SACRED KINSHIP

A nonfiction book calls for people to renew a healthy relationship with the natural world.

“Humanity faces a crossroads,” Overeynder writes. “It is urgently necessary that we understand how to use the powers given to us on behalf of life.” The crossroads in question throughout most of the book is the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 and the many ways it disrupted the normal rhythms of life. Indeed, many sections of the work read as though they were unrevised from four years ago, when pandemic lockdowns were keeping everybody indoors. “Who will we be when we resurrect again on the other side of Covid-19,” she asks, hoping people will emerge kinder and gentler (an ironic time capsule, considering the worldwide rise of fascist governments in the last few years). In response to this and other tensions, the author draws on a variety of spiritual and religious traditions in order to champion the concept of Earth as a conscious, feeling, living being. “Just as everything has intelligence and everything and every being has a purpose to fulfill,” she asserts, “Earth as a whole organism has its reason for being.” Through writing about extensive hikes taken with her partner in the landscapes around Austin, Texas, and the accompanying brief meditations these inspire, she hopes to give her readers a renewed sense of the healing power of nature. She writes all this with a simple, heartfelt passion, and her pan-spiritualist approach very pleasingly excludes no faith traditions. Above all, her optimism infuses the book: “As we activate the sacred trust of living in reciprocity with Earth, we will see that we are making a shared future possible.” In light of the fact that the man just elected president of the United States has promised there will be oil drilling in national parks, some readers may find this vision of reciprocity unrealistic. But this doesn’t stop Overeynder from pushing it with real fervor.

A sincere, ardent, and uncomplicated plea for fellowship with one another and the planet.