What’s Missing in the Practice of Belonging? An Invitation to Conversation

Those of us working to strengthen intergroup belonging are in a season of questioning and reinvention as we address the crises and opportunities that we face. We are open to trying new approaches. Many of us also feel torn between belonging and the other potentially existential threats facing humanity. For example, we realize that the Earth’s ecological systems are under increasing pressure. But who has time to work on both belonging and the environment when those movements seem so separate from each other? It’s enough to make a person wonder if perhaps we are missing something important.

A missing link

I would say yes—something is missing. I believe that our efforts to build belonging among human beings are strengthened when we also attend to our relationships with the natural world. Our current worldviews tend to lack a sense of embeddedness within nature, which keeps us working within a human-centered frame. We think of humanity as a closed system, and we struggle to see that the phenomenon of belonging may extend beyond our own species.

There has been important progress in policy through the environmental justice movement, and in programming through environmental peacebuilding. Those initiatives are well worth supporting. Yet it is not their primary purpose to invite us to examine our own relationship to the natural world.

There is another approach that is accessible to all of us, and that is attending to our relationship with the natural world. Perhaps the idea of having a relationship with the natural world sounds strange. However, I would suggest that if you live on Earth, you already have this relationship, though it may be distant. The question is not whether we have a relationship with the natural world. Rather, how do we relate to the natural world, and how does that shape our relationships with other human beings? Especially those who are different from ourselves?

This line of inquiry will challenge the mental models that shape how we engage our world – which, not coincidentally, is a foundational principle of systems change. There are multiple helpful angles of approach for considering our relationship to the natural world. In this post, we will focus on a North American approach dating back to the origins of democracy. No, I’m not talking about the US “founding fathers.” I’m talking about an older source from which those founders reportedly drew inspiration – the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s Great Law of Peace.

A peace and democracy success story

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is a political union of six Indigenous nations including the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora. Their lands stretch across areas now also called New York, Ontario and Quebec. The Confederacy traces its origins to time immemorial, when these nations came together through a peacemaking process to end ongoing intergroup violence between their peoples. As part of that process, they also developed principles for peaceful, participatory governance. Influenced by a key leader called the Peacemaker, they negotiated a confederation of sovereign nations, centered around a constitution called the Great Law of Peace. This resilient, still-thriving Confederacy offers a case study in the transformation of intergroup conflict.

The Great Law of Peace blends values, such as peace, unity and commitment to the common good, with rules and structures that shape governance. There is a balance between local autonomy and central decision-making, based on consensus between nations. The leaders are expected to be responsive to the people, and gender equality is built in. There are recognized protocols for official Confederacy meetings and dispute resolution. Some US founders were inspired by Haudenosaunee practice and they integrated some of its features into the fledgling US governance system. The specific type and extent of that influence is subject to debate.

Sadly, it is clear that this selective integration did leave some features out, including the game-changing Haudenosaunee conviction that our relationship to the land is the foundation for everything else, including our relationships with each other. The Great Law of Peace mandates that every meeting begin with offering thanks not only to the other meeting participants and the Creator, but also to the natural world and its elements, for the ways in which they sustain life, including human life.

This mandate appears with little explanation, because it was naturally understood as fundamental within its original context. I personally understand the logic as follows: Our capacity to belong with one another is connected to our sense of belonging within the natural world. These different spheres of relationship are interdependent. As we deepen our relationship with the natural world, we encounter values of respectful coexistence, interconnectedness, reciprocity, and responsibility within the web of life. These values challenge a worldview organized around separation, hierarchy, and dominance—patterns that can damage our relationships across lines of human difference and contribute to intergroup conflict. Gratitude is the portal through which we enter this transformative process. It is not a quick formality, but rather a central throughline of Haudenosaunee self-organization.

Right relationships with the natural world – and each other

This gratitude mandate has been put into practice through the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. Also called “The Words that Come Before all Else,” the address is used to open a gathering or negotiation, or simply to start a day. It begins like this:

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.

Now our minds are one.

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

We give thanks to all the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms‐ waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water.

Now our minds are one…

The Thanksgiving Address then goes on to specifically thank the fish, the animals and 11 other natural elements, as well as the Creator, for the ways in which they contribute to sustaining life, including human life. Every one of the 18 stanzas ends with the same striking phrase: “Now our minds are one.” This refrain points toward a shared Earth-grounded worldview among human beings, upon which human communication and collaboration can be built. It suggests that if we lack grounding in right relations with the natural world, we will find it difficult to govern ourselves.

