Kinship is rooted in a deep kind of knowing that includes, but goes beyond, cognitive understanding. Humans, like other living things, are social beings. We live in relationship to others, not just with other humans, but with the entire natural world. Our evolutionary roots are in nature. This rootedness is an essential part of our physical reality, but it’s also part of our emotional, psychological, and spiritual reality. We are ecological beings. Kinship recognizes this reality as being significant for all human beings.