Connecting to nature
October 29, 2008 | 9:00 pmI am sure you have had moments when you felt especially close to nature. It could have been a sunset or when you met a deer in the forest. It could have been hearing birds singing an early morning in the spring. I believe that these moments are precious. No, more than that. They are important, very important. We should seek these experiences or rather expose ourselves to them. But you can’t command or control them. You have to take the time, be still out in nature and wait for them.
I spent time trekking and living in a tent in the Swedish mountains at two occasions this summer. I was at the bare mountain region where the clouds are sailing. It was a great experience. Up there in the stillness with no people in sight (except my fellow-trekker) I took the opportunity to “connect” to nature and the wildlife. We had sunny days, which are great. Stormy weather (the wind can be very strong up there) and fog can also be positive experiences if you let them. I remember standing in a vast valley with the strong wind blowing through me. I remember seeing the clouds pass by close and I was profoundly affected.
- Hmm, what do you mean by that?
I can’t describe it really. I felt small and at the same time surrounded and embraced by nature. Now afterwards I feel that my relation to nature has changed. The wind and the clouds somehow feel familiar. Does it sound spooky to you?
I believe one of the reasons that man can destroy nature without hesitating, is that he hasn’t gazed in the eyes of a wild deer long enough.
Tell me reader, have you had experiences like these?
Anders,
Not only have I had many deep experiences in nature like you describe, but I avidly search them out and try to find them in my every day life too: in the flowers in my garden, or in watching the rain or clouds in the sky, as well as in those wonderful times I can be alone and completely immersed in the natural world.
Your words reminded me very much of a documentary I watched about the great American photographer and naturalist Ansel Adams … he felt very much as you and I do, too. Perhaps you’d like to read these posts I wrote about him in two of my blogs: the Beauty Dialogues, and in Art & the Environment.
I’m so glad to have met you!
Amy,
Thanks for your comment and for telling about Ansel Adams. I would really like to get my hands on that film. I sense there are some more treasures for me there.
You have a really interesting blog, Beauty Dialogues, what a wonderful name!
I also visited Clear Light Communications. I would say your concept of combining warmth and online communication is real cutting edge. This human spirit ought to mould and direct the development and use of technology. Sometimes technology shapes our ways of communication and creates a culture. Instead it should be our desire to communicate that shapes new technology. Ah, there we have a vision.
/Anders