CAN WE HEAL OUR SEPARATION WITH NATURE

I am getting a very late start. I went to the doctor with Jamie this Morning. The good news is that the test game back negative for Leptospirosis. The bad news is that it puts us back at square one. It doesn't seem feasible, her symptoms could be caused by sleep apnea, alone. Theoretically, they could, but from everything we can tell her sleep apnea is well managed. She had a brain scan last week and she is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow.

We got back from the clinic, I had to have a little brunch and then I had a little nap sitting in front of my computer, it is now after Noon.

I intended to talk about our separation from Nature and some strategies we might employ to remedy the situation. However, it is late, I won't be able to look at the situation in depth. Perhaps, Friday.

How did we get so separate in the first place? It is logical our fragile bodies played a part. We are, an exception among mammals, that we cannot survive the climate we find ourselves in, without protection of our bodies. Why didn't we evolve with nice fur coats? Perhaps, our brains evolved first, and in a warmer climate, we didn't need to evolve fur, then we learned to manipulate our environment with the use of fire and artificial shelters. That path of speculation is best held over a brandy on a cool Winter evening.

We can clearly see, we did manipulate our environment. We reacted to Nature as we would an enemy, we attempted to control it, use it and abuse it. Control and domination seemed to be the general features to our relationship with Nature. Yet we seem to have a schizophrenic attitude; we obviously hunger for what we lost. We create parks, and beautiful gardens in the cities. We go on camping trips and kayaking and canoeing. We work to set aside more land for National Parks, at the same time, we turn a blind eye to the destruction caused by mining, lumbering and oil exploration.

In the Summer, many of us only know how the outside air feels on our skin, as we go from our air conditioned houses to our air conditioned cars. In the Winter, it is our heated houses to our heated cars. I am not making a judgement. I have a body; it likes to be comfortable. I understand. Most of us are so busy making enough money to feed and clothes ourselves, we just treat the outside as something we have to pass through from one shelter to the next.

One of the great attractions of the suburbs is that they had yards! Folks could actually go outside and enjoy a slice of Nature, at least in pleasant weather. I was born into suburban living and I moved to the country after I turned forty. I grew up in a family that loved Nature and did not pass up an opportunity to learn, explore, and emerge themselves in it. We picked wild berries [blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries] in season. My school lunches consisted of home made bread and blackberry jam. My Mother always pointed out the names of the plants and bugs that we came across.

Yes! I was very fortunate. Yet, when I moved to the country I experienced a whole new layer of Nature. Heating with wood, pumping water from a well, using an outhouse. It is amazing how much more we are aware of Nature when we need to go outside to tinkle. {I don't think I ever used that word before in my life} After, I moved to the country I knew what phase the moon was in all the time. I don't think I did before.

We have had the modern conveniences, these last thirty years or so, and I don't have to go outside every time I need to relieve myself, but I often do. I have chickens and sheep to care for, so I cannot stay locked up inside for more than a few hours at a time.

Although, our bodies need protection, they are not as fragile, as they are treated. Peoples in other cultures expose themselves purposely to cold because they believe it is healthy. I have observed at least two of my children, walk in the snow, with bare feet.

I used to love to go camping. Cooking over a fire, sleeping in a tent or outside, in sleeping bags, on the ground. It was renewing in a way I can't describe. I know what I gained from the experience last me for a long time.

I have written more than I thought I would. I think we can state the problem, as one of attitude; at some point in our evolution we began to see Nature, as in opposition to us, [enemy?] rather than the nurturer she is, after all, everything comes from Nature. We have become a society of manipulators, controllers and exploiters. We cannot just relax and let Nature take care of us, we must wrest things from her. Could the dominance of power and money have something to do with this?

Let's explore, how we can heal our separation, on Friday.

Love and Peace, Gregg