An American lndian story, on Life and Death
By emptychair
@innertalks (23746)
Australia
July 13, 2021 12:53am CST
Little Big Cloud believed in the Indian idea of harmony, balance, and overall international cooperation between all parts of nature.
Nature is generous, but needs to be respected.
We need to participate in life, rather than just stay more a spectator on it's borders, on the sidelines, of living more fully actively.
When we immerse ourselves more deeply into life, it opens up within us more deeply too.
Little Big Cloud used to say to not try to move mountains, nor change the course of rivers.
We need not change ourselves, fundamentally so, either.
We need to be more of who we are, and less of who we are not.
Your moment is always there for you to live it.
Don't hide yourself under too much warpaint.
When you remove the covering, what's real is revealed.
When everything has come and gone, what remains is its essence. It is the same with you.
Little Big Cloud lived a full and useful life, dying at the old age of 63, a long life in those days, for an American Indian.
As he died, he whispered, to anyone around him.
"Life and death cannot live together. One always steps into the other's space. There is nothing as ruthless as death living in life. Never let it do so."
A final word, or two:
Love lives in both the pockets of life and death, and energises them both, into life, and into death too.
When you just love, and live with love, both life and death take back seats to that love, living in you, as you. Live your life to the fullness of it, within you. Then you will be truly you.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
Picture: The chief, dressed up in his gear, before dancing a rain dance.
5 people like this
4 responses
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
13 Jul 21
(technically called first people not the name you used)!
Life, is a journey bound by understanding. what we see and know is both the guide and the limits.
3 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
13 Jul 21
They call the Australian Aboriginals here the first people, or the first nation too.
I have never liked those terms.
They seem to imply a grudging acknowledgement of who was first, but then imply, that we, the current leaders, are now in charge too, so lump it, or leave it.
It is also a competitive stance, as it also asks (implies indirectly) who was second, third, etc. etc.
Here, the Dutch were second, ahead of the British, who were a long third.
The Aboriginals here, like the American Indians, have their own tribal names too.
Perhaps, we should ask them to come up with their own collective name for themselves, instead of us giving them one.
Here the largest tribe is the Wiradjuri people. Perhaps, we should call them that, collectively too.
3 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
14 Jul 21
@DocAndersen You are probably right. I just do not like the term.
I am sure that they do not see themselves as being the first people.
They see themselves more as simply being a part of the land, which was first, if we want to call something first.
3 people like this
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
14 Jul 21
@innertalks you are bouncing the edges of what is now called political correctness. I do, to my friends that are of the First People, always address them by their nation. Sioux, Cherokee, Hopi, all are names that the First People assigned.
But based on the way the colonials (2nd, 3rd and so on) treated the First People, they do truly deserve that honor of being called first.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
13 Jul 21
Thanks. I am glad you liked my short story. 
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (28402)
• Singapore
13 Jul 21
I think our ego has clouded our vision along with greed and pomp.
Live and let others live is consigned to the dustbin ever since the modern era whenever it started.
Harmony with nature lifts our spirits and unites us. We are all part of the journey.
We still enjoy moments of oneness but drift away soon after losing ourselves in destructive, selfish, pursuits.
By shedding pretenses and hypocrisy, we will reinvent ourselves.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
13 Jul 21
Living and working in concrete jungles, and driving tin cans around everywhere, tend to distance us from nature, as well.
We use and abuse nature, and exploit it to the hilt.
Just the move to slabs of concrete, when building of houses, which took off here, rather than stumps, has killed off a lot of even more land too, making it barren for any life to live in it, anymore too..
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
14 Jul 21
@Shiva49 Yes, for after all we are a part of nature, and we can't really ever separate ourselves from that position, no matter how much we think that we can control nature.
We need to work with nature, not against it.
@Shiva49 (28402)
• Singapore
14 Jul 21
@innertalks We think minor indiscretions are in order but they add up to a humongous figure when we become impervious to them.
We need to embrace nature though some nature lovers are called derisively as "tree huggers"!
The awareness of living in harmony with nature has to spread.
2 people like this
@Nakitakona (59987)
• Philippines
13 Jul 21
I like the philosophy of Little Big Cloud when he said that we shouldn't try to move mountains or change the course of the rivers. We should respect nature.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
13 Jul 21
Yes, I agree. We shouldn't continually abuse nature, and try to force it to do what we want all of the time.
@Nakitakona (59987)
• Philippines
13 Jul 21
@innertalks God takes care of nature to make us live.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
13 Jul 21
@Nakitakona Yes. God made it perfect for us, and we should not tinker with his masterpiece, for our own greedy wants.
