“We say, put down your papers, your tools of coercion, your false promises, your posture of superiority and sit with us before the fire. We will share food, songs, and stories. We will gather beneath starlight and dance, and rise together at sunrise.”
–Excerpt from Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, by Joy Harjo
Everything is spirit.
My abuelita knew this when she talked to the plants in her garden. She heard them, and I am certain they talked back. But when I would go out there, although I tried and tried, I heard nothing. She never taught me how to talk to the plants. She knew she couldn’t — it wasn’t a step-by-step process. Her ability came from a lifelong journey of listening, slowing down, and de-centering herself among the plants she cared for, among the plants that cared for her. This was not a skill, but a sacred way of being.
Years later, I worked as an assistant curator at the Northern Arizona University Invertebrate Museum. I wanted to learn the K,P,C,O,F,G,S and common names of all the specimen in my care! I tried to know the invertebrates by learning facts about them. But when my class went on a field trip to Mexico, something shifted for me. The beauty of those critters when seen alive, in their homes — the way they clung to rocks, the way they camouflaged — I saw the spirit within them. I started to hear them, and I started to understand how my abuelita could have conversations in the garden with her talking plants.
The cultural norms of our times tell us we must only see through one dominant lens. This dominant lens can distract us from violence and shield us from our own complicity. Unfortunately, this lens is streamlined and mechanized, viewed through pixels on a screen, rather than through our true human nature. Our true human nature compels us to use our full selves as we experience the world, with all senses firing, whole-heartedly engaged.
The narrowing of learning and concepts of intelligence harms us all, and a growing noise thrust upon the world makes it harder to listen to our inner spirit, to rest, to connect, and to resist. The times we’re living in weigh heavily on many hearts. Distractions are tempting, but we must hold onto our peace. We must watch our footfalls, feel our breath, and go inward so we can better engage with the world around us.
CDE will continue moving through 2025, honoring each and every one of your individual journeys, as well as the long path we are walking together.
With love and in community,
The CDE Team