September 2008     
                   Reflection                        

                     The Power of Nature
               

“Many indigenous cultures and spiritual traditions recognize four natural sanctuaries where we can remember and come home to who we are: the desert, the mountains, the waters, and the woods. Nature comes from the Latin natus “to be born”. Native peoples look to these places for remembrance, soul retrieval work and to be reborn or renewed. Because we are made from the natural elements––fire, (our energy), air (our breath), water (our blood), and earth (our bones)––we are always drawn to come into harmony with the beauty of nature around us. It nurtures the soul and opens us to be born into the mysterious presence and promptings of our own vast inner world. 

Because we have originated from nature, if we wander away for too long, its rhythms and beauty always calls us to return to it. Vietnamese spiritual teacher Thich Nhat Hanh tells us what happens when we do not stay connected to the land, “Nature is our mother. If we live cut off from her, we get sick.” Every human being recognizes at some level how nature renews our soul and feeds something deeply natural within us.

Throughout history, in all cultures and on all continents, artists, poets, musicians, and writers, striving to lead us to the transcendent, have attempted to capture the beauty of nature, and to put into images, words, or songs, that which is inexpressible. For example, just as D. H. Lawrence loved the woods, Pearl Buck felt that rivers, springs, and brooks offered the only peace and contentment that could truly sustain her. Those who felt the presence of the sacred in the desert include artist Georgia O’Keefe, and writer Barry Lopez. Both of them have loved its vast spaciousness and found humility and spiritual strength there. Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed all spent extended time in the desert.

Mountains and wilderness called to photographer Ansel Adams. Noted poet Robinson Jeffers wrote of the spiritual integrity of the mountains. Leonardo Da Vinci believed that those not connected to nature lived an empty life. He wrote, “Those who took as guide anything other than nature herself, the teacher of teachers, labored in vain.” Among others who were taught by nature were Emerson, Thoreau, Mary Oliver, and Annie Dillard; all were fortified by nature’s ability to bring grandeur, solace, comfort, dramatic beauty, and spiritual meaning into their lives.”

––excerpts from The Second Half of Life by Angeles Arrien
pages 124-130.