Richard F Epstein

Walking in Beauty Richard F Epstein

Many Native American religious and spiritual practices are colored with Vedic hues. The Native Indian's spirituality is based on naturalistic religion. The fundamental tenants of his naturalistic religion seem to have arisin as a direct outcome of self-realization in the Vedantic meaning of self-realization -- a self-realization while still in the body. Born of yogic practices peculiarly American, he shares with the Vedantist and Tibetan spiritual values based on direct experience rather than mere belief. The Native American, like the Eastern mystic, is taught to be wary of dogma and conventional non-secular nostrums, but to rely on the "Self" whence all spiritual experience emanates. He experiences his spirituality in the solitude of the wilderness or on sacred high places where visions are inspired by holy songs. His naturalistic religion is a direct method of exploring the arcane realm of the unconscious wherein lies the storehouse of memories of this lifetime and of myriads of lifetimes. In this book, the spiritual life and experiences of America's indigenous people and some of those throughout the hemisphere will be explored in conjunction with the estimable words and teachings of Swami Vivekananda, the great prophet of modern Vedanta.