Climate and geography develop spiritual connections between giant trees and human beings

Giant trees are the largest and longest living organisms on the Earth and play an important ecological role in the natural world. Moreover, for hundreds of thousands of years human societies have recognized relatively large trees and given them significant sociocultural roles.

Giant trees that have gained unique identities are often named by local people, can inspire a sense of awe and become objects of faith. In this manner, they have a spiritual connection with local people and encourage social cohesion. Because of this, attachment to and identification with giant trees facilitate people’s spiritual well-being. In other words, giant trees provide various spiritual ecosystem services that benefit the spiritual well-being of human societies.

However, the development of spiritual connection between giant trees and human beings has not previously been studied.

Geography and climate are known to influence the age, size, and other properties of trees. What’s more, previous studies have suggested that very large or very old trees tend to be given unique names and have long been recognized as sacred.

Other studies have shown that all religions, not just animism, are only really understandable within their original climatic and geographical context.

The team used a macroecological study involving structural equation modeling (SEM) with 38,994 giant tree records from 237 species across Japan to show that climate variables, such as annual precipitation and temperature, and geographical variables, such as latitude and elevation, may result in a tree being an object of faith. For example, both trunk circumference and tree age were the top two influential variables for the probability of a tree of becoming regarded as sacred.

Obviously, tree trunk circumference and age were also strongly correlated with climatic factors. The most interesting relationship the scientists noted was that the probability of a tree being an object of worship tended to increase with lower annual precipitation. The sacred trees were viewed as being able to bring rain.

This study on giant trees in the Japanese archipelago is the first to clearly demonstrate the relationship between spiritual ecosystem and underlying macroecological processes. These findings provide a starting point for further studies into the spiritual connection between people and biodiversity, as well as the driving neurobiological processes behind this connection. This study suggests some potentially devastating impacts of climate change on the spiritual connections between giant trees and human beings.

So, what? This study is important on a number of levels. One is the connection between Nature and human spirituality. Another is its clarification of the relationship between certain macro natural systems and the origin of religion.

Finally, and most importantly, it ties in with many recent studies which have shown the close relationship between a connection with Nature and human mental health. To be in the presence of something of such awe as a giant tree, or a mountain, or the ocean has been shown to be a powerful antidepressant and anxiety-relieving experience.

Our need for an ongoing connection to Nature is deep within our DNA and maybe the origin of all of our spirituality.