How to approach an understanding of the American Indian Spiritual attitudes as part of daily life Realizing the impermanence of life True respect for the earth Man's place among other beings Silence, courtesy, and mindfulness Early preparations for spiritual attainment Use of the pipe in ceremonies "We lived our religion" Tolerance, one God, and "civilization"

slide 2 of 10 "When a person is on a vision quest, he must have certain attitudes and intentions for his prayers to be sincere, and then he must carry these over into his daily life. It is easy to forget what you learned during this trial; unless you remember to carry on your prayer continually during every day of your life, you will not have learned one of the most important purposes of the vision quest. Each time we talk about one of our sacred rites, you will hear me talk about the spiritual attitudes which a person must possess as that person participates in any rite. It is possible to learn the outer steps that must be accomplished in a rite without learning the inner meanings that are the keys to the sacred traditions. Each seeker must therefore open his heart to the Great Mystery as he tries to follow the sacred way, because the perfect accomplishment of the outer steps of a rite will be worth nothing without the knowledge of the inner meanings." Yellowtail, Absaroke