Post by Moon Seeker on Feb 12, 2009 12:02:23 GMT -5
It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome. Its appeal is to the material part, and if allowed its way, it will in time disturb one's spiritual balance. Therefore, children must early learn the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.
If a child is inclined to be grasping, or to cling to any of his or her little possessions, legends are related about contempt and disgrace falling upon the ungenerous and mean person ...
The Indians in their simplicity literally give away all that they have - to relatives, to guests of other tribes or clans, but above all to the poor and the aged, from whom they can hope for no return.
Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa)-Eastern Woodland Sioux 1858-1939
"Once I was in Victoria, and I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank and that the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it back with interest. We are Indians and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank."
- Chief Maquinna “possessor of pebbles”, leader of the Moachat group of Nootka Sound Indians on the west coast of Vancouver Island during the early years of European contact.
"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."
Black Elk- Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, 1863-1950
www.silverbelt.com/articles/2009/02/11/apache_moccasin/apache04.txt
If a child is inclined to be grasping, or to cling to any of his or her little possessions, legends are related about contempt and disgrace falling upon the ungenerous and mean person ...
The Indians in their simplicity literally give away all that they have - to relatives, to guests of other tribes or clans, but above all to the poor and the aged, from whom they can hope for no return.
Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa)-Eastern Woodland Sioux 1858-1939
"Once I was in Victoria, and I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank and that the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it back with interest. We are Indians and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank."
- Chief Maquinna “possessor of pebbles”, leader of the Moachat group of Nootka Sound Indians on the west coast of Vancouver Island during the early years of European contact.
"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."
Black Elk- Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, 1863-1950
www.silverbelt.com/articles/2009/02/11/apache_moccasin/apache04.txt