NATURE is GOD
Human beings could live in constant rapture if they recognised the face of God in the divine pattern of Nature.
By Sarah Janes
Lockdown Communion with Nature
One of the best things that has happened to society as a result of social isolation strategies and lockdowns, is that more and more people are spending time alone in Nature. They are deeply bonding with it and appreciating it. Without companions, the communion with nature is most impactful on the human spirit. When we are alone we have the silence to hear Nature’s voice, to see her subtle emanations. When I contemplate the most profound and awe-inspiring moments of my life, it is always when I am on my own with Nature. Nature is God.
Have we learned that shops, jobs, status and material fluff are mere trifles and distractions from the real purpose and beauty of life? Surely if these past 12 months are to mean something, they should have given us the time to reflect upon the changes we want to make for a more harmonious world for the future? I hope they have given us an idea that birdsong is divine, that the sunrise is heavenly, that unfolding plants worship the sun, that we are living in Eden and it is the greatest blessing to nurture this paradise. Whatever we take from Nature, Nature will take back from us one day. The earliest religions were simply Nature worship — I think we might be ready to return to Nature Worship. So many environmental movements flounder because they are rooted in politics and scientism. Nature is spiritual.
Ecstatic Spring
How many of us are experiencing hitherto unimaginable excitement for Spring? The darkness of lockdowns has given us a deeper understanding of the mindset of ancient people when it comes to the joy of Spring, its light, its colour, the explosion of life all around us and the synchronistic rising within ourselves of energy, vitality, lust and joy? Imagine how potent this experience would have been for our ancestors, without distractions, artificial light, central heating, grocery shops, without Netflix drivel or clowns on Tinder. Spring is just pure, unabated ECSTASY.
The Mysteries
Ancient cultures encoded this reverence for Nature into their mythic cycles and rituals. These festivals celebrating Nature’s cycle of birth, life, sex, fertility, death, decay and restitution should be revived — part of our sacred covenant with the planet. For the most part, our contemporary expression of festival is one of gluttony and incoherence, where people kid themselves they’re finding some sort of community and spiritual cohesion, but really they are just another expression of our shallow, materialistic culture — to which the shit-strewn fields of Glastonbury in June can attest. In Ancient Egypt, the New Year was celebrated at the heliacal rising of the star Sopdet (Sirius) — which marked the beginning of the flooding of the Nile and celebrants gave each other gifts of water flasks. The precious life-giving, sacred water of the Nile.
Gardening, Solar Worship, Sea Swimming
Lots of people started gardening during the pandemic, they are discovering how much this enriches their lives and they are learning the language of growing things. Many people have been liberated from lengthy polluted commutes and tedious, toxic office hours. They have had the first experience — perhaps in their adults lives — of having the time to do stuff like slowly raise a garden, or nurture flowers in a window box. Over a million people have moved out of London during the pandemic. Because when everything is shut, when there are no distractions, where really is the good or beauty in it? Pollution kills an estimated 7 million people and untold animals and plants every year. What is the value in life and death, if not living in harmony with Nature?
One of the most heartening things I have seen this year is people on the beach sitting quietly to enjoy the majesty of a sunrise or sunset. Sea swimming all year round. Just bathing in the glorious radiance of the sun and the memory of water and appreciating the elements. In these moments we truly live.
