One Drum Quotes

“This is how you change the world, the smallest circles first… That humble energy, the kind that says, ‘I will do what I can do right now in my own small way,’ creates a ripple effect on the world.”
― Richard Wagamese, One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet

“We feel pushed to achieve, to do, to become, to control, and those actions and compulsions are physical ones; they are not of the spirit. Instead, they are of the mind, because we think we should be taking action to be and to do and to have. We need to be industrious, we say, we need to do the things that are necessary so that we can have the things that will make us happy. The whole of human history has been built on this thinking and it has caused great harm to the planet. That thought pattern asks us to move beyond humility into the realm of thought and thus, that of ego and, ultimately, of fear - the fear of not having enough, of judgment, of failure… We get so busy trying to be a certain way that we tend to forget what we essentially are at any given moment. We are alive. We are part of Creation. We exist on one Sacred Breath. We are Sacred. We are all one energy. We are all one soul - and the degree to which we forget this is the precise degree of separation that divides us.”
― Richard Wagamese, One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet

“Ceremony has become fraught with judgment: the idea that whoever our God might be, He requires absolute adherence to the way, to the means, of approach. But those reactions are based on fear, and they're inaccurate.

The elders say that Creator is perfect loving energy. Within the realm of perfect love there is no judgment. If there is no judgment then there can be no failure. In turn, if failure does not exist, there is no unworthiness. We are all one energy. We are worthy and we always were. We never have to qualify. And ceremony was born to allow us to remember that.”
― Richard Wagamese, One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet

“Can you stand?" Waabooz asked.
"Yes," Buffalo said. "Why?"
"If you stand there calmly you won't sink any farther and we can work together to get you out of there."
"Are you certain?" Buffalo asked. "I feel the bog pull at me even now."
"I am not certain," Waabooz said. "But Trust does not require certainty.”
― Richard Wagamese, One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet