Below is Whisper #47 from my latest book, 48 WHISPERS, which is a collection of photographs and personal meditations created across a decade of travel to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the surrounding northern plains.
For centuries scientists, spiritualists, and philosophers have attempted to discover the center of all that is. The sun revolves around the Earth. No, wait; the Earth revolves around the sun. And what of the universe itself? Where is its center?
So what does the concept of center even represent? In geometry the center is the middle of the object. In social terms, it is the place of gathering.
But what if the center is really everywhere? What if the center, like the power of nature itself, is scattered and diffused? If the center was everywhere, where would that place you? What if you are the center?
Black Elk foretold all of this long ago:
“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this.”
Black Elk came to understand that the center we so desperately seek lives with- in us. This realization is the path to sustained peace. The implications of this truth cannot be overstated.
The center, it turns out, can be found without taking a step. We need but look inward to find the peace we seek.
Sleep well, my friend. You are already at the center.
