When you take your last breath and your heart beats no more. It will not matter anymore the problems you had in this life, your pain and your sadness will have no more meaning. What you have gained outside of yourself that you value will mean nothing to you, and what you have gained within you will mean everything as you now take your place in the Spirit world. The future to the Lakota ancestors was not about obtaining riches or power but it was to prepare ourselves in this short life to enter into the next world. For the truest reward you could give yourself is to acheive a closer relationship with Wakan Tanka within you and this you will truly take with you when you pass. For the closer you become to the divine source the better your spirit will experience in the next world, for what was most important and valued by the Ancestors was only what you could take with you from this short life and what you could not take had much less importance. Leaving your children with a more close and loving relationship with Wakan Tanka and Unci Maka is a much better gift than leaving them with money and physical possessions.
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