This is the final chapter in my current WIP, “21st Century Animism: The Intersections of Science, Storytelling, and the Environment”. I wanted to publish it here as both a teaser, and an broad outline of much of the work that will appear on this blog. As is sometimes said, you find your next book while writing the current one…
Where do we even begin with wrapping up a project such as this one? In some way, we don’t. The work of animism is enough to keep one busy for a lifetime, maybe even for the lifetimes of many generations. Because the truth is that we have a lot of work to do. That work will require all types, artists and animists, scientists and engineers, indigenous elders and storytellers. We need everyone, because that is the how big the work is ahead.
The world is facing a climate crisis that could be existential for us in scope and scale. I firmly believe we have the capacity to make it through, though we certainly face the prospect of stormy seas no matter which course we set. In addition, there is no guarantee of success, and we, as humanity, may well end up going down with the ship. That future isn’t written just yet, and I think we still have the chance to write a new story for ourselves.
While it is pretty certain that our climate is changing, we still have some say in how that future shapes out. If we manage, as the IPCC recommends, to keep warming below two degrees (ideally 1.5 degrees) Celsius, our future looks a lot better than say, eight degrees. Eight degrees would in all likelihood, be the end of our civilization and maybe humanity as a species. Surely, life on Earth would move on without us, but I also think there is a whole multiple of futures between two and eight degrees. Personally, I like the ones that include us.
That’s where the capital ‘W’ Work really lies in my opinion. The work of building a better, more sustainable world for ourselves and for all life. A world where we meet human needs without destroying the planet in the process. For that, I think we have some, maybe even many, of the tools we need. Science is a wonderful tool for guiding our actions towards a better world, but it is not the whole in and of itself. We can answer many questions scientifically, but we cannot answer them all.
Philosophy, religion and spirituality help to fill in many of the answers that science cannot provide. Questions of values and morality, of living ‘the good life’. Animism for me helps to answer these questions, and so too, I think it has a place in the work to come. A spirituality that grounds us deeply in the natural world, that values life and biodiversity, that is informed by science, and that asked what is a good life? Not just for ourselves of course, but for every living being on this planet. What is, in short, a good life for the whole of a living planet that we all call home?
Fundamentally, what we need is a change in worldview, and a change in the story for the sake of our present, but also for our past and future. As Einstein said once, our problems will not be solved by the same methods we used to create them. We need to look at our future through a different lens, and we need a new story. I think some form of scientific, nature based animism will do a lot of good in at least helping us see the outlines of this new story. It won’t be the work of one person, one community, or even one nation. It will be a grand story for humanity and the Earth, and honestly, I can’t tell you what the final story will look like. It will always be a work in progress.
That all said, I think there are some great thinkers and writers out there that may act as signposts. We know a lot about our planet, and a fair bit about what to do about our changing climate. With that in mind, I’ll close this work with the ideas from minds beyond my own, as lights to points the way in the stormy seas that lies ahead.
A Sustainable, Animistic Civilization
“Our project of civilization must become a way for the planet to think, to decide, and to guide its own future. Thus, we must become the agent by which the Earth wakes up to itself….“
“Sustainable civilizations don’t “rise above” the biosphere, but must, in some way, enter into a long, cooperative relationship with their coupled planetary systems. But what does that look like?”– Adam Frank in The Light of the Stars
All throughout this book, I have done my best to weave together the threads of ecology and society. That’s one key take away from thinking animistically, that we are part of nature, a part of the planet. So to is all the works we like to call civilization. We are becoming a planet-wide civilization, and as the climate crisis is making very clear, you can’t do that kind of work without having an impact. The climate crisis is all of our impacts coming home to roost. As such we need to change that relationship, to be healthier for other humans as well as all life on Earth.
Adam Frank raises a pointed question here which could fill volumes, what does a long term cooperative, and truly sustainable relationship with our planet look like? That is a question that I have only touched on throughout this work, and beyond a doubt there is a lot more to be said. Unfortunately, that will likely have to wait for another volume. There is always more work to do, and it is important we keep seeking.
“I am grateful for the new animism, because it counts for something. Its importance cannot be overstated. It is a beginning, even without the history and aboriginal connection to this land. It says the human is searching and with a need to be in touch with this land, or other lands of origins in a time when the world is so achingly distressed.” – Linda Hogan “We call it tradition”
As white Westerners, myself included, we have a lot of baggage. Like even the history of animism as a concept, our history is fraught with the vestiges of of colonial and imperial past, and these threads still continue throughout our present. In many ways, reclaiming ‘animism’ means confronting our past as colonizers here in North America. As Hogan rightly points out, as Westerner’s we don’t have a long history or aboriginal connection to the lands many of us now call home.
