Last year we began a new ritual in our Thanksgiving proceedings, taking turns reading the Native American Six Nations’, or Haudenosaunee, Thanksgiving address. The address is an ode to the natural world that sustains us, and without which we literally would not and could not exist, a fact that often disappears under the layers of our material machinations and self-absorption.
Even though Thanksgiving is over, the message is more relevant than ever and will haunt us until we grasp the true underlying cause of climate change, our disconnection from the natural world. My social media stream was full of pronouncements of gratefulness over the past week, mostly for family, friends and the community at large.
But the bigger picture is even more important. We need to respect, no revere, Nature again, the way indigenous people always have. Because Nature has lost its sacredness in our mind it’s become a commodity we can exploit. The soil that grows everything we eat, the air we breathe to sustain us, the water we consume, the sunshine that grows our plants and trees and warms our planet, are all so valuable and life givingly essential. We’re literally dead without them. Or when Nature deteriorates due to our doing, we become sick. However, when Nature thrives in abundance and balance, we thrive in turn.
Clean air and water, rich soil, enough rain, although not too much, enough sunshine, although not too much, and thoughtful and sustainable human activity make for a balanced ecosystem. Let’s be grateful and reverend for our planet earth we are so intricately embedded in and not take it for granted. Thankfulness must extend beyond Thanksgiving, and Nature must become sacred again in our minds in order to counter and reverse climate change. Imagine, it all starts in the mind.