Touching Twilight

29, male, he/him, queer, not cis, disabled | trying to learn more about, and follow in, my ancestors footsteps (Welsh/English quakers (Sharples), Irish catholics (Ó Flaithbertaighs), and Scottish protestants (Fergussons)) although christianity is not for me

[reasonsforhope]

People ask me how I get by and stay optimistic in the face of Everything.

Honestly part of it is that I think everyone should get more spiritual about science

In most places, at most times, for most of history, science, magic, and religion were all the same thing

(I took an entire class at Berkeley on this. It literally changed the way I understand the world.)

If we define "magic" as "anything that cannot exist under the laws of nature," then "anything that exists in nature" by definition can't be magic. Possibly, this is not a useful definition of magic

.

Every other story in the life science that comes out these days is just

Article: *says something*

Indigenous people: WE TOLD YOU SO

e.g.,

Science: Every living thing is interconnected.

Indigenous people: WE TOLD YOU SO (x)

Science: Trees and plants can talk to each other (x, x, x)

Indigenous people: WE TOLD YOU SO

Science: XYZ plant is medicinal!

Indigenous people: WE TOLD YOU SO (too many cases to count)

.

One of the only defining principles of my religion (Unitarian Universalism, if it matters) is that everyone has a piece of the truth

Everyone. Every religion, every person, every living thing

For a good chunk of the 1700s-1800s, science was called "natural philosophy"

Now, we learn the world through the study of genes, the study of atoms, the study of molecules. We are the universe studying itself.

.

"We are the universe becoming aware of itself," says Neil deGrasse Tyson

"For the first time, we have the power to decide the fate of our planet and ourselves. This is a time of great danger, but our species is young, and curious, and brave. It shows much promise," says Carl Sagan. (x)

"Because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself," says Carl Sagan (x)

.

Life becoming capable of something new has changed the planet before. It has caused mass extinctions far, far worse than the one we are in. (x, x, x)

But for the first time, we - the species of life capable of new things (ecosystem-scale deliberate change) - can stop ourselves from doing more harm

.

Idk. My teachers and professors made me read the existentialists and the Transcendentalists and the beats and ancient Egyptian spell papyri and ancient Egyptian medical papyri, and sometimes they're the same papyri. Currently I edit book science books and spell books for a living. I''m getting weird about it and it's been really good for my ability to live in this world

.

"With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."

—Max Ehrmann (x)

[creature-wizard]

Fucking New Agers talking about becoming one with nature while also talking about being the master of your reality.

No, it doesn't work that way. You have to pick one, you can't have it both ways!

[creature-wizard]

If you think you are the master of your reality, you are already disrespectful of nature. You are still living in domination consciousness.

[aspiring-dilettante]

New philosophy called "reverse daoism" where you come into total harmony with the universe by forcing all of reality to rewrite itself to accommodate whatever you're already doing.

[creature-wizard]

New Age spirituality in a nutshell.

[sroloc--elbisivni]

[grabs your shirt] listen. listen to me. the practical is holy. the everyday is sacred. the simple act of surviving is divine. do you get it? sanctity begins at home, in the hands that build and the lives we live and the deaths we die and the worms that eat our bodies. if making something by hand is not worthy of veneration then nothing is.

[isuggestlandback]

Wâhkôtowin

I saw a cuzzin tag one of my posts with "wâhkôtowin", which is great timing, as that's the first teaching I wanted to share!

My Cree people don't really have a name for our religion.

(Side note, why do some religions get to be religions and ours are just "spirituality" 👀)

But if I were to choose one Cree word that really encompasses my people's culture and spiritual beliefs, it would be wâhkôtowin.

Here's how you say it:

I often see wâhkôtowin translated as "the act of being related" or "interconnection"

But to really understand wâhkôtowin you need to know a little bit about the Cree worldview, which has a LOT in common with many other Indigenous nations.

