Origin stories or cosmogonies tell us of the early stages of the Universe when nothing was yet formed, labeled, nor given meaning. All laid contained in a prima materia—a primordial sort of cosmic ocean of potentiality. All of life’s creation rested latent, dormant, in repose. Quiet.
Western science tells us of another—not too dissimilar—cosmogony. In this model, the Universe’s early stages are scorching temperatures burning all of existence in its primordial element of fire. This high-density force of creativity elicited a big bang from which the universe continues to expand to the present day.
These two symbolic models reveal something undeniable: before anything rises, it is contained in its entirety of chaos, complexity, and plurality. This potentiality explodes into expansive possibilities that gradually pursue an order of resonance—a cosmos. Thus, narratives arise with cosmogonic meaning. Kosmos: order. Gonos: seed. The seed of the Universe contains all potential, then sprouts in narratives of interpretative meaning.
Consider the following first words of the Nahua and Maya cosmogonies:
In oc yohuaya
in ayamo tona
in ayamo tlathui . . .
When it was all darkness
when there was no sun
when there was yet no dawn
—Leyenda de los Soles (Nahua)
Kalal spisil chijan tinal
J’ojcholal ma chal nax
Ta ij q’uinal . . .
When everything was silent
empty of meaning
in stillness, in darkness
—Popol Vuh (Maya)
These seeds are the raw material and fertilizing agent of our presence on this planet. Indigenous origin stories are multidimensional—from the prima materia in a state of disarray to the creation of the world. They are cosmic, ecological, cultural, and personal, giving way to the order of planetary responsibility from the cosmos, the planet, the community, and humanity. They give us an origin point that orients us in the immensity of life. They offer a beginning to the beginningless times, a grounding to the ever-expansive space, and a significance to the merciless passing of impermanence.
The Nahua cosmogonies speak of humans as coming from ashes and blood—the ashes of the bones of previous eras and the blood of divine beings. The Hopi speak of being made of earth and saliva. The Maya tell us of living beings made of the sacred corn and Spirit, coming together from earth and lightning. At its core, each narrative is a welcoming into the world. They reveal the heart of the holy, weaving waves of awe.
These stories deal with the creation, development, and reemergence of the world from celestial bodies to earthlings. They show what constitutes “right” livelihood: sustainable and honorable ways to be participants and creators responsible for this very world. They lay out the social context of a culture, its vision of the world, the conception of its history, its time orientation, its religious beliefs and practices, and its moral values.
Following this line of thinking, I am raising a new origin story for the science of flourishing, the current happiness and contemplative paradigm, and the ethics of belonging. I do so by starting not with how the individual develops and refines the self nor how different practices bring personal benefits. Quite the opposite, I start with the formation of the world itself, containing all potentiality in its chaos and disarray. I will tell the story of how it progressively finds its order and meaning in the cosmos, the planet, the community, and the individual.
I will show how in an ecosystem of flourishing kin, new cosmologies grow from seeds of reverence, respect, and responsibility. How these concerted actions manifest inner truths about life, being, and belonging in deep gratitude to all our relations. How we flourish to the extent that we enact our exceptional capacity for creation and participation in the nourishing, relational, empowering, and transformative force of Mother Earth.
All living beings are assumed to be subject to the same natural patterns of chaos and order: creation, decay, and regeneration. The sense of belonging engendered by understanding these cycles helps to integrate personal experience within the ecosystem. The result is an identity rooted in belonging and relationality.
Here, I highlight how Indigenous contemplative wisdom informs all of our relationships through story, shared ritual, and ceremony as inquiry forms, bringing a relational aspect into the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual liminal spaces. As we’ve seen, Indigenous traditions in the West have prioritized a space for spiritual connection and reverence, but they have lost much of their sense of the sacred.
Since relationships are central to Indigenous cosmovisions, self and world perception is relational in nature. This kindred method exposes a receptive network of connections infused with reverence, wonder, accountability, and a feeling of sacred relationships. The obligation then spreads to our environmental community. Indigenous identities around the world are firmly anchored in a duty to protect interdependent ecosystems and life cycles, despite their inherent pluralities.
My Ancestors infused my experiences with a relational identity that views the ecosystem as kin. In early childhood, I too listened to the rivers’ songs, sensed the jaguar leave its spotted pace upon my veins, and befriended greensome birds. I have found a very similar ethos guiding Indigenous Nations around the globe.
Indigenous perspectives around the world are strikingly similar in their belief that all creation is related. This form of relating embraces the qualities of mutuality, organization, belonging, purpose, and meaning inherent in each phenomenon. All living beings have a part and a purpose in the vast web of relationships. The keen observation of relationships as they interrelate and influence this extensive web is the foundation of our Kin Relationality.
Kin relationality necessitates that we recognize our affiliations and our interdependence on each other and our natural environment. A spiritual binding brings together all human, more-than-human, and environmental relationships through utmost respect for Mother Earth. It orients our actions toward growing communal benefit.
Indigenous traditions cultivate awareness and orientation of kin relationality vis-á-vis all beings and phenomena, engendering gratitude, responsibility, awe, and reverence toward the collective of Mother Earth. The keen observation of phenomena—their origins, conditions, and interrelationships—is the subject and object of contemplative living. Through fierce examination and discernment, trust, and compassion, Indigenous cosmovisions make sense of being through balance, surrendering, community, and establishing collaboration and gratitude toward flourishing kin.
