The old Lakota knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard.

 

"The Lakota loved the earth and all things of the earth, the attachment growing with age.  The 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 . . . The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing.  That is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life-giving forces.  For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly; he can see more clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him.  The old Lakota was wise.  He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard . . . So he kept his youth close to its softening influence."

Luther Standing Bear,
Lakota chief

Photo: Wildflower clump and butte at sunset; Pawnee Buttes, Weld County, CO; June 19, 2013