The relationship to the natural world shapes real life and collective action. For example, the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force has published a book on the foundations of the Confederacy’s efforts to influence environmental protection policy. They titled the book The Words that Come before all Else and structured it around the elements of the Thanksgiving Address. They did so because “giving thanks together, recognizing the power and duties of every part of the World, and joining our minds and determinations together to fulfil the obligations of human beings in the web of life, is the proper way to approach any environmental problem” (p.1).

Indeed, perhaps attending to our relationship with the natural world is a proper way to approach any problem of human cooperation. This practice is embedded within the sociopolitical system of the peaceful Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and it is worth exploring its relevance for us as well. Here are some thoughts on getting started.

Considerations to explore

Where would we begin? You might begin by cultivating general gratitude and include awareness of the natural world in your gratitude practices. This approach can be practiced in ways that are compatible with any faith tradition – or none. The possibilities are endless and best discovered by you. With that said, here are some simple starter practices:

• In your individual life, work on expressing gratitude for the earth and its elements. For example, recall that the oxygen you inhale is produced by plants and tiny marine organisms. Without them, you would not exist.
• Reflect on reciprocity. The carbon dioxide that you exhale actually helps the plants around you to produce the oxygen that you inhale. Your contribution matters. What else might you be able to contribute?
• If and when you feel comfortable, try expressing gratitude directly to the earth’s elements, in addition to expressing gratitude for them. You may feel a bit anxious about talking to non-human beings. At the same time, we regularly talk to our pets and even our houseplants. You can start there and build upon that practice.
• When you feel ready to bring this practice into a collective gathering, try integrating simple words of gratitude for/to the natural world into your meeting openers. For organizations that use land acknowledgements, there may be a deeper question: What would it mean to acknowledge the traditional ownership of the land and also cultivate an ongoing relationship of reciprocity with that place?

By the time you become accustomed to these simple practices, you will have developed your own ideas about how to integrate a relationship with the natural world into your work. Some of the people around you will have begun to do the same. I encourage you to follow those ideas.

Don’t we already have too much work? Yes, we who nurture intergroup belonging do have far too much work. Adding another dimension can feel overwhelming – especially if we rush ourselves. However, if we explore it gradually, the shift can become life-giving, allowing us to work differently rather than work harder. Further, Haudenosaunee logic proposes this shift not as a “nice to have” but as foundational to the work of peace. If we attend to human relationships in isolation, without honoring our relationship to the natural world, then our experience of peace will be limited at best.

Does this involve inappropriate cultural appropriation? This is a very important question. To the best of my understanding, there is a distinction to be made. It would indeed be highly inappropriate to try to replicate specific Haudenosaunee ceremonies, especially if done without permission. However, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and many of its key knowledge holders have been intentional in sharing not the specific ceremonies, but the broader contours of the teachings. For example, the Great Law of Peace itself illustrates openness by stating that if any person or nation follows the Law and expresses a request, they may be welcomed into the Confederacy.

In current times, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy shares wisdom widely through efforts such as the Skä•noñh Great Law of Peace Center located at Onondaga Lake. When Potawatomi author Robin Wall Kimmerer asked Onondaga faithkeeper Oren Lyons for permission to write about these matters, he replied: “Of course you should write about it. It’s supposed to be shared, otherwise how can it work?” (p.116). Thankfully, this sharing extends to the descendants of colonial settlers, like me, and perhaps like you too. When we benefit from this generosity, it is essential that we consistently acknowledge and deeply honor the source.

An invitation to conversation

I am not the only person thinking about such things. Something significant is afoot. A growing number of colleagues are asking how we might strengthen our relationship with the natural world and bring that relationship into the work of belonging. If you are intrigued or actively thinking about this within the intergroup belonging, pluralism or democracy space, then let’s talk about it. Let’s confer over a Zoom call – or better yet under a tree – and see what emerges. You can reach me right here.

Some additional notes on context:

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is sometimes also called the Iroquois Confederacy, a colonial-era name that many Confederacy members do not use for themselves.

There are illustrative versions of the Great Law of Peace online. However, they are not cited here, because they are not officially approved by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The Great Law of Peace is usually recited orally, using wampum belts as a memory aid.

Similarly, there are multiple versions of the Thanksgiving Address, due to the complexity of capturing a living, oral tradition rendered in multiple languages. The structure and elements remain consistent. For a commentary on the Address by Confederacy members, click here.

I will undoubtedly make mistakes as I communicate about these concepts. I am thankful that the Haudenosaunee, foreseeing such mistakes, have chosen to share the Great Law of Peace anyway. I gratefully accept any corrections they may wish to make.