Black Elk#
Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa, 1863–1950) was an Oglala Lakota holy man, healer, and visionary whose life spanned traumatic periods in Indigenous North American history: forced displacement, the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890), and aggressive cultural suppression. While Black Elk did not write texts himself in the Western sense, his ethical and spiritual teachings were preserved through collaboration with non-Native scholars.
Key works associated with Black Elk:
Black Elk Speaks (1932): (recorded by John G. Neihardt) A spiritual autobiography conveying Black Elk’s Great Vision and moral worldview.
The Sacred Pipe (1953): (recorded by Joseph Epes Brown): A focused exposition of Lakota ritual life and ethical principles.
Storytellers#
Black Elk argues that the purpose of a storyteller is to heal mental and spiritual suffering. In his teachings, story, song, and ceremony are understood as forms of medicine. This makes the storyteller comparable to a doctor: just as a physician treats physical illness, a storyteller applies the appropriate measure of teaching and emotion to help restore mental balance. For Black Elk, storytellers should not merely numb people or help them forget their pain. Rather, it should strengthen them, helping them recover clarity, resilience, and direction. In this sense, stories offer insight that helps people live more harmonious and meaningful lives within their community and the world around them.
Black Elk also recognizes that those who speak or perform publicly possess the power to arouse strong emotions such as fear, desire, and anger, and therefore to move people toward action. When this understanding is applied to modern contexts, it implies a significant moral responsibility. Influence must not be used to exploit the audience or the content of a story for personal gain. Instead, the storyteller should aim to guide emotions toward restoration, helping to rebalance individuals and, through them, society as a whole.
Black Elk further observes that the power of a speaker depends on the trust people place in them. A voice carries far only because it is supported by relationships. Trust, in his view, is established through acts of service to the people. Extending this idea to the modern role of the storyteller, when influence is exploited for personal gain rather than service, trust erodes and authority weakens. In doing so, a person undermines their own function as a storyteller, losing the very power that allowed their voice to be heard.
A storyteller must also be respectful of inherited stories. When stories are handed down, they carry teachings shaped and preserved across generations. Such stories deserve reverence, and the storyteller must take care not to introduce changes that risk breaking their message. In this role, the storyteller functions as a preserver of ancient wisdom. To transmit a story accurately is to honor those who first carried its teachings. While this does not prohibit the creation of new stories, it implies that inherited stories should not be altered unless a new context genuinely serves the integrity of their message.
It is also important that stories provide a truthful orientation to reality. A story may be symbolic, emotional, or ambiguous, yet it should still help people align themselves with truth. Here, truth refers not to literal accuracy but to a faithful representation of people’s place in the world and their relationships with others. When false messages are introduced, human relationships are harmed, as people begin to rely on distorted understandings of reality. Over time, such distortions spread through social networks and institutions, eventually producing real harm. For this reason, the storyteller should avoid propagating false messages, even when they are entertaining or popular.
Humility is therefore an essential trait for a storyteller. It enables respect for inherited stories and commitment to truth. A humble storyteller understands that they do not own the story; they transmit it from ancestors to the community. Even when creating new stories, they recognize that their authority is inherited, their insight shaped by the world around them, and their influence sustained by a listening community. The power to move others does not arise solely from personal skill, but from relationships, shared history, and lived reality.
Stories must also be narrated in ways that never mock, denigrate, or dehumanize people. In Black Elk’s worldview, every being carries a “sacred center” and therefore deserves dignity. To dehumanize others is to deny this truth and introduce a false moral message. The result is an invitation to cruelty and the planting of seeds of division, weakening social harmony and disrupting balance within the community.
A good storyteller also understands the value of silence. Silence allows reflection and promotes insight. Rather than filling every gap or resolving every question, the storyteller leaves space for the audience to think, discover, and internalize meaning. An audience given time to reflect is more likely to absorb and carry forward the message of the story.
A good storyteller also chooses carefully when and how often to perform. Applied to modern entertainment, storytelling creates habits of attention. Ethical storytelling requires judging whether these habits support or disrupt a harmonious life. A storyteller should avoid encouraging dependency: situations in which people disengage from life, community, or responsibility because they are consumed by entertainment.
Finally, it is important that a storyteller prepares intentionally for performance. Preparation here can be understood as a modern parallel to ceremonial readiness. This includes reflecting on the content of the performance, rehearsing thoughtfully, and considering time, place, and setting. Care is taken to ensure that the environment supports listening and understanding. The presence and emotional investment of the audience are respected, and the experience is made worthy of their attention. After performance, the storyteller reflects on the emotional and moral effects and adjusts future work accordingly.
Black Elk’s ethical guidelines#
Serve your audience: Define a purpose for your storytelling such as education, relief, healing, or connection. Avoid content designed solely to distract or numb; instead, leave audiences with something to carry forward. Ensure humor, drama, or spectacle restores balance, strengthens understanding, or communicates truth.
Accept responsibility for emotional impact: Anticipate how vulnerable audiences might receive your work. Avoid exploiting fear, shame, anger, or desire for effect or profit. Consider the potential consequences of stirring strong emotions. Treat interviews, social media posts, and off-stage remarks as part of your professional and ethical influence.
Refuse entertainment that dehumanizes: Reject stereotypes, scapegoating, or humiliation as shortcuts to attention. Be willing to lose opportunities rather than compromise human dignity. Decline projects that trivialize suffering, faith, or identity for novelty or spectacle.
Respect silence as much as expression: Know when not to comment or perform. Build pauses, stillness, and restraint into your work. Allow unresolved questions rather than forcing constant commentary or closure, giving audiences space for reflection and insight.
Practice humility: Credit collaborators, teachers, and traditions openly. Treat success as temporary stewardship rather than entitlement. Recognize that influence is sustained by trust and community.
Use story and performance to restore balance: Balance humor with compassion and critique with care. Counter excess, shock, or outrage with moments of grounding, perspective, and reflection. Avoid escalating intensity merely to maintain attention.
Remember you stand within the Circle: Stay connected to non-industry communities and ordinary life. Seek feedback from people outside your professional bubble.
Tell the truth: Be emotionally honest even when dramatizing, fictionalizing, or using symbolism. Do not distort reality in ways that encourage cynicism, despair, or moral confusion. Clarify intention when satire or irony could mislead audiences.
Honor inherited stories and collective memory: Treat stories handed down through generations with reverence. Preserve their core meaning and context, and avoid altering them in ways that weaken or distort their message. Create new stories freely, but do not exploit inherited ones for convenience or appeal.
Avoid fostering dependency: Be mindful of the habits your work encourages. Avoid creating excessive reliance on your presence or output. Ensure that engagement with your work supports, rather than displaces, people’s participation in community, responsibility, and everyday life.