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human expect "god" or fantastical animist experiences where it feels like oceans talk to them but the truth is the ocean is the ocean dude. like it's the thing that does the waves thing animism isn't imagining some layer on top of that. it's having a relationship with THAT https://t.co/lqSnysHFzS
i want to share some animist wisdom from my culture, in the land of India, and from my favourite TV show as a child, Avatar: The Last Airbender that i find quite grounding, and helpful. the truth is relating to spirits is a lot like relating to animals
animals don't talk to us (the way humans do). spirits sometimes do, but mostly spirits don't either. but you can still look at an animal and feel something. you can have an entire relationship and language with it
heck, i can MOCK TALK to a cat, and it *does something*, and i feel the relationship of aliveness with her more vividly. i even begin to experience that relationship verbally my brain is interpreting the cat (who again, does not speak english) verbally
i might well experience the ocean as sending very clear messages and hear them. but the ocean is still… the ocean there's a difference between the ocean "speaking english" and my lovely brain experiencing the relationship with the ocean verbally
this matters, bc it both honours the intelligence of my body, and the other-intelligence of the ocean https://t.co/gO55jOq2FZ
i find in modern western societies, their relationship to spirit is this weird, relationshipless call for help. "ah, great spirit!" they tentatively mumble, moving closer to the temple. "i need this and this and that." there’s not a knowing of what to do
we don't need the world to all be human-like to respect it. we can live besides animals, content to let them be animals. we don't have to expect the cow to be god to us, or solve our relationship problems. trees are the same way https://t.co/2he4SF1UIb
(and eventually… will you find wise relationship advice? wights who talk all sorts of language? idk! the whole point of relationships is they are with something *real* with its own agency and so you're going to have to discover that. this isn't a practice. it's relationship)
@AskYatharth https://t.co/RjhkouimX4
