"Inyan drained its blood to make each creation and kept getting weaker and weaker as this went on . . . When creation was complete, Inyan was dry and brittle and broke apart and scattered over the world . . . Then the phrase Mitakuye Oyas'in came into being . . . Mitakuye Oyas'in means 'all my relatives' or 'we are all related.' This is the most fundamental belief in our Lakota philosophy, that we are all related to everything on earth and in the universe. We were all formed from the blood of Inyan: humans, animals, trees, water, air, stones . . . Our word for stone is 'Inyan.' A stone tells me about Inyan, and that spirit of Inyan is in that stone. That spirit or energy in that stone is Inyan. That's my belief. In English when we talk about a rock, pebble, or stone, it describes a lifeless object, so that's what it becomes. It becomes just an object. But to us it's a living relative."
Albert White Hat, Sr.,
Lakota chief
Photo: Bear Lodge glowing in sunset light; Devil's Tower National Monument, WY; May 18, 2013
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