Black Elk's Journal
The offering of the pipe
Black Elk believes himself as a symbol of his tribal values. According to him, he embodies the spiritual forces which have been bestowed upon him by the superiors of his tribe. In the first chapter, he has mentioned how the sacred pipe came to his tribe and the values borne by it.
"Behold!! She said. "With this you shall multiple and be a good nation. Nothing but good shall come from it. Only the hands of the good shall take care of it and the bad shall not even see it." Then, she sang and went out of the tepee; and as the people watched here going. (Niehardt 3)"
In most of the religions of the world, there is always a character who is message bearer. It is amazing to see this similarity in the tribal history of Black Elk as well. The cow who turned into a woman was the bearer of the pipe which is quite similar to the stories attached to other religions. Here, arises confusion if this story is actually influenced by other religions or does it actually have any substance. Like Christianity, Islam and other religion, there are proofs in the form of religious books and other evidences that there was a messenger from God. But as far as Black Elk's story is concerned, despite the spiritual lessons that it contains, logical evidence is missing which decreases the authenticity of this story.
Chapter 2: Early Boyhood
I said: "When the scouts come back from seeing the prairie full of bison somewhere, the people say the Wasichus are coming; and when strange men are coming to kill us all, they say the Wasichus are coming. What does it mean?' And he said That they are many. (Niehardt 7)
When this part of story arrived, it was obvious that there is going to be lengthy discussion about the battle combats that Black Elk's tribe fought against the Whites, accompanied by a detailed account of sufferings brought by the war. It was the era of late 18th century. Considering the historic background, one can relate the Black Elk's story to the other narrations provided by African-Americans. There are many stories elaborating how the African-Americans were deprived of what was rightfully theirs.
The following details provided by Black Elk regarding his survival in winters and also after the brutal attacks by White men, the reader may relate this story to the present global situation as well. Constant wars between nations such as America and Iraq or India and Pakistan, despite serving their purpose, also bring terror and fear to the citizens of these lands. War only takes away life and gives nothing in return. Black Elk suffered because of war and today's world is suffering from it too.
Chapter 3: The Great Vision
"While I was eating, a voice came and said: It is time; now they are calling you." The voice was so loud and clear that I believed it and I would just go where it wanted me to go. So I got right up and started. As I came out of the tepee, both my thighs began to hurt me and suddenly it was like waking from a dream, and there wasn't any voice (Niehardt 17)."
This first revelation of Black Elk was followed by his detailed journey to the heaven where he met many spiritual forces shaped as horses that were present in different dimensions of the world. These horses were responsible for keeping balance in the nature. The story of Black Elk reminds me of a story told by one of my Muslim friends about their prophet Muhammad.
My friend told me that the prophet Muhammad was taken by a horse to the heaven and in between that journey, he met many angels who were responsible for keeping a balance in the nature and during this journey, the prophet was taught many things. Now Islam and Christianity follow the same God and recognize each other's religion. A concern arises whether this vision of black Elk was just a result of the trauma caused by war and his deep connection to tribal spirituality which made him seek for evidences that would assure presence of mighty forces. Secondly, the inclination of Black Elk towards Christianity also appears to have an impact on the narration of his first vision which he saw at the age of nine. It is difficult to identify the original emotions of Black Elk since the present narration is highly influenced by...
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