April 1999     

Last Dance Congratulations, Erich Pedestrian Safety NALSA SABER Graduation Pledge Seven-Year Reflection Small Claims and Cinnamon Rolls Church of the Earth Y2K Nuclear Threat Tribal Members Speak INS Are Thought Police In re Robin E. LOVE, Debtor Selected Crime Beat Reports Living Large: Downtown Haiku Variations The Light William Stafford perspective Spring Wave Poetry Notes

A religion is a shared belief system created to provide a sense of belonging, to encourage responsible behavior, and to answer fundamental questions about life. Over the past few centuries, Western religions have departed from their original embrace of the Earth as sacred. Hierarchy has replaced compassion as societies show too much adoration to the creator and not enough for the creations. Because we have cut off our connection to life, families are fractured, individuals are lonely, and the Earth is in disrepair.

A quick comparison of two belief systems illustrates the problems mentioned above. The Christian view pulls humans out of the natural order of things, teaching that animals exist for the use of humans. Besides arbitrarily placing humans above animals and plants, this belief system suggests exclusion and creates an unnatural imbalance. The term "animal" encompasses "human," yet Christian teaching creates a value-laden, debilitating dualism that perpetuates speciesism.

Compare this with the beliefs held by Native Americans. Consider the following quotation, often attributed to Chief Seattle: "The animals are our brothers and sisters. What are we without the animals? If all the animals were gone, we would die from a great loneliness of spirit. Whatever happens to the animals, soon happens to the people. All things are connected."

Whether we realize it or not, and whether we like it or not, we live in a world where each part affects and is affected by every other part. Contrary to Christian morals, we do not merely exist, we co-exist. We live in relation to everything else in this world. Harming wildlife, ecosystems, children, or communities anywhere hurts us all.

The problem is that we don’t feel the effects right away. There is no immediate impact on the American dollar from destroying the Brazilian rainforest, so why should we care? The Delhi Sands Flower-Loving Fly has no conceived monetary value, so why should we preserve its habitat? Our culture lost respect the moment we embraced capitalism. We have cooperated with cruelty because it is more profitable and easy to do so. However, we need more than just each other to survive; we need the world around us.

Native American beliefs teach us that we have to understand all things in Nature to understand ourselves. To do so requires two things. First, we must be humble enough to listen to the messages that flowers, trees, water, rocks, and animals give to us. We are an integral part of the natural world around us. We have to learn to just "be" in any environment.

Second, we must respect the world around us. Whether this means walking so as to leave no footprints or living as responsibly as possible, we must learn that everything in nature is just as important as we are. All life is sacred, not just our own. Have you ever sat under a tree in Tryon or sat on a beach just listening to the sounds of nature? Didn’t it feel humbling and inspiring to be a part of something so much greater than ourselves? As an elder once put it, "it is wonderful to just be alone, because then we learn just how not alone we really are."

As Sartre said, "An extant can never justify the existence of another extant." We can’t know the moral value of a tree or an animal, but we do know it exists, much like we do. Enlightened behavior, acknowledging that we are part of nature, leads to decreased suffering. But to do this, we must untrain and unlearn our secular culture. It is impossible to live a completely harmless life. Even vegans consume and abuse the environment. All we can do is live responsibly. Responsible living includes minimizing harm to beings, while looking for ways to improve. This way of life is not impossible. All we must do is embrace the idea that the Earth does not belong to people, but people belong to the Earth.

For more information, please contact Church of the Earth, PO Box 1674, Friday Harbor, WA 98250.

Editor’s Note: For over 30 years, the world has known an inaccurate version of the much-celebrated Chief Seattle speech alluded to in Smith’s article. Famous gems such as "Earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the Earth" first appeared in a fictitious version of the speech written by a Texas screenwriter in 1972 for a made-for-television movie. The Editor plans to debunk this environmental folklore in an article next year.