My people are animists, which means we believe that that spiritual energy exists in everything. We believe that spirit exists not just in humans, but in animals, plants, rocks, water, clouds, wind etc etc etc and that all of these things contain life.

We believe that all life is sacred. A person is no more or less sacred than a rabbit, a rabbit is no more or less sacred than a bit of parsley, which is no more or less sacred than a mountain, a bug, a daisy, a whale, you get what I mean?

Wâhkôtowin acknowledges the connection between each of these beings.

Now, you may wonder: if all life is sacred, how is it okay to kill and eat another life form? Or for my American relatives: how can burger be wâhkôtowin?

(Sorry I had to)

That brings us to another connected teaching. Natural law. And one of the basic laws of nature is that life consumes life.

It is natural for the bison to eat grass. It is natural for me to eat the bison. When I die, it is natural for the worms and bacteria and fungi to eat ME. When the molecules that make up me are broken down into the soil, it is natural for the tree to soak up my nutrients.

Not to be Elton John on main, but basically this is a circle of life kinda deal!

Wâhkôtowin teaches us to acknowledge that circle of life. If I cut down the forest, the bird has no where to build its nest, which means there's no... I dunno bird poop to fertilize the grass for the buffalo, WHATEVER, I'm running out of organisms here

My point is, there is no action that any organism can take that doesn't have an impact on another life. And those impacts build up into a great big interconnected web of WÂHKÔTOWIN!

Make sense?

So how do we apply wâhkôtowin to our modern world?

Let's take the example of my shitty plastic ruler. I bought my shitty plastic ruler at the dollar store. An underpaid teenage cashier rung me up, and it was probably another underpaid teenager that stocked the shelves. My ruler was probably dropped off by a delivery person, driven there by a truck driver, came over the ocean on a big ass boat, was manufactured by a team of (probably also underpaid) skilled laborers in China. That plastic is made out of petroleum, the crude oil formed from the fossilized remains of teensy weensy microorganisms that lived millions of years ago!

How many lives is that? A bajillion? A bajillion different life forms, all with their own individual histories and needs and experiences, all coming together to produce my shitty plastic ruler that I paid a buck fifty for at dollarama.

How can we honour all of those lives in our use of the shitty plastic ruler?

We don't waste! We take care of our belongings so that they last. We don't take more than we need. We treat the underpaid teenage employee with kindness. We advocate for the rights of the laborers, truck drivers, and delivery people. We refuse to support damaging resource extraction practices. We don't buy the newest model of shitty plastic ruler every year as a status symbol.

Wâhkôtowin teaches us to be mindful (and even demuuuuure) of the ways that our actions impact not just the humans near us, but our world as a whole.

So I'm gonna share as many Gaza fundraisers as I can. Because wâhkôtowin.

I'm gonna share my change with the homeless relative downtown. Because wâhkôtowin.

I'm going to learn about the people who are different from me. Because wâhkôtowin.

I'm going to try and reduce how much I consume. Because wâhkôtowin.

And I'm going to do my best to teach all of you how much this land and its history mean to my people, and try to spread my hope that there is a better way for all of us to live, if we remember that we really are all related. Because wâhkôtowin.

THE NATIVE AMERICANS USED EVERY PART OF THE BUFFALO. USE EVERY PART OF THE SHITTY PLASTIC RULER.

Ekosi

♡

[teaboot]

"I don't believe Tarot is real, but it does work"

Expand on that, king (genuinely curious)

I feel like…

okay, so it’s a lot like conceptual art, or like introspective meditation, at the risk of sounding pretentious

Like. It’s not so much about “the cards are a portal to a higher wisdom that knows more than me” thing- it’s more of a, “given the symbols drawn, could I interpret them posing a question or possibility or suggestion?” Followed by, “is this applicable to my current context? COULD it be?”

Like.

