ground(ing) Inhale– we breathe in oxygenated air released by plants (our bodies transform it to carbon dioxide-infused air) exhale– we release carbon dioxide, plants use this atmospheric carbon to produce food. The very breath which sustains our life is given to us by plants. A gift is reciprocated in the exhalation of that breath from our lungs. Photosynthesis and respiration are vital processes that sustain an intricate web of life on earth. These should be sacred cycles of reciprocity by which we are intrinsically connected to nature. Is there more nuance to this process? Yes. Nor is this the only way humans are connected to the Earth. Though, on a molecular level, we are here by way of this mutual exchange – I remind myself of that often. I think too of how it feels to be embodied. To coexist. To be in recognition of my wholeness and intimacy with the Earth, while simultaneously aware of my smallness and the complexities of the ecosystems I inhabit. Robin Wall Kimmerer writes in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, “gratitude is so much more than a polite thank you. It is a thread that connects us in a deep relationship, simultaneously physical and spiritual, as our bodies are fed and spirits nourished by the sense of belonging, which is the most vital of foods.” Notice the sensation in your body when you read these words, being told that our pull to give and connect are fundamental elements of our humanity—our very existence. Just as fire and water are vi-
By Kate Wojeck
tal to life, so is the ebb and flow of giving and receiving love. Kimmerer’s intimate understanding of her orientation to the world expresses an awareness that there is Earth inside us, entwined with us, a thought rooted in indigenous knowledge of what it means to be in relation with a land. Indigenous values are grounded in familial interconnection with the landscape, where the animate beings in inhabitancy are kin. Thus, indigenous people are indistinguishable and inseparable from the land. The land is a source of belonging, a sustainer, and an identity. It is equally a space of enspirited ancestral connection, knowledge, moral responsibility, and healing. Within this network of relations, trust is placed in the rebalancing act of collective contribution to keep the fire lit. Abundance is known. Consider then the fundamental elements of Western ideology: values of self-sufficiency and survival of the fittest, exponential growth and for-profit commodification of the environment. Reckless pillaging under the assumption that the environment is a bottomless pit from which to endlessly extract. Alongside these ideals came the unwashed feet of the first settler colonists who stomped on this continent and called it their own, claiming dominion and a divine right from God. Settler colonialism brought with it a dissociative complex as it relates to human beings and their relationships to everything, everyone else. Our capitalist society has intentionally thrown us into division with the world—taught us not to feel with our bodies, but with an exaggerated logicality of our minds. Thought bound objectively and systematically. Separate from nature. Separate from ourselves. Foundational principles of Western ideology have disrupted our cognizance of the interrelatedness which
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