By Robert Shetterly,
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a native American botanist, writer, storyteller, and visionary of the way all of us need to live if we would prefer to survive on this planet and live in harmony with nature and with each other. By way of mediation, I offer here a few quotes from her most widely read book, Braiding Sweetgrass:
“Philosophers call this state of isolation and disconnection ‘species loneliness’—a deep, unnamed sadness stemming from estrangement from the rest of Creation, from the loss of relationship. As our human dominance of the world has grown, we have become more isolated, more lonely, when we can no longer call out to our neighbors.”
In the settler mind, land was property, real estate, capital, or natural resources. But to our people, it was everything: identity, the connection to our ancestors, the home of our nonhuman kinfolk, our pharmacy, our library, the source of all that sustained us. Our lands were where our responsibility to the world was enacted, sacred ground. It belonged to itself; it was a gift, not a commodity, so it could never be bought or sold.”
“... while expressing gratitude seems innocent enough, it is a revolutionary idea. In a consumer society, contentment is a radical idea. Recognizing abundance rather than scarcity undermines an economy that thrives on creating unmet desires. Gratitude cultivates an ethic of fullness, but the economy needs emptiness.”
“If citizenship is a matter of shared beliefs, then I believe in the democracy of species. If citizenship means an oath of loyalty to a leader, then I choose the leadership of the trees. If good citizens agree to uphold the laws of the nation, then I choose natural law, the law of reciprocity, or regeneration, of mutual flourishing.”
In January 2002, in response to the Bush Administration’s propaganda for the invasion of Iraq, I began painting the series of portraits called Americans Who Tell the Truth. I had never painted realistic portraits before, but to save myself from the deep cynicism and alienation I had fallen into, I needed to surround myself with people I admired, people who made me feel good about this country, people who had struggled to close the violent gap between what we profess our values to be and what we do. I’ve now painted over 250 portraits which travel to schools, colleges, museums, libraries & churches all over the country. I have been amazed at the response to a project which began as personal art therapy and equally amazed by the people I’ve found to paint whom, until I began, I had never heard of. —Robert Shetterly, americanswhotellthetruth.org
Robert is a featured speaker this year at One Planet Peace Forum. This year’s OPPF event will take place on Zoom from 3-5 pm on September 25, 26, and 27. oneplanetpeaceforum.org
Painting of Robin Wall Kimmerer by Robert Shetterly
