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“At the deepest level, the love that needs to be restored, the sense of belonging that needs to be restored, is with the invisible ancestral realms.” — Kritee (Kanko).
This conversation is being published in collaboration with Dr Britt Wray’s newsletter and DeSmog. The recording was produced by Rothbard.
Resonant World #133
These times of consequence can serve as a catalyst.
At first, the pressure of events feels overwhelming.
But perhaps there’s an opportunity to work with the chaos — to distil the activation we feel into a solvent, and use it to dissolve the outdated beliefs and fears that once obscured core aspects of who nwe primordially are.
Long forgotten, or cast aside, these lost diamonds of our authentic essence now start to vibrate and glow — the light they bear finally ready to be seen and shared.
This process isn’t comfortable. Shedding layers of conditioning at this speed, in these circumstances, can feel like a night journey through the void.
But making this crossing is essential — so that we can come home to ourselves more deeply, and make our proper contribution to the collective unfolding that’s accelerating very rapidly now in response to all that’s occuring.
I felt I was witnessing a fractal of this pattern activate in real time during my latest conversation with Kritee, whom I’d first had the privilege of dialoguing with late last year for the Climate Consciousness Summit 2024. (Resonant World #116: What If the Climate Movement Allowed Itself to Feel?)
With the onslaught against climate action unleashed since January 20 sending shockwaves through the scientific and climate advocacy community, I’d wanted to hear how Kritee — who worked for years as a climate scientist at a major environmental organisation in the U.S. — had been faring.
I also wanted to provide an opportunity for others to draw from the deep well of wisdom Kritee — whose dharma name is Kanko — has dug while guiding people to explore the psychospiritual dimensions of the polycrisis, in her roles as Buddhist Zen priest and grief-rage ceremony leader, and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma retreat centre in Colorado. (Kritee is also the founder of Boundless in Motion, another nonprofit focused on healing, justice and climate action based in the state).
What became clear as we spoke is that the situation has inspired Kritee to share the depth of her connection with her spiritual lineages with a newfound sense of freedom — releasing any hesitation her materialist-reductionist scientific training might have once given her about speaking so candidly about the unseen.
I felt the depth of Kritee’s invocation of the terrifying power of the Hindu justice-warrior deity Kali — whose lionhearted courage is proving such a potent resource as she tends to the grief, fear and panic affecting so many in her community.
“There is a part of us that has that courage,” Kritee said. “And I've been calling on Kali to support me as I support the community because it’s impossible otherwise. It’s so easy to begin to collapse because the news is disgusting and also ridiculous.”
Kritee also spoke about her connection with her ancestors — developing a theme we had touched on in our previous conversation — and shared her how she is drawing on a variety of spiritual resources for strength and guidance.
“Where am I deriving my courage from? It’s the traditional meditation practice, yes. It’s the neurobiological [nervous system reulgation] techniques that mainstream Western science talks about, yes,” Kritee said. “But I think I have a feeling that we’re going to need to lean in more deeply on these ancestral shamanic forces.”
Spiritual Loneliness: The Root of the Polycrisis
Kritee believes that the roots of the polycrisis can be traced to a pervasive sense of “spiritual loneliness” — our experience of being cut off from the connection to a larger reality that is our birthright.
“I feel like the biggest poison we are dealing with at the root of all this is spiritual loneliness,” Kritee said. “The mainstream way our finance systems, economy, corporations, businesses, even education work, we have done away with the shamanic and animist ways of life.
“And we are killing each other. We are killing other species and Mother Earth. And no one’s watching. We feel that we have no accountability and no one is there to guide us.
“And that’s what I mean by spiritual loneliness. And the mainstream capitalist colonial structures have promoted this way of thinking — so you are either a consumer or you are a producer of some product, but the love, the devotion, the communication with the invisible realms is suppressed.
“And yes, let’s do emergency panic-tending, hand-holding, work on our grief and fear and shame.
“But in the long term, I hope, I pray that we don't feel so spiritually lonely because we will not find our courage, our sense of direction without that.
“That’s the prayer I’m holding. And it's like these crises are calling for deep spiritual revolution.”
Kritee emphasised that repairing that lost sense of connection starts with supporting Indigenous communities to return to their ancestral lands — which she sees as the most basic, critical step for preserving a viable biosphere.
