Kin Relationality and Ecological Belonging: An Indigenous Perspective on Transcendence

A consensual notion of transcendence can be drawn from the movement on the defense of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the rights of Nature that I define as the “ethics of belonging” and its two constitutive concepts: kin relationality and ecological belonging. Kin relationality predicates that all living beings and phenomena share a familial identity. Within the value system of ecological belonging, an individual’s identity concerning the natural environment is centered on the sentiments of responsibility. Indigenous perspectives on transcendence differ from Western religious and scientific accounts regarding the motives, scope, and rewards of ritual action. Grounded in this understanding, I profile the two concepts above compared to three commonly self-transcendent states, as understood in Western contexts: compassion, gratitude, and awe. I draw similarities across Indigenous traditions, and with Western approaches to the science of religious experience, and how kin relationality and ecological belonging give rise to cultural variations.