Life Is Simple Energy

Best-version transcript — the human transcription refined against a word-timed machine transcript of the cleaned audio. Spotted an error? Corrections are welcome.

Richard, [Merika 00:02]. It’s nice to talk to you again, and it was really nice to talk to you on the phone the other day. I know we wanted to discuss more about the Indian culture. To be honest, I don’t know too, too much about Indian culture. I know some, and I’ve worked with the native people before. And I’ve had a lot of friends in that culture. And my own personal thinking about things, and I wouldn’t mind discussing it with you.

As a matter of fact, I’m thinking back, way, way back in time when this one fellow—he started talking to me about the first cause. And I looked at him, and I started to listen to him. Such knowledge, it brings a lot of wisdom to you. Now, first cause, he told me in his culture is called wakan. That’s w-a-k-a-n. And that is even beyond the word god because it’s a totality. It is a spiritual energy, total. And that’s why you can’t possibly put a name on it. And truly, this is what nature is.

You know how I was saying to you how everything derives from a formless energy and turns into form? Well, that is the Indian belief, that everything is total. We’re all one. And I don’t mean just all one physically. I mean we’re all the same energy. That’s why it’s a spiritual reality. And they taught a tremendous respect for nature because they tried to guide their people back to that spiritual answer that they were looking for.

And the only thing they could relate it to was nature. It was the deer. It was the eagle. It was the buffalo. It was the rivers, the mountains, the skies, the stars. Everything to do with nature. And to me, and my honest belief, that is as close as you’re going to get because you tie the two of them together. This is why a lot of Indian cultures they talk about the oneness of life.

You see, all life is created from the same spiritual energy, no matter what form it represents here on earth. That doesn’t matter. It’s the same principal energy. That’s what life is. It’s just simple energy. That’s what our intelligence is. That’s what wisdom is. That’s what life is. That’s why the wise Indian when he was—the spiritual teachers, they knew that the buffalo, the eagle, and all the other creatures and the trees… They knew that that tree and those animals were created from the very same spiritual energy.

This is why they taught their people to be grateful for what they have. They were grateful to life. They were respectful to life. And this gratefulness, this is a feeling. This is a beautiful positive feeling. Because you know yourself, when you’re grateful, when you honestly feel grateful for what you have in life, even if it’s just for an instance, that feeling is one of contentment, one of understanding, and one definitely, definitely you must have love in your heart when you are content.

Now, can you imagine a village way back in time where spiritual teachers were teaching people to be like that? Can you imagine how tranquil and how basically pleased people they must’ve been? Contented, with a beautiful feeling. I know that quite often when we look at movies, John Wayne and all that. That’s not what I’m talking about, that silliness. I’m talking about living souls.

Now, this is how they lived in those days. And with this kind of spiritual knowledge and those beautiful feelings, they had the feeling that accompanies that is a feeling of pride, self-esteem. That’s what we call it today. And this is what is lost. And a lot of society, not just the Indian society, but all over the world, self-esteem.

Now, how do you get self-esteem back? That’s a big problem. You see, the Indian race at one time held their head high, a beautiful, proud, spiritual people. Then came along the white man with his overwhelming odds, and soon he took over. He took over the land, and he took over their spirits, really. Because they were broken people. They were extremely courageous. History has proven that. They fought for what was theirs. But the greatest thing they lost was their pride. And honest to goodness—I really mean this—somewhere inside every human being, that pride and that self-esteem, it smoulders. And all it is waiting for is some fresh air. And that’s what I would love to see some of the children get, children of all nations, no matter who they are.

But right now, we’re talking about the Indian children. And they’re the future, and it’s very, very important that those kids find that self-esteem and that pride so they can grow up to be doctors and lawyers and politicians and leaders of industry and they can hold themselves with great pride. One of the greatest gifts you can give to anybody in the world is a beautiful, positive feeling. No matter what it is, a beautiful feeling.

And if you can give somebody self-esteem, they will find that beautiful feeling. If you give somebody love, they’ll find that feeling. If you help somebody with a problem, you’ll get that feeling. And wouldn’t it be incredible, Richard and [Merika 08:10], to be able to bring help to those poor little souls and create a future for them now? Because, really, that’s what’s important. It’s not so much the old people. It’s the young men and women right now, they’re the important ones. And yet, even greater are the children because they’re the future.

And what we can help to get to some of those people right now, no matter who they are, then the greater the feeling we will give away and the greater the feeling we’ll receive. That’s the way it works in life. If you give somebody a beautiful feeling, you’re not giving anything away because you’re getting it right back. To give is to receive. And that’s all I can tell you, truly. But I know somewhere in my heart that we do have a lot to give. So I hope that this little tape has helped in any way. Good night, folks.