Nature
Somebody said that someone said nature is awful and asked what I thought? It is not uncommon for me to get asked such questions whenever some big tragedy happened like the recent earthquake and tsunami, the previous one too and 911. Some even asked me when the world will end. Some Chinese netizens wrote that the disaster should be greater for their war crimes of the Japanese in Asia while other Chinese rebutted those who did and put them in their place. It did not help that some religious figures said certain things about God's warning, punishment and others. There was even a cleric who declared that because women were scantily clad the earthquake happened.
I can understand Chinese feelings and when I asked Japanese people what they thought they admitted what their forefathers did was wrong but they felt they were blamed all the time. It isn't their fault but Japanese leaders have a fond habit of visiting the Yasukuni Shrine where they enshrined the war dead which to victims of World War II those were all war criminals.
We can all pray to God and ask for His protection, good health and deliverance but we should never pray to God to destroy or curse people. Even if you do God will never do that. If He does something is wrong, you have got the wrong god! Why? Because God is good and God is merciful! That's why we call him God. Evil things come from the Devil! Let's get this straight. Besides, he is the boss of everything that's why we call Him God so why would He listen to your instructions?
We can all pray to God and ask for His protection, good health and deliverance but we should never pray to God to destroy or curse people. Even if you do God will never do that. If He does something is wrong, you have got the wrong god! Why? Because God is good and God is merciful! That's why we call him God. Evil things come from the Devil! Let's get this straight. Besides, he is the boss of everything that's why we call Him God so why would He listen to your instructions?
Religious leaders should not jump on the bandwagon and speculate. If an apparently good man died in a plane crash, does it means he is so good God took him home early or may be he wasn't really a good man after all? Human judgement and more human judgement. The fact is simply the man died in a plane crash. No one alive on earth can truly understand God because if He were God then He is infinite. Instead disasters are tragic and we should be praying and helping regardless of race, language, religion or based on past grievances. It is humanitarian.
What Is Nature?
Nature relates to the natural world we are in - the physical world to the cosmic. Of plants and animals that develop on their own accord. The way things exist like geology of the earth and the weather and our natural environment. It also relates to the consciousness of our human minds and with the natural comes the unnatural and also the supernatural.
Let Deep Forest gives you the sound of the forest with voices from the real pygmies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRq-9kQf5Gk
The earth itself is an ecosystem and there is oxygen and carbon dioxide and the ozone layer helps deplete ultraviolet rays that protect us. Ocean currents determine our climate which in turn moderate temperatures. A few degrees changes can mean death due to extreme heat or cold. Our human body imitates the earth surface where 70% are made up of water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94HYEe1bOFU&playnext=1&list=PLFC320FC1C868E70E
Cause And Effect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgDX2xpGwAU&feature=related
The seasons of winter, spring, summer or fall are all cyclical. Isn't that amazing? Seeds planted onto the earth grows into plants, vegetables, trees that bear fruits in all its splendour and variety. We take all these for granted. Nature just as in life has always been about cause and effect. What we humans think, say and do are causes and what the causes are the effect will come in equal proportion. For every action there is an opposite reaction. When there is a landslide somewhere we blame the weather but do we think and look deeper? There are lots of illegal logging for profits at the expense of nature. This leads to an untenable situation where excessive rainfall will lead to a landslide as all trees were uprooted.
It is not just landslides that we need to worry about but the rain forests hold secrets to many of our life's cures for ailments. Our human endeavours of constant drilling and pounding, clearing of forests in the name of development, destruction of natural mangroves, air pollution, choking rubbish, etc. adds on to all our troubles.
Allow David Arkenstone to appease your souls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHTa27u5r7Y&feature=related
Is Nature Awful?
Nature provides food and water for our survival. Trees give us oxygen. We get our fibre from vegetables, all our vitamins, minerals, oil from nuts and fish are obtained from the seas and the soil of the earth. The clothes that you wear, Cashmere wool from animals and cotton from plants. Is nature awful? No!! Nature is simple and nature is happy - always. Nature is a provision for our existence. When you look at nature you should have a sense of wonderment. You should be in awe of the spectacle. You should actually feel so small no matter who you are or how important you think you are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcUjFuU5pWU&feature=related
Nature Is Beauty (Quotes)
Float with the music of Enya (Watermark) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiFTXckh0zU&feature=related
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wild flower in spring; these are some rewards of the simple life - John Burroughs.
More Enya with Orinico Flow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfVJ11GXzXQ&feature=relatedThere is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me - Thomas Jefferson.
You like me will love Chris Spheeris (Enchantment): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baHDZ-DsFhU
Nature is a writer's best friend - Agave Powers.
Chris Spheeris with Eros: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4V9awsmKpQNature is the art of God - Thomas Browne.
Chris Spheeris with Viva: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXlmV_1r9bE
Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral - John Burroughs.
You will find more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters - St. Bernard.
You will find more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters - St. Bernard.
If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is Nature's way - Aristotle.
I have made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite _ Bertrand Russell.
Once you heard the lark, know the swish of feet on hill-top grass and smelt the earth made ready for the seed, you are never again to be fully happy about the cities and towns that man carries like a crippling weight upon his back - Gwyn Thomas.