I don’t lay out á tarot hand and say “ah yes, the devil and the tower, I am about to be betrayed”

But I MAY lay out a hand and say, “okay, devil and the tower. Something treacherous and danger. Am I approaching a treacherous or risky situation in my life? What might be a tipping factor? Am I being deliberately reckless? Maybe I should spend some more time working on X project I’ e been thinking of before spending money on it” or “you know what, I HAVE been kind of uncomfortable with X thing, I should say something” or “yeah okay I KNOW Tom from work sucks to work with, I KNOW, yeah maybe I should consider ways of handling that”

Less of a magic oracle, more of a tool for doing literary analysis on real life. Like simplifying everything and laying it out flat so I can gain some distance to untangle my problems without in-your-head crap like projected feelings and social obligation getting in the way and muddying the waters.

So like. I don’t think tarot cards can legit tell the future, but I DO think that self-reflection, mindfulness, and consideration sometimes allow us to predict and calculate our own circumstances.

So, IMO- It’s not real. But it works

If that makes sense

[captainjonnitkessler]

When I was a kid I had a book of like, "fun physics experiments for kids". And one of them was an "experiment" where you hold an object by a string and just by focusing on the direction you wanted it to swing, it would start to move in that direction even without your input. The book of course explained that this was the ideomotor effect, a phenomenon where your thoughts can create minute, unconscious movements in your body.

Then a couple years later I got a fortune-telling kit that included a pendulum. You hold the pendulum over a piece of paper that says "yes" and "no" and ask a question, and whichever way the pendulum moves is the answer.

At which point I was like "hey WAIT a minute", and in hindsight I think that experience explains most things about who I am as a person

[morphic-mythos]

The belief that everything in the universe, animate and inanimate, possesses an imperishable spiritual essence was once the global norm. People couldn’t understand those imperishable essences then any better than they can now, but there was something very intimate in the way they chose to relate to them—through story, myth, and song. The mountains were mountains, the rivers rivers, but they were also goddesses and gods. Plants were for eating or for using to make clothes and medicines, but they also had voices that spoke to people, imparting wisdom and practical knowledge in nightly visions and dreams. Even the atmosphere was animate. People had no knowledge of meteorology, but they knew the weather—its personality, its moods and whims. They had to. They couldn’t afford not to be in conversation with such forces.

—Clark Strand, Waking Up to the Dark

[brujarojaderio]

The way that I practice animism is, that spirit is the thing that animates the world. All physical things in the world have some kind of animate force that deserves respect just as much as the animating force inside me does.

Cleansing your spirit takes care of your body. Cleansing your body is caring for your spirit. Stewarding the spaces around you cares for the spirit of that place and the spirits of the things that use that space. When you go there and you can comfortably be in community with the spirits that are there, the blackberry, the rabbit, your friend, you have cared for your own spirit.

Making tea the way your parents made tea honors their spirit. Using the kettle your friend gave you honors the spirit of your friend and the spirit of the well-used kettle.

Caring for that kettle is caring for the spirit of the kettle. The kettle takes care of you because it is well-maintained it works well.

These things are not happening in the spirit world as a mirror to the physical world. They are not two things overlapping. They are one thing.

[skaldish]

Hello! Im reaserching anamism and i have a question (since so far I haven’t gotten a clear awnser yet) but-

If anamism is the belief that everything (animals, plants, rocks, occasionally tech, etc) has some level of spirit or sentience then- is there some limit to what can have ‘sentience’? By that i mean- i know a house plant can have a spirit of sorts but, dose a soda can or a pair of socks also have a spirit of some kind?/g /gq /srs

Also- is it possible for something to gain a ‘spirit’, by that i mean would a children’s stuffed animal have a spirit after years of being that child’s comfort item. (I’ve heard people say their childhood toys have spirits, which is why im asking)

-♎️

"The belief everything has a soul or a spirit," is...kind of a misidentification of what Animism is, actually.

