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The Great Spirit

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
I wish we had better information on the actual beliefs and practices of the Natives in America, before we shuffled them off to reservations and abducted their children.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I always liked the sound of the Great Spirit in native American worship. Just something about it.
I do too. I think it's because it's more connected with the tangibility of the ground and nature making it more relatable and not as abstract and removed as religions like Christianity and such are.

But I got to be careful though to make sure it isn't just a simplistic romanticization made by the white man.

It's one of the reasons why I miss the Turtle in my area where it was a cultural center erected by the Nations around me where one could learn real Native American History and Culture including spirituality.

There are still PowWows however in my state where one could visit the nation's and learn a few things as well as having a good time. I just hope covid-19 doesn't affect that but if it does, hopefully it's just for one year.
 

Native

Free Natural Philosopher & Comparative Mythologist
I always liked the sound of the Great Spirit in native American worship. Just something about it.
ME-TOO indeed! :)
As my profile name reveals, I´ve always had my mind and hearth with the native people´s all over the world.
Whe studying their natural beliefs and respect for nature itself, modern cultures have lost lots of the natural knowledge. In a sense, modern cultures have become more and more stupid.

Having said this, it seems that interests and concerns for the nature and the Earth once again will have it´s renaissance.

Personally I´m convinced that ancient cultures also have lots of astronomical and cosmological knowledge - even if it seems to me that something is forgotten in native tribes too.

The Great Spirit can IMO refer both to the modern interpretation and perception of "god" as well as to the celestial image of the Milky Way or to some star constellations. Here we for instants have a special worshipping of the White Buffalo which fits very nicely to the whitish contours of the Milky Way band in the northern hemisphere.

This Milky Way contour on the northern hemisphere is also imagined in some ancient cultures as a great man in the Sky.
I do too. I think it's because it's more connected with the tangibility of the ground and nature making it more relatable and not as abstract and removed as religions like Christianity and such are.
Absolutely.
But I got to be careful though to make sure it isn't just a simplistic romanticization made by the white man.
No worries here :) If you think of the ancient daily efforts of living and survive - together with the joy of being close to nature, this is all "just life" and it´s romanticizingly Good.
 

Brian2

Veteran Member
Yeah there isn't much info. it's unfortunate. There were some settlers that wanted to live in harmony but that didn't happen. It's very sad what happened.

Power and greed rule, and in the end even those who want harmony get dragged into being involved in the attrocious activities of their tribe (the new settlers) even if they want to do good in a bad situation.
 

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
I always liked the sound of the Great Spirit in native American worship. Just something about it.
I see "Unity in Diversity" when I see this list:
Names/cultures/countries differ, humans are the same

upload_2020-7-2_15-39-34.png


Great Spirit Medicine man Indians (native)
God Jesus Christians
Allah Muhammad Muslims
Jehovah Jesus Jehova Witnesses
Yahweh Rabbi Jews
Theory "X" Einstein Atheists
Nature Human Humanists
Brahman Guru,priest Hindus
 

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
There's actually a fair amount of quality writings by indigenous Americans, and there's a number of studies by scholars who actually listened and wrote down what the natives said without filtering it through Christianity and other Western ideas about things.

On the other hand, there's a raftload of works that are balderdash.

But there was also nothing resembling a unified native spirituality, and what we do have has been contaminated by Christianity. Not every nation recognized an All-father type of deity...some recognized an All-mother, others may have had a pantheon...Lakota spirituality is not the same as Ojibwa is not the same as Aztec.
 

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
I always liked the sound of the Great Spirit in native American worship. Just something about it.
When the jesuits encountered the Lakota, they were awed by the fact that the Lakota had the concept of the Great Spirit. Of course, the Lakota also had the non-Western idea that spirit inhabited all creation, including rocks, trees,and mountains. But these things were not the Creator -- there was only one Creator--Wakan Tanka. For this reason, when the Jesuits translated the Bible into the Lakota tongue, they used Wakan Tanka as the word for God. I find this fascinating.
 

Native

Free Natural Philosopher & Comparative Mythologist
When the jesuits encountered the Lakota, they were awed by the fact that the Lakota had the concept of the Great Spirit. Of course, the Lakota also had the non-Western idea that spirit inhabited all creation, including rocks, trees,and mountains. But these things were not the Creator -- there was only one Creator--Wakan Tanka. For this reason, when the Jesuits translated the Bible into the Lakota tongue, they used Wakan Tanka as the word for God. I find this fascinating.
Indeed so :) And unfortunately the translation should IMO have hold onto the idea that Wakan Tanka inhabited everything in the creation instead of the deportation of the "God" to the Skies only.
When incorporating the divine forces into everything inside and outsides us, we all get a more direct personal and environtal respect for everything created.
 
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