Many of us have felt something missing in connection with the world we live in. We know our bodies are part of the natural order but but but.......we feel so separated from nature. We live in isolation from the natural world. Our houses are often air conditioned, our windows closed. We go from house, to car, to work and rarely venture out of our protective cocoon. Except for the occasional ant that scurries across a table top, we don't see much wildlife.
I live in the wilderness compared to many folks. We have a geothermal heat pump, so we have whole house air conditioning available, but we use it only five or six days a year. We love to keep our windows open and we have a screen porch that becomes the focus of our Summer living. We have sheep, goats and chickens. Deer and assorted wildlife visit us daily.
I am not excluding myself and family when I make the observation that we are separated from nature. I have known farmers who had no sense of the natural order around them and I have known city dwellers with highly developed connection with nature.
When we pay attention to the nonsense in our minds we miss everything around us. I can go out on a beautiful Morning and not hear the birds singing or feel the soft breeze caressing my cheek; I am preoccupied by the perpetual racket in the mind.
Almost everyone loves camping. It is renewing. It is reinvigorating. Living on the earth, cooking over an open fire. Sleeping outside or with only a thin layer of canvas between us and the world. I have had hunters and fisherman tell me the only reason they pursue the sport is because it allows them to take a vacation in the wilderness.
What is wholeness? We have all heard the expression. Is it knowing our spiritual, physical, mental selves as one? Isn't it odd that we seem to have divisions in our own being? We have mental processes that actually split ourselves from nature. How do we achieve wholeness? Does peace lie in wholeness?
Perhaps we need to understand how we have separated and insulated ourselves from nature. When we dream of our new world, what is natures role? Is that the right question? We are part of nature. We need to know how to understand our emergence in nature.
Perhaps it is best to assume we have never separated from nature. We deny our connection. In a similar manner we have denied our spiritual connection. Our spiritual nature and our biological nature are extant. They just are. We can only pretend they don't exist.
We take refuge in a mind that serves us poorly and denies the truth of our being. Seen correctly, the mind can be the tool that brings the spirit and nature into focus. We can achieve wholeness. Of course, love at every level is the solution.
On our path of finding ourselves, we may find art, music and poetry a great help. I have been neglecting poetry. I have some old favorites but I haven't been seeking out poetry as a means to open my mind and heart. Recently, the universe has thrust some poetry into my awareness. One poet is an old master, Rabindranath Tagore; the other contemporary, Billy Collins. Both of these folks are examples of poets that help increase our heart mind space. I am sure many of you have your own favorites. It is interesting that poetry gives an 'aha' experience without explanation or discussion. We may realize we see something differently without being able to explain it.
I will be writing more about how we can discover our oneness with Nature.
Love and Peace, Gregg
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