Reflections on Issue Seven
How Do You Know?
Thank you to everyone who had a chance to read Issue Seven over the past week. For those who haven’t, the reflections from other readers below may be a good starting point, or you can read "How Do You Know?" first.
The Understory reflections between issues are intended to share thoughtful comments from readers that expand upon and challenge parts of the previous issue. I am immensely grateful for the comments added this week, and hope they provide further value for you in thinking about Indigenous ways of knowing and living with multiple worldviews.
As Shared by Peter Tavernise
“Coming into understanding of our interdependence with the Earth is 1/2 of solving our current schism. The second half is healing our own mind body rift. If we don’t do both, we don’t have the capacity to truly apprehend our connection with the earth, nor do we have the embodied sense to assist us in avoiding self harm. Lacking both at the moment, we harm the earth and ourselves simultaneously. And we are insensible to both harms. They do not touch us, because we have lost our sense of ourselves.”
This is a profound and valuable connection Peter is making. It is not just that many of us feel separate from nature, but that we also live a similar separation from our own bodies. And both of those separations are connected. Peter and I continue to exchange learnings about how we can work as coaches to help reconnect mind and body. Our physical (re)connection with nature is an important part of this healing process, and is referenced in many of the Indigenous writers from Issue Seven. During formal ceremony, rituals and habits, we can reconnect with ourselves through nature and vice-versa. This acknowledged relationality between ourselves and nature is integral to a new operating worldview.
Peter also shared this talk by addiction researcher and clinician, Gabor Maté, who contends that our external behaviour can be directly linked to internal trauma. His research finds that addictive behaviours often stem from the emptiness inside that we are trying to fill from the outside— whether through addictions to substances, consumerism, or power. Using examples of how Jesus and the Buddha both eschewed power, Maté suggests reconnecting with the light within rather than outside ourselves. And if we can find that light, we will be kinder to ourselves and to nature. Please give the whole talk watch as it is worth your time.
See Peter’s comment in its entirety and add your comment to his
As Shared by Jon Shay
“As I reached the section in which you refer to Cartesian thought, I reflected on how the discovery of the atom further emphasized the ideas of separation and mechanization and disconnected us from the processes that make life possible. I wish I could remember whose book I read, but the assertion was that studying phenomena at a microscopic level not only fills our minds with facts and details, obscuring the bigger picture, it also encourages us to separate phenomena into their individual parts, almost dissecting them as Descartes did to animals to prove they had no soul. We end up knowing more and understanding less.”
This separation was something that struck me too. A number of the cited writers in Issue Seven advocate for the value of integrating Western science with total ecological knowledge (TAK) or Indigenous science. While we should openly acknowledge the lack of interconnected worldview that permeates Western science, we can still laud scientific methodologies and achievements for all that it has given and continues to give humanity. This is why the integration of the two, so seamlessly woven together by writers like Robin Wall Kimmerer, can offer us much greater richness by carrying multiple worldviews. “Doing science with awe and humility is a powerful act of reciprocity with the more-than-human world,” is the beautiful articulation of combining sciences in Braiding Sweetgrass.
“I'm still vegetarian 25 years later, and this makes me healthier and reduces my carbon footprint, has some infinitesimal effect on factory farmed animals, and has some similarly small effect on slash-and-burn agriculture, but does it really have any effect on the direction our society is headed? No, not really. Does that or should that reality compel me to change my behavior? I don't think so. I continue to believe that such decisions have intrinsic value, if only because I have thought them through and continue to challenge myself on that value.”
This dichotomy that Jon articulates between the (seemingly) insignificance of our individual actions and scale of impact to society is something I will continually return to from multiple vantage points. First off, living our daily lives with the sacrifices and trade-offs of our convictions is both commendable and important for our well-being. We tend to think of self-care being external acts to restore the self. However, the ability to live our convictions is even more important for their intrinsic value as Jon mentions. There are direct relationships to this sentiment and the one shared by Peter above about our internal traumas, which continue to grow as we live disconnected from our values and healing practices.
I have been re-reading George Marshall’s, Don’t Even Think About It, which helps to contextualize the broader societal value of our actions. Marshall is particularly concerned about the collective social norm of silence around climate change, as he found that most people never even discuss the issue. Our evolved psychologies seek social conformity by continuously scanning groups we trust (family, friends, colleagues) for clues on how we should behave, often weighting those behaviours as more important than recommendations by experts. Marshall’s writing leads me to believe that our individual operating norms have much more profound effects on others in our community than are often visible to us. If we operate counter to the cultural norms, whether it is by being vegetarian or embracing Indigenous worldviews, it has a psychological effect on those who trust us.
See Jon’s comment in its entirety and add your comment to his
As Shared by Peter Ladner
“The big challenge as I see it is shifting a critical mass of human behaviour to that understanding, from linear/detached to circular/interdependent. Certainly current trends to mindfulness, slow streets/food/growth, ongoing spiritual voyages are bright spots. Urgently. All over the earth.
...All that said, COVID may be our friend. It shows no mercy to those who insist the economy trumps everything; it fractures a lot of the structures that our doom is built on, and it reveals our utter interdependence with the smallest of beings almost completely beyond our control. It is also powerful enough to really get our attention.”
Relating Peter’s point to Jon’s, our societal transformation begins with our internal transformation that then cascades outward to broader society. I am heartened by the research of Erica Chenoweth that coined the “3.5% rule”—based on historic records of civil resistance in the 20th century, “no government can withstand a challenge of 3.5% of its population without either accommodating the movement or (in extreme cases) disintegrating.” I don’t know if the U.S. Black Lives Matter protests hit the 12 million protestors mark, but the effects have already been significant.
As Peter shared, COVID-19 has reminded many people of interdependencies they may have forgotten or never been aware of. We now know a bit better what the path of cultural and ecological sustainability feels like, including the acknowledgement of how the effects of disasters are felt most by the already vulnerable in our communities. In these rare moments of our 24/7 culture that have a window of remembering, we consider what we want to (re)introduce to our lives. The Indigenous ways of knowing would point to the importance of having actions that ensure we “remember to remember” in the words of Kimmerer, so we continue to live with gratitude even when the worst of COVID-19 is behind us.
See Peter’s comment in its entirety and add your comment to his
Offering Your Support
Since writing the last issue, I have learned about an investment by the Government of Canada to increase protected lands and oceans by 20% by 2020 and 25% by 2030. Part of that funding will go to the National Indigenous Guardian Network who supports the development and employment of Indigenous Guardians in 40 Nations and communities across Canada. Indigenous Guardians are employed as “eyes on the ground” to monitor ecological health, maintain cultural sites, and protect sensitive areas and species. They are also deliberately creating pathways for younger generations to learn from Elders. If you are Canadian, you can show your support of Indigenous Guardians by signing here.
The Indigenous Leadership Initiative created a very helpful list of ways each of us can be an ally of Indigenous led conservation. You can download the PDF here.
Trust Indigenous Leadership
Create Space for Indigenous Voices
Understand the Connection Between Land and Nationhood
Recognize Indigenous Science
Participate with Interest
Focus on Solutions
Share Stories with Respect
Continue to Learn
Influence Your Peers
Each of us can make further efforts to listen, understand, and support Indigenous ways of knowing in our culture, both to preserve traditional knowledge and to improve how we care for the planet, each other, and ourselves.
I hope this week between issues provides the space for further discovery and reflection. Go forth and make a difference in the week ahead. See you next Saturday with Issue Eight.
Adam