Oh, Great Spirit
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me, I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy – myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my Spirit may come to you without shame.
(translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887)
Ever since I was shown a copy and now own a copy of Touch the Earth by T.C. McLuhan I was very impressed and inspired by the depth and the beauty of North American Indians spiritual wisdom. I live in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel, studying philosophical and spiritual texts, the fact that there’s a suggestion that they could be well be one of the lost ten tribes of Israel is strengthened by this and many other of these writings and sayings. Of all the cultures and histories of other nations that I have studied or perused, if I didn’t know the sources of these quotations listed above, I would have said that the fitted into classical Jewish texts seamlessly!
Thank you for making us aware of Touch the Earth. The truth is being reveal before our very eyes.