Animism, Activism & Ancestry: Daniel Foor

Daniel Foor returns to Sounds of SAND for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from his own winding spiritual path to the urgent question of why so many spiritual teachers stay silent in the face of injustice. A doctor of psychology, initiated priest in the Yoruba Ifá tradition, and practicing Muslim, Daniel makes the case that animism is the antidote to human supremacy, that Islam is fundamentally a relational and earth-honoring tradition, and that genuine spirituality cannot retreat from the political realities of our time. Along the way, he speaks candidly about ancestral healing, decolonization, the genocide in Gaza, and what it means to become "regular-sized" in a culture built on separation.

Topics

• 00:00 — Welcome back & reconnecting with SAND
• 00:01 — Daniel's path: shamanism, psychology & many lineages
• 00:04 — Animism as the antidote to human supremacy
• 00:09 — Environmental problems are human behavior problems
• 00:10 — Is Islam animist? Sufism & the heart of the tradition
• 00:15 — Relationship is not worship: rethinking animism
• 00:20 — Giving the more-than-human a seat at the table
• 00:23 — "Blown-out" lineages & relearning relationship
• 00:26 — Spiritual responsibility & the silence around Gaza
• 00:31 — When silence becomes a moral failure
• 00:34 — The differential valuation of human life
• 00:38 — What Daniel is building: ancestral & earth ritual trainings
• 00:42 — Why pre-colonial ancestral connection matters
• 00:43 — Becoming "regular-sized": the antidote to extreme individualism
• 00:49 — Right relationship, humility & closing reflections

Resources & Links

• Ancestral Medicine — Daniel Foor's website, courses, trainings & practitioner directory
• Ancestral & Lineage Healing Course
• Practitioner Directory — ancestral healing in 30+ languages, offered remotely with financial accessibility
• Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing (book)

SAND Films

 

• Where Olive Trees Weep

• The Eternal Song (series of 12 films)

 

Referenced

• Graham Harvey — scholar of the "new animism," referenced in the discussion of relational worldviews
• Surah Al-Tin (The Fig) and the animist verses of the Quran — referenced throughout the conversation on Islam as a relational tradition

Contact SAND

• [email protected]

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