Remembering The Old Ways
Turning to polyculture and ecological remembrance
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How do we find more purpose and meaning?
I clung to these words, letting them hang in my mind as I gazed down at the pixelated image of my mum on the other side of my phone screen. Our conversations always seem to veer this way, towards deeper waters and existential questions. But our conversation sparked something within me. We were considering the notion of what it means to find meaning and purpose in this day and age; but also what it means to be ‘spiritual’.
I found this interesting, as I’d argue my mum is a very spiritual person who lives a very intentional and meaningful life. Her ‘spirituality’ has always felt very grounded to me—rooted in the earth. For as long as I can remember, she’s had a strong bond with the natural world. Tending to her garden; taking long walks in nature; and pointing out the names of birds and species of plants. I watch as she tends to her garden with the same love with which she raised my sister and me - with love and patience.
I won’t bore you with the full details of the conversation, but the conclusion we drew was finding meaning and purpose in one’s life—to live a more ‘spiritual’ life—doesn’t have to be prescriptive or look a certain way. Rather, it’s about tuning in and listening to our inner guidance system and what feels alive in each moment, which is ultimately shifting and moving as we learn and grow as individuals.
Our ideas and understanding of the world are constantly shifting the more we learn. This feels especially palpable in the developments being made within the scientific community. In A Conversation with Merlin Sheldrake and Barney Steel, moderated by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee for Emergence Magazine, Sheldrake states:
The world is no longer purely black and white. There isn’t just a single way of being or understanding. Traditionally, the mainstream paradigm has steered towards a monoculture—one true God, one way of being, one way of understanding. The counter to this is to relate to the world through polyculture. From this perspective, there are many ways of knowing, relating, and understanding. There are multiple ontologies, cosmologies, and ways of being1. This plurality doesn’t separate us but rather invites us to acknowledge and understand the multiple truths that can coexist simultaneously.
However, this knowledge and learning also seems like a return to the old ways of understanding and existing—as if we are coming full circle. Sophie Strand explores this through the upending of mainstream narrative: “We must root old plots back in the healing nourishment of their original ecological contexts. How can I honor older narratives by updating them? How can I decenter human narratives in favor of landscape stories, weather stories, insect stories? How have my stories become rigid? Telling new stories can mean honoring, composting, and fertilizing older narrative traditions.”
When we understand and perceive ourselves within a larger framework—one of plurality—we can see how our meaning and purpose can ultimately evolve as we shift and change as individuals; can even change as we establish new roots in older ways of knowing. There is a through-line, but also an openness to follow the threads of our curiosity. The more conversations we have, and the more we make space for relating from different lived experiences and ways of knowing, the more our sense of meaning, purpose, and spirituality can evolve.
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Hi, I’m Hannah!
I'm a writer & creative mentor based in the UK, a regular writing contributor to the transformational learning platform, Advaya, and work within the climate space focusing on fostering resilience amongst young people. I’m also a student of Zen Buddhism, an avid reader, and a lover of the natural world.
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Beautiful thoughts. I’m with you all the way. Especially on the ways our storytelling is changing. I recently published a short story narrated by a maple tree under threat by a methane pipeline. Thanks for the reference to Sophie Strand. I haven’t run across her yet.
"The more conversations we have, and the more we make space for relating from different lived experiences" I wish more people would think like you, I'm afraid most of the people think that their meaningful conversations are happening on their phones but that's just so far from the real world. Loved your writing:)