Mitakuye Oyasin - All My Relations

Cross posted from Docudharma

Contemplating the upcoming trip to Austin has me thinking about the Native Americans and how I have always drawn such inspiration from them.  They make frequent appearances in my art both for their beauty and for their symbolic power.  They mean many things to me but to boil it down I would say they represent the natural human, living in harmony with the environment, and, more regrettably, man’s inhumanity to man.

But more than their symbolic importance to me, Native America stands as an object lesson to all Americans.  I often wonder whether or not we have made anything other than technical progress since the days when we wiped out the Indians to take their land.  Our government still barges in where it doesn’t belong, does great harm and proclaims it to be good.  We’ve learned all about gadgetry but nothing of our own humanity.  It seems a great pity.

Though lacking European technology the Indians had highly evolved cultures in other respects.  They were in many ways (forgive the generalization) a wiser people.  They were all different of course, but generally speaking...

In my reading of the history I am struck by the many times when the Indians seemed to be the adults and the Europeans the children.  

So live your life so the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their views, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a stranger if in a lonely place. SHOW RESPECT TO ALL PEOPLE, BUT GROVEL TO NONE. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise ones turn to fools and robs them of their visions. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.

Tecumseh

Studying the history of Native America, particularly from the time of European contact, is, for Americans, like taking a long hard look in the mirror.  People of the First Nations have much to teach us.  Let’s hope we’re not too foolish to learn.

"How can we buy the sky?

How can you own the wind?

Every part of this earth is sacred. Every pine needle. Every sandy shore.

Every mist in the dark woods.

We are part of the earth and the earth is part of us.

The air is precious. It shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

The wind that gave me my first breath also received my last sigh.

This we know: the earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth.

The earth is our mother. What befalls the earth befalls all the son daughters of the earth.

All things are connected like the blood that unites us.

We did not weave the web of life. We are merely a strand in it.

Wherever we do to the web, we do to ourselves"

Chief Seattle

Mitakuye Oyasin.

There is a simple but profound Lakota prayer: Mitakuye Oyasin.

These two words mean All My Relations or We are All Related.

To pray this prayer is to petition God on behalf of everyone and everything on Earth.

Mitakuye Oyasin honors the sacredness of each person's individual spiritual path, acknowledges the sacredness of all life (human, animal, plant, etc.) and creates an energy of awareness which strengthens not only the person who prays but the entire planet.

Soon after I first learned this prayer, I saw that it represented all that needed to be said. It was a prayer of respect, honor and love for all of mankind, and for the Earth. It was a prayer that said "I wish goodness and peace for all. I would leave no one out. I pray for all." It was a prayer that crossed the barriers of religion and could be prayed by one of any faith. It was a prayer that united, instead of dividing. It was an amazing prayer.

Source

For everyone preparing to journey to Austin, so that we might all find our ways back home here’s a little visual guide that I hope you will find helpful.

See ya in Austin bitches.

(Oh you know I’m just kiddin’.)  :-D

All photos by Edward S. Curtis between 1900 and 1915