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Texas, United States

4/27/2013

Wisdom & Spirituality Of Those Who Were Here Before Us



My Great Grandmother was Apache and all I know of her legacy is the wisdom she
instilled in my Grandfather and Father. A love of this good earth, it's blessings, all
humanity, and respect for a greater spirit than themselves.
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If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come" -Arapaho

"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past, Wisdom is of the future." -Lumbee

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice." - Cherokee

"Poverty is a noose that strangles humility and breeds disrespect for God and man." - Sioux


"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave." - Dakota




"Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins." -Cheyenne


"There is nothing as eloquent as a rattlesnakes tail." - Navajo


"Man's law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit remain always the same." - Crow


"It is less of a problem to be poor, than to be dishonest". - Anishinabe
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"If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove." - Cheyenne





"You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep."
Navajo Proverb

"Maybe not...but you can keep beating drums in his ear hoping he will hear reason."
Anna's Proverb

"Old age is not as honorable as death, but most people want it." - Crow

"Ask questions from you heart and you will be answered from the heart."Omaha

"Do not wrong or hate your neighbor for it is not he that you wrong, but yourself."
 - Pima

"It is no longer good enough to cry peace, we must act peace, live peace, and live in peace" - Shenandoah

"Wisdom comes only when you stop looking for it and start living the life the Creator intended for you. "- Hopi


"When the white man discovered this country, Indians were running it. No taxes, no debt, women did all the work.  White man thought he could improve on a system like this. -Cherokee



10 comments:

Writings Chats and Friends said...

Anna, thank you so much for sharing this with us. Such pure wisdom and understanding of the balance of life and nature.

Anna Maria said...

Thanks Monica! They had lived here for thousands of years and some worshiped the Sun as the Father, and the Earth as the Mother, and did not believe in polluting her. Wise ancient wisdom taken from what they thought of the "Great Spirit's" gift of life.

Nancy Alborell said...

Excellent stuff, as usual, and now we have another thing in common. My family has native blood, but our stuffy old folks wouldn't talk about it. Killing the past. Typical. I never even heard about this until I was grown. My mom, however, had all the old photo albums and when I was little I liked to look through them. There was a photo of a handsome native man in full ceremonial dress, staring straight into the camera. I was so impressed by him that I often studied the photo not knowing he could be a relative. When Mom got into genealogy she tried to find out about our native side. I mentioned the photo. She couldn't recall it so we got out the albums and went through them. No photo. Not even a spot on a page where it once was. We looked and looked. No photo. Sounds like a ghost story doesn't it? I swear it's true and we've never learned who our native relatives were, but we're still looking.

Anna Maria said...

Thanks Nancy! There seemed to be a "stigma" attached among some members of our family also, and all I know of her was a few story's my grandmother told me of some "bigotry" incidents that happened when her sons were young.

My Father inherited a lot of Native American features, dark skin and coal black straight hair he had until he died in his 80's.

Darn it! I didn't get that, though Mamma often claimed I was a "wild Indian" just like him. Dad was once scouted by the Cleveland Indians back in the late 1920's when they were all Native Americans, but when they found out hair grew on his face they didn't draft him. He was realllly disappointed about that fluke. He was also the hardest working honest man I ever knew.

Jill Paterson said...

A wonderful post, Anna. The world would be a better place if we all lived by this.

Anna Maria said...

Thanks Jill. The indomitable spirit and love and respect of this land our Native Americans possessed, I'm sure, is the reason "white man" could never enslave them.

DMS said...

Wonderful post! Thanks for sharing all of these : ) ~ Jess

Anna Maria said...

Thanks Jess, I thought you would like them.

c emerson said...

> "Maybe not...but you can keep beating drums in his ear hoping he will hear reason." - Anna's Proverb

If you and this Anna are one and the same, may I say you could not have said this better. Oh, when will ever learn?

Nice nice ice. Great post, Anna.

Anna Maria said...

Thanks C. Emerson~...and yes, that is my "drum" proverb...it just seemed to fit so perfectly under that Navajo proverb. :D