A Note on the Wild & Sacred

Our forests are sanctuaries for spiritual enlightenment and sacred wisdom (Fisher, 2013). What if we viewed the trees, animals, fungi, plants, water, soils, insects etc. in the same regard as our man-made structures? The beliefs surrounding what is valuable and ultimately sacred in western society is enmeshed with economic considerations. The disproportionate regard for man-made things over natural resources manifests as disconnection, dis-ease, and delusion. To honor what is sacred, means celebrating and revering our wild lands. These places are more valuable than monetary profit could ever be. These resources ensure our survival. Life would still go on without money.

I appreciate Fisher and how he refers to deflation as a stepping away or shift from human centric beliefs into a larger paradigm that views all beings in the environment as equally valuable, and inherently belonging to the world itself. Humans are no different than other life forces relying on the planet to live. We must hold high regard for non-human life in the same way we do for our gadgets. This alone feels like it would dramatically change the course of Western existence.

Humans are storytellers.

The essence of cosmic mystery lies in unseen nature, and is meant to be expressed through humans by way of ceremony, ritual, and storytelling. Fisher describes the essentially poetic nature of existence, saying human’s hold a place in nature’s creativity which calls forth infinite symbolic forms that carry life forward and create meaning (p.105). We are storytellers who are meant to keep stories alive and in motion for generations to come. All existence can participate in these stories, expanding from the human centric reality into one that considers all life as precious. Our stories can birth a new relationship to the sacred, one of wholeness and connection with the natural world.

The beautiful process of living is “to celebrate and converse with the cosmos, helping to keep the world in shape or in balance” (p.105). I am considering our sacred humanness as a mere function of the greater cycles at play; the poets who can orchestrate the larger meanings by learning from the Earth itself through experience. To me, this is one way to deflate our human centric ideologies and beliefs, simultaneously reclaiming our place amongst all others.

Fisher (2013) Radical Ecopsychology.: Psychology in the Service of Life.