Mutuality
Lately I've been extra observant of how alive the elements are. Yesterday at Treble Cone, the wind was howling & the clouds were moving at a massively high speed. It created this twilight zone where the lighting never stayed the same for more than a second. The shadows from the clouds were dancing around on the snow, their dark contrast a perfect compliment to the white canvas. The tiny tornados of windblown snow were performing kinetic art for us as we rode up the chairlift, fully engulfed in the windstorm. All the little humans joined the madness, shlarving and slashing around the walls & gullies & lips the wind had just created. Each person with a unique take on how they wanted to ski it. Everyone- the wind, the clouds, the snow, and the humans- were simply playing with one another, moving in chaotic unison.
I’ve found that I’ve been perceiving the moving world in this way a lot more, especially when it comes to watching/participating in sports where humans & natural elements have to collaborate in order to make it work. Skiing, surfing, kayaking, biking- whatever it may be- is really just about mutuality. The athlete gets to know the element they’re working with- showing it respect and acknowledgment- and in return, the elements give us the gift of play. I think it’s quite magical.
I guess for me, mutuality & reciprocation are the answer to everything. Whether it’s taking care of the lands we live on, maintaining personal relationships and community, or creating functional political systems, it should be fairly simple. I took this class on Aboriginal ways of knowing when I lived in Australia a few years ago, and we talked a lot about the symbiotic relationship that humans should have with the land around them.
In the epilogue of this book Returning the Gift, Robin Kimmerer explains the symbiotic relationship between the berries and the people that I think sums up what I’m trying to capture. The berries provide delightful sweetness to the “birds and bears and boys alike,” and in return, the people spread their seeds to new lands and give them the resources to blossom. This idea seems so simple, so attainable- yet I look at the current state of the world, and it seems that it’s been lost to far too many.
The land we live on gives us air to breath, water to drink, and the resources we need to survive. So why do people continue to neglect the land and irrevocably wound the land? Indigenous people have been practicing sustainable ways of living for thousands of years, but have been neglected & deafened, just like the land.
Every aspect of the environment is a sentient being deserving of respect & cooperation if humans are to survive. Whether it’s the food we eat, the water we drink, or the snow we ski on, it all comes back to the well being of the land.
Give & take, return the gift, listen & receive.. that’s it.
Anyway, this has been scattered and chaotic (I’ve somehow jumped from skiing and the wind to environmental advocation and political concepts)- but truly, deep down to my core, I believe it’s all connected. And I believe mutuality is the center piece.
