Living in Beauty

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Chief Seattle - Suquamish / DuwamishOur bare feet are conscious

of the sympathetic touch

of our ancestors

as we walk over this earth.

Chief Seattle

(~1780-1866)

Suquamish / Duwamish

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Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

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Walking barefoot upon the earthThe touch of the earth is not something many of us have ever felt or feel on a regular basis. We are so wrapped up in our lives that we don’t connect or reconnect with the earth which provides us with what we need to live.

To indigenous peoples the earth is alive and touch is a wonderful healing experience. Since the earth has the power to feed us and provide us with medicine the simple act of walking barefoot, lying on the ground or sitting on the ground is a great way to relax, destress and let go of problems.

Science is showing that everything is energy so by blocking or muting good healing energy is to deprive oneself of of its benefits. We regularly put shoes between us and the earth. We clothe ourselves to protect us from the weather. We build houses and use man made materials to live in.

In effect we cut ourselves off.

I remember as a child the wonderful carefree days of summer running and playing barefoot in the grass, lying on the ground and watching the clouds or skies, rolling down the hills and playing hide and seek in the woods where we were constantly touching the plants, earth and trees.

We rarely got sick (although I did pretend to get sick because I really didn’t want to go to school that day – but that is different).

The old Native Americans could feel the life that was around them and the strongest life form for them was the earth – our mother – and to be cradle again in her bosom, even if only for a little while was very comforting.

We all could use more face time with the earth.

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Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

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Luther Standing Bear - Oglala Sioux ChiefThe old people came literally to love the soil and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power. It was good for the skin to touch the earth and the old people liked to remove their moccasins and walk with bare feet on the sacred earth. Their tipis were built upon the earth and their altars were made of earth. The birds that flew in the air came to rest upon the earth and it was the final abiding place of all things that lived and grew. The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing. That is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of propping himself up away from its life-giving forces. For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and feel more keenly.

Luther Standing Bear

(1868-1939)

Oglala Sioux Chief

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Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

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Hopi MotherTake the breath of the new dawn,

and make it part of you.

It will give you strength.

Hopi

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Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

Tags: , ,

Chief Joseph - Nez PerceThe earth and myself are of one mind. The measure of the land and the measure of our bodies are the same.

Chief Joseph

(1830-1904)

Nez Perce

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Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

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Small landscape with indians by Victor CassanelliFitting into the landscape is a lifestyle it is not a means of camouflage.

It means to be at peace and work with what is available to live your life.

You never take more than you need and you give back what you can so that life can continue.

You don’t consume as in today’s western way of thinking.

You think and live your life concerned for generations unconceived.

You think about how your actions affect the environment.

You are respectful to and honor all your relations – as the Lakota say: mitakuye oyasin.

You remember your roots, where you came from.

# # #

Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

Tags: , , ,

Luther Standing Bear - Oglala Sioux ChiefThe American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of the forests, plains, pueblos or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers; he belongs just as the buffalo belonged…

Luther Standing Bear

(1868-1929)

Oglala Sioux Chief

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Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

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White Buffalo Calf WomanThe four quarters. The East, South, West and North.

From Black Elk Speaks: “…west where the thunder beings live to send us rain; …the north, whence comes the great white cleansing wind; …the east, whence springs the light and where the morning star lives to give men wisdom;… the south, whence come the summer and the power to grow.”

For any native culture these are very important and drive their daily and yearly life. These directions have power.

By declaring “A relative I am” one says that we are all related, we have kinship.

In this prayer you acknowledge that we, as human incarnates, are not all powerful and we need help sometimes and who better to ask for help from than a relative. In native societies the social structure and paradigms revolved around family and clan with each member doing their best to support the whole.

By acknowledging that we are related to all that surrounds us we are able to gain help and knowledge from everything we come into contact with.

# # #

Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

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Black Elk, Oglala SiouxHear me, four quarters of the world -

a relative I am!

Give me the strength to walk the soft earth,

a relative to all that is!

Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand,

that I may be like you.

With your power only can I face the winds.

Black Elk

(1863-1950)

Oglala Sioux

# # #

Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

Tags: , , ,

Seminole KidsThe land is very important to indigenous cultures. They live on it. They derive sustenance from it. When they die they become part of it physically.

Native cultures believe in  interconnectedness and interrelations of all things. That we are all one. We are all related.

Some take it a step further and believe that we are each other.

The Dhammapada stanza 5 says “… If you see yourself in others then whom can you injure?” Other cultures may have similar concepts.

Bringing the Dhammapada together with Mitakuye Oyasin you then get the concept  behind… “The land I stand on is my body…”

The land is sacred. My body is sacred. We are both created by our creator. We are one, the land and I.

# # #

Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

Tags: , , ,

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