As the world has become more individualistic, our ways of relating have shifted. We are more focused on our differences and adversarial traits. We have turned to othering and separateness, which has given rise to epidemics of loneliness and self-harm. Kin relationality is an antidote to these trends. Through kin relationality, we experiment and evaluate relational processes rather than being subject to established conventions based on the self. This relational system encourages the physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual qualities that make Indigenous systems profoundly diverse and ecological. Ultimately, kin relationality is a path to sustainable collective well-being.
Indigenous traditions with deep cultural roots in contemplative wisdom hold critical and timely solutions to our most pressing social and environmental injustices. For millennia, Indigenous Peoples all over the world—in their distinct uniqueness, multiplicity, and plurality—have developed keen perceptions of the consciousness of Mother Earth. Time and again, the teachings of embodied knowledge appear in various forms of Indigenous wisdom. These diverse traditional ways point to a relational capacity based on collaboration, compassion, and reverence for Life.
The forestlands open the hidden waters to the skies. They direct our journey of belonging and becoming in a dream of collective effervescence, a ceremony, a shared experience of Spirit-making. We enact the story of belonging to our Earth by becoming beings of reverence, kindness, and compassion. We turn to ashes to return in the breath of Life. We come back transformed, reunited, and reemerged. What can transform the basic nature of the acorn into the spiritual awareness of the grove? It is its chrysopoeia, its metamorphosis, its evolution from self-interest to collective flourishing.
A kin relational practice may entail visualizing becoming a resting seed nourished by the web of relationships in the generous, openhearted, embracing home that is the fertile soil of Mother Earth. Such a practice cultivates a sense of safety by simulating a feeling of being held by a primordial Earth Mother.
At its core, Indigenous contemplation entails becoming acquainted with the relationships among all beings as part of the larger, responsive system of Mother Earth. Contemplative practices like the ones you have experienced through Flourishing Kin strengthen the communal bond of kin relationality, eliciting feelings of familiarity and safety. This familiarity allows us to trust we can respond creatively and constructively to our web of kin relationships. It allows for easeful observation of our connections.
Trusting the web of relationships does not mean the absence of threats. Instead, it orients us to a response that promotes flow and encourages inner and outer balance. This ability to interpret and integrate the internal sensory input of experiential processes is known as interoception.1 It enables awareness, body regulation, intention, motivation, and reward assessment. It drives the spiral path between feelings and behaviors.
A new Western science of belonging, connectivity, and kindness aligns with these insights of Indigenous kin relationality practices. Regions of the brain, like the periaqueductal gray, the vagus nerve, and oxytocin networks, support openness to others, kindness, and the foundations of kin relationality.2 When I practice kin relationality, I feel these ancient physiological systems as a warmth in my chest, a sense of calm and openness, and even the occasional tearing in my eyes.
Our survival, and that of our hyper-dependent offspring, depend on connection, collaboration, and belonging within webs of relationships. Mammals depend on caregivers for long periods to develop the adaptive functions crucial for health and survival. In humans, who have the longest offspring dependency of all primates, mother-infant and close kin interactions are collaborative strategies for reducing the rate of mortality and favoring security across the life span.3 Findings on social psychology confirm that a sense of safety is elicited by such strong social bonds and that cultivating a sense of kin relationality, enabled by basic forms of communication, like eye contact and touch, brings about that feeling of being held. Furthermore, the neuroscience of emotion shows that the same neural regions that process safety and a sense of protection inhibit physiological threat responses.4
Along these lines, immersion in Mother Earth—natural environments are vital places to cultivate kin relationality—has proved to be one of the most robust predictors of enhanced physical health, subjective well-being, and prosocial, community-enhancing behavior.5 More specifically, research suggests that interrelating with the natural environment increases parasympathetic activity, promotes stress relief, and enhances immune system function.6
In other words, when humans feel a sense of safety and kinship with Mother Earth, we flourish. Our nervous systems increase the parasympathetic activity that induces stress relief.7 Likewise, the immune system shows higher levels of antibodies and lower adrenaline in the blood.8 Psychological health significantly improves due to decreased hostility and depression.9 In fact, cultivating such a sense of Mother Earth belonging—or kin relationality—has been found to increase life expectancy by ten years.10
These studies reveal the underlying physiology of what you might experience when engaging in practices that cultivate kin relationality. Being held within the larger Mother Earth system, being in the presence of something vast and larger than ourselves, brings us a sense of awe that diminishes the self-centered identity and allows for the possibility of deepening our relations with others and finding our place within community.11 It allows for collective flourishing.
Collective flourishing stems from the sense of relationality at the core of belonging. Kin relationality raises awareness of our responsibility for others and the impact of our behavior on others. Synergistically, these experiences broaden our thought patterns and make us aware of the physical, social, and psychological resources that can empower us.
Indigenous collective practices support multiple dimensions of flourishing that extend to more-than-humans and planetary systems. Kin relationality enhances environmental stewardship. By advancing the study of kin relationality through Indigenous and Western sciences, I hope to broaden and strengthen our understanding of how contemplation can elicit planetary flourishing and health and how the sciences of contemplation, flourishing, and happiness can enable a world of collective participation and empowerment.
To listen to this practice, follow the link yuriacelidwen.com or the QR code on the table of contents.