Eyes shut

 Are we ignorant of the world around us, do we shut it out on purpose or have we been metaphorically blindfolded to stop any reasoned engagement with our environment and nature?

Environment (n)

1. the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.

2. the natural world, as a whole or in a particular geographical area, especially as affected by human activity.

There are issues with this definition, which I hope you are now becoming aware of, person, human, animal, plant etc.

As an animist there has to be a level of engagement with the environment, yes we have our own agency, and engagement or being in service to the environment, or the biosphere in which we exist, are clearly different.

An animist does not have to be a climate activist, I think there is a requirement but that is a personal opinion. The knowledge or awareness of the environment be that 1 and/or 2 above is essential, but if it is or contains 2 then the relationship should be obvious; perhaps even self serving!

Being in relationship with sunlight, water and the soil plugs us into our surroundings, we disengage from the growth model that is considered the norm and wires us into the local biosphere, and potentially into the alchemical process of growing food or flowers (which are of course food for other persons) and the generative or regenerative cycle of life.

Again, an animist does not have to be involved in agroecology but engaging in the process and more importantly understanding the process helps with a level of understanding that can only develop engagement with the world that surrounds us.

Environmental collapse or crisis as it is now being called will push all of us into survival mode and that may also be the terrain of the animist, being here and now is inextricably linked to survival and the animist.

To be in service to our environment and not a consumer of the environment, to resuscitate and not walk away muttering the last rights, has to be stock in trade for the barefoot animist. Some will disagree but maintaining your fingers on the pulse of the planet must suggest a requirement to engage in the changes ahead.