The work animism asks us to do will span generations, though it is still important that we start it now. To even have a chance in the generations to come that work must begin. We must start and continue seeking and searching for the answers. To continue to build and shape the ways of knowing that will help us return to a measure of balance and harmony with our planet and each other. The world is distressed, and it counts greatly that we are searching for ways to heal.
I am not Native to the state of Michigan, but I seek to be in touch in the land I call home, as well as the ways of my ancestors. We are at the beginning of a new path, of a new era in the history. But unless we are naive, there is no guarantee that such an era is a time of promise and plenty. It could be bad, real bad, even extinction level event for our species bad. There is a lot of learning still to do, and plenty of unlearning. We can look to the wisdom of our own ancestors, and maybe even the wisdom of the peoples Native to this continent. And maybe, just maybe, we can find a new, truly sustainable path forward for ourselves and the planet. That is a long road for sure. Unfortunately, our window for action is also on a very tight time limit with the unfolding climate crisis.
A ‘Naturalized’ Animism
“What happens when we truly become native to a place, when we finally make a home? Where are the stories that lead the way? If time does in fact eddy back on itself, maybe the journey of the First Man will provide footsteps to guide the journey of the Second” – Robin Wall Kimmerer, in Braiding Sweetgrass
Ecology is sometimes referred to as the “study of home”, of our planet and all the relationships upon it. That’s the relationships between ourselves, the plants, the animals, and the entirety of the planet we call Earth. We are a part of nature, not above or beyond it. I think a fusion of animism and science can lead the way towards bringing ourselves back into greater balance.
As I have already mentioned, and as Kimmerer mentions, perhaps indigenous knowledge (First People) can lead the way. Maybe they can help us (Second People, white Westerners) find our way home. This is evident in a lot of ways. Right now, the West coast of the US is struggling with unprecedented wild fires, driven by the climate crisis. Indigenous people of the area have had long traditional practices of living with and managing wild fire. The US Forest Service as well as others has had a history of decades of trying to prevent fires, of forestry mismanagement that has resulted in the accumulation of flammable solids. There are beyond a doubt lessons to be learned there. But to learn those lessons, we need to unlearn many of things we think we know. We are the newcomers to this continent, but if we trace our own lineages back far enough, we find we are all ‘indigenous’ to somewhere. There are stories there that may help us as well, and wisdom we may have forgotten. At the same time, the past is the past. Some of those lessons and stories no longer apply, and so we likely need new stories as well.
Kimmerer illustrates this tension well throughout her book Braiding Sweetgrass, and prominently in the examples of Plantain and Kudzu. The first of these is a naturalized plant, an immigrant that has found a place is North America. Plantain has found a place to call ‘home’ in this ecosystem in a way that does not cause undo harm to others. Like those of us that are also descendants from immigrants.
“Plantain is so prevalent, so well integrated, we think of it as native. It has earned the name bestowed by botanists for plants that have become our own. Plantain is not indigenous, but “naturalized”… – Kimmerer
Kudzu is the opposite. An invasive plant that spreads rapidly and quickly dominates all other plants it comes across. Remind you of anything? Maybe a world built around an economic system that seeks growth at all costs? My own state of Michigan throughout the 19th century was logged out so extensively that almost all our forests were stripped bare. The trees that weren’t logged caught fire due to extensive environmental destruction, and this land was left nearly barren. That is in no small way how kudzu operates, and it cannot be the path we follow in the future.
There are many place we have to learn lessons from, no less the other persons around us. The plants and animals, rocks and rivers, and the land beneath our feet. Through science and spirituality, we can create and shape new relationships, and shape new stories to guide future generations. This work has already begun in a lot of places, and will continue to be important. Animism, ecology, and science more generally are ways of knowing. It is no coincidence that Väinämöinen, the hero of Finnish Folklore is sometimes referred to as a tietäjä, “one who knows”. Curiously, ‘scientist’ has a very similar meaning, one who knows, or seeks, knowledge.
Here I will give Kimmerer the last word, as she helps to show us the way towards a long term cooperative relationship with the land, nature, and the planet.
