Status Updates From Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions

this is so funny and sad and so many important things all at once

“Pain to us is not "abstract," but very real. It is when we are fasting on the hilltop, or tearing our flesh at the sun dance, that we experience the sudden insight, come closest to the mind of the Great Spirit. Insight does not come cheaply, and we want no angel or saint to gain it for us and give it to us secondhand.”

“You understand that there are certain things one should not talk about, things that must remain hidden. If all was told, supposing they lived a person who could tell all, there would be no mysteries left, and that would be a very bad. Man cannot live without mystery. He has a great need of it.”

Epilogue

Reading about the life of Richard Erdoes was much more enjoyable then I thought it would be.

Although the entire book reads as if it comes directly from Lame Deer the epilogue really reveals how this work itself was a collaboration between an Indian man and white man.

It was entertaining hearing of the two’s friendship and Erdoes eventful life in Europe before coming to America.

Chapter 16: blood turned into stone

With Lame Deers explanation of the pipe and its origins in detail the crux of his belief system is at last revealed to the reader.

This was easily the best chapter yet.

After reading a chapter like this one you can’t help but feel remorse at how much of American Indian culture has been lost and how screwed up the world currently is.

Chapter 15:

First time I’ve ever heard of a clown being sacred…

Actually really interesting how the Sioux religion deals with shame. If you think about it from a practical perspective an embarrassing dream is probably the result of an ashamed subconscious. By acting out the dream publicly with no shame due to the act being sacred a healthy way to confront whatever feelings the person has is enshrined socially

“You have love for all that has been placed on this earth…. You are just a human being, afraid, weeping under that blanket, but there is a great space within you to be filled with that love. All of nature can fit in there.”