Here's how I explained it in another ask:

Most definitions of Animism you’ll find online go something like this: “Animism is the belief that everything has a soul or vital essence to it.” This is often extrapolated to mean: “Animism is the belief that everything has human-like sentience.” But this is all based on how “animism” and “souls” are understood from a Christian point of view, and what Animism looks like from a Christian perspective is not going to give you much insight into how it functions. A more accurate definition of Animism goes something like this: Animism is any paradigm that acknowledges the interconnected nature of all things, and that all things were, are, and will continue to be defined in relation to each other. Everything both seen and unseen is part of the same ecosystem. The “everything has a soul” bit is a rough interpretation of how Animistic paradigms don’t view “the spiritual” and “the mundane” as separate things, but rather as phenomena occurring within the same ecosystem [...] Any lines drawn between “the spiritual” and “the mundane” are purely interpretive, because like anything in any ecosystem, removing one collapses the whole. Whether or not this begets “everything having a soul” sort of just depends on how you want to draw those lines, and how you define the concept of “soul” or “vital essence.”

So ultimately I can't really say for sure. My own theories about the soul are still pretty up in the air, and they're not cohesive enough to be legible if I try putting them on paper.

There's a high chance I'll put it into a post once I figure it out, though.

[talisidekick]

I go out everywhere in catears, it amazes me that people are so fascinated by this. It's not just doctors appointments, it's clothes shopping, grocery stores, to work, everywhere. I don't leave the house without them, and if I do, I feel like I left the house without shoes on.

But I know some, not all, want to know why, so this is why I'm making this post separate. I do for a number of reasons which are (in no particular order):

because I can.

because it spreads joy.

because it pisses religious conformists off.*

I'm highlighting that last part because Christians, Catholics, Mormons, and Evangelicals to name a few hate anything that is reminiscent of Animism. If you don't know what Animism is, it's the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Wearing the ears or parts of an animal, embodying traits of that animal, having that be part of your identity, even in just play, is calling back to old cultures, some dead and some struggling to still survive, where the belief that wearing a necklace, ears, or pelt of a slain animal would imbue the wearer with the spirit of that animal. To discredit the practice, these religious extremists will call anything reminiscent of Animism childish, immature, perverted, etc. as if to place their own spiritual values as more a credible practice.

The fact that I just casually walk outside, everywhere, with catears on and literally no one thinks I'm immature for it, and in fact, spreads joy and happiness where I walk is extremely aggravating for these religious fanatics. And this leads right into my fourth and possibly the most important reason for me choosing to wear the catears:

My ancestors wore the pelts of animals for this exact purpose as part of their religious beliefs.

Now many consider the religion and it's faith dead, especially in modern times, but enough of the religion survives through common culture and historical record that I wholeheartedly disagree. In that vein, my choice to wear catears is in part religious or spiritual in nature. While a pelt would be more formal, I live in a world where human negligence has endangered many species and I wish not to contribute to the ongoing environmental harm we passively inflict by deliberately going out and hunting for a wild cat pelt to drape about my shoulders (also in part because I think I'd get fucking killed if I'm being realistic). The catears for me, are a modernization of the spirituality. It's a personal choice, and one I don't feel the need to defend further past this point. I encourage others to wear the ear-headband of their choice for their own personal aesthetic or religious reasons. If you like them, wear them, even just in play, they're harmless. Assign your own meaning and reasons for doing so at whim.

As an aside: "TK" as a nickname was not something I expected when I came up with the name Tali Sidekick ... not sure how I feel about that yet.

[wiisagi-maiingan]

The more I learn about plant sentience, the more I realize that what seems like a very niche and controversial concept is actually a basic foundation of the work of so many botanists and ecologists.

Plant sentience is only really controversial and ridiculous to people whose coworkers aren't plants. Even the most doubtful botanists are willing to at least consider that plants have some form of consciousness because it's so hard argue that these living things, which work so hard to stay alive, don't display any signs of consciousness.

[monstrousproductions]

TELL US ABOUT QUAKERISM

This is an absolutely hilarious thing to find in my inbox in all caps thank you so much 😂 I was going to say something like, "I'll try to keep this brief" but realistically I know I'm gonna waffle so BRACE FOR WAFFLING.

