March 2019 8 All my life’s a circle, sunrise, and sundown. The moon rolls through the night time, ‘til the daybreak comes around. All my life’s a circle, but I can’t tell you why. The seasons spinning ‘round again, the years keep rolling by. Seems like I’ve been here before, I can’t remember when. But, I’ve got this funny feeling that we’ll all be together again. No straight lines make up my life and all my roads have bends. There’s no clear cut beginnings, and so far no dead ends... These words were written by the late great Harry Chapin, a man who we knew only briefly, but who gave us a wealth of himself. He is no longer with us, but his words hold as much meaning today as they did when they were committed as lyrics in his songs. This is not meant to be a testimonial to Harry Chapin, but Harry did have a way of putting words into songs, not like many writer/ composers. Unfortunately, not a lot of folks really listened to what he had to say, any more than they do to the people who spoke similar words long before he came along. The symbol of the circle has been with us for centuries. Harry Chapin was not the first to use the symbol of the circle. The center of the cross within the circle represents the uniting of the four directions of space and all the other quarters of the universe . . . at this center is man. Without the awareness that he bears within himself, this sacred center, a man is, in fact, less than a man. It is the virtual reality of this center that the Indians have so many rites based on the cross and the circle. Clifford Geertz comments, that for most of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, “the circle, whether found in nature, painted on a buffalo skin, or enacted in a Sundance, is but an unexamined luminous symbol whose meaning is intuitively sensed, not consciously interpreted. Again and again the idea of a sacred circle, a natural form with a moral import, yields, when applied to the world within which the Oglala lives, new meanings; continually it connects together elements within their experience which would otherwise seem wholly desperate, incomprehensible.” Perhaps, it is not all that important to have explanations for everything. What is, is... Mr. Geertz continues: “The common roundness of a human body and a plant stem, of a moon and a shield, of a teepee and a camp-circle give them a vaguely conceived, but intensely felt significance. And this meaningful common element, once abstracted, can then be employed for ritual purposes as when in a peace ceremony, the pipe, the symbol of social solidarity, moves deliberately in a perfect circle from one smoker to the next, the purity of the form evoking the beneficence of the spirits . . .” We strut our stuff in the overblown belief that our sociological civilization, politics, and sophisticated religions are so far advanced and superior to everyone else’s. Certainly, we have put ourselves far above the savages from whom we gained all our power and prestige. Let’s see just how sophisticated we have become. Any tribe on an annual hunt camped in a circle and preserved its political division, and that camp would often be more than a quarter of a mile in diameter. Sometimes the camp was in concentric circles, each circle representing a particular political group. The Dakota called themselves the seven council fires, and say they formerly camped in two divisions; one composed of four and the other of three concentric circles. The Omaha, and close cognates also camped in a circle. Each of the ten Omaha gentes had its unchangeable place in the line. For particular ceremonies, the Kiowa, Cheyenne, and others camped in a circle made up of different political divisions in a fixed and regular order. The tribal circle made a living picture of tribal organization and responsibilities. It impressed upon the beholder the relative position of kinship groups and their interdependence, both for the maintenance of order and government within and for defense against enemies from without. The opening to the East and the position of the ceremonial tents recalled the religious rites and obligations by which the many parts were held together as a compact whole. It becomes very apparent that our sociological structures are nothing new. The lessons have been taught over and over. How many times must we see history repeat itself before we start paying attention to what’s really going on? How many more civilizations and creations of nature will we destroy before the message finally sinks in? The following passage is taken from the autobiography of Black Elk who belonged to the Oglala division of the Teton Dakota, one of the most powerful branches of the Sioux nation. He was related to the great Chief Crazy Horse, and in his lifetime had known Sitting Bull and Red Cloud. This is what he said: “You have noticed that everything the Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave us strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The Sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The Wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion THE OLD STORYTELLER All My Life’s A Circle By Hank Sheffer, “The Old Storyteller”