1 - Defining Animism

[@dirtpathart]

Thank you for focusing on animism as navigating relationships with people, only some of whom are humans. I am tired of people defining it as a belief in the souls in objects. It’s not about soul, it’s about personhood, agency and respect.

[@aliziafinola]

I love Arith Harger's work! Really excited to see people quoting him.

[@danielsmith253]

Thank you for putting this so succinctly. I love how you describe animism as a "medicine" - just as you redefined the way we view the term "people", we also tend to think of medicine as those mechanistic, material, chemical, manmade things whereas sometimes all we need is to know we aren't superior; as Leonard Cohen said "A heavy burden lifted from my soul, I learnt that love was out of my control". You have a new subscriber!

[@TheGreenArte]

Thank you do much Daniel... and excellent quote!

[@bukhtawer]

'Be Kind because other people are people too.' I feel like sometimes I am more compassionate to all other beings than other humans. It's hard for sure. Thank you for these videos, these messages are great. I am really enjoying & learning a lot from them.

[@TheGreenArte]

I feel the same way! Humans can be... challenging 🤣

[@rickrab842]

AWESOME! Liked and subscribed

[@gregarruda112]

I love this.

[@christiangalloway5634]

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 thank you for this!

[@tessabohn-carmichael2308]

Wonderful video! I continue to practice walking through the world more openly accepting of all persons. I always feel like I completely agree conceptually, but that I could still further deconstruct in my behaviors/practices. I've really enjoyed developing a relationship with my local area, biking to work has really helped me in that. Do you happen to have any authors/writings (or maybe even artwork/artists) that you have enjoyed/feel like it has helped continue to deconstruct the more materialist/human supremacist world views? A few currently on my booklist are titles like Sand Talk by Tyson Yankaporta and The Story of B by Daniel Quinn. I would love to hear your thoughts on if any particular texts have stood out to you or impacted you!

[@TheGreenArte]

I think this is a lifelong process! After years of being spoiled by the teachings and blessings of the plants and many other gracious allies, I still struggle (sometimes A LOT) with being fully in the work... so, I think it's all very natural to have it be a process or a path rather than an event. The two books you mentioned are both top on my list! Also: Braiding Sweetgrass / Kimmerer Touched By Nature / Darrell I also find a great deal of inspiration in what Shinto writings I can find, and the KZbin channels of Rune Rasmussen and Arith Harger.

[@Shiftready]

I'm here with the rest of you all ❤👏

[@lousalazar8663]

Good Day can we buy the herbs from you ?

[@bobreb]

no, sorry, while I buy the people everywhere thing -- I'm sorry, but spirits are not floating past you. Animism has a lot of potential, but adding magic to it will only denigrate the concept.

[@TheGreenArte]

If they aren't here, then where are they? If the spirits are not present with immediacy, then the only other real option is to relegate them to some far off place, something 'heavenly', which is simply not a concept that's been part of Animism, especially the Fairy Faith that informs a great deal of how I approach these concepts. Animism is not inherently transcendental... it happens right here, right now, on the land we're on. The spirits are absolutely 'floating past you' because they share spaces with you, whether you perceive their existence or not. You can limit them to 'elsewhere', but would have to clarify that they're no longer spirits of place. I highly recommend the works of Claude Lecouteux for examinations of the immediacy of spirits of place in the context of folklore and animism.

[@PeaceNinja007]

Err .. I’m guessing carnivores have no place in animism? lol

[@TheGreenArte]

I would have to disagree with that guess. If folks can't see a way to consume animals without establishing reciprocity, then I think it invites exploration of the current food systems and how industrial animal farming treats animals. Pretty much all animist cultures are meat eating and do so with sacred reciprocity fully in tact. In the USA, as an example, in my opinion, meat can't really be ethically consumed unless the animal was hunted. Meat coming from the industrial agriculture complex is inherently based on treating animals as commodities rather than living beings. Even the very best examples of meat farming (free range, etc.) I would consider to be problematic. So you absolutely can consume animals and be animist- you'd just need to divest from the torture and methodology inherent in industrial animal farming.

[@PeaceNinja007]

@@TheGreenArte Wow .. Very well put. I actually agree with your stance. And I apologize for assuming animism was some silly vegan group lol My only question is if we were somehow able to have everyone hunt their own meat, would there be enough? Would there be the possibility that some people decide to over-hunt and dwindle the animal population? What are your thoughts on pasture raising animals / regenerative agriculture ?

[@TheGreenArte]

@@PeaceNinja007 Animism isn't really a group or a monolith, anyway. It's a term that applies to a lot (if not all) pre-christian/pre-colonial earth based spiritual experiences. Enoughness is really only a concern in late stage capitalism in the way I think you mean it, otherwise we just hope for the best and work in stewardship with land and animals to try and always have plenty. There are heaps of hunting rituals in animist cultures across the world showing us that they, too, were/are concerned about having enough just like folks now are concerned about having enough money... it's kind of just part of being here. The difference is that in our culture, human supremacy structures ensure that we have enough by making other non-human persons suffer intensely. There's just not an excuse for the way animals are acknowledged or treated in industrial meat farming- nothing good will come of it for the humans, the planet, or the long-term spiritual development of the individual. Regenerative agri is fine, but is fundamentally not an animist concept for two reasons. The first is that regeneration is only necessary BECAUSE of the misaligned behaviors of many humans and they superiority complex over nature, land, animals, etc. Second is the anthropocentric idea that humans are even capable of knowing how to regenerate nature as a whole- nature shouldn't need regeneration and should it need it, nature is ultimately the best source of how-to for that process, not us. As part of nature, we can certainly participate in the harmonizing process, but to think that we get free passes to treat animals, land, etc. how we want because we will take human-centered regenerative actions is kind of swimming upstream. I defer to the works of Graham Harvey, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Rune Rasmussen for better explained nuances and a lot more depth than I can bring to this massive topic.

[@sarahjaneross2918]

#​@PeaceNinja007 "Silly vegan groups" advocate for non human animals not to be used, abused, tortured, exploited and treated like slaves for the benefit of humans tastebuds and other wants. There's nothing remotely silly about veganism! #animalrights