WHERE THE LAND LEADS

Not Mistaking The Symbol For The Whole

It is said by some Indigenous peoples that when you separate people from the land, you separate them from their soul—from who they truly are. This is a deeply resonant truth, and for many, the connection to the land is a source of identity, healing, and guidance. That connection is sacred. It grounds us, teaches us, and holds the wisdom of generations.

And yet, there is something even more profound that this connection offers. The land is not just a place—it is a mirror. It reflects something deeper: the fabric of creation, the presence of what some may call the spirit world, and what I simply understand as existence itself. When we stand on the earth and feel its presence, we are also standing at the threshold of oneness, of totality.

Many Indigenous cultures—including Native American and South American traditions—understand this mirroring between land and spirit. The land is both teacher and gateway. Honoring it does not end the journey; it initiates it. The deeper we listen, the more we come to see that this connection is an invitation—not just to care for the earth, but to remember who and what we truly are.

The beauty of this realization is that it doesn't diminish our reverence for the land—it deepens it. We begin to see that the land, while sacred in its own right, is also a symbol of something vaster. And so, we are called not to stop at the symbol and mistake it for the whole, but to walk through it into a fuller relationship with existence itself. The symbol is powerful, yes—because it points to something even greater. Something infinite.

Let us embrace the teacher and follow where the land leads.