Sacred Power In Black Elk

In Black Elk Speaks, Studying Religion was showed in a lot of instances in his journey in life. Black Elk went through a lot of drama happened when he made the conversion to a Catholic Church. Black Elk stood with the analogy by turning the other cheek. In the following paragraphs I’m going to talk about the ten areas that are shown in Black Elk. Sacred power has many different forms of power being shown. Sacred power can be strong, active, and aggressive, creating and destroying whole universes. Sacred power can be weak, passive, and yielding, yet accomplishing all that is necessary without effort. Sacred power is experienced as something beyond, to some extent, human control, and something especially important to well-being of humans. Religions
teach that human existence and welfare depend upon sacred power. In “The First Cure,” Black Elk shows an example of sacred power coming to heal the young sick boy. Black Elk thinks about some visions that he had before this situation. He followed the vision, Black Elk gathered the pieces that he’s seen to heal the sick boy. When Black Elk is looking for the four-rayed blossoming herb, he begins to sing a sacred song, he sees the herb and digs it to take it to the sick boy. Black Elk uses sacred objects such as a cup, a pipe, the four rayed blossom herb, and a eagle bone whistle, these sacred objects are from his earlier vision. To heal the boy, Black Elk also sings a song that calls on every power that he knows. A myth as sacred story refers to a particular type of story, a story some people regard as sacred. If a story is thought to be sacred, its truth is beyond question for those. Believers with particular sacred stories may argue whether their stories are literally or symbolically true, but true they must be for the believer, because such stories reveal something of great importance about the meaning of human life and about the universe in which we live and die. Black Elk has shared many sacred stories that he has been taught and the sacred stories that he had visions about. In “The Messiah” manifest functions is shown in the chapter, such as Wovoko has a vision of how to save the Indians. The vision that he has is consciously intended to save the Indians life and make it safe. Cosmological myth is also shown about the origin, this is on the verge of the Indians end of land and possibly extinction. In the story, psychological functions are shown with the ego identity shown in Black Elk and Wovoko have the same vision, both were willing to share it with the Indians. Both men have grown a lot of respect from people that has witnessed the works that they performed or from those that heard about the works being performed after having a vision. Wovoko asks the Indians to perform a “ghost dance” that will save them, the ghost dance can be described as a symbolic theory. Symbolic theories can come from held back material from the individual unconscious, universal patterns from the collective unconscious, social organization and structure, transcendent sacred realities. In, “Black Elk” shows different kinds of theories and functions. Ritual as Sacred Action involves stylized, symbolic bodily gestures and actions usually repeated in specified ways on occasions of significance and in special contexts frequently involving what the participants take to be sacred presences.
In the “Great Vision” Black Elk begins to receive many things from his six grandfathers. Black Elk receives things such as herbs, peace pipe with a spotted eagle on it and tells him that he will make well whatever is sick. This action is known as the therapeutic ritual, produce a change in the state of human health, either to heal the sick or bring sickness to the healthy. Black Elk receives a red stick, sprouted and with birds in its branches, saying that it is the living center of a nation and that Black Elk will save many. This is a revitalization ritual which is to get a culture back and going or a religion seen as dying or in the process of being lost. Black Elk grandfather’s know that a nation will struggle soon and will need to be touched with a savior coming to take them away from that devastation. Black Elk usually has visions that come to him as things are going bad for cultures, this is a reason why Black Elk was respected by many. Black Elk always followed his callings to help others that really need it Black Elk usually follows the five different rituals such as technological which seeks to produce or prevent a change of state in nature so that humans benefit in some way. Therapeutic and anti-therapeutic rituals. Ideological
rituals which seeks social control by changing the mood, behavior, sentiments, motivations, and values of people, usually for the sake of the community as a whole. Salvation rituals which seeks to change a person’s identity from a spiritually corrupt, polluted, sinful, or last state to a spiritually saved state that provides freedom from sin, corruption, ignorance, and the like. These religious rituals and rituals that Black Elk performed is to bring about or to prevent changes and they all bring something different that will help the community. Sacred space and time highlight universal features of all religions because all religions create and express some form of sacred space and sacred time. Rituals establish a sacred space, a place that is holy and unique. In “The Great Vision” Black Elk is going through a lot of rituals with his grandfathers, the time that he’s spending with them is sacred time. He is being in touch of the sacred power that his grandfathers hold, which they show him the different rituals to do. In the chapter “The Messiah” Black Elk has a vision that is held at Wounded Knee Creek, the Indians might be saved if they perform the “ghost dance.” Wanekia tells the Indians about this, but Black Elk has the same vision as Wanekia. Mountain Kilimanjaro is a center of the universe, as touching the heavens, as the abode of gods and demons, as the place where the dead go, and as the link between hell, earth, and heaven. Black Elk had a vision of the Indians performing a dance, that would be beneficial to save them. Sacred time is cyclical and moves in a circle. It always returns to primordial times when everything began. In the chapter Early Boyhood, Black Elk is going through his young ages with his family, then his visions with his six grandfathers. Black Elk had several of visions and healed the sick in his town, traveling, or a calling. Black Elk encountered many religious experiences, a religious experience is any kind of experience, from visions and voices to intense feelings of love and devotion, that the person having the experience believes to be religiously significant. A religious experience can also be different experiences such as enlightenment, prophetic calls, visions, voices, conversions, revelations, and many more. In many