Rooftopper, I'm glad it helped you heal, it did me as well. Yes, tolerance might be a first step, I feel acceptance and understanding are what truely allows us to accept ourselves as one small piece in the family. I believe us all working together is a dream many share and we need to work hard to fully achieve.
Blackbird, Thank you so very much, I feel that is the perfect way to look at why we should be good stewards of the earth.

LWB,

I've looked at it this way and I read it somewhere some time ago. I don't know who said it but it hits reality right on the head.

These are beautiful children and we should not forget they will replace us
in time.

I was thinking about something someone sent me in a PM about what the Elders say. It got me to thinking about what I have read in various posts from the elders, and in the video of LittleHawk. There are things they say that stand out bold and in full light. Other things are like seeds planted in your mind, only through looking into yourself, watering and nurturing that seed, will it grow. Only through understanding and acceptance, listening to the voice of the heart, will that seed grow into the sacred tree that our ancestors speak of. The sacred tree whose roots connect to all nations. Let's all grow that tree.

Wisdom is a funny thing, generally it can help but it can also hinder. Look at all the wisdom science holds, but then look at all the mess it has created, in acid rain, atomic bombs, pollution, wars for oil and nasa bombing the moon with nukes to look for water which they dont yet know what the side effects will be.
We all strive to become wise and just by living and learning the way of our world makes us wiser than we believe us to be. The wisdom of the elders is worth more than the wisdom of science then the wisdom of the experience of life we all become without noticing. If you ever meet or see a very wise elder and wish you were that way remember you can do things they cannot and you know things they dont know, we all have a purpose to live and learning either comes naturally at a pace we can keep up with or we push ourselves to learn more. Some people have time to connect with the spirit elders and some people become a wise elder through their own doing, and all wise elders have one thing in common, they all want to make everyone wiser and thats why they wanted to become wise elders, to help the people who didnt have time to become wise.
I'm not an elder but influenced by the elders of spirit. Sometimes we become wise without knowing it, and spirit will always only ever tell us what they think is needed to be known. Spirit are the wisest of people ive ever heard of, thats where we humanity need to reconnect with if we are to become more wise than we believe we are capable of.

I would say science is more composed of knowledge, the is a giant leap between knowledge and wisdom. Knowing how to do something with out the wisdom use it responsibly is the biggest fault with science. Wisdom transcends knowledge, my self I would rather listen to one who is un educated and wise, than one who is full of facts but without wisdom.

I like what you both have wrote.
Ty.

I think a great example of how science lacks wisdom is Tesla. Brilliant man, that almost brought his own home down on his head. I've seen science show examples how all over nature relies on each individual piece, we have to live with the land.

It's ironic science was used as a tool to "prove the savages wrong", when now it's proving the ancestors were right all along. Great advances, showing they are atleast 10,000 years behind the first nations.

good point stormsrider, wisdom and knowledge are two different things.
Wisdom can be either the making of a person or their downfall, look at all these next mentioned very wise persons who where executed for being wise. joan of arc, socrates, ali hillaj monsoor, martin luther king, jesus, buddha, mohammad and zoroaster.
i fear for what humanity will do to pahana when he returns but i trust God to make sure he will be OK.

I agree that some physicists probably regret how their discoveries were put to use. I wonder if these people could go back in time, whether they would rip up their theories. I think it was Oppenheimer, cited as, "the father of the atom bomb," who said " Now I have become death- the destroyer of worlds." And Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who in his will tried to promote fraternity amongst nations in the vain hope his invention would not be used in slaughter.
The question is why did these people of undoubted intelligence, some might say genius, give such powerful loaded guns to children? For that is what we are.

I am not anti science. I am a medical scientist. I know there are gifted natural healers who can work miracles with their knowledge of plants and herbs. However sadly they are few and far between these days, yet so many are sick. I don't want to be defeatist, but sometimes I find there is how things should be, and then there is how things are. I work with what I have around me, in the hope that one day better options will arise. I am a disciple of hope (I got that from archbishop Desmond Tutu). I admire people who have worked with the cause of infectious disease like cholera. These people have saved many lives and sometimes lost their own in the process. Sometimes knowledge of what is causing a disease may alleviate a harmful superstitious theory, for instance someone must be causing the illness, so find the witch.

!

I can only speak as an old man who was born before the start of WW2. No words of wisdom, just the words of seeing the changes made since 1940. I see the rise of RoL as being possibly the only chance of survival the USA has of remaining a Nation. If the USA is to survive it must make some sacrifice and one sacrifice is by recognizing the RoL as a sovereign nation. This is not a loss of land as you can not lose what you have never owned.

Since WW2 the USA has declined in credibility in the eyes of the world. WW2 was a war of honor and American forces were seen as soldiers, not as killers. Since then there has been a constant, continuous decline in the status of the USA as being a government of honor. If the USA is going to seek the role of being an honorable government, it needs to do so at home and return the self rule of Native Americans back to Native Americans. As long as the USA oppresses Native Americans, they will be oppressors no matter how fairly they treat others. For the US to be a fair and great nation, it must give up denying freedom to the First Americans.

The white man is probably in America to stay. But, they need to cease acting like savages and treat those who they share Turtle Island with as equals. If they are going to grab the reigns of being the ones who represent Turtle Island, they must cease dishonoring the land and respect all residents of the land. They must show that not all inhabitants of Turtle Island are savage barbarians like those who think they are in power.

Yes woodrow... we are human beings too. Now if others would only recognize that.

I ask this; why is people have to have power over others? We all have to survive one way or another and those who want to live a free life should be left to do just that; live free. First Nations people never asked for the government much like I never asked for them. It would be good if the government would not "work" so hard to keep taking from those who really have nothing to give. I may have to duck out of society next year and get myself back into balance with mother earth without all the luxuries in society. I've done this before and I appreciate everything that much more. Before I begin to ramble on I'll cut myself short here.

im due for some time alone in the woods myself Blackbird...too bad we didnt live closer to each other...

Howard,

You guys are welcome in my tipi anytime. Just get yourself in good health and plan a trip to the beautiful Rocky Mountains here in Colorado. My 24 foot tipi is more than big enough for your visit.

i will keep that in mind:)