This time we will learn about how the sense of interconnectedness of all the living world is expressed in the understandings of indigenous peoples. We will see the importance of balance and reciprocity, the world as giving, and the responsibility to share our own gifts with the world.
These readings offer an invitation to imagine ourselves as part of the community of life, shifting from the anthropocentric to the biocentric perspective, but also to reimagine the physiological and metabolic processes in terms of exchanges between different organisms.
One of the driving forces of modernity, which makes living world into things to be used and exploited for our own comfort, is the notion that we are separate from ‘nature’, and in many senses superior to other forms of life. That perspective contrast strongly with the kin-centric understanding of the world. As Enrique Salmón writes about the Rarámuri concept of Iwígara, humans are no more important to the natural world than any other form of life, and all forms of lives are our relatives, living beings. The separation inherent in our own culture has lead to harm and destruction of the living world, which is the cornerstone of our current ecological crises.
One of the motives that all three readings share is the notion of healing, and the call for reciprocity with the living world on which we depend for our every breath, for nutrition, for shelter, for the sense of belonging. David Abram writes on the role of healers, shamans, as mediators between humans and the larger community of beings upon which the village depends, to ensures that their relationship is balanced and reciprocal, and that the village never takes more from the living land that it returns to it. His primary allegiance is not to the human community, but to the web of relations. In the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer, “Ecological restoration is an act of reciprocity, and the Earth asks us to turn our gifts to healing the damage we have done.”
readings
Robin Wall Kimmerer. Returning the Gift
Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass. Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants.
Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass.
David Abram. The Spell of the Sensuous. Perception and Language in More-Than-Human World.
Chapter 1. The Ecology of Magic (3-11)
Enrique Salmón. Kincentric Ecology: Indigenous Perceptions of the Human-Nature Relationship
questions for discussion
What difference does it make, if you start viewing the food you eat, the water you drink or the air you breathe as a gift, given to you by animals, plants or the Earth itself, instead of regarding it as a commodity, as a resource, as an ecosystem service? As something we can simply buy, or as something granted and for free? Do we have the right to take anything? Is the land ours? Or does it belong to itself? Does it have its own rights?
While on a trip to Indonesia, David Abram says he discovered the world of insects (naming fireflies) and how they can have an influence on humans senses. Do any of you have personal examples of non human species that you have learned about or encountered, that have influenced your human senses and thus have deepened your connection to the natural world?
Why is paying attention important? How many birds or wild flowers do you know by name? Does it change your relation to that bird or plant?
How does David Abram’s exploration of animistic perception in ‘The Spell of the Sensuous’ challenge conventional Western views on the concept of being alive? How might embracing an animistic worldview reshape our relationship with the natural world?
Can you imagine the Earth as animate? How does it influence our worldview, when we grow up in a culture and language, where only humans are he or she (as in English), or where only people and animals are animate (as in Czech)? Can you imagine speaking and relating to the land as to your family?
What would it mean to consider all living beings as kin?
How do you imagine the ‘democracy of species’? What could a ‘biocentric, life-centered worldview’ look like?
In ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’, Robin Wall Kimmerer emphasizes the importance of reciprocity and gratitude in our interactions with the more-than-human world. How can we cultivate a deeper sense of reciprocity in our daily lives, and what impact might this have on our understanding of what it means to be alive?
Kimmerer talks about reciprocity where humans give back to the Earth for the gifts she gives to us. We will all die. Some us will get cremated and stored in a urn and some of us, our physical bodies will be returned to the earth. Isn’t that enough? What bigger gift can we give than that?
What do we do with the gifts we don’t want e.g the sound of crickets or mosquitoes at night when we’re trying to sleep or more impactful natural disasters, or invasive and disease-causing species?
Both David Abram and Robin Wall Kimmerer discuss the role of language in shaping our perceptions of the natural world. How does language influence our understanding of being alive, and what are some ways in which we can shift our linguistic frameworks to better reflect the vitality and agency of nonhuman beings?
The author shared an indigenous North American folklore of how the “Skywoman”, a tree branch, a turtle and several other animals helped in forming Earth i.e. Turtle island (the name for earth or North America). Do you think author and her ancestors respect comes from a spiritual belief in a creation story? Do you think not having spiritual or religious beliefs in a creation story makes it harder to respect or have compassion for nature? What other factors can shift or influences one’s attitudes towards nature?
David Abram and Robin Wall Kimmerer both critique modernity’s disenchantment of the world and advocate for a more holistic, reciprocal relationship with nature. What are some practical steps individuals and societies can take to re-enchant the world and honour the interconnectedness of all life forms? How might these actions contribute to a renewed sense of being alive?
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s concept of Mishkos Kenomagwen, or the teachings of grass, suggests that there is wisdom inherent in the natural world. How might we apply this concept in practical terms to deepen our connection with nature and live more harmoniously with the Earth?
Robin Wall Kimmerer repeats the question “What does the Earth ask of us?” Do you believe that the Earth can ask something of us? Do you have any answer to her question?
Sweetgrass has been culturally used to make baskets. Taking and harvesting the sweetgrass stimulates its growth. Is the author implying that by taking we are actually giving? What ways can we take that we simultaneously give back to the earth?
How does gratitude and reciprocity help create the sense of belonging and interconnectedness?
What is the effect of gratitude on ourselves? Can the sense of ‘enoughness’ help against the never-ending wish for new/better/more things?
The author talks of humans and non human persons having gifts. She says “the thrush is given the gift of song and so has a responsibility to greet the day with music”. What is our responsibility? What are our gifts?
Some of you may know Viktor E. Frankl, the Austrian psychiatrist, who explored the ‘will to meaning’ and sense of meaningfulness in his logotherapy. He advised people not to ask “What should I ask of life?” but instead “What does life ask of me?” He believed that meaning is an objective reality rather than a personal perception and that it is human responsibility to realize the meaning of the moment in every situation. Is the question “What does life ask of me?” easier for you to ponder?
Robin Wall Kimmerer believes that humans have the ability to change. Do you believe so?
additional resources
Interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer. Indigenous Knowledge for Earth Healing For the Wild Podcast (audio/text)
Interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer. What Does the Earth Asks from Us? Confluence Podcast (audio/text)
Interview with Enrique Salmón. Moral landscapes amidst changing ecologies For the Wild Podcast (audio/text)
Interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer. Hope is the Power of Plants and Indigenous Knowledge Jane Goodall Hopecast (audio)
Interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer. Practical reverence. Emergence Magazine Podcast (audio/text)
Interview with David Abram. The ecology of perception Emergence Magazine Podcast (audio/text)
Robin Wall Kimmerer. Gathering Moss. A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses (book)
David Suzuki. The Sacred Balance. Rediscovering Our Place in Nature (book)