of the chapters, Black Elk encounters a lot of visions, which he learns from his grandfathers, some visions that he has involved saving the Indians, and also healing a sick boy. Black Elk follows the Middle Way guidelines on his journey to a wonderful life. Middle Way guidelines consists right understanding, right thoughts, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Black Elk has the right understanding by using his calling to help everyone that he was capable of helping. Black Elk has the right thoughts that he inherits from his six grandfathers as he continues to grow. Black Elk shows the right speech as he heals and protects people from his visions that he has. Black Elk is known for the visions and his positive work that he does for the nation by carrying his visions out. Black Elk shows the right action through the rituals that he performs. Black Elk grew up as a respected kid and was taken on the right path by his six grandfathers, this is when he learned the symbolism of the objects that he received from them. Black Elk had the same vision as Wanekia, so he wasn’t able to tell the Indians about the vision. After seeing that his vision was shown to the Indians, put a relief to him even though he didn’t get the opportunity to perform the vision. Black Elk always had the right mindset, and that was to help the less needy out, also if he saw someone in danger in his visions. Black Elk showed that he had the right concentration, by remembering the vision and performing it for the people that he saw in danger, the exact way. Black Elk had a free mind, which he knew he would answer the calling that he fore-sees. Extrovertive is a unifying vision in which the unity of all things is apprehended behind the multiplicity of the world. It is many things that normally appear to us have a unitary or inner core that is described of Life or Consciousness. Black Elk shared a vision that the Indians were in danger, that which caused for a big ceremony to save them from devastation. Black Elk’s six grandfathers carried good karma through him. Karma theodicies is the soul carries with it the karma of previous lives so that when bad or good things happen to someone in this life, they are happening to the person who deserves them. Karma theodicy can fulfill, on the karma account, are the conventional duties of society that are appropriate to one’s class and traditionally taught by religion and culture. The grandfathers’ passed sacred objects down to Black Elk, each object symbolize things that he sees in his visions. The Indians go through a rough time, when soldiers march on their land and tell them that they can only perform rituals three times each month, then work the other days. The Indians have to move land and also are separated from Black Elk and Good Thunder. Sitting Bull gets killed and their are hundreds of Indians that are killed by the soldiers. Black Elk feels that he made a mistake in seeing his great vision for the lesser ones he received while performing the ritual “ghost dancing.” The Indians are going through a rough time in their lives but they do better on their next time of karma. Karma theodicy places the responsibility for evil squarely on the shoulders of human beings. We can make things better by learning from our karma and doing better this time around in life. Black Elk was an inspiration for many followers, because he came as a savior from all his visions.
Religions also motivate people to shape their lives according to a set of religiously set of norms. Black Elk showed this through his moral stories and being a moral hero to most people in different communities/villages. Black Elk rituals centered on ancestor veneration. Most of the followers for Black Elk were virtue ethics, it was their choice to believe in him and trust the ritual that was being performed. Virtue ethics are primary moral guides are not rules, commands, laws, and the like, but people who exhibit moral excellence, or an ideal moral character. Black Elk held rituals that offered help to the hopeless, and the public nature of many of these rituals acknowledges of communal nature of
morality. Religion and politics can be discussed and cause a huge debate. Civil religion is a set of beliefs and rituals that unite the diverse elements of a society into a unifying ideology. It can be a noticed religion or denomination but a generic brand that expresses through symbols and ceremonies the patriotism, national pride, and idealized sacred narrative of a people. Black Elk has significant visions for the Indians. “The State” at this time known as the soldiers ending rituals from being performed everyday, but now they changed it for the Indians’ rituals be performed three times a month and work the rest of the days. The soldiers want to end the rituals and the beliefs that the Indians have for Black Elk. The visions that he has to save them scares the soldiers and they want to end the sacred narrative. Black Elk had a vision which was always a symbol for him to define and perform a ritual for the hopeless. Symbolic dilemma are rituals often embody these symbols in concrete action. Black Elk symbolizes are objects such as a wooden cup of water that contains the sky, which is the power to live, and a bow, which is the power to destroy. A peace pipe with a spotted eagle on it and tells him that he will make well whatever is sick. A red stick, sprouted and with birds in its branches, saying that it is the living center of a nation and that Black Elk will save many. Black Elk’s fifth Grandfather turns into a spotted eagle and tells Black Elk that he will have a special relationship with birds. Black Elk’s grandfather tells him that he will have his power and that his nation will know great trouble. Black Elk was known for his great visions. Self awareness traps us in a a subject/object dualism, and in another sense that experience makes it possible to go beyond our present conscious situations. Black Elk’s beliefs for something better can be seen in this ability to go beyond. Limited salvation was shown with Black Elk in his journey in life. Limited salvation is the overcoming of specific problems such as illness, danger, and other threats to our well-being. In conclusion, Black Elk went through a journey in his life which was very beneficial for everyone that was able to witness his visions. Black Elk followed the callings that his grandfathers’ called on him to do for the nation. Black Elk was a generous man that wanted the best for everyone. Black Elk had visions with different symbols to tell him a story about the future. “Studying Religion” really connected with stories about Black Elk.
Works Cited
Kessler, Gary E. "Studying Religion: An Introduction Through Cases (9780072986198):
Gary E. Kessler: Books." Web. 07 Dec. 2010.
(Chapter 3-12)
"Black Elk 's Vision." Rainbow Family of Living Light Unofficial Home Page. Web. 07 Dec. 2010. .