Observing Nature where you are

We can start by spending time outside. I enjoy walking, following the sun and moon, and holding individual and group rituals and ceremonies outside. Sometimes we need to just go outside. There is a beauty to all land. Texas is not the same as Tennessee, and Tennessee isn’t the same as Ireland, but they’re beautiful in their own way.

Learn to see that beauty, and to feel it. Go out in your back yard and pour libations to the spirits of the place. Listen to the trees. Run your fingers through the good black Earth and feel a connection that goes deep into the ground.

You’re renting? Do the same thing. Live in an apartment? Find a nearby park, or be like Jack Sparrow – get a jar of dirt and bring land with you into your house.

Connect to the land with your body. Touch it, smell it, taste it. Dig in the dirt, hug a tree, listen to the birds, watch the squirrels. Step outside during a dense fog or a light rain. Learn where the sun rises and sets through the course of the year. See what kinds of trees are in your neighborhood, what kind of birds live in the trees, and what kind of insects those birds eat. Walk the land every day, even if it’s just in your back yard, even if you live in a city and the ground is covered in concrete. Listen to the land.

Eat local food. Plants take in nutrients from the soil, so when you eat them you are literally putting the land into your body, and the land is becoming part of you. Plus it takes a lot less fuel to bring food to you from nearby than from California or Mexico, and you’re supporting local farmers.

Honor the spirits of the land. Whether you believe the spirits of the land are actual beings, or if you think they’re metaphors for the biological processes of plant and animal life, you can relate to them as persons.

Speak to them: address them respectfully and introduce yourself. More importantly, listen for them. Make offerings, but be wary of assuming traditional Native American offerings like tobacco and cornmeal are required or even proper. That was their way – honor the spirits in your way. When it doubt, clean water is always appropriate.

Care for the land. It’s your land, remember? You’re a part of it and you’re dependent on it. You and those who come after you have a personal interest in maintaining clean air and water, healthy soil, and a living, thriving ecosystem. More importantly, the land has inherent dignity and worth – treat it with the respect, devotion, and love you show your family members. The ones you actually like.

Build a relationship where you are. Few North Americans have an ancestral connection to the land going back more than a couple hundred years. Most of us have far less than that. Even those of us who have something of a connection are often forced to abandon it when jobs are eliminated and we have to move to find a new one. But we can start building new, healthy, respectful connections, and in doing so, make the land where we are truly our home.

Owning land

Many animals are territorial.

Many animals claim and defend parts of the land, either as individuals or as groups. They mark them with scent and they will fight other animals who intrude into their territories. Humans are far from the only animals that attempt to “own” land. But again, our greater intelligence means we have greater responsibility to use the land wisely and not just instinctively.

I do not intend to address the many different political ideas about land ownership that exist within the UU movement. But private ownership of land is a fact in Western countries.

Yes, we have some public land, and I strongly recommend keeping public land public. That’s the best way to insure at least a few wild places remain wild and aren’t carved up for development by the highest bidder.

But most of us live in places that were carved up for development by the highest bidder a long time ago. We either own our homes, or we rent homes owned by someone else. There aren’t any viable alternatives short of homelessness.

What does it mean to own land?

It doesn’t mean you have the right to absolute control. You can scream “it’s mine and I can do what I want with it” like a four year old, but zoning and environmental laws say otherwise. But you generally can control which humans can enter your land and what they can do while they’re there. You can’t control what your neighbors do on their land, but you can make sure no one dumps harmful chemicals on your land. You can feed the trees rather than cutting down them so the lawn will get more sun and look more “manicured.” You can plant decorative plants suitable to your climate instead of something that will use more water than your community can spare.

And that’s the key to owning land – using that control in ways that are respectful to the land and to the biological and spiritual creatures who share it with you. You may be living in a cabin in the middle of a wilderness, or you may be living in a high rise apartment in the middle of a city. You’re here. So go meet your neighbors, including the land spirits.

Before you do, ask yourself what you’ve done to give the local land spirits any indication you’re someone they want to meet. Have you spent any time outside? What have you done while you’re there? Are you living in ways that are respectful of non-human persons? Look beyond appearances: high rise apartments aren’t very natural-looking, but they’re some of the most resource-efficient ways to live.

Whether you own land, rent land, or are visiting the land where you are, treat your neighbors with respect.

Where are you from?

So, where are you from? Where’s your home? Where do you belong?

The history of humanity is the history of migration. It’s the story of immigrants and refugees. It’s the story of invaders and colonists. It’s the story of people forced off the land, and people brought forcibly to the land.

All these people had to form connections with the land where they moved. They had to go from simply living on the land to becoming part of the land. So do we.

We belong to the land. We need to belong to the land where we are.

Connect to the land where you are: observe it, touch it, eat it.

The land is alive – honor the spirits of the land where you are.

We come from the land, and when we die we will return to the land. Let’s honor and respect the land while we’re alive.

Where are you from?

Let’s be from here.