Wak'q
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Wak'q
Wak'q (often rendered wakan) is "the animating force of the universe," "the creative universal force," an "invisible energy or life-force." It is the power that makes things holy, powerful, or beyond ordinary understanding. When the Sioux encountered something difficult to explain—a natural mystery, a vision, a potent medicine, or even a poisonous plant—they called it wakanis. the Lakota name for The Fabric of Consciousness
Concept Map
Sioux
Syncretic Terms
- Absolute Mind
- Adhi Buddha
- Ain Soph Aur
- Al-Haqq
- Allah
- Ancient One
- Anima Mundi
- Blazing Star
- Brahman
- Brahmic Splendor
- Broken/Nam Sh\xe9
- Central Order
- Consciousness Field
- Crown
- Divine Fire
- Field of the Universe
- First Mover
- Formless
- God
- GodHead
- Govinda
- Great Artist
- Great Being
- Great Breath
- Great Gardener
- Great Light
- Great Self
- Guardian Angel
- Immortal Spirit
- Ineffable Light
- Kether
- Mind at Large
- Nam Shé
- Nirguna Brahman
- Nondual God
- Nonlocal Mind
- Oversoul
- Primal Self
- Primum Mobile
- Purusha
- Realms of Consciousness
- Simurg
- Source Consciousness
- Spirit
- Subliminal Seed Regime
- Supreme
- Supreme Spirit
- The Dreaming
- The Lord
- The Old One
Notes
We Are Wakan" / "You Are Wakan"
Because wakʽą flows through the cosmos and animates all things, Lakota philosophy holds that all beings share the same sacred essence. In this view, objects or people imbued with wakʽą force can themselves be termed wakʽą. To say "we are wakan" or "you are wakan" is to recognize that:
- Every person carries within them this sacred, mysterious life-force.
- There is no fundamental separation between the divine and the human; the same power that moves the sun, the wind, and the buffalo also moves within us
- Every being is a manifestation of Wakʽą Tʽąką (Wakan Tanka), the "Great Mystery" or unified totality of all sacred power.
As one early Lakota source put it, "Every object in the world has a spirit and that spirit is wakan." This includes human beings.
"We Walk as Wakan"
To walk as wakan is to live in conscious alignment with this truth. It means:
- Moving through the world with the awareness that all is sacred. Because wakʽą unifies all life, the Lakota express their worldview with mitákuye oyás'į—"all my relations"—a recognition of kinship with every person, animal, plant, stone, and spirit.
- Embodying respect and reciprocity. If everything is wakan, then every interaction is an encounter with the sacred. This informs the Lakota emphasis on respect (waóhola) for all life and the understanding that "everything is one."
- Recognizing the mystery in oneself and others. To walk as wakan is to carry oneself with the humility and reverence due to a being who is, in essence, a fragment of the Great Mystery—not superior to nature, but kin to it.
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Footnotes