There is a professor at my university, Robin Kimmerer who is the leading moss expert in the country. However, she also has another interest and that has to do with Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).

TEK is about the knowledge that indigenous people have gained through centuries of residencies. Kimmerer, a Potawatomi, has written a few articles on this issue which I would like to share! I dont see how to attach it, so I uploaded it an encourage you to download it and read it for yourselves.




Download Article Here.

Sorry, I missed this first time around gg. Thanks for this article- valuable knowledge and lessons. It does seem impossible that we can recapture the pristine state we had. Looking at our past, I see destruction following us wherever we went.

I guess that is what we are really all about- Progress means a wasteland follows us wherever we go- and it seldom returns to its original state again, while we're still there.

This sounds very interesting, I will try to download it later. I am sure it contains much valuable information.

Thank you NYGG. We may not always see eye to eye, but I know we are both VERY interested in the environment. And sometimes disagreements clarify things...

There is so much here in this little article that is good for the spirit. This is the ending-



If we look for the answers to where we went wrong it is our seperation from nature that really stands out. At least 80% of us live in urban settings where most of us are so out of touch with the real world that we start to imagine our concrete landscapes are proof of our ability to live outside natures laws. What are the consequences of doing this? We lose our spirituality and have to replace it with a nihilistic worldview that we take with us even when we do go back out into nature.

If you want a glimpse of what it means to live in harmony and respect while communing with the creator, this article reminds us of what is missing in our modern development. We think we know it all and can control it all, but we are so out of touch with our lifeforce that we have to invent new ways of being and believing just to validate and substantiate our individualized alienation as inevitable. That is what our religions have done to us when they place us above Traditional Ecological Knowledge and above the world we perceive.

This is a wonderful glimpse at why it is so important to remind ourselves that our spiritual side has suffered incredibly in our race to get somewhere faster than the stream wants to flow.

Our haste is plunging us into an ocean of problems that politics, religion, science and technology seems to only make worse. If you want to recapture the sense and feeling we had for our creator then this article and a peaceful walk in the woods or along a beach, may help to bring back our lost sense of eden that religions are too prone to blame on gods rules than on Natures rules, as the reason for our lack of direction, purpose and meaning- our loss of the spiritual and replaced with this foretold prediction of the endtimes. We are lacking spiritually because we have let our heads rule our hearts- the price we pay for that is not sharing or caring- and that is so obvious when we see the chasm between our real creation and interaction with nature.

The chasm between religion and spirituality is the loss of connection with our creator and its needs and having to create another explanation to fit our needs instead. The byproduct of this is that we no longer respect our fellow inhabitants on earth, human or otherwise, because we are told that it is OK to do unto others, before they do it to us, including mother Earth. It seems we are caught in a race now with rules we no longer control, as the weight of action has been moved to the creators side and god is not a patient or tolerant master. Who will win? Us who think we are gods or nature which is our only home. The war is on, and the real god never loses.

Nature has homefield advantage and bats last.

I am reminded about the disconnect that can occur between true spirituality and religion. The prefect example of this is the story of the Druids and St. Patrick. Prior to St. Patrick's convert or get crucified tactics, the Druids had a great respect for nature that went well beyond most have today. One concept that has almost been obliterated it their belief in the memories of trees. They saw spirituality in all of Mother Nature.

The farmer who used to own this farm around me respected nature and had as small a footprint as possible and still 'work the earth'. The farmer who owns the land now, destroys everything. He is cutting down all the trees, draining lowlands, shooting and/or poisoning wild animals and birds.

You expressed exactly the difference between those two farmers.

It isn't only urban people who do not understand that the earth is what sustains us, many rural people are just like the farmer next door.

We are god, do our bidding.

Surprise, surprise, surprise.