In order to know the center of the heart where the Great Spirit dwells you must be pure and good, and live in the manner that the Great Spirit has taught us.
Black Elk [Heȟáka Sápa]
The Center of the Heart
Topic: Immanence & Transcendence
I am blind and do not see the things of this world; but when the light comes from above, it enlightens my heart and I can see, for the Eye of my heart sees everything; and through this vision I can help my people. The heart is a sanctuary at the center of which there is a little space, wherein the Great Spirit dwells, and this is the Eye. This is the Eye of the Great Spirit by which He sees all things, and through which we see Him. If the heart is not pure, the Great Spirit cannot be seen, and if you should die in this ignorance, your soul cannot return immediately to the Great Spirit, but it must be purified by wandering about in the world. In order to know the center of the heart where the Great Spirit dwells you must be pure and good, and live in the manner that the Great Spirit has taught us. The one who is thus pure contains the Universe in the pocket of his heart.
Heȟáka Sápa, commonly known as Black Elk, was born in December 1863 along the Little Powder River in what is now Wyoming. He was a member of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) and a second cousin to the renowned war leader Crazy Horse. From a young age, Black Elk experienced profound spiritual visions that would shape his life and destiny. At the age of nine, during a severe illness, he had a vision in which he encountered the Six Grandfathers, spiritual beings who bestowed upon him gifts and powers, including the ability to heal. This vision set him on the path to becoming a wičháša wakȟáŋ, or holy man, a role he embraced throughout his life.
Black Elk's life was marked by significant historical events and personal transformations. He participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 and witnessed the tragic Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. In the late 1880s, he traveled to Europe with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, where he sought to understand the ways of the white people. Upon returning to the United States, he became involved in the Ghost Dance movement, which aimed to restore the Native American way of life. Despite the suppression of this movement, Black Elk continued to serve his people as a healer and spiritual leader, blending traditional Lakota practices with his later conversion to Catholicism in 1904. He became a catechist, teaching Christianity while maintaining his Lakota spiritual beliefs.
Black Elk's legacy extends beyond his lifetime through his contributions to literature and spiritual teachings. His autobiographical accounts, shared with poet John G. Neihardt and anthropologist Joseph Epes Brown, were published in the influential works "Black Elk Speaks" and "The Sacred Pipe." These books have inspired generations and contributed to the revival of Native American culture and spirituality. Black Elk's ability to integrate his Lakota heritage with his Christian faith exemplifies his resilience and adaptability. His life and teachings continue to resonate, symbolizing a bridge between cultures and a testament to the enduring spirit of the Lakota people.
The Sacred Pipe
Wilson, Andrew, editor. World Scripture II. Universal Peace Federation, 2011, p. 329 [Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa)].
Black Elk [Heȟáka Sápa]
Theme: Everyday Divinity
About This Heȟáka Sápa [Black Elk] Quotation [Commentary]
Black Elk’s teaching, “In order to know the center of the heart where the Great Spirit dwells you must be pure and good, and live in the manner that the Great Spirit has taught us,” brings attention to the relationship between inner purity and divine presence. For Black Elk, this center of the heart is not symbolic—it is a sanctuary where the Great Spirit truly dwells. Access to this center depends on how one lives. A heart prepared through goodness and purity becomes a place where the sacred can be known. The teaching is clear: without a life aligned with the ways of the Great Spirit, the deeper vision of the heart remains closed.
In the broader context, Black Elk describes this vision as light that “comes from above” and “enlightens my heart,” allowing him to see—not with physical eyes, but through “the Eye of my heart.” This Eye is not his own, but the presence of the Great Spirit within, “by which He sees all things, and through which we see Him.” This vision is not granted by effort alone; it depends on the condition of the heart. If the heart is not pure, “the Great Spirit cannot be seen,” and the soul remains in ignorance, unable to return directly to the divine. For Black Elk, seeing and knowing the Great Spirit begins with a life shaped by what is good, and by what has been taught from above.
“The heart is a sanctuary at the center of which there is a little space,” Black Elk explains, “wherein the Great Spirit dwells.” This inner space holds the presence of the One who sees all, and through whom true seeing is made possible. The one who becomes pure, he says, “contains the Universe in the pocket of his heart.” This is not a figure of speech, but a way of pointing to how closely the divine is linked to human life. In the ordinary rhythm of ethical living and spiritual attention, everyday divinity becomes visible—not as an idea, but as the actual presence of the Great Spirit in the center of the heart.
Frithjof Schuon on Heȟáka Sápa [Black Elk]
It is only at the level of the transpersonal or the Absolute itself—what is above and higher and simultaneously at the center, both transcendent and immanent—that authentic integration can be established. Some might be curious and even challenge the definition of the intellect as equivalent to the Spirit, but we need to stress that the intellect in this context is not the discursive faculty of reason but what subsumes this lower faculty and transmutes it into a transcendent faculty. This spiritual organ, also known as the “Eye of the Heart” is illuminated by Heȟáka Sápa or Black Elk (1863-1950), a remarkable sage of the Lakota Sioux:
“I am blind and do not see the things of this world; but when the Light comes from Above, it enlightens my heart and I can see, for the Eye of my heart (Chante Ista) sees everything. The heart is a sanctuary at the center of which there is a little space, wherein the Great Spirit dwells, and this is the Eye (Ista). This is the Eye of the Great Spirit by which He sees all things and through which we see Him. If the heart is not pure, the Great Spirit cannot be seen, and if you should die in this ignorance, your soul cannot return immediately to the Great Spirit, but it must be purified by wandering about in the world. In order to know the center of the heart where the Great Spirit dwells you must be pure and good, and live in the manner that the Great Spirit has taught us. The one who is thus pure contains the Universe in the pocket of his heart (Chante Ognaka).”
—Frithjof Schuon, editor, quoting Black Elk in “The Sacred Pipe,” [The Feathered Sun: Plains Indians in Art and Philosophy (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom Books, 1990)] p. 51. (See Resources for additional attribution for this commentary.)
Additional Black Elk Quotes
“Grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.”
—Black Elk [The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux (1953), as told to Joseph Epes Brown].
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