We define where we are relative to Nature by the language that we use.
Consider these words: “And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The passage, from Genesis, pretty well describes the inclinations of a European culture that over the last couple of hundred years in North America has reshaped rivers and lands, and Nature generally. The key word is dominion.
Now consider some alternative language. The following comes from an Abenaki headman in Maine in 1739 who travelled to Boston to a file personal complaint with British authorities about a water-power dam that a British officer had built on the Presumpscot River.
The man, who comes down in history simply as Chief Polin, explained that the dam interrupted the movements of migrating fish that constituted an important part of his people’s diet. The official transcript quotes him this way: “I have something to say concerning the river which I belong to. It is barred over in sundry places.”
The fact that Chief Polin’s people harvested and ate fish in the river establishes a sense of dominance that would fit into Genesis. Message: Humans in control.
But the part about Chief Polin’s statement that caught my eye was his reference to “belonging” to the river – a relationship that hones closer to respect bordering on reverence.
This blog posting is about how Northern American indigenous people perceived Nature, including its streams and rivers and ponds, before Europeans showed up.
The perception borders on the spiritual. Here’s a song with these simple lyrics: “Water, we love you/We thank you./We respect you.” The song emanated from a phenomenon known as the Mother Earth Water Walk mainly in the upper Midwest.
Here’s another song -- the Algonquin Water Song – which also conveys a sacred theme.
The songs are short. Give a listen, and meanwhile imagine how the music and tone and words could do us all a little good — and also benefit Nature of which we are a part.