But beyond providing that support, Kritee urges those of us living in the industrialised world to embrace a process of “reindigenization” ourselves — another way of saying it’s time for us to reclaim our lost indigeneity.
That starts with the basic work of learning to regulate our nervous systems so we can tend to our own traumas and triggers with greater skill and awareness. We will then be better resourced to undertake the other core aspects of reindigenization by connecting to nature in the places we live; building thriving local communities; and re-establishing our connection to the realms of ancestors, deities and other forms of invisible support.
I feel Kritee’s framework can prove immensely valuable for those of us seeking direction in these disorienting times — and I share her view that that moments of extreme peril can catalyse a “spiritual revolution.”
It’s as if events are conspiring to remind us who we really are — at our core — and thereby provide us with access to the levels of wisdom and resolve we’ll need to reach for a liveable future, starting by supporting Indigenous communities to return to their ancestral lands.
Our dialogue left me feeling changed in some way, as if I had undergone a form of initiation simply by receiving Kritee’s transmition. I hope our conversation will have a similarly psychoactive effect on others who are ready to receive Kritee’s precious guidance in these frightening times. Thank you for listening.
This episode aims to:
Provide a resource for all those struggling with events in the U.S.
Explore Kritee’s framework of “reindigeneity”
Show how spiritual resources can help meet this moment
Address “spiritual loneliness” as a root cause of the polycrisis
Ideas that struck me:
Kritee’s capacity to weave resourcing from her Buddhist and Hindu lineages to support her community
How the extreme nature of the situation could serve as a catalyst to re-establish a more potent connection with ancestral and other spiritual resources
The critical importance of supporting Indigenous communities returning to their ancestral lands
Questions I was left with:
How can I integrate more of the kind of spiritual resources Kritee describes into my own personal practice, and work with groups?
What is the pathway forward for the climate movement?
How dire does the situation have to get to trigger the kind of radical shift in trajectory needed to meet the reality of the climate crisis? Is that even possible at this point? What role can spiritual connection play?
Transcript
Related Resources
The Ancestral Forest: How Indigenous Peoples Transformed the Amazon into a Vast Garden
Ancient Amazonians Created Mysterious ‘Dark Earth’ on Purpose
Reclaiming our Indigenous European Roots
History of the Word Polycrisis and How Its Meaning Is Undergoing Evolution
Importance of Trauma Healing for Climate and Justice Movement
About Kritee
Kritee (dharma name Kanko) was born and raised in India by a single mother in the family of a visionary lawyer and Gandhian freedom fighter who taught her to speak up for love and justice. She came to the United States at the turn of the century to start her scientific research on environmental science. Today, she holds the titles and credentials of a Climate Scientist-Educator, meditation teacher, Buddhist Zen priest, grief ceremony leader. She is founding spiritual teacher of Boundless in Motion and a co-founder of Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, two nonprofit organizations based in Boulder (Colorado).
Notes
00:02:24 — People experiencing fear, dread, disgust at onslaught on climate action
00:03:38 — Meditation practice as shield against “bottomless pit” of fear and grief
00:07:53 — Tending to the panic people are feeling
00:09:32 — Not giving in to the chaos the administration is creating
00:11:37 — Drawing strength from Buddhist and Hindu lineages
00:13:41 — Finding courage in Hindu deity Kali to support community
00:14:16 — Leaning deeply into ancestral shamanic forces
00:18:25 — Biggest poison at root of crisis is “spiritual loneliness”
00:19:12 — Colonization’s impact on connection to invisible realms
00:19:58 — Crisis as catalyse for “deep spiritual revolution”
00:22:59 — Conscious choice to start speaking publicly about invisible realms
00:23:34 — Reconnecting with love to transcend intellectual analysis
00:27:13 — European colonisers were severed from their indigeneity
00:32:08 — Kritee’s framework for reindigenzing
00:38:35 — Indigenous communities in spiritual communion with ecosystems
00:39:15 — Urgent need to empower Indigenous communities to return to their land
00:49:38 — Importance of context to Indigenous ecological knowledge
01:00:23 — Clues to quantum world exist in all traditions
If you found value in this interview, I invite you to subscribe to Resonant World to receive more dialogues — and join the Resonance Council, a community comprised of several dozen paid subscribers who form the energetic foundation of this initiative to build a trauma-integrating media system. Thank you. 🙏
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