being, and those things that lead to your destruction.
12. Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. Expect guidance to come in many forms; in prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet solitude, and in the words and deeds of wise Elders and friends.
Original version printed in 1982 in the book,"The Sacred Tree" by the Four Worlds Development Project . Adapted and reprinted in the "Inter-Tribal Times" October 1994. The adapted version is presented here.
