To Be a Relational Being
What does it mean to be a relational being anyways?
Teachers everywhere
sharing gifts of knowledge
mostly in the form of questions,
explorations into the land of wonder
Many of our guides take different forms
the buzz of a bee or wind through the trees
even messengers within our very own bodies
lessons for learning are available everywhere
The greatest challenge to us being able to receive,
is opening up, quieting down, and letting it flow within
then we can begin to channel and funnel the information,
tune into the frequencies that are always readily available
We are all students and teachers,
knowers and dreamers,
we can share answers
but really only have
questions to give
What does it mean to be a Relational Being? To participate in a reciprocal way with our shared ecologies, as a being, companion, and in many ways as kin/family with all those dynamic, visible and invisible beings that don’t happen to be human beings. Living with presence and awareness, being in active, participatory relationships as part of a multispecies ecological community.
To live, and become a Relational Being is to be a more accurate, authentic, and holistic version of yourself.
To stay present is one of humanity's great challenges. Some call this the age of distraction. It can be difficult to bring awareness to the myriad layers and levels of intimate entanglement we constantly are navigating and negotiating with. To embody reality as one animal, inextricably intertwined with countless creatures and elements that collectively make up this living planet. Our constant opportunity is to embrace the present and be open to our relationship with the rest of nature. This is in part what it means to be a Relational Being.
After all, these relationships exist whether we’re tuned into them or not.
To be a relational being is to flow with a process of remembrance. You are involved in a collaborative co-becoming, as a pervious, porous being. You are comprised of countless, vitally alive, agency-filled beings who are also a part of larger systems and networks. Organic meshworks. Constantly in relationships. Engaged in multi-dimensional, time and space based symbiotic dances with one another. This is the ongoing operation that literally allows for this reality to be possible. Human beings are but one infinitely small part of that, indeed, we’re composed of a multitude of living beings, along with the cosmos beyond.
Sadly, many human cultures, specifically and especially the currently dominant global ones, participate in actions, assumptions, practices, behaviors, beliefs, ceremonies, rituals, stories and mythologies that are ecologically detrimental and damaging, to say the very least.
They deny, or are closed off from seeing, feeling, and experiencing the amazingly woven together fabric of our shared ecologies. We have been navigating in a perceived state of separation from the rest of nature. Forgetting, crucially, that we are indeed nature, too. We’ve come by this honestly. This does not mean we are to be shamed and ridiculed, nor does it negate our responsibility for the consequences of these human-centric (anthropocentric) patterns that are perpetuated, it merely illuminates them and strongly invites us to break free from these degenerative paradigms so that we can be liberated and thus re-integrate, and regenerated, with our greater communities, as kind, caring, reciprocity driven, ecocentric Relational Beings.
We are tasked with a process of recalibration, to recall, re-member, and reconvene with the totality of who we are, and what we are a part of.
This is not a romantic or fairytale fueled idea that has some clear conclusion and outcome. Where perfect harmony will be achieved if we participate in this shift of awareness/consciousness. Some panacea, that is to say, all encompassing solution that will allow for us humans to achieve a total transformation of our collective orientation and perspectives. Maybe it can nudge us in that direction, but that’s not really what this is all about. It’s really about us humans making little and big moves away from anthropocentric (human-centered) narratives and mythologies.
And it requires a great deal humility.
Actively participating in a process of relational being involves regular practices and behaviors that shift us towards a normalized relational perspective. Helping move us humans away from this audacious, dangerous pedestal of dominance and power. A power that is so short sighted and as already mentioned, degenerative for us, and the rest of this living world. Being relational beings can be of service to providing pathways that move us towards more humble grounds to tread collectively upon.
These humble grounds will ideally promote more positive practices and ways to engage with, and navigate through reality and our shared ecologies.
Regenerative and Relational ways of living and being.
As Relational Beings we can move with more reverence, respect, love, and care for all the myriad fellow beings we’re in relationships with. And this naturally (pun intended) happens through a heightened level of attention and awareness from operating in a more holistic, relational way.
Becoming a Relational Being is a process. It is importantly not outcome driven. It is a provocation for co-becoming part of a multispecies ecological community, with presence and emergence as our guides. It is a verb as much as a noun. Relational Be-ing, being in relationships with the more than human world. How do we become Relational Beings is a question to actively explore.
Like life itself, this is a work in progress and it is a messy one that will undulate regularly. There are so many implications of what this transformational way of living and being can create.
