Natural Indigenous Wisdom
Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
“Many indigenous people share the understanding that we are each endowed with a particular gift, a unique ability.
“Birds to sing and stars to glitter for instance.
“It is understood that these gifts have a dual nature though: a gift is also a responsibility.
“If the bird’s gift is song then it has a responsibility to meet the day with music.
“It is the duty of the bird to sing and the rest of us to receive the song as a gift.
“…Other beings can fly, see at night, rip open trees with their claws, make maple syrup.
“We may not have wings or leaves, but we humans do have words.
“Words to remember old stories, words to tell new ones, stories that bring science and spirit back together to nurture our becoming people made of corn.”
“Birds to sing and stars to glitter for instance.
“It is understood that these gifts have a dual nature though: a gift is also a responsibility.
“If the bird’s gift is song then it has a responsibility to meet the day with music.
“It is the duty of the bird to sing and the rest of us to receive the song as a gift.
“…Other beings can fly, see at night, rip open trees with their claws, make maple syrup.
What can humans do?
“We may not have wings or leaves, but we humans do have words.
Language is our gift and our responsibility…
“Words to remember old stories, words to tell new ones, stories that bring science and spirit back together to nurture our becoming people made of corn.”
As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science.
As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as "the younger brothers of creation".
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as "the younger brothers of creation".
As she explores these themes, she circles toward a central argument:
The awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world.
Once we begin to listen for the languages of other beings, we can begin to understand the innumerable life-giving gifts the world provides us and learn to offer our thanks, our care, and our own gifts in return.
Deep Listening To Nature, Inner and outer.
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