In some mysterious way woods have never seemed to me to be static things. In physical terms, I move through them; yet in metaphysical ones, they seem to move through me - John Fowles.
Nature cannot be tricked or cheated. She will give up to you the object of your struggles only after you have paid the price - Napoleon Hill.
Nature to be commanded must be obeyed - Francis Bacon.
If the sight of blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has the power to move you, if the simple things of nature has a message that you understand, rejoice, for you soul is alive - Eleonora Duse.
There is a nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time, we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough to pay attention to her story - Linda Hogan.
I go to nature to be soothed and healed and to have my senses put in order - John Burroughs.
Let us permit nature to have her way. She understand her business better than we do - Michel de Montaigne.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished - Lao Tzu.
Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better - Albert Einstein.
It takes both rain and sunshine to make a beautiful rainbow. If life is to be like a beautiful rainbow there will be both sorrow and joy that comes into it.
What I Think
Opinions are like a**holes, everybody has one. When I am out at sea or in the middle of the woods, when I look up at the blue skies and clouds, when I peer out from a plane and look at the wide expanse of nature I cannot help but feel insignificant. I cannot help that I feel an instinct in me and what my eyes see are the hands of God's creation and provision and a sense of awe. Nobody need to tell me or convince me. No proof is needed. Do you think all this is an accident? Have you ever seen a beautiful accident?
Have you never wondered or feel amazed by the seasons, the birds and the bees, sunrise and sunset like clockwork, the miracles or birth, a great self-healing body, seeds, plants and fruits, the smell of fresh air from nature? Land animals especially during spring and summer, the vast oceans and the seas teeming with life with all kinds of sea creatures. The rainbow after the rain. Do you wonder why it is so good to laugh when you are feeling happy? Do you wonder why you come or when you will leave?
Even if you are atheist, you will shout "God help me" when your car is flying off a cliff because you know the likely outcome and you are not going to shout the names of your best friends, spouse or parents. I mentioned parents especially mothers because only your mother will like your face to be brutally honest. People who believe in God do believe that God is a good God therefore, He does not send killer waves or disasters as a mass rapid transit to take you home because He is eager to meet you. If that is so, then the next question is why does He allowed it?
There could be many reasons and there will be many reasons we could not understand because we are not God. We are mere mortals and finite, He is Infinite. Before all these, did anyone notice about the dangers of nuclear facilities like the one in Fukushima? Despite all the promises of Man, they have always failed. Financial crises, nuclear reactors, etc. Are we still pressing ahead to build more nuclear plants when even the best trained, the most capable and the more honest could not cope? Yes it is cheaper but do we need to constantly increase our energy needs? To keep demanding more things, we have to be producing more and therefore we have to keep working longer, faster. Who sets the limit?
Are we meant for high-rise buildings or living so near to the sea. Entire mangroves were often cleared to build resorts. Who puts us there? Man. Despite all its beauty this earth is broken and tainted and not in its original condition. Earthquakes and tsunamis will come and they are getting bigger. Some countries are facing severe flooding again. While half the country is suffering flood the other half is in drought. Tourists were all stranded. Hardly anywhere is safe.
When calamity struck, we should all groan, weep and cry as a human race regardless of nationality, race or religion. We close ranks. It is pointless and futile to make all kinds of reasons or explanations. Every calamity should offer sober reminders to us on just how vulnerable we all are. Everything else in life would be insignificant if we knew what was coming. The only question is are we prepared? Some folks talked as if this is a punishment from God. If it were true, none should rejoice and we should go into mourning. We should share in the suffering of humanity. Moreover, many of us are too full of self-importance to have taken note of anything else, to have time for family, friends and the little things.
Often, people will get upset when others steal their work or ideas and get credit for what we do but once we understood that all these earthly rewards are temporal you begin to live in a new day and light. People who have lost family members in a calamity like a tsunami can suffer for prolong periods. They need prayers for relief and healing. Children become afraid to even touch water while parents do not wish to part with them. Even relief workers need comfort. If you were to witness such an incredible devastation with dead humans everywhere you would hide somewhere to weep alone because our emotions could not bear it. I was at Hotel New World when our troop dug out a few dead bodies. I should know.
Nature is always beautiful. Only Man is destroying it. All of us will have to go some time but only how and when. The only questions are - are we ready? Are we getting our priorities right? During the 2004 earthquake and tsunami, it hit many countries at once and a few hundred thousands lost their lives. I read that in one country many people in a church lost their lives while those who stayed home survived. Yet in another place those at home perished while those at church survived. However, it was not reported whether the home or church is nearer to the sea. I can only advise people not to read too much into it like why do good guys die too and some bad guys live longer.
The reason is very simple. You are only human so how do you know who is good or not? Based on whose and what standard do you judge people by? Are you to judge in the first place? All these does not matter as long as you feel sympathy and do what is required to help in some ways. Ultimately, your belief or relationship with God is yours and is personal.
Continue to enjoy nature. Don't worry, you will never get out of this world alive. When the earthquakes and tsunamis get bigger and more frequent, we just have to prioritise our lives. What is really important to you? Plan to live forever but live like today is your last then there'll be no more time for anger, petty stuffs, no reason not to forgive and you will see the world in a different light.
Regardless it is still a wonderful world.
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