Spontaneous Nature
The valley sometimes smelt sweet, with the wind carrying scents of flowers low in the ground. Blue, white, and yellow covered some of the ground with the vitality only spring knows. Walking among the great mountains, austere, immovable, one is almost non-existent. Such is the bliss of the absence of oneself. The howls of the wind were almost alive, carrying timeless waves of music through this path carved out by man. Rarely anyone was around, and the joy of silence danced on every leaf, every blade of grass, every moving cloud. The clouds, what tremendous depth. They carried a great deal with them, protruding into heavy grey, and one almost suspected that the rain might be coming soon. In the distance, bright sunlight and voluminous clouds throw the blue sky into sharp relief. It felt like the door to infinite wonders had been opened just there.
Nature is usually where we go, if we are tired of the busy city life. There are those of us who permanently relocate to the wilderness, and live a solitary life. The grid of connectedness is often overwhelming, and one sometimes wonders, are we connected at all? Isolation runs rampant in a city of a million people, and one wonders, why? The self is always seeking refuge, either in the gaze of recognition, or in the comfort of a shoulder. The refuge, however, is never quite enough, since it does not last. What is going on? What is the purpose of all this business called a “life”? How should one live through all this?
Nature provides no answers. Yet it is in nature that such questions become irrelevant. Maybe, there aren't any answers to our burning questions. Maybe, the answer is right here, just not in the form we expect it to be. In our constant seeking, we seem to evade the very essence of life. That essence is of course not an idea, because an idea can be easily destroyed.
We live in a time of tremendous conflict with nature. We are not only destroying nature as we know it, but also destroying ourselves, through drugs and addictions, through compulsions and repressions. We are so very judgmental and prejudiced that we do not allow any deviance to take place. But, do we question what is deviance? To nature, there is no such thing. Everything grows and dies, but all take place with the unconditional support of nature. Judgment is a man-made thing. It is the pride of humanity. It is the vanity of knowledge. It is not different from prejudice. Equality is natural when judgment is absent. Yet, in search of equality, we continue to judge and classify.
How do we exist harmoniously with nature? Any existence is harmonious. If it isn't, it cannot exist. The human believes that nature is somehow separate from itself, so it seeks to dominate or protect nature. Such is the erroneous belief of the human. However, the human is nature. When the human destroys nature, it destroys itself. Nature happens in infinite potential. It does not dictate the life or death of the human. It is the human, with its ambition and vanity, that brings its own destruction.
When the human sees that nature isn't separate from itself, then of course it won't seek to destroy or dominate nature. Thought is the maker of divisions. It is the understanding of the nature of thought that brings a new love of nature into existence. When one sees, without thought interpreting, the beauty of a tree, or the sound of a woodpecker, there is not the slightest inkling of violence. The wind carries the beauty. The air is full of the perfume of beauty. The clouds fly in it, and mountains are imbued with it. The appreciation of beauty requires no thought. And such beauty is the ending of all violence. It is the manifestation of total harmony, serenity, and bliss.
Cover photo by Aman Upadhyay on Unsplash
