In communion with Nature, we experience a deeper wisdom, a deeper humanity in ourselves and the inadequacy of our mundane lives. The great sunrises and sunsets ,the glistening mountains,, the rolling ocean, the wild forest, if only we can stop by, nurture our being and send forth the meaningful message that life does not consist in merely daily living and satisfaction of creature needs. In these marvels there is a solace, a serenity that brings us closer to the Divine because God exists in the immaculate silences of Nature. Walt Whitman says “give me again O Nature your primal sanities” asking Nature to furnish us with more sanity in a trouble weary world and the need to step away from the little human turmoil into the wider universe, reminding ourselves that there are other languages spoken by wind, water and wings. We are part of the grand design that surrounds us. Primeval man worshipped the elements and his deities peopled the forests.
Nature is the great teacher and as Shakespeare says “exempt from public haunt, tongues in trees ,books in the running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything.”. The mountains teach us resilience, the sea teaches us expansiveness, the forest gives us the peace of its trees and the peace of its wild things without human interference. The punctilious sunrise and sunset to inexorable physical laws remind us of our duties and warn against the iniquities of procrastination .Our egos are tempered by the humility that comes from awe of nature. In its myriad colours God’s work shop teaches embattled humanity that life is worth living with its multifarious experiences.
Yet Nature is not always benign, its abundant grace vanishes when we are confronted with floods, fires, landslides, eruptions brought about by the desecration perpetrated by humanity . Nature speaks back red in tooth and claw. If we are to prevent such confrontations we must learn to live in harmony with her mountains, rivers , valleys , her forests, her animals and birds. When Henry David Thoreau , the American naturalist and philosopher hears the silver warbling of birds across the fields he asks ” What at such time are histories, chronologies, traditions and all written revelations?” Every encounter with Nature is a spiritual revelation ,a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower.