I came across the concept of omphalos a while back, and it keeps surfacing. In the classical world, the omphalos was a physical object placed in the “navel of the world.” The ancients believed these places were the sacred center of everything, and in a world where the human population was a tiny fraction of what we are now, then indeed Delphi must have felt like the center. Large groups of people were the exception rather than the rule.

Now we are crowding the planet and seeking to get away from civilization. Wild spaces are hard to come by, and in the rare moments when I’ve been able to experience only the sounds of the birds, the leaf litter crunched by scampering squirrels, the splashes of fish and frogs, those are the moments that the civilized world fades away around the edges. I feel a sense of omphalos around trees as I hug them, feeling for their vibrations.

I’ve joined a group recently who is dedicated to carrying out the hopeful work of Thomas Berry. The Great Work is our generation’s lot, to restore our right relationship with the Earth. He asks humans to “become present to the planet in a manner that is mutually enhancing.” In doing this work, we become centered in the natural world. He brings forth Maria Montessori’s idea that only in centering ourselves in the universe can we truly begin learning.

This centering for me happens when I commune with trees. Each one is a unique being, home and neighbor while alive and nurse once dead to myriad critters. For me, every tree is an omphalos. A sacred center. A being worth knowing. As I build relationships with the trees around me, I feel connected, and my hope is for the transformation of our culture into a tree-hugging society. I feel hopeful knowing that small steps towards this ideal have occurred: there’s a tree in Georgia with legal rights to itself. And in Toledo, voters have given Lake Erie the right to “exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.”

These are important steps in the right direction. Many will scoff at the notion of trees and lakes being their own legal entity, but we are charged with sidestepping the scoffing and replacing it with wonder instead. A mighty charge, but for those of us who have found the sacred center in the natural world, we can hardly do otherwise. We hug our trees proudly.