The Natural World

So much of the world’s population is cut off from the natural world.  Many have forgotten their origins. Their eyes no longer have the ability to seek out beauty from the concrete jungles.  They no longer connect to the depth of their soul nor do they reach out to another.  Our world has become encased in a cement of suppressed feelings and disowned emotion.  Many have become living robots spending day to day living in rectangular structures, working in rectangular structures, transported in rectangular structures to finally end one day entombed in a rectangular structure.  They may get lucky enough to feel something real, but it is usually short lived.  And we wonder why we have wars.

We can only change ourselves, we are told.  Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  Are you going to spend each week far from the peace of nature, or will you save yourself by visiting your own soul in the real, natural world?  Will you be with animals?  Will you find a natural setting to soothe your soul?

All of us have our origins within Mother Nature. We are not separate from that which most humans destroy. We cannot deny that most of us contribute to the destruction of the planet. But, we do have choices.  Everything is interrelated.  We are all connected on a base level.

What if a young woman from the Western World went to Africa and saw a small child fighting for his/her life? Afflicted with starvation, the mother begs, “Please feed my child.” Would this young woman go home to her country and consciously choose to have her own children or would she save her money to help feed the ones already struggling to live?  

Having seen the destruction of the rain forest and the chopped down trees, would someone planning on building a house of new wood think twice?  Would they consciously choose to build differently using reused cartons, recycled tires, straw, mud and other sustainable materials?  Would they downsize and use part of their land to plant an organic garden?  Or would they mindlessly keep doing what the previous generations have done?  

Would the ones choosing to be part of the military decide instead to protect trees and wildlife, enriching the soil and planting with seedlings to feed the world instead of killing the ones already living here?  It is all a choice.

What can one person do?  A lot. One person can help other children and choose not to have their own.  One person can create an organic farm instead of learning how to operate a gun meant to annihilate someone. One person can go to a straw bale house building class and save many trees. One person can reduce, reuse and recycle.  One child going to school can choose to not buy candy at recess and instead save that money to help feed the starving.  One person can pick up trash on a beach that might have killed a sea turtle.  One person can plant a tree instead of chopping one down.  One person can share the ride and reduce the use of gasoline. One person can do a lot. That one person can be you.