Fire in the Belly — Tyson Yunkaporta

The second in a series of stories we’re sharing in partnership with
the Center for Humans and Nature, this narrated essay by Aboriginal
scholar Tyson Yunkaporta explores the ways we’ve long mistaken
cerebral thinking for knowing, and in doing so, dulled a more vital
intelligence. He argues that we are “overthinking and underfeeling”
our existence, and reminds us that we have a second brain: the gut,
which “governs terrestrial relations and is in constant
communication with land and all our human and nonhuman kin.”
Likening our intellect to lightning, Tyson shares how we must let
it interact with the regenerative and relational “fire” of our
bellies if we are to respond properly to the needs of land and
cosmos.  Read the essay. Illustration by Ibrahim Rayintakath.
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