Understanding Our Place In Interdependence - My Thoughts From Reading About Sweetgrass

I often think about our place in the world.

It can feel like we are so disconnected from everything.

People are disconnected from the problems of the world.

Disconnected from each other.

Even disconnected from ourselves.

There is this belief I have heard many times.

Us against the world.

It's a mindset that can feel... lonely.

But is it even true?

I've been reading this book called, "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants".

It provides a fascinating Indigenous perspective on human's place in the world.

In one section of the book, there is a discussion on Sweetgrass.

It is a special plant to many Native Americans use in prayers, ceremonies, and medicine.

There is a belief from the Elders.

"If we use a plant respectfully it will stay with us and flourish. If we ignore it, it will go away. If you don't give it respect it will leave us."

There is a strange belief here, though.

If we ignore it, it will go away?

Is that really true?

Wouldn't it be more likely that if people ignored the sweetgrass, and left it to its own devices, that it would thrive?

Wouldn't it make sense that using the sweetgrass will prevent it from flourishing?

Well, it was actually put to the test!

Research was done on what would happen to the sweetgrass when it was picked in different ways.

Different patches were set up - some patches were picked in a specific way, other patches in a different way, and there were controls where no picking was done.

Which patch would flourish?

The answer may surprise many people...

"The surprise was that the failing plots were not the harvested ones, as predicted, but the unharvested controls. The sweetgrass that had not been picked or disturbed in any way was choked with dead stems while the harvested plots were thriving... the grassy meadows tell us that for sweetgrass, human beings are part of the system, a vital part..."

It didn't appear to matter "how" sweetgrass was picked.

It flourished as long as it was picked.

But when it was left alone, ignored, it went away.

Humans are "vital" to the flourishing of sweetgrass.

There is interdependence here.

It makes me think - What else?

What else are we a "Vital" aspect of flourishing in the world?

From what I have seen in the research, we are Vital to each other at the very least.

The highest states of psychological wellbeing occur during Group Flow.

The key component here is "Group".

For us to Flourish, we seek out groups in which we can experience Flow together with others.

These interdependent groups add so much value to our lives.

What else are we interdependent with?

We often act as if we aren't a part of a larger ecosystem, but it's simply not true.

We see the problems that are only growing in the world.

These are the consequences of acting as if we were separate from the whole.

The reality is that no one wins when we approach the world in that way.

We need to understand we are a part of everything around us.

We are a Vital part.

We may not realize it.

We may not know the part we are supposed to play yet.

But we do have a part.

One of the things we need to do in life is discover what that part is.

We are Vitally needed in the world.

There is so much that is needed in the world.

We have so many gifts to give, so many that are unused or underused.

How long can we go without knowing that part?

How long can we go being unused?

Will we simply become like the ignored sweetgrass?

Chocked to death in our disconnectedness?

Or will we utilize our gifts and talents?

Will we discover the parts we can play?

Where and with whom can we go experience Group Flow?

I hope that we all find how Vital we really are.