We recognize and acknowledge that those of us who live in North America inhabit the ancestral lands of the First Peoples of this continent. In many cases, these lands were unceded and were taken by force and trickery without respect or honor for the People living here. It is much the same in other parts of the world, where indigenous peoples have been colonized, marginalized, and erased. We recognize this and seek to honor these People, this history, and these harms — past, present, and future. We also seek to recognize with gratitude the beauty and the spirit of the land that we have come to live on through a history shaped too often shaped by bigotry, violence, genocide, and cultural appropriation.
The past has brought us here and has given us the opportunity to live and work within the abundance, the blessings, and the power of these lands. We wish to recognize this energy exchange, this debt of gratitude, and the weight of responsibility that we willingly owe to our own ancestors and those of these cultures, traditions, and peoples. Because of this, we commit to an ongoing and evolving definition of true respect and true stewardship to the Land and to the physical and spiritual heritage it embodies. We further commit to an ongoing intention of “right energy exchange” honoring indigenous peoples and causes in acknowledgement of the debt owed, the sacrifices made, and the harms suffered.
We further recognize that some of the spiritual paths practiced in Tzaddi benefit from the knowledge, wisdom, and teachings cultivated by indigenous people (on this continent and around the world). We acknowledge our responsibility to honor and preserve these teachings as precious tools and resources for true spiritual growth and maturation, and our responsibility to be stewards and lineage holders where we are called to do so, preserving the integrity and honoring the origins of the teachings and the peoples that developed them. Finally, we make a deep personal commitment to walk in beauty in this life and on this land and to bring honor to our community and ancestors through truthful, loving, and impeccable action
Learn more about indigenous land acknowledgement here.