Nature

Jordan's comment back a week or so has gotten me thinking a lot about this notion of "nature". All the reading I've been doing lately uses that word liberally with an assumption of its common meaning. In fact, it has various meanings and nuances. It's tough to miss that I'm a philologist of sorts, loving words and their range of meanings and etymologies. So if you're not into that, apologies ahead of time. "Nature" is, of course, used to describe the world around us as it exists without the technical interventions of human beings. That usage is fairly recent, largely the result of our invention of more and more complex and powerful tools ("tekne" is Greek for "tool"). Technology has radically modified our environment. Humans have evolved an advanced capacity for objective thought, the ability to see ourselves as "other" than "what is out there", and can readily think of ourselves as "outside of nature". It was in the 70s when I read Desmond Morris' book, The Naked Ape. It was my introduction to the very notion that my own body, my appetites and impulses, could be understood in relation to my "belonging to nature". For me, it was a freeing insight, an "aha!" moment. Up to that time I'd simply not perceived that connection. It had never occurred to me that I was "part of the world out there". It certainly wasn't a welcome idea for everyone. It was tremendously controversial, and disturbing to what was then a small but reactionary Christian fundamentalist population. In some ways, it was this popularization of evolutionary biology that gave a boost to what is now the "intelligent design" rear-guard actions. These folks continue to REALLY resist the notion that human beings belong AMONG the natural orders and phyla, and insist on our "unique status" among "God's creatures." For me, in this regard, the work is to more deeply experience myself as belonging WITHIN "Nature". There are also other meanings for "nature" I would like to explore. The word "nature" can also be interpreted in light of its relationship to "native". The meaning is something like "original". What is "natural" is that which was "in this place from the beginning", or "as far back as memory can see". The creation myths and stories of most peoples include allusions to "the time before time", when nothing was here. Then, in the stories, there is the introduction of "the original people". Our human history, particularly modern history, is filled with grand movements of populations, colonialism, migrations and displacements. Indigenous populations have been decimated by the industrial age, and we are only coming to understand the wisdom that comes from living in a particular place for tens of thousands of years. One could say that "native" people are the "natural" people, in that they have "deeply inhabited" the land. Finally (for this post), "nature" can be defined in terms of the opposite idea, that of "artifice". Artifice conveys both the sense of "craft" and "crafty", a clever means of out-maneuvering natural phenomena. Sealing a seagoing vessel's hull with pitch is an "artificial" means of forestalling the "natural" tendency of wood to leak. Insulation in your home or outerwear is an "artificial" means of preventing "natural" heat loss. For the most part, I'd argue that crafty means of outsmarting "nature", in this sense, are to be applauded! In any case, the idea of "Nature" and "the natural" is a dynamic one, and an important one for geocosmystic consideration! Rev. Bob Werme, M.Div., MAHRM 203-437-2468