I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about
beneath me was the whole hoop of the world.
And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more
than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the
spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.
And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that
made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one
mighty flowering tree to shelter all children of one mother and one father.
And I saw that it was holy.
Black Elk, Oglala Lakota (Sioux) (1863-1950)
