Animism
Updated: Feb 16, 2022
Animism is a worldview that is both a theory about how the universe works, and an embodied experience that we can have in relationship with the world.
When it comes to nature connection, an animist worldview helps ground our experiences in a profound understanding of the nature of the universe.
At its heart, animism teaches that consciousness pervades all things. This doesn't mean that everything else experiences the world the same way that we do as humans, but that there is a basic ability for all things to have some kind of experience of the world.
When we consider this, we understand that everything is alive and ensouled in some way. Animals, plants, rocks, and waterways can be seen as persons with rights and agency, just as we are.
If we are to genuinely enter into communication and relationship with nature, then the understanding that nature has consciousness and awareness explains why this communication is possible - just as we can communicate with fellow humans, we can communicate with the natural world.
It speaks a different language, but a language none the less.
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