In the process of deepening my own relationship with nature I had to walk through many walls that existed between us. The walls that created the separation between us. I melted these walls and keep melting them in deeper and always more expansive ways ... I've had to let go of a number of beliefs that created these walls. I can not tell you where the ideas that created these walls first originated and it does not even matter, but here are some of the things I've had to work through.
The idea that those peoples we tend to classify as 'indigenous' have a pure relationship with nature and are better than me, the classified 'european' person. That they were pure and didn't have the shadow side like myself. That they were now the victims and couldn't co-create their own reality but needed perpetual help. That I have to feel guilty always. That they have a connection with earth that I can never have nor did my culture ever have. This belief takes the wholeness away from both sides.
a) This belief does not give equality to the 'indigenous' person, but classifies them as being somehow different than the rest of humanity. It also allows some of the people, who see it as their job to 'help' the 'poor victim indigenous' to hold themselves as better. They hold themselves as being in position of the helper, being better, having more knowledge of life, knowing more of life than the person they are helping. But I often noticed that it is exactly this person themselves who need help, that their life is in the most mess and 'helping' others in this stage of their journey is only a distraction from their own issues. I also noticed that while in this state of being a helper, they deny the 'indigenous' person full status of human being ... that is ... that the 'indigenous' person is also wholly divine and has the solutions to their own issues within
themselves. That they also are a full co-creator of their own life, of their own destiny. That they themselves absolutely have the power to work through the issues of the last few centuries as they relate to their own experiences and will find ways to be part of the new world on their own terms and according to their own desires and passions.
I also fully participated in these beliefs and had a wall within me that I created by using these beliefs. It was such an ingrained thing within my own cultural conditioning, so I am not saying this as a judgment, but as a way to assist others with their own clarity. And yes, there is a way to be of assistance to others, but not by taking away their own full humanity, their own divinity, their own co-creative power and therefore their own responsibility for what they co-create. This can only come when you yourself come from a place of wholeness within yourself.
b) On my side, this belief created another wall in me ... me the classified 'european' person. It told me that somehow I am not indigenous to the Earth and so am destined to being divorced from the nature, from the ability to connect and relate on a deep level with the world around me. To always be disconnected and so in this perpetual relationship of destroying Earth. It told me that I always have to go through somebody, through a mediator, possibly an 'indigenous' person to know what nature wants. That I myself can not establish a clear and direct communication with nature myself. Unique to me. That even when I desperately try to find solutions to the environmental issues of today, I have no chance. Because within the closed loops of the solutions that the mind comes up with by itself, without the presence of the soul, every 'solution' comes with something that destroys. For example, I stop using paper and go electronic. So in this way, I stop the need to cut so many trees for paper, but they are cut down anyway cos the mining to build electronic parts has to be started. Quite a dilemma.
I had no idea how strong this belief was within me and so I had to walk through this to get to a place where I myself have my own unique and direct relationship with nature that is not based on exploitation. But a mutual respect. And out of this relationship and direct connection to the life around me, I can start to walk within my life in equal partnership with nature and life around me. I found and am still developing my own inner and outer senses that allow me to directly and clearly communicate with what we term as 'nature' so that we can co-create our life together that is sustainable.
This does not have to do with returning to the pre-industrial times, because those peoples also lived in duality. But it has to do with something completely new, that I only have glimpses of now. The new is new. It has never been before, so there is no written documents that we can refer to. We can only keep going deeper and wider with our own connection to life. Work through the guilt and all that hinders us on this journey. And then start to co-create a new world that is ... well ... new. And it is exciting that the future is not pre-destined or pre-determined. And whatever happens and the experience I have ... I'm totally ok, more than ok. I am excellent. Because I Alex, the Human part and my own Eternal Self Michael...well ...we got this. We got our own life, this adventure, this unknown. We were made for this. In this relationship, there are no closed loops. There is openness, there is respect, there is the connection which creates solutions.