The Truest Religion

s it any wonder that people living intimately with the Earth view all things as having life, spirit, and personhood? This encompassing perspective sees these three qualities inherent even in those things Western philosophy has relegated to the lowly, inanimate classification. They are treated as pretty much irrelevant in the grand scheme and completely devoid of that spark that gives life and agency to the animate. If we were to stuff the close to the land people into a religious box, that box would be labeled Animism. Animists know the natural world is alive and relational, rather than a collection of inert objects. The Animist philosophy sees humans as part of a larger community of living and spiritual beings, not separate from nature.