Author bell hooks (1952–2021) describes how many Black farmers in the South cultivated a spiritual relationship with the earth:
When we love the earth, we are able to love ourselves more fully. I believe this. The ancestors taught me it was so. As a child I loved playing in dirt, in that rich Kentucky soil, that was a source of life. Before I understood anything about the pain and exploitation of the southern system of sharecropping, I understood that grown-up black folks loved the land….
From the moment of their first meeting, Native American and African people shared with one another a respect for the life-giving forces of nature, of the earth. African settlers in Florida taught the Creek Nation run-aways, the “Seminoles,” methods for rice cultivation. Native peoples taught recently arrived black folks all about the many uses of corn…. Sharing the reverence for the earth, black and red people helped one another remember that, despite the white man’s ways, the land belonged to everyone. Listen to these words attributed to Chief Seattle in 1854:
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land?… If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people.… We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man—all belong to the same family. [1]
Franciscan Sister Thea Bowman (1937–1990) reflects on where she learned about our sacred responsibility for creation:
From the spiritual tradition of the black community, I learned that we are all God’s creatures.… I grew up with people who taught us how to respect and appreciate nature, to study nature’s secrets, to reverence the very soil beneath our feet. My people in the South were farmers and they learned patience. You can’t rush the seasons; you can’t call forth the rain.
They also learned not to waste! And that’s something we all need to pay more attention to today! It’s important not to take more than we need. Take your share and leave the rest for the others. If we live cooperatively the earth produces sufficiently to feed and shelter us all….
My people have been teaching us about Creation Spirituality for as long as I can remember. We just didn’t have a name for it. Respect and love for all of creation; stewardship of the earth and its resources; collaboration and cooperation; appreciation, gratitude, faith, hope and love for all of humankind—basic life-giving, life-sharing values and virtues. [2]
References:
[1] bell hooks, Belonging: A Culture of Place (Routledge, 2009), 34, 35, 36; The World of Chief Seattle: How Can One Sell the Air?, Warren Jefferson (Native Voices, 2001), 97, 93. While often attributed to Chief Seattle, this was written by Ted Perry for a 1972 film; text adapted by bell hooks.
[2] Sister Thea Bowman, Shooting Star: Selected Writings and Speeches, ed. Celestine Cepress (St. Mary’s Press, 1993), 114–115, 116.
Image Credit and inspiration: YS Santonii, Untitled (detail), 2023, photo, USA, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. We gently receive nature in new ways, perhaps by tenderly touching and gazing to see a new detail.
Story from Our Community:
I am the Great Spirit’s hands and feet on this Earth. That’s why I believe spiritual institutions should always have some role in helping the tired hands and feet of those who courageously engage in nonviolent resistance to deportation, environmental degradation, and violence in our world.
—Richard K.
