Animism / Relational-Indigenous Worldview
Animism understands the natural world as populated by persons — animal persons, plant persons, river persons, mountain persons — each possessing agency, interiority, and relational standing. Space is sacred and directional, imbued with meaning and story. Time is cyclical and non-linear, woven through ancestral narrative and seasonal return.
I. Time
| Extent | Infinite |
| Ontological Status | Relational |
| Grain | Continuous |
| Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Traversability | Cyclical |
| Dimensionality | One |
| Direction | Multi-directional |
Time is relational and infinite — it is cyclical, woven into the rhythms of seasons, ancestral return, and the recurring ceremonies that renew the world. Time is continuous, flowing with the life of the land and the community. Direction is cyclical rather than progressive: past ancestors remain present through ritual and story, and the future is shaped by obligations to the land and to future generations.
II. Space
| Extent | Finite |
| Ontological Status | Relational |
| Curvature | Curved |
| Dimensionality | Three |
| Locality | Non-local |
Space is relational and infinite — it is the living landscape inhabited by human and non-human persons alike. Every place is ensouled: rivers, mountains, forests are subjects, not objects. Space is curved in the sense that sacred geography follows the contours of living relationships rather than Euclidean abstraction. It is non-local because ancestral and spiritual connections span the entire landscape.
III. Matter
| Extent | Finite |
| Ontological Status | Relational |
| Conservation | Conserved |
| Dimensionality | Three |
| Locality | Non-local |
Matter is relational and finite — all material entities (stones, water, animals, plants) are persons with interiority, agency, and spiritual significance. Matter is non-conserved in the sense that material beings are continuously transformed through their relationships and ceremonies. It is non-local because the spiritual connections among material beings extend across the entire living world.
IV. Observer
| Time Instance | Multiple |
| Space Instance | Multiple |
| Extent of Knowledge | Immediate |
| Retainment of Knowledge | Total |
| Physicality | Both |
| Agency | Active |
| Number | Plural |
V. Energy
Infinite and substantival — vital energy (life force, spirit power) is a real, independent feature of the cosmos that flows through all beings and places. Conservation: Conserved — vital energy circulates through the web of relationships between persons; it is exchanged, gifted, and reciprocated but never created or annihilated. Dispersibility: Reversible — through ceremony, healing practices, and right relationship, dispersed or depleted energy can be gathered, restored, and renewed; the cycles of nature continuously regenerate vital force.
VI. Information
Information flows through relational networks binding all persons (human, animal, spirit, land). Knowledge is not stored in isolation but distributed across the relational web. Information is relational because it exists in the connections between beings. It is conserved because ancestral knowledge persists through oral tradition and spiritual connection. It is continuous because the web of relations is seamless and unbroken.