WHY IS NATURE CONNECTION, IMMERSION, AND PARTNERSHIP IMPORTANT?

We care for those we care about. One of the causes for the planetary ecological crises humanity has brought about is the lack of caring for the rest of nature and a sense of separation from it (T. Berry, 1999; W. Berry, 2012). In the modern world, we too often forget that our species is a creature of Earth and has evolved with the rest of the natural world, which preserves us. As Jack Forbes noted (paraphrased), ‘I could lose my arms, legs, eyes and still live, but if I lose the air, the water,’ I die.

The Indigenous or kinship worldview encompasses all of life on Earth. We have a world of sentient relations. Children immersed in Nature know this. We can relearn this and can hone perception and skills to get along with our local landscape—animals, plants, waterways, soil—so that we live regeneratively instead of destructively towards All.

READ: Learn Again to Be an Earth Creature 

Humans are part of nature. How to reawaken innate skills and reconnect. 

All humans are part of nature but in industrialized societies we learn to shut down our animal minds and nature connection, says Tamarack Song. My students are using Song’s wisdom and that of Josh Lane to relearn attunement to the natural world.

What must we relearn? First, that we belong to the earth and not the other way around. Jack Forbes (2008) tells it like it is:

“The fact of our absolute, utter, complete dependence upon the earth is used by native teachers as a part of self-understanding… I can lose my hands, and still live. I can lose my legs and still live. I can lose my eyes and still live. I can lose my hair, eyebrows, nose, arms and many other things and still live. But if I lose the air I die. If I lose the sun I die. If I lose the earth I die. If it lose the water I die. If I lose the plant and animals I die. All of these things are more a part of me, more essential to my every breath, than is my so-called body. What is my real body?” (pp. 181-182)

Okay, so I agree that I need nature. I’ll look out the window, memorize the birds in my neighborhood, sit in the park and appreciate it.

Ah, but this is not enough. Tamarack Song tells us:

“To know Nature, observation and study are not enough. We might be able to score well on a test… yet that is only a beginning… When we approach Nature through study and research we become technical naturalists. Rather than our intrinsic way of connecting from the heart and using our intuitive sense, we rely on technology and intellect. In other words, we are out of touch.”

Realizing our dependency on nature, appreciating nature’s beauty and finding places in it for solace and inspiration are a great start. But Song urges us to expand our awareness even more, to this:

We are nature. We come from nature and will return to it when we die. But how about in between? Song writes for those who don’t want to wait ’til death to feel deeply connected to nature. He tells us we can relearn the “Old Way” of feeling connected to nature, a way more familiar to us as children.

We have abilities that go far beyond the kind of intelligence we test and encourage in schools. Tamarack Song discusses an intelligence he calls “animal mind” that understands “nature speak” where we understand immediately what is being communicated, we take it at face value and respond accordingly. “In our Animal Minds we feel automatically centered. We can think without thoughts and act without getting caught up in shoulds, woulds, and coulds.” (p. 6)

Our animal mind is part of our implicit systems that govern much of our behavior without awareness (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999).

WHAT EVERYONE CAN DO:

•  Take up suggestions from Richard Louv, such as in his book, Vitamin N. Select activities according to your interests and abilities and/or your child.

•  Let yourself and children wander around outside exploring the natural world.

•  Go to local, state and national parks and let everyone, including children, have as much freedom as possible.

•  Talk about the rest of the natural world as part of your community.

•  Learn about local animals and plants and what they need to thrive.

•  Get involved in local outdoor clubs.

What are the advantages of relearning our animal nature?

To know nature is to know ourselves. When we are fully in our “animal mind,” we no longer feel separated from nature but feel kinship with the animals around us, with the trees and natural entities around us.

“When we find our Animal Minds we will discover something so earthshaking that it turns lives upside down: life is a verb.” (p. 6)

But Song tells us the core reason why it is so important to restore our capacities for nature connection:

“When we are brother and sister to the Birds and Trees, we see how easy it is to treat them with kindness and respect, just as we do with our Human family. As we take care of our Human family’s home, we will want to take care of forest kin’s home. We will naturally evolve a sustainable lifestyle, consuming and polluting less as we relearn how to live in harmony with all of life.” (p. 5)

Transforming yourself through the animal mind.

• Find a sit spot in nature to visit routinely.
• Stop thinking and shift away from the planning, calculating, judging mind.
• Bring an attitude of curiosity, observation, sense of mystery.
• Practice being present, attending to the feelings of our body and our senses in the moment—sounds, sights, smells, touch.
• Deep, belly breathing helps get into the alpha brain wave state of relaxation. If we become afraid, we can breathe through the fear (fear is an absence of breath, said a therapist of mine).
• Accrue mindful moments of presence, peacefulness.