Perhaps the best measure that we may use to consider “the generosity of spirit” found in various faiths and spiritual traditions is the degree to which they take care and love species other than our own. In other words, how far do we extend the nearly universal “do unto others” Golden Rule: just to our own in-group, our own faith, our own race, our own countrymen, or to other species as well.
The spiritual traditions which I most respect regularly have found ways to extend their love and care out to the rest of creation, and one manifestation of that is their high regard for sacred plants used in sacramental ceremonies and seasonal rituals. The new Sacred Plant Biocultural Recovery Initiatives is finding fresh ways to renew these expressions and tangibly safeguard the very plants that have been used in such rituals for millennia.
Some of them are now threatened or endangered. If any gesture of caring for creation can reinvigorate positive interactions between spiritual traditions and science, it may just be through collaborative efforts to recover such sacramental plants in the biocultural; landscapes where they truly belong.
If any plants deserve the protection of their connection to the cultures which have been their stewards since time immemorial, might it not be sacred plants that most deserve our compassion and respect?
