"The earth has received the embrace of the sun... and we shall see the results of that love."

---- Sitting Bull - Lakota Sioux

"The White Man goes into his church and talks about Jesus.
The Indian goes into his tipi and talks with Jesus."

---- Quanah (Comanche) - about the Native American Church which he founded.

"Realize that we as human beings have been put on this earth for only a short time and that we must use this time to gain wisdom, knowledge, respect and the understanding for all human beings, since we are all relatives."

---- Cree Proverb

"All things in the world are two. In our minds we are two, good and evil. With our eyes we see two things, things that are fair and things that are ugly....

We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and we have the left hand full of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot may lead us to a good.

So are all things two, all two."

---- Chief White Eagle (Pawnee)

""The land is sacred. These words are at the core of your being. The land is our mother, the rivers our blood. Take our land away and we die. That is, the Indian in us dies."

---- Mary Brave Bird (Brul� Lakota)

"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 (Oglala Sioux)

Yes, you got me right. I consider "big people" only those who are spiritualy high. Those whose humanity is above average. Nothing else means "big". And that also brings me to the people who are not famous, they are "hidden", nobody ever heard of them, but they have every right to be considered that way. And they might be bigger than those we know about.

And yes, I also a long time ago came to the same thought - that the most of us belive in the same God, we just have different ways to honour him, explain him, describe him (maybe because he just can�t be described nor explained in one way). And then we argue instead of sharing our experiences. Instead of listening and opening to others we are closing the door. Such a pitty! Imagine, how would it look like if the people from all these religions would come to pray together! With respect toward each other and toward differences between them but finding something that connects them... -just a dream. Although I saw some Muslims comming to the grave of one of our blessed, praying and asking him for help. And he helped a lots of times.

I knew you meant this.. and since I can't speak another language as fluently as you can.., it would be wrong for me to criticize your word choices here..

"In my opinion"..... (I have to use this phrase a lot in the forums lately, so people don't condemn me and assume that I am preaching.. LOL!)... God takes the form and name pleasing to each individual, because God is not a human being... God also has no sex/color/race/species/etc.. attached (again.., in my opinion.. and is contrary to what "some" of my own people and teachers believe..and what many holy texts suggest)...

I believe God appears, communicates and shares with us, in a way that is unique to every individual.. If you were to ask birds what God looks like, "some of them" would probably describe the higher power as a bird... If you asked some fish what God looks like... --> a fish... An insect... -> an insect... etc./etc./etc..

This is why.... (again, "in my opinion")... there is a lot of conflict about God.. Humans tend to look at God, as if God is a human..., when God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent.. (something that no human has ever been)... The holy books describe God as being human.., because long ago.., the concept of an invisible force/being was hard to translate into words... AND.. people/humans often need something they can relate to, to comprehend it..

As I said earlier.., the biggest problem between religions and cultures.., is most likely a lack of communication... and a realization.., that only "Man" has written any holy books.. They are "individual interpretations" of a communication with the higher power... A sharing of the conversation... These "sharings" have been passed, down, scribed, re-scribed and translated many times over history... All by different people..., with their own, individual interpretations.. Can anyone say with certainty, that the words haven't changed from person to person..?

Best example I can think of at the moment.., is telling a joke or short story.., in a room full of people..., by having them whisper it into the ear of the person next to them...

By the time the story/joke gets around the whole room.. (let's say there are 100 people in the room).. it is not the same, as when it was first shared.. Put this into perspective.. with holy scriptures..

It's not 100 people sharing the story.... It's thousands of people in that room, taking the story home with them.. and sharing it with many more... over and over.., through thousands of years... You get literally millions of versions of the same story..

So.. Who is to know which story is correct..? Only God..

This is why everyone needs to experience God directly.. Religious and spiritual leaders have a purpose.. and can really help some people do this.., but they also don't ALL necessarily have all the answers and interpretations correct, themselves.. They have opinions, like all of us do.. They can be both a help and a hinder, depending on their own pathways.. and their own egos...

