“Our Natural Love for Life Sustains Life”

It has almost become cliché to exclaim that I feel connected to the world, the universe(!). Whilst walking through nature, in solitutde, the sounds, smells, and sight come out strongly and seem t resonate with the mind, body, feelings. As I walk through nature, I am at my best to appreciate anything. I can stop whenever a patch of sun breaks through the trees, enjoying its warmth on my face. I can step lightly, gently crunching leaves under my feet, or sprint steadily, disrupting the calmness around me. Nature has always allowed me to feel at my best.

It therefore makes plenty of sense that it is biologically inserted in me to feel connected or “deeply afficilated” with nature. I have a constant pull to surround myself in its elements.

Food:

Though humans are becoming accustomed to heavily processed food, I think it is in our nature to crave real, raw, untampered with food. My diet since being in India has shifted to be much more organic; I can feel both physically and mentally the affects of this. I have never felt so healthy, awake, and present. Though something in our minds tells us to crave oily, fatty, junk food, I think the more genuine side is telling us the truth.

Animals:

I have grown up surrounded by animals, both domestic and wild. It is easy for me to express my sense of loyalty for domestic pets because I was raised on the attitude that they are my family members. I grant them personalities and put energy into keeping them well. But it reaches beyond animals that I have such a relationship with. It is such an instincitive feeling to want to help any suffering life. Whether it is a trapped mouse that you had set to “get rid of” or a lion struggling with a fractiure paw, there is a gasp of air and a reaction of wanting to help. I think that we all recognize what it means to feel vulnerable to life and therefore respond to noticising in other forms of life.

Plants:

I think we have a similar response to plant life. Seeing a suffering tree, an infested flower makes me consider the life of the plant; what brought it to this stuggle? It is naturally decomposing or has something or someone forced it into this state of despair? I think that we can be as protective of our plant life as we are with our human relations but we don’t allow ourselves to be. It is so easy to objectify plants, using them for our benefits without considering their life lines. Without considering their need to be replenished.

In fact, it feels that that is what we are constantly doing: objectifying nature and ignoring its life lines. I see it constantly. People trashing the ground, causing carbon and not replanting trees, making food that no longer resembles the part of nature that it came from. We let ourselves become disassociated with a world that allows us the most genuine health and happiness. I think this is why so much appears to be askew in our world. We are ignoring “Biophilia”, forgetting to give in to our attritions. Love for the natural world. Because of this, we are not sustaining the world we live in. We are running out of recourses, or diversity, or species, overcrowding our land with unhealthy people. But if we listen to our instincts, we can find that “our natural love for live (can) help sustain life”.