All Things Are Connected

Spring marks the sacred renewal of life on all levels of existence. There are various holidays and observances throughout the world…Cherry Blossom Festivals, Easter and Earth Day are but a few...that acknowledge the sacredness of this special period of the year...the renewal and eternal spiral of the wheel of life. As each season connects to another, as one life transforms into another...and in remembrance of how we each are connected to all of it…I would like to share a rendition of a famous speech by Chief Seattle.

 This speech…which has been translated various ways…was given by Chief Seattle in response to the demand of the U.S. government to sell his tribe's land. It was originally delivered in his native Salish to over 1000 of his people who were gathered to meet the U.S. Indian Superintendent, Issac Stevens in 1854. This rendition uses about 25% of the available transcriptions…in editing, passages were deleted which are believed to have been added by others. I feel this rendition is faithful to the tone and intent of the original speech and is my favorite rendition. It was compiled by Robert Gass. Although the authenticity of the following text might be questioned, I find it the most powerful statement on ecology and interconnectedness that I have ever read.

 Every part of this Earth is sacred to my people;
Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore.
Every mist in the dark wood,
Every clearing and every humming insect is holy in the memory of my people.
The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of my people.
The perfumed flowers are our sisters.
We are part of the Earth, and the Earth is part of us.
The deer, the horse, the great eagle are our brothers.
We all belong to the same family.
If we sell you our land, you mst remember that it is sacred.
The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not only water, but the blood of our people.
If we sell you our land, you must remember and teach your children to give the rivers the kindness that you would give your brother.

 The red man has always retreated before the advancing white man as the mist of the mountains runs before the morning sun.
The white man does not understand our ways.
He treats his Mother, the Earth, as a thing to be bought and sold.
He will devour the Earth and leave behind only a desert.
Where is the thicket? Gone.
Where is the eagle? Gone.
Goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt.
The end of living and the beginning of survival.

 For some special purpose God had given you dominion over this land.
That destiny is a mystery to us.
The Earth is precious to God.
To harm the Earth is to harm its Creator.

 If we sell our land, you must keep it sacred;
A place to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
All things are connected.
What is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whipporwill?
What is there to life without the beasts?
And what is man without the beasts?
If the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit.
All things are connected.
If we sell you our land, teach your children the the Earth is our Mother.
Every part of this Earth is sacred to my people.

 This we know:
The Earth does not belong to Man. Man belongs to the Earth.
All things are connected, like the blood which unites one family.
We do not weave the web of life.
We are but a strand in the web of life.
What we do to the web we do to ourselves.
All things are connected.

 Every part of this Earth is sacred to my people.
The red man loves the Earth like a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat.
If we sell you our land, love the land as we have loved it.
Care for the land as we have cared.
Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it was when you take it.
And with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your heart,
Preserve it for your children.
And love it, as God loves us all.

 One thing we know: our God is the same God.
We may be brothers after all.
We shall see.

This rendition has been put to music and is available on the Medicine Wheel cassette…available from Spring Hills Music, P.O Box 800, Boulder, CO 80306.