Quakers - also known as the Religious Society of Friends - are a denomination of Christianity that was founded in the mid-1600s in the north of England. It was part of the Dissenters movement, which is a term for a collection of Protestant denominations that grew up around that time out of criticism, dissatisfaction and... dissent... with the Church of England.

The branch of Quakerism that I belong to is actually in the global minority for Quakers. Most Quakers worldwide belong to evangelical branches and I'm not at all clear on how their theology differs from mainstream evangelical Christianity.

Those meetings (the Quaker term for churches/congregations) are what's called "programmed", which means their worship takes the form of a service easily recognisible by most Christians with hymns, a minister, prepared readings from the Bible, etc. I really can't speak much to that side of things as I know almost nothing abou it!

In contrast, my branch of Quakerism - by far the most common in Britain and Ireland, and I think I'm right in saying the most common in Europe and North Amerca though I'm not 100% sure - is "unprogrammed". There's no service, instead we sit together for an hour in silence. That silence might be broken by any person taking part who feels moved to stand up and speak - this is called "ministry" and for theist Quakers, it's understood as being a response to the promptings of what some people call the Light, some people call God, some people call the Holy Spirit.

This unusual worship style is an expression of the foundational Quaker belief that nobody has more of a connection to the holy than anyone else. A minister isn't better able to speak to God than a layperson, and we place a lot of emphasis on speaking to your own experiences of the divine and respecting others' experiences. A phrase often used to describe this idea is "There is that of God in everyone."

As well as unprogrammed worship, this side of Quakerism has historically been very socially and theologically liberal/radical. Early Quakers were very involved in prison reform and abolition of the slave trade, and that social consciousness has carried through the centuried to see Quakers involved in all sorts of social justice causes from pacifism and anti-war work to climate justice and queer liberation.

Quakerism is a non-credal faith, which means there's no list of beliefs you have to subscribe to in order to be a Quaker. It's also non-sacramental, so we don't have things like christenings, baptisms, communion, etc.

There is a difference between being a "member" of a meeting and being an "attender", but the differences are largely administrative and effect what kinds of roles you can take in the meeting rather than whether you're considered a "full" Quaker or not. Those roles are things like treasurer or clerk - logistical roles related to the running of the meeting rather than spiritual leadership - and they change hands regularly.

That said, there are some basic concepts aside from "that of God in everyone" that guide most Quaker ideas. These are called "testimonies", and there's no total consensus on what they are - I have a feeling different Quakers in the world have a different list - but the ones I'm familiar with are Peace, Equality, Truth and Simplicity. Some people add Sustainability, personally I think that's accounted for under the first four, namely Equality and Simplicity.

The Peace testimony might be the most famous Quaker principle. Quakers are a pacifist group (though not all Quakers agree on what that pacifism should look like...) and have oppose war and violence in all sorts of ways, from refusing to join the military and being conscientious objectors to not buying their children toy guns and so on.

Equality is pretty simple to get your head round! If all people have something holy in them, they all deserve to be treated fairly. Quakers resist personal and structural inequality, and we organise ourselves in a way that reflect that as well as working to make the world around us more equal and fair. This is both on a broad scale and on a granular one - some Quakers still use "thee/thou" because early Quakers did as a way of rejecting social hierarchies. Personally I prefer not to use salutations which stem from the same thing.

Simplicity is often simplified to a kind of general anti-consumerism, which is why I think Sustainability falls under this (I think it goes under Equality too because of the social impact of climate change etc). With this testimony, you're encouraged to find joy in simple pleasures and to appreciate the world around you. You don't need more stuff to be happy, and we owe it to ourselves and others to think carefully about how much we consume, what we consume, and why.

Finally, Truth or Integrity is about living up to your principles. It's about being honest with yourself about whether you're living your faith and putting your values into action, and about speaking the truth in all cases. Early Quakers refused to take legal vows or oaths, because they committed to always speaking the truth so it made no sense theologically for them to say "OK but for real now I'm actually being honest". I'd still "affirm" in court rather than take a vow, for the same reason.

