Nomadic Ancestors of Wisdom

By Laura Maria Gonzalez

Nomadic Ancestors of Wisdom

Laura Maria Gonzalez responds to

“What kind of ancestors will we be?”

The word ancestor comes from the Latin word antecedo meaning “to go before”. It did not necessarily refer to a familial connection, but to those that preceded an individual. Today, “ancestor” in the west is primarily defined through a genetic relation. For example, Merriam-Webster defines an ancestor as “one from whom a person is descended”. Additionally, the top search result for the word ancestor is the website Ancestry.com which is a service provider that allows individuals to discover their genealogy and create family trees. The company is not alone in providing this service. Tracking genealogy has become so popular that in just the last decade, twenty similar companies have been formed.

The main feature of these companies is to provide people with geographic localities. Places on a map where their ancestors are from, thereby connecting people to countries and their heritage. While genealogy is an important part of ancestry, my hope is that we will become ancestors of regional wisdom — not just of distant pasts. An ancestor of wisdom would focus on developing collective wisdom by passing on information about a locality to members of the community.

A great example of an ancestor of wisdom is Diane Beresford-Kroeger. She is a renowned botanist, medical biochemist, and author. Orphaned at an early age and adopted into an Irish household, Beresford-Kroeger was taught ancient Celtic knowledge such as the Brehon Laws and the Laws of the Trees. The Laws of the Trees protect certain trees of importance to the community. For example, the “Dar” or Oak tree was protected because of its healing ability. The Celtic Ogham alphabet also demonstrates the significance of the sacred trees. Each letter in the alphabet is symbolized by a tree and associated essence. For instance, the letter “B” is Beith which means birch and symbolizes new beginnings.

Beresford-Kroeger was bestowed with the role of the last child of the ancient Celtic voice and given the task of sharing the knowledge of the sacred wisdom of the trees. Through her education and research, she continued diving deeper into the sacred knowledge and wrote about the significance of compounds such as alpha and beta pinenes that provide antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory responses in the body. She deeply believes that we cannot let go of the sacred in life because the unity of life is an extraordinary thing. To Beresford-Kroeger, science and the sacred are inseparable.

I dream that we will be ancestors of wisdom like Diane Beresford-Kroeger. Where ancestry asks us to pass on the rituals and practices that connect us to local wisdom. We don’t all live in one place for the entirety of our lives. Yet, mobility does not mean homelessness. We do not have to look back or be defined by a singular means of place to be an ancestor. Beresford-Kroeger lost her family. Yet she found ancestry through a shared knowledge that was passed down to her. We should all have this responsibility as we move through space and time to become Nomadic Ancestors of Wisdom.

“While genealogy is an important part of ancestry, my hope is that we will become ancestors of regional wisdom — not just of distant pasts.”

Laura Maria Gonzalez is an architect and amateur synthetic biologist. Her current research focuses on developing living materials through collaboration with microorganisms as a way to transform buildings into intimate and integrative living components of an ecosystem.

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