NATURALISTIC ANIMISM: SEEING THE TREES FOR THE ENTS
by contemplativeinquiry
Great contribution by John Halstead to the re-visioning of Animism.
The Tree or the Spirit of the Tree?
Those who believe in personal gods sometimes have difficulty understanding non-theistic nature worship. I have heard it said that we cannot possibly be worshipping natural phenomena, like the sun or trees; we must be worshiping a divine force “within” or “behind” the natural phenomena, something like Greek dryads or J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional Ents, the personification of the spirits of the trees.
From a theistic perspective this makes sense. After all, Orthodox Christians do not worship their icons, and Pagan polytheists do not worship the statues that represent their gods. So some theists have difficulty understanding the non-theistic worship of physical nature. They assume that worship requires a conscious person on the other end that appreciates the worship. And if you start with that assumption, then it seems absurd to worship unconscious nature.
On the other hand, many Naturalistic Pagans are uncomfortable with…
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