Maybe the task assigned to Second Man is to unlearn the model of kudzu, and follow the teachings of White Man’s Footstep (plantain), to strive to become naturalized to place, to throw off the mind-set of the immigrant. Being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land the feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit. To become naturalized is to know that your ancestors lie in this ground. Here you will give your gifts and meet your responsibilities. To become naturalized is to live as if your children’s future matters, to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.” – Robin Wall Kimmerer.
The Anishinaabe Seventh Fire Prophecy
“In the time of the Seventh Fire New People will emerge. They will retrace their steps to find what was left by the trail. Their steps will take them to the Elders who they will ask to guide them on their journey. But many of the Elders will have fallen asleep. They will awaken to this new time with nothing to offer. Some of the Elders will be silent because no one will ask anything of them. The New People will have to be careful in how they approach the Elders. The task of the New People will not be easy.
If the New People will remain strong in their quest the Water Drum of the Midewiwin Lodge will again sound its voice. There will be a rebirth of the Anishinabe Nation and a rekindling of old flames. The Sacred Fire will again be lit.
It is this time that the light skinned race will be given a choice between two roads. One road will be green and lush, and very inviting. The other road will be black and charred, and walking it will cut their feet. In the prophecy, the people decide to take neither road, but instead to turn back, to remember and reclaim the wisdom of those who came before them. If they choose the right road, then the Seventh Fire will light the Eighth and final Fire, an eternal fire of peace, love, brotherhood and sisterhood. If the light skinned race makes the wrong choice of the roads, then the destruction which they brought with them in coming to this country will come back at them and cause much suffering and death to all the Earth’s people” – From Wikipedia, from The Mishomis Book, by Edward Benton-Banai
I felt it necessary to quote this last of the Anishinaabe prophecies in full, because it is very important for the full context. All throughout this work I have talked about the choices we face, and the obstacles that await us in the present, and in the future. Not just as a human species, but also the very existential challenges of all the life on this planet as we stare down the barrel of the climate crisis. In this prophecy, there are choices ahead not only for indigenous people, but for us white westerners as well.
We are facing the choice between two roads. One that is green and lush. That is the road of a truly sustainable civilization in my opinion. It is the road that has us tackle collectively the climate crisis, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of all the people in the widest animistic sense. There are lots of work along that path, and certainly we might not get it all right. We will undoubtedly make mistakes, missteps, and poor decisions. We may well delay too long, and that could be catastrophic. We will likely get some things right as well. This path will require a radical rethink of everything about our civilization, from politics to economics, to the way we live and work our lives.
There is a lot of knowledge from science to inform us along this path. A lot of wisdom from animistic living as well. There is much both ecology and spirituality can teach us about living in balance and harmony with all the relatives, the plants, animals and others, all around us.
Yet, I think it is also fair to say that in all likelihood we currently walk the black and charred path, and I can only hope we have the time and willpower to find some kind of off ramp. I still think there is a chance, a small and dwindling one, but still a chance we can find our onto the green path. According to the IPCC and a growing body of science around the climate crisis, we still have a quickly closing window to act. But to do that, we have to quickly end our use and dependence on fossil fuels. The black path is paved with oil, and that is the path we must abandon. Our burning of fossil fuels is the chief component of our greenhouse gas emission, both methane and carbon. That is the current path we walk, but we have the agency to change. Whether we will or not, that remains to be seen. As Adam Frank puts so well;
“As children of the Earth, we are also children of the stars….
We can make the Anthropocene into a new era for both our civilization and the Earth. In the end, our story is not yet written. We stand at a crossroads, under the light of the stars, ready to join them or ready to fail. The choice will be our own.” Adam Frank – Light of the Stars
I for one believe that our species has a lot of potential moving into the future, but at the same time that future is not yet written. As Carl Sagan once said, we are an ‘adolescent’ species, we still have a lot to learn as we mature. We haven’t figured everything out just yet, even though like so many teenagers, we might think we already know everything. But there is still a long way to go, a lot of growing up still to go. For ourselves and for our civilization.
It is my hope, with some form of hybrid between science and animism, we might find our way into maturity. We can navigate the stormy waters ahead, and create a world that lives in balance with both civilization and nature. As animism teaches us, we are part of nature, and that a long term truly sustainable civilization includes us.
This work began with our origins in the fusion forges of the stars, and it only fitting that we have come around full circle. We now live in a time where we are starting to reach back out towards those stars, back towards the celestial beings that created all that we know. To do that, and to find our way along the green path, we will need both wisdom and knowledge. That wisdom and knowledge lies at the intersection of science, spirituality, and the environment.
As always,
Thanks for reading!
The Thought Forge 