Visiting the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, patrons are greeted by a circular theater that presents different origin stories from various Indigenous cultures. It’s fascinating. While each story is unique, a commonality persists throughout them all. They convey a symbiotic relationship among nature, humanity, and the sacred.
My ancestors, Muscogee (Creeks), passed down their origin story. The world was covered with water, except for one mound. Nunne Chaha was the home of Hesaketvmese, meaning master breath. Master Breath created humanity from the mound’s mud.
The first two humans were Lucky Hunter and Corn Woman.
My close relatives, the Cherokees, recalled the earth being covered with water and the animals living above the sky in a place called Galun’lati. The animals wanted to see what was beneath the water, so they sent Water Beetle (Beaver’s grandchild) to find out. Water Beetle surfaced with mud for land, which began to grow.
After several other adventures, it was discovered that people lived beneath the ground, and they began to surface. The animals, plants, and people found they were the same.
Because of this strong connection in Indigenous origin stories, Indigenous people understood their place within a symbiotic ecosystem. The earth provided essential resources for humans: shelter, food, and tools.
Therefore, the earth and humans were interconnected. As far as Indigenous cultures were concerned, so goes the earth, so goes humanity.
Unfortunately, many Christians need to take their own origin story more seriously. Instead of reading and interpreting it through symbiotic lenses, many decided to make it anthropocentric, that is, human-centered.
Believe it or not, the Hebrew origin story is similar to the symbiotic stories of the First Americans. Remember the creation narrative in Genesis 1 and 2?
What does God use to create Earth and humanity? Yahweh uses divine breath to bring the world into existence.
To create humanity, Yahweh uses dust. The Hebrew word for dust is aphar, meaning dry earth or dust. (It can also mean rubbish, but we won’t go there.)
Decades ago, my Old Testament professor, Dr. Boo Heflin, suggested one reason God used dust to create humanity was to remind us of life’s fragility. As the great theologians and 1970s rock band Kansas sang, “All we are is dust in the wind.” Or, as we are reminded later in Genesis, “We are dust and to dust we shall return.”
In addition to that fragility, the use of dust as the agent of creation establishes the symbiotic relationship between Earth and humanity. Immediately after creating humans, God places humans in the Garden of Eden to “till and keep it” (2:15).
God also gives humanity the responsibility of naming all the animals. The process of naming, especially in ancient cultures, was significant.
Naming was more than an identifier. Naming meant connection, relationship and responsibility. Therefore, when humanity names the animals, the act of naming creates a connection between the two.
It’s only after humanity’s fall in Genesis 3 that we hear about the enmity between humanity and creation. Listen to the results of humanity’s error or sin:
To the serpent, Yahweh declares, “Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly, you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman, Yahweh states, “I will make your pangs in childbirth exceedingly great; in pain, you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
And, to the man, Yahweh says, “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
In other words, when humanity rejects the symbiotic relationships between God’s creation, neglects our responsibilities within the world, and turns anthropocentric in our thoughts and ways, we put all of God’s creations in jeopardy. And that, my friends, is where we are today.
As Mother Earth groans under the oppression of humanity, she still provides. Robin Wall Kimmerer writes in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants: “Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
As unrestrained capitalism births greed, which follows in the footsteps of the first humans in Genesis, people of good faith would be wise to reexamine their own origin story and learn from the Indigenous wisdom of my ancient ancestors. The world will never have peace unless we embrace the symbiotic nature of our existence, which will propel us towards lasting peace—a peace of the soul, mind, and body.
Jesus put it this way: “Love God with all your heart, mind, body, and strength, and love your neighbor as you would love yourself.” Love is what holds the symbiotic relationship between the divine and creation. Without love, the relationship fractures, leaving only brokenness and destruction in its wake.
But, it does not have to be this way. There is another path.
Let the words of Salish First Nations Chief Dan George wash over you:
“The time will soon be here when my grandchild will long for the cry of a loon, the flash of a salmon, the whisper of spruce needles, or the screech of an eagle. But he will not make friends with any of these creatures, and when his heart aches with longing, he will curse me. Have I done all to keep the air fresh? Have I cared enough about the water? Have I left the eagle to soar in freedom? Have I done everything I could to earn my grandchild’s fondness?”
Humanity can still find peace for the Earth and humanity, but we must act now.
Oglala Lakota Chief Black Elk concluded: “The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.”
MVTO.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
CEO of Good Faith Media.
