Randy Woodley, Becoming Rooted: One Hundred Days Reconnecting with Sacred Earth (Minneapolis, MN: Broadleaf Books, 2022).

At the start of Lent, I took on the project of reading one short two-page chapter a day from this book by Indigenous Christian scholar Randy Woodley. The reasons for this choice were many. But perhaps the top two were that I wanted to have a Laudato Si’ Lent, then a good Earth Month, and that I had read other books by Woodley and was interested in what he had to say in a devotional-like format.

When I passed the halfway mark of the 100-day endeavour, I wrote up a midpoint book review. That post contains basic information on the physical design of the book, the introductory chapter in it, the overall format, and the first 50 daily reflections. I will not repeat those details here. This post will only discuss the experience of the back half of the book and final impressions.

After my midpoint book review, I continued on with my reading project and entered the sixth decade of chapters. The sixth section is called “Learning the Limits of Progress.” In it, one is presented with a strong critique of dominant ideologies in North American contexts. One day focuses on worldviews having a connection to Platonic dualism, another on the Enlightenment march of progress, and a third on individualism. A contrast is set up with Indigenous values and experiences. Other chapters sandwiched between these critical chapters discuss, for example, the importance that relationships can take over ideas, change, and individualistic tendencies. In effect, Woodley crafts a give-and-take between criticism and positive suggestions. Since Woodley is himself a Christian, it is no surprise that he does not lay the blame at the feet of Christianity as such. He thinks—without asking the reader to think identically to him—that foundational Christian truths remain true even in the absent of the cultural supports of Platonic dualism (Catholic tradition would agree, at least since Thomas Aquinas was made a Doctor of the Church), Enlightenment ideologies of progress (clearly envisaged as a rebellion against or at least substitute for Christianity from the get-go), and individualistic conceptions of the self (hardly a problem, for Christianity was born in the ancient Mediterranean world, which was far more collectivistic than ours). Thus, he lays the blame in places which Catholic Christians can accept—but it requires hard work to extricate ourselves from patterns of thought which we absorb but do not do justice to the scope and beauty of the Gospel.

“Returning to the Harmony Way” is the name given to the seventh section of the book. In these ten short chapters, we are given one of the primary, indeed unique, focuses of Woodley’s thought. When he did graduate research, Woodley came to the conclusion that most, if not all, Indigenous peoples have a value in common which he calls “harmony way.” In his own Cherokee tradition, the word is Eloheh. In another tradition, the name will be different. Bu the underlying values and orientation are the same. The “good road”—a term that appears frequently in the First Nations Version of the New Testament also—or “beauty way” is, Woodley supposes, not even unique to Native Americans. “It is safe to assume that other Indigenous peoples around the world have similar understandings of the harmony way” (p. 150). In fact, the question gets posed:

We are all indigenous from somewhere. So what happened? How did the individual become more important than the community? When did competition overtake cooperation? At what point did some civilizations trade knowledge through lived experience and replace its importance with theory? (ibid.)

We can detect here the trio of Platonic dualism, the march of progress, and individualism—and their antithesis collected in the synthesis that is a harmony way. Chapters in this section offer a variety of striking chapter-title images and associated explanations. I quite appreciate that the section ends with a chapter on hospitality (pp. 168–169); this has long been one of the themes that I have been drawn to in the New Testament and in my own reflections, even metaphysical ones.

The final thirty chapters are centred around the idea of loving—first, the earth; second, spirit; third, the people who come after us.

First comes the section named “Loving Earth.” I found these chapters to be, on the one hand, helpful and useful for letting the experience of 100 days of reflection breathe, and on the other hand, not offering a lot that is new. Of course, the lack of newness is arguably a built-in feature. The point is to reflect slowly and change one’s habits of thinking, planning, and acting, rather than to discover novel ideas and make “progress” happen. If we slow down, we can push the radical demand of “harmony way” into various different areas of thinking and living. One chapter, for example, discusses the value of water as “first medicine” and the importance of “water protectors.” Another continues on with stories of sacred springs and the lessons to draw from that. Other topics are a bit obvious bear emphasizing, such as how the energy and food chains works, as well as the importance of healthy soil ecosystems.

“Loving Spirit,” the penultimate collection of chapters, finds the spirituality in the practical, daily living of life. We might be tempted to say that it moves from the physical world of the previous ten chapters into the realm of the spirit—but that would be giving far too much of a nod to the dualism that Woodley is trying to disabuse us of. That said, there is a bit more of a tension between religion and spirituality here than a Catholic would perhaps be comfortable with. I leave it to the reader to determine if that problem can be overcome and if there is less dualism or more in finding no contradiction between the two categories of thought and behaviour. One of my favourite thoughts in this section comes from the first chapter. Woodley describes praying in all four cardinal direction: towards the east, thankful for a new day; to the south, in gratitude for the sun; to the west, in acceptance of death and darkness as when the sun sets; to the north, “toward winter, innovation, storytelling, and the passing of traditions and the building of family”; then finally, “back to the east and… up, thanking Great Mystery for all things in life” (p. 200).

The final ten chapters are grouped under the title “Loving the Seventh Generation.” Here we come to the dimension of time. Up until now, we might think that a major locus of reflection has been earth and spirit in the spatial realm. But now, everything becomes chronological. There is the future to think of. The passage of time was not absent from previous chapters, but all its integrity is presented at the end of the book. Based on the principle “No [hu]man is an island” (John Donne; p. 225), we need to consider both the extension into the future—children and “the seventh generation”—as well as the regular cycle of seasons that should remind us of how times change but should also not fall off the “harmony way.” Not surprisingly for a section on time, a lot of the imagery and exemplar focus moves in the direction of the sky: the sun, the wind, the stars, even red-tailed hawks. Ultimately, things come back around to “the value of now” (p. 237). Becoming aware of the value of time doesn’t mean getting lost in notions of progress. Just the opposite: “The present is where our spirituality exists” (p. 238).

As I was approaching the end of the book, I was beginning to wonder if it would reach any ki d of conclusion. Towards the back, many of the chapters/reflections seemed to branch out substantially more from the theme of the section they are found in. But at the very end, the last quote and anecdote segue into a non-exhaustive list of ancient values to “become more rooted in the community of creation” (p. 242):

• Respect. Respect everyone. Everyone and everything is sacred.
• Harmony: Seek harmony and cooperation with people and nature.
• Friendship: Increase the number and depth of your close friends and family.
• Humor. Laugh at yourself; we are merely human.
• Equality: Everyone expresses their voice in decisions.
• Authenticity: Speak from your heart.
• History: Learn from the past. Live presently by looking back.
• Balance work and rest: Work hard, but rest well.
• Generosity. Share what you have with others.
• Accountability. We are all interconnected. We are all related.

With this list, we come back to the central theme announced in the introduction: “What does it mean to be rooted in the land?” (p. 1) I was glad to have the summary. If I think about it, each of these tend characteristics was emphasized over and over again as I went through the daily meditations. Perhaps the final challenge and suggestion is good, not just for the last of the 100 days, but for every day of one’s life hereafter:

Remind yourself that you are part of the community of creation. Choose one or two of the values on the list and try to embody them today.