All in all, I'm really proud of being a Quaker and personally I can see a lot of Quakerism in Monstrous Agonies (and all my writing!) which isn't very suprising because Quakerism informs a huge part of my life and worldview. It's not some kind of perfect, historically spotless religion - as well as being abolitionists, some Quakers were also slave-owners, for example, or were involved in the residential schools for Native Americans, and individual Quakers are as flawed as any other group. But I think we make a good effort at repairing those wrongs, being honest about our failings and making reparations.

Also, the porridge oats are nothing to do with us.

[chronically-chaotic-cryptid]

Being a non-Christian Quaker is so weird because like, Jesus' message of unconditional love and grace for everyone in society and his call to reach out and help those around you is beautiful and valuable. Jesus and me would definetly get along.

But also, God is not one thing and God is Spirit and people and nature and joy and sorrow it is everywhere there is a divnity and a light to all things in creation and the source of that light is itself. The universe is open and beautiful, the sky makes my soul rise up and fly the trees make me feel joy and peace and hope and people, people most of all, I find beautiful. And all of this is found in silence and everyday life. It is found in waiting and calmness it is found is business when you stop for just a second. It is more than words or one being or doctrine it is everything and it is indescribable.

The teachings of Jesus are valuable. They show us one way of living that brings kindness and shows and honours that of god in everyone. But the Bible, the Christian idea of the world and of God, is not what I feel. I feel so much more, personally.

[campgender]

read an anonymous ask somebody (who also isn’t a Quaker) got that, after saying they had a limited knowledge of Quakerism, described Quakers as ascetics. which was really upsetting to me because i am both a Friend and a faggot! these two identities & values are not contradictory to me or many other Quakers, & trying to position them as such is super triggering tbh. so for anyone who is interested in learning about the Quaker value of simplicity & how it very strongly differs from asceticism here’s some more info!

(all of this is about FGC / Liberal Friends, other branches of Quakerism differ in many respects)

so! simplicity is one of six commonly cited core Quaker values (if you’ve researched Quakerism at all you’ve probably seen something about SPICES). Quakerism has no doctrines, & these values are descriptive, not prescriptive: they are things that have been observed to become common priorities for Friends, not requirements for being/becoming a Quaker. this is also just one of many acronyms & combinations for Quaker values.

simplicity is historically associated with plain dress, which is probably what the asker was thinking of as “ascetic.” the spiritual reasons behind plain dress, historically & for modern practitioners, are very different, though – unlike the cultural concept of, say, a repentant Catholic dressing in sackcloth, plain dress isn’t about punishing oneself, & it generally doesn’t involve making oneself uncomfortable. plain dress originated as a way to practice equality & resist classism. think the way optimistic policymakers expect school uniforms to function, except without many of the reasons such intentions fail – namely, expensively made clothes & high-end accessories.

Friends who practice plain dress now often do so as a form of resistance to materialism & overconsumption, and/or as a way of removing distractions from their spiritual goals for their relationships with others + the divine. beyond plain dress, some Friends may practice simplicity in their clothing choices by shopping sustainably / “slow fashion,” making & mending their own clothes, or participating in buy nothing exchanges. in my & many others’ opinion, flashy extravagant drag that’s made in traditional DIY methods is more in line with the Quaker value of simplicity than a thousand dollar designer brand boxy black dress in a modest cut.

the value of simplicity isn’t just about clothing & purchases, though – the Faith & Practice book for my region describes simplicity as working to focus on what you feel you are called to be doing & not acting in ways that are counter to that; not being hypocritical in the ways you dedicate your time & energy. & i’m sure there are a vast number of other interpretations that continue to make space for flamboyance & the deep enjoyment of clothing & other objects in a way that still recognizes one’s position within systems of harm + seeks to minimize harm done to others.

