their spirit to tell briefly how the Indian looked upon and regarded his
relation to nature.

The natives of America thought of the cosmos as a unit that was throbbing
with the same life-force of which they were conscious within themselves; a
force that gave to the rocks and hills their stable, unchanging character;
to every living thing on land or water the power of growth and of movement;
to man the ability to think, to will and to bring to pass. This universal
and permeating life-force was always thought of as sacred, powerful, like a
god. To it a name was given that varied in the different languages; in the
Omaha tongue it was called Wakon'da. Through Wakon'da all things in nature
were related and more or less interdependent, the sky, the earth, the
animals and men. Nature was, in a sense, the manifestation of Wakon'da,
consequently it was regarded as something more than the means by which
physical life was sustained and became the religious and ethical instructor
of man.

All food came from the earth; the wild fruits, the roots, the cultivated
maize, these and the animals all derived their living power from Wakon'da
and yielded their life to man that he might live and be strong. Therefore,
the hunt was conducted with ceremonies in which the bounty of Wakon'da was
formally recognized, and when food was eaten thanks were offered to this
unseen power. The Indian lived in the open and watched with reverent
attention the changing aspects of his environment. To him nothing was
without significance, for all things were imbued with powers from Wakon'da
and could convey lessons or admonitions to be heeded by the individual and
by the people in their social life.

For example: the Indian noted the unfailing recurrence of day and night and
that upon the regularity with which one followed the other all creatures