We are enchanted with Native American wisdom and are constantly seeking out new quotations, songs, and sayings. This collection edited by Helen Exley contains plenty of material we have not encountered before.
Like the Zen Masters, indigenous peoples do not turn away from impermanence. Crowfoot, a Blackfoot Indian leader, asks:
"What is Life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset."
Those who have lived lightly upon the Earth reverence harmony as a portal to the beauty in life. Black Elk honors the Earth as a sacred grandmother. He then challenges us to reframe our days: "Every step that is taken upon her should be as a prayer."
The art of listening with your heart is an essential devotional activity which Native Americans practice regularly. And again and again, we learn from the tribal sages that "silence is golden."
After savoring these and other selections, we have vowed to follow Joyce Sequichie Hifler's advice: "Speak little and listen long."
