Avoid hypocrisy,
seek truth within yourself.

Step 3: Seek for truth within myself, that I may remove hypocrisy and evil intent from within my heart.


Walking the Red Road will teach us truth about ourselves.

In the very beginning, Creator gave us teachings to live by. These teachings lived in our hearts as spiritual truths that brought us abundant joy as we walked hand in hand with Him. We knew how to love, honor, and respect our fellow brothers and sisters. In Native American culture, these teachings were passed on by stories and other word of mouth teachings during times of family and community bonding.

These were precious times, part of Cherokee culture. However, we taught our children mostly by the way we lived, especially by how we treated others, by how we treated all creation with respect, and by how we lived in the will of Great Spirit.

Many of us yearn to return to this mode of living, and believe we can. To accomplish this we must remove hypocrisy from our lives.

For most of us, the statement “Abstain from doing evil” is pretty clear. However, more understanding can be gained from the wisdom of ancient Hindu writings, and the teachings of ancient Jewish sages that could help us learn to walk the Red Road in harmony with Creator, and thereby regain more of our Cherokee culture.

How we treat others is who we become. The more hurtful things we do to others, or say to others, or about others, the more tendencies (samskaras (Hindu)) we create within ourselves to do these things again and again. We grow more and more into mean-spirited, hurtful people who turn their backs on Creator. We move into a darker and darker state of being.

Evil behavior is an addiction that feeds on itself. However there is a cure. The reverse is also true. The more we perform kind actions, with an attitude of unconditional love, and treat others with loving-kindness, tolerance, and respect, the more these tendencies will begin to grow within our own hearts. We will move closer and closer to walking in harmony with Great Spirit. Our joy will grow in direct proportion with our attitudes of unconditional love, accompanied by actions performed with loving-kindness and compassion.

Remember, whatever you think about the most is what you will become over time. Removing hypocrisy from our lives will improve our lives dramatically. Always examine your own motives.

We can regain true Cherokee culture as that practiced by our ancient ancestors. When we break old habits of evil tendencies, and develop new loving habits, we will become true Cherokee who walk harmoniously with Creator. May Great Spirit guide our walk in the wisdom of the ancestors.

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