Land as sacred

The idea that land is sacred — not metaphorically but actually, in a way that places obligations on those who live on it — runs through nearly every pre-modern tradition and has been mostly evicted from modern property law. What we have put in its place is a kind of relationship with land that produces very good spreadsheets and very poor neighbors, human and otherwise. Nasreddin would say: you cannot own what was here before you and will be here after — you can only be its guest, and guests have obligations.