Denise Booker Case

Denise Booker

INT-244 World Religions

April 7, 2013

Professor Kenneth Rick

Circle of Life

Black Elk, Ogala Sioux Holy Man talks about how the Indians believe that everything is done in circles. The Native Americans were always in fear because they always wanted to do something different in response to the white men. Their view on the circle of life made everyone believe that there is no end to life and our lives on this Earth is eternal. These are the types of ideas that go against Christianity which believe the world will end and Jesus will come back for his believers since the Earth is just a temporary dwelling place. Black Elks points of views are kind of similar to those of Christianity when it comes to talking about the responsibility of nature and mankind. Black Elks teaches that the circle of life makes everything "circular" which means everything will repeat or renew itself making it a common thing that happens throughout life. He teaches that the circular pattern does not have any effect on our lives, but it proves itself true in a way because history does repeat itself in a way.

Traditionally, the Sioux way of life created all of their independence between man and even nature. They had to respect the cycle of the seasons and even each animals' life so they could secure food, clothing, and most of all shelter. When the Indians maintained harmony with nature, all of these necessities were always abundant and they believed it was because of the Great Spirit which was claimed to be taking care of them for such a long time. When the westward expansion of whites or the "Wasichus" which is what the Black Elk called them because they destroyed their independence and violated the Sioux's take on many sacred traditions as well as their old way of life which was started to be used less and less as each day passed.

In most of the traditional expedition stories, the story would always end with the hero bringing something back to the community. Black Elk is trying to bring a little sense of tribal identity back to his community, but due to the westward expansion of the Wasichus, it is making it relatively impossible for him to do that. Even though multiple treaties were signed during the early years of the invasion, they weren't honored due to the fact that the Indians where only signing them after being intoxicated with what they thought was holy water, but turned out to be whiskey. Some treaties were made honorable by the Wasichus, but weren't being followed by their soldiers. For example, the land was supposed to be owned by the Indians, but the Wasichus were not trustworthy at all.

Black Elk saw his people starting to go down what was considered to be a "black road". Once these