Black Elk Speaks

"For what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when they bend him like a heavy snow?" (261)

I find this quote speaks to me, not so much in a spiritual vein but as something I often feel from personal experience.  Black Elk was charged to tell the story all his life- no easy task.  There are so many cultural nuances that must be covered simply to tell his single story and to get an idea of the lives of his people, he'd have to tell many, many more.  I can't imagine how strenuous a task that seemed when he first began.  In my own personal history, I've volunteered for a similar undertaking.  Namely, that I've kept a journal consistently for the past 8 years or so and imperfectly for the past 10.  I don't know how or why I started but it became a habit that must be fulfilled before I could go to bed each night.  I've slowly come to the opinion that I'd like them to be published some day in the hopes that other teens who struggle through daily life know everyone has the same thoughts at some point.  But even I know that sounds rather egotistical and that I am no better than anyone else who has ever put their thoughts to paper.  It's a hard thing to explain.

No matter how hard we strive, we can never fully record all of the emotions or even events of any given time.

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"But he said that Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things.  That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that world." (292)

But back on track with our more usual discussion, while going through our reading I realized that there's more cultural synthesis between native americans and those cultures we considered "enlightened."  For example, one of the famed Greek philosophers (Plato I believe) wrote that we merely see the shadow of the world and that its true essence lies beyond our comprehension.  I have a tendency to agree with him, based on a scientific standpoint.  For example, we know that dogs are color blind but I'm pretty sure they're unaware of this fact.  If we tried to communicate to them that they see the world only partially or "wrong," would they believe us?  I doubt it.  It's like being in a 2D world and trying to understand the concept of a third dimension.

But I digress.  Black Elk is speaking of seeing a truer world through dreams and visions.  While to our modern society we might see this as him just enjoying a little bit too much peyote, who can deny the effects of a powerful dream?  Have you never woken up and still felt the intense emotional pull of whatever was happening in your mind mere seconds before?  I'm very based in the world of alpha and beta brain waves and the scientific analysis of sleep but I also hold with the fact that dreams can be a way of our subconscious/something beyond us (God?) trying to share a message.

Even in modern times, we're obsessed with the hidden meaning behind dreams.

http://inception.wikia.com/wiki/Inception_Wiki