It’s Our Nature

Sometimes I stand at the end of my driveway and focus on two wooden boxes perched in a corner of my yard.  These boxes are home to honey bees.  A few years ago, my partner began keeping hives to help sustain the bee population in our area.

Watching the bees is incredibly fascinating.  When young bees are old enough to venture out, they begin to fly in circles around the hive.  This pattern helps them to learn where they live.  Over time, the circles become larger and larger and higher in the air, as they learn their home territory.  When they are more mature, the bees leave the hive. Within a few inches of the opening, they fly up and away.  They go to forage the woods or yards around us for pollens.  They can fly about a mile from our backyard and still find their way back.

I appreciate our bees.  Watching them from the end of the driveway or even from the webcam that connects to an app on my phone is both relaxing and grounding.  Their patterns have a way of bringing me back to center, to a point of quiet rest within me.

The field of evolutionary psychology emerged in the 1970s and 80s.  It provides us with interesting insights into what it means to be human.  A basic but important observation is that we humans have been civilized for about 500 generations.  That may seem like a long time for human civilization.  But human beings have been on the planet for 50,000 generations.  In essence, for most of human history, we have lived as one species along with other species on Mother Earth.  We were not separate but lived in nature.  Now, for a short time, we have lived in communities uniquely our own and distant from nature.

While the honey bees live in my backyard and are content on hot, humid summer days as well as frigid winter nights, I walk from my driveway into my home which is climate controlled.  Throughout the year, my home is essentially the same temperature thanks to heating in the winter and air conditioning the summer.  I’m shielded from the elements, but also separate from nature.

The memory of the 50,000 generations when we lived as one with nature is still with us.  There are ways in which nature is a touchstone for us.  In writing today, I considered the honey bees that give me a sense of grounding.  Other times, I’ve written about hummingbirds who come to the feeder outside the window of my study.  There are nights when my partner and I take a telescope to the backyard to look at the moon and stars.  Living in our humid climate, clear nights for sky watching are at a premium.  We appreciate seeing full moons and stars in their course and other phenomena in the night sky.  And I must not forget how much I appreciate the sunrise, particularly when sitting in an East facing window in my home for my morning meditation.

Many people experience deep spiritual yearnings in nature. Some people find hiking in the mountains to be deeply spiritual for them.  Most of us can recall times when we were filled with awe at amazing sunsets.  Planting flowers and vegetables, working in the yard, are other dimensions of how nature quiets us, brings us comfort, and offers us a deep connection with what it means to be full human beings.

Given our deep connection with nature and humans’ long history of living as one with nature and other species, is it any wonder than many people describe the most spiritual moments in their lives as times when they are in nature?  When we are in nature, whether camping, hiking, or sitting on a park bench, we often experience a deep connection that draws us out of ourselves.  We experience a sense of unity while also finding that our usual concerns and worries fade away. It’s often in nature that we rediscover our balance.

While we live our lives in artificial environments, the truth is that we are part of the natural world and the natural world is part of us.  Not only is this critical to understand for our spiritual grounding, but it’s critical for realizing the importance of preserving the world and its many environments.  To care for Mother Earth is to care for ourselves.  Conversely, authentically caring for ourselves is to care for Mother Earth.  There is a symbiotic relationship that can’t be ignored.

Today, no matter what your life situation, take a moment and allow yourself to be captured by something of nature.  Sometimes for me, it’s simply watching the bees in our backyard.  But it’s also moments of tending to a flower or watching a squirrel.  Remember:  you are part of nature and nature is part of you.  When we are rooted in that connection, we discover a deep connection that brings us wholeness and peace.

Photo credit: Michael Hodgins from Pexels.com