Robin Wall Kimmerer offers this wisdom in her book Braiding Sweetgrass. Over and over again, she repeats this idea of connection. There are circles of care in the natural world. Nothing exists unto itself but there is reciprocity in all things.
She offers this wisdom to her students on outdoor adventures pulling up cattails and mining roots informed by the gifts she has received from her ancestors. There is so much that is provided for us but we cannot just take what we need. We cannot think it only exists for us. We must find our way into gratitude for the connections we share with the lichens, the cattails and the trees.
In Indigenous communities, before anything is harvested from the earth, permission is first required. You must ask before you receive. You cannot merely take but open your eyes and your heart to the reciprocal relationship you share with creation. Permission may or may not be granted. You wait until that has been made known and then you take only what you need. Like all relationships, it requires careful attention to share in this reciprocity.
When nothing feels scarce or challenging, this might be easy to do. It’s harder to commit to the work of relationship building when nothing feels certain. The world feels like that right now. Everything feels a little bit tenuous and maybe that is why we need more time to reflect on our connection to the created world and each other. Not just because it’s Earth Day but because, as Robin Wall Kimmerer wisely shares, “ceremony focuses attention so that attention becomes intention.” These are the things we do together \to “magnify life.”
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