How do I start practicing animism if I grew up in a Western secular culture?

There's no permission slip required, and no going backward. Animism isn't a religion you convert to—it's a way of noticing what's already alive around you. Start where you are: a tree outside your window, the soil in your hands, water running cold in the sink. Rumi wrote about presence as devotion, about seeing the divine in ordinary things. That's the beginning. Your Western education didn't break you from animism—it just taught you to look away. So look back. Sit with a plant for ten minutes without your phone. Listen to wind as if it's speaking. Notice how you feel when you walk barefoot on grass. These aren't strange practices; they're remembering. The ache Rumi describes—that longing—often comes when we've forgotten the world is alive. As you practice noticing, you'll feel less alone. You don't need rituals or permission from tradition. You need presence, curiosity, and the willingness to let the boundary between self and world get softer. Start there. The rest unfolds naturally.