[aroace-omnist]

I think Hestia would appreciate quakerism

[chronically-chaotic-cryptid]

If you've ever wondering what it's like being a Quaker but specifically being a Quaker in my brain I have a moment about 2-3 times a day minimum where ill be doing something random and probably fun or quiet (or not, maybe it's really loud) and my thoughts and such will stop dead in their tracks and I will take a hard 180° and start to think about how there's this light inside every human that makes them inherently interesting and beautiful and equal and good, or how silence comes from all around us and the joy of just sitting in the sunlight of creation, or how people are some of the most beautiful things to ever exist and how grateful I am to get to experience us, or the importance and wonder of the natural world and all of creation and the necessity of fighting to protect it, or how queer people are holy and sacred in our own little ways or the injustices of the world and how oppressively horrible they are but also that that's why hope and fighting and seeing a better world is so important.

And on and on and on. And then I'll go back to like making brownies or doing maths homework or something.

[jackkdaniels]

you know how people say that cats and dogs don’t feel love the way humans do but it’s like. “oh they don’t love you they just associate you with warmth and safety and seek out your company and being near you and spending time with you makes them feel comfortable and secure” bro if that’s not love then what the FUCK do you think love is???

[theheartmold]

love is real because my kitty cat seeks me out for warmth and safety and also so do my friends on account of the fact that i love them

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

It’s also just bullshit in general. The Human - Animal bond has been studied extensively and results in similar biological responses across animal groups and humans.

Not only do your dogs and cats love you, but your parrots love you. Your mice love you. Your lizards love you. Your ants love you. Your spider loves you.

Turns out bonding is just something we animals (humans included, bc we’re not fundamentally different from other animals as such statements op is referring to imply) like to do when we can afford to do it.

[catboybiologist]

Fucking THANK you

This is the #1 thing that people ask or say when they learn I have a tortoise- "oh, but does he actually love you?"

Look buddy. Maybe you have some specific definition of love that'll exclude anything other than human, or mammalian love.

But he recognizes me specifically, and when he sees me, he scoots his shelled butt out of his hut and cranes his neck up for little head scratches and maybe a dandelion leaf as a treat, and when he's out on the floor or on the field with me he likes the huddle on my shoes or under my legs and circle around them before going on his next adventure to nom a lil clover sprig

He associates me with warmth and safety and food and that good feeling on his skin he gets when I touch him gently. And whatever that manifests as in his little reptilian brain is some form of love.

[revelware]

This whole idea is an extension of the Medieval to Renaissance Christian idea that animals don't have souls, and amount to incredibly complex biological automata, made by God.

This is not a universal idea that can only be refuted by careful study and advanced science. While new AI translations that are letting us speak to whales and such are fascinating, the idea that it takes the Scientific Method to prove that animals are intelligent and emotional is still starting from a null hypothesis of unintelligence.

Look at the oral traditions of practically any indigenous hunter-gatherer-agricultural society and the base assumption when looking at a squirrel or a dog or dolphin is... that's a guy. It was the animals who saved Sky Woman when she came down to Turtle Island, not the other way around. And they saved her out of compassion. The null hypothesis is that animals are neighbors, deserving of respect.

Animism is not a primitive, proto-religion as it is often framed in the western european influenced academia; science is beginning to prove irrefutably what so many cultures have been saying for many thousands of years.

From the sky to the forests and deserts and to the soil itself, the world is teeming with intelligent life.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

THIS. There are so many ways of knowing, and several of them are converging on the idea that life is more intelligent and communicative and interconnected than white Xtian supremacy allows. We aren’t fundamentally different or separate from our biosphere, but an important component of it - and the organisms around us connect with us as we connect with them. My expertise is in animal behavior, but I know much research on plant and mushroom physiology has also indicated more complexity to their response to caregiving than allowed by white supremacist narratives.

The planet is one deeply complex organism, teeming with life, and it records the history of that life in the rocks. None of us would be here without any of the others. And it’s time we as a species acted like it.