This may strike as a random comment, but I like how Black Elk meditates and sees visions. When I try to meditate, I too see images but none vivid. I never had the chance to merge in a deep meditation. I tried once when I visited a Buddhist temple with my grandmother. I sat there for a very long time, trying to empty my mind and let nature transfer its divine message into me. But as you can imagine, little kids are not cut out for meditations; I ended up daydreaming about games and other things that are more exciting. I wish I can have a chance to really have a vision that is as divine and vivid as the one of Black Elk.
Sitting in a peaceful yet uneventful place like a temple is like a torture for little kids
I seem to have digressed... but since I'm talking about meditations, I want to mention something else related to it. I noticed that Black Elk mentions the meaning behind circles: "You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round" (384). His belief reminded me of the listening sample we listened to in class as we meditated. The speaker told us to imagine concentric circles of life that is all around us. They coexist in harmony, and we must exert positive energy to reinforce the links. This idea of coexisting concentric circles parallels Black Elk's belief that "everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle" (384). I just thought it was interesting that we touched on this subject of life being in circles.
Each circle represents a spirit
As I read, I wanted to solely focus on the Native American culture and their perspective on life, but I could not help but notice the subtle similarities between the spiritual awakening of Black Elk and that of a devout Christian. I wanted to ignore it, but the similarity surfaced over and over again that I now want to talk about the similarities that I noticed in the assigned pages.
Black Elk shares experiences that pious Christians have. Black Elk confesses a couple of times that he was filled with spirit and cried from overwhelming feeling: "While I was singing this I could feel something queer all through my body, something that made me want to cry for all unhappy things, and there were tears on my face" (386). Christians have similar experiences when the Spirit touched them. They burst out in Tongues and cry from abundant joy and happiness. Black Elk believes in a different religion and does not believe in Christianity: "Our people told [the Catholic Priest] that Wasichu promises were no good; that everything they had promised was a lie" (392). Yet, he experiences the same spiritual high that Christians go through. This leads me to believe that all religions have the ability to enlighten a persona and to provide him with a spiritual high.
I imagine Black Elk looked something like people shown in this video when he broke down during his meditations