What it means to be a Relational Being is a question that is very much alive and holds an open and invitational guiding light for you to explore. There are numerous current worldviews, cultures, and narratives that place humanity as the central characters in our collective planetary story. It is also extremely important to be aware that there are groups of humans (largely indigenous/first nations) who have lived in more relational ways, indeed, there are a great many that still do. But here in what we call America, and in most of what we refer to as Western Civilization, there is a pervasive perspective that centers humans, where we imagine that the world revolves around us, not seeing that we revolve around, and with, the world.
As we embrace and examine our current storylines that raise needed awareness and attention to the myriad social, political, and ecological crises humans face, it becomes evident that we also could benefit from appreciating that these are relational crises, too. Even framing them as crises humans face negates a relational context and appreciation that all more-than-human beings of and this living world are all facing this, together.
And in many ways, all of these crises can be seen as opportunities for doing better and doing so not just as humans doing all the "work" but as relational beings doing this together with their greater surrounding ecological communities. Not just as stewards or protectors, but also as co-collaborators and co-conspirators. There will be many paths to travel on our way back to an ecology of care.
This inquiry and idea involves regular practices of shifting our orientation and invites us to embrace different, shared energetic, physical, and spiritual spaces to navigate from. Where we see and sense that we are nature, intricately and intrinsically connected in intimate relationships with the surrounding beings, the trees, birds, soil, rivers, and beyond, who collectively shape our shared ecology. This helps to make what has become invisible visible.
And to further open us humans up to such questions like, What might it mean for us humans to follow instead of lead?
To listen, feel, and flow with our intuition and senses, incorporating guidance and messaging from the multispecies communities we’re collaborating with. To surrender some level of this notion of personal authorship and welcome the possibility that we are guided as much by the ecology we are a part of, as we are by what we perceive to be our ‘own’ thoughts or ideas. What might engaging in an intentional fellowship/follow-ship with some of your closest nearby multispecies community members look like when considering how to proceed? What, or how might an artistic creation, piece of writing, or other project be presented if you included the co-authors/creators of the non-human variety who were/are also participating?
These last few sentences for instance were produced just moments after being engaged in a mutual embrace up in the branches of a Honey Locust Tree companion. Surely some of this messaging is coming from them as well.
So, why might Relational Being be important at this time and what is at stake?
Well, as already noted, we currently frame most personal and collective actions from a human centered position and perspective. This can be seen in the usage of “social” all over the place. Terms like; social change, social media, social impact, social investing, and social justice, to name but a few. What these typically contain, in our current paradigm, is an implication that the social dynamic is exclusively human oriented. By shifting, and adding more awareness to relational issues, we naturally incorporate our more-than-human communities into the conversations and narrative.
What happens when we create Relational Change, Relational Media, Relational Impact, Relational Investing, and Relational Justice? And explore the framework beyond the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) focus in modern business practices, which is still rather abstract and a bit unclear of how well it is working in many regards. What if in addition to that, we look at also incorporating a more comprehensive, qualitative and quantitative valuation system using something like a Regenerative, Relational, Ecological, Governance, and Emergent Networking (RREGEN) framework?
These are some of the questions and explorations that are happening at the Institute of Relational Being.
If you are interested in learning more, please consider joining us at our next free online event this coming Thursday the 15th of February called:
Exploring Multispecies Relationality, a workshop hosted by the Global Regeneration Co-Lab(GRC) and Third Horizon Earth(3HE). Along with Andrew Crosby from 3HE, who hosts weekly Regenerative Insights Circles, the workshop will be facilitated by Joe Culhane & Rūta Žemčugovaité. We’ll be exploring what it might mean to find your relation beings and learn nature-presencing practices. And if you happen to be reading this at some future present moment that comes after this event has taken place, a recording will be made available and you will likely be able to find that via the Institute of Relational Being.
To be a Relational Being is really a provocation and invitation, for you as a human to engage with your surrounding ecological community in open, receptive, vulnerable, caring, and authentic ways. This might look differently each day. The request from us here at IRB is to do your best to be present with these fellow beings to the best of your ability. For the gift of our presence is at minimum the energetic level of reciprocity you can share with them.
Your awareness, your presence, this is the present you can freely give.
And may you offer this with unconditional love and with no expectations for what will be returned. This is not an exercise in transactions or results, though be assured, that mutual benefits will likely emerge.