The harvest season has traditionally been a time to express gratitude for the bounty and benevolence of nature – for the abundance of food and beauty that the natural world supplies us with. And it’s easier to feel true gratitude when we feel a sense of connection to the source of what we receive – when we, for example, grow our own pumpkins or know the farmer who grew them; when we have cared for the bees who are pollinating our flowers; or when we have worked to protect the beauty and diversity of a natural area.
Why is this so? It has something to do with the importance of reciprocity – with the balance of giving and taking.
On the beautiful Grateful Living website, Robin Wall Kimmerer writes:
“For much of humans’ time on the planet, before the great delusion, we lived in cultures that understood the covenant of reciprocity—that for the Earth to stay in balance, for the gifts to continue to flow, we must give back in equal measure for what we are given.
Our first responsibility, the most potent offering we possess, is gratitude. Now, gratitude may seem like weak tea given the desperate challenges that lie before us, but it is powerful medicine, much more than a simple thank you. Giving thanks implies recognition not only of the gift, but of the giver. When I eat an apple, my gratitude is directed to that wide-armed tree whose tart offspring are now in my mouth, whose life has become my own. Gratitude is founded on the deep knowing that our very existence relies on the gifts of other beings. … The practice of gratitude can, in a very real way, lead to the practice of self-restraint, of taking only what you need. Naming and appreciation of the gifts that surround us creates a sense of satisfaction, a feeling of “enoughness” that is an antidote to the societal messages that drill into our spirits, telling us we must have more.”
Later in the article, Kimmerer asks: “How can we reciprocate the gifts of the Earth?” Her answer:
In gratitude,
in ceremony,
through acts of practical reverence and land stewardship,
in fierce defense of the beings and places we love,
in art,
in science,
in song,
in gardens,
in children,
in ballots,
in stories of renewal,
in creative resistance,
in how we spend our money and our precious lives,
by refusing to be complicit with the forces of ecological destruction.
In healing.”