..."in my opinion"...

"God gives us each a song. That's how we know who we are. Our songs tell us who we are."

---- Charlie Knight (Ute)

"When your brother falls behind you.., don't leave him there. Wait for him to catch up."

---- Albert Ward (Mic Mac Elder)

"With one mind.., we address our acknowledgment, respect, and gratefulness to all the sacred Cycle of Life. We, as humans, must remember to be humble.. and acknowledge the gifts we use so freely in our daily lives."

---- Audrey Shenandoah (Onandaga)

"We give thanks to the Creator for these fruits of the sea. We ask his blessings on the food that we eat and on all the generations that follow us down to the Seventh Generation. May the world we leave them be a better one, than was left to us.....

We only ask to survive.., so that we can remain who and what we are ....and for that we will always thank the Creator. We ask only the chance to pass on our way of life... and our love for the Creator, to our children and grandchildren..."

---- Harriett Starleaf Gumbs (Shinnecock)

"I, as a spritual Indian man, am convinced that it is time to reach out to my white brothers and sisters and to share with whomever wishes.., to partake of what we, the indigenous people of this land, still have. It is time that the buckskin curtain be drawn back. It is time... I know it."

---- Eddie Benton-Banai (Ojibway)

"These days people seek knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future."

---- Vernon Cooper (Lumbee)

"Man sometimes thinks he's been elevated to be the controller, the ruler. But he's not. He's only a part of the whole. Man's job is not to exploit.., but to oversee, to be a steward. Man has responsibility, not power....

..I do not see a delegation for the four-footed. I see no seat for the eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior. But we are after all a mere part of the Creation. And we must consider to understand where we are. And we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there as part and parcel of the Creation..."

---- Oren Lyons (Onondaga)

(From an address to the Non-Governmental Organizations of the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, 1977)

...Fools Crow repeatedly told (Thomas) Mails that the more humble and unselfish a person is, the more willing Wakan Tanka and his helpers of the four directions are willing to work through them.

"Wakan Tanka is concerned with human needs, and not luxuries. If we want luxuries, He has given us at birth the power to work for and obtain these,"...�� he said. People who have rid themselves of self-serving ego, like medicine and holy people, are the cleanest bones", he explained.

"��The cleaner the bone, the more water you can pour through it, and the faster it will run."��

(When asked by Thomas Mails about the terrible environmental problems that are plaguing the world today:)

.."People tell me about them.., and I se pollution and waste wherever I go... Even my own people have left their ancient ways.., to join in the disaster now.."

(MAILS): "Is it possible to heal the world?"...

F.C.: "With Wankan-Tanka everything is possible. Without Him.., it is not... Human nature, which is natural power that surrounds us.., is such, that people do not do what is for their own best good."...

---- FOOLS CROW

"We don't give money to God. We give Him our prayers, our thanks. And sometimes we give Him the only thing that's really ours; our flesh, our pain. That's what the Sun Dance is all about - giving God our flesh, our pain, and - never forget - a prayer of thanks.", "The only law we obey is the natural law, God's law.

We have the Black Hills for our church. We have the wind and the rain and the stars for our Bible. The world is an open Bible for us. We Indians have studied it for millions and millions of years."

---- Mathew King (Lakota)

"All children are my children. I teach them the songs and whatever else I can. That's what Grandmothers are for - to teach songs and tell stories and show them the right berries to pick and roots to dig. And also to give them all the love they can stand. No better job in the world than being a Grandmother."

---- Leila Fisher (Hoh)

"Birds have always been important to the Indian.., because they go where they wish, they light where they may and they're free. ...The eagle flies highest in the sky of all the birds and so he is the nearest to the Creator, and his feather is the most sacred of all. He is the highest of the birds and so belongs to all the tribes, to all the peoples."

---- Buffalo Jim (Seminole)