Reflection Process Now that you have sat with these articles, we invite you to reflect with the following process using excerpts from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
“ Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
nnThe work of peace and justice is draining and exhausting. How do we keep hope alive? How can we choose joy and gratitude daily so as not to fall into despair?
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“ Among our Potawatomi people, women are the Keepers of Water. We carry the sacred water to ceremonies and act on its behalf. ‘Women have a natural bond with water, because we are both life bearers,’ my sister said. ‘We carry our babies in internal ponds and they come forth into the world on a wave of water. It is our responsibility to safeguard the water for all our relations.”
nnHow can we become better ancestors? How will we
safeguard water and all life for the next generation?
“ Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
nnChange begins within. What do we need to heal ourselves? How can we allow the earth to heal and renew us?
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“ In the Western tradition there is a recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top—the pinnacle of evolution, the darling of Creation—and the plants at the bottom. But in Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as “the younger brothers of Creation.” We say that humans have the least experience with how to live and thus the most to learn—we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance. Their wisdom is apparent in the way that they live. They teach us by example. They’ve been on the earth far longer than we have been, and have had time to figure things out.”
nnWho are our “younger siblings of Creation” that we need to learn from?
nnWhat reorientation do we need in how we relate to Creation?