Finding Yourself in our Natural World
On the boundless nature of the human soul
A word from our President, Ezra Morse
We, live in a world of growing populations, dwindling resources, and egregious disparity. Far too many need what far too few have. So little is left, which must be exploited to fulfill the needs of the many, if only it would ever reach them but rarely does.
I am never surprised to observe that eternal clash between conserving the biosphere that supports our life vs dismantling and commoditizing it to afford life. And in such battles, science and reason most certainly stand on the side of the conservationists, who often rely soundly on arguments about health, sustainability, infrastructure spending and the preservation of threatened species.
Yet, science and reason do not win arguments when profit is at stake. It is almost as if people on both sides are talking in two different languages; as if they are of two completely different minds. It is these conservationists — myself included — who see the world differently from our established culture. They are likely among those who Daniel Quinn aptly coined as the “Leavers”.
“The premise of the Taker story is ‘the world belongs to man’. … The premise of the Leaver story is ‘man belongs to the world’.” — Ishmael
But leaving science aside a moment, I would likely to talk about something unreasonable. Intangible. Unfathomable. I would like to talk about the boundless human soul that the “Leavers” experience, and what it is like to fully embrace life and the natural world; doing so creates a human experience that is sadly fully un-relatable to the “Takers” and exploiters of our biosphere. This is a tragedy for them, our planet and the future generations that will inherit what we all leave behind.
As a child, I most certainly remember glimmers of a rare emotion I will call “awe”; the euphoric appreciation of the infinite and the intangible. Perhaps it was the sunlight bouncing its way through a dense canopy, river waters caressing our fingers or that first clear view of a starry night above. There are moments in our young age when we could be overwhelmed with the vastness of the mundane to the Milky Way.
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” — Albert Einstein
But somewhere along the way, we lose that feeling. Perhaps we lose who and what we are, as we become what we are taught to be. Our egos begin to create walls, construct stories and define us and how we fit into a world that Man has constructed. I became a student and athlete, then a Computer Scientist, and finally a professional and father.
And at some point, I was no longer just a human running through the tall grass, arms outstretched, beneath the warm, comforting gaze of the sun. Just as the earth is commoditized to afford our way of life, perhaps those small wild pieces of us are destroyed as well to adapt to Man’s world.
So gradually, we lose that connection to our surroundings and to the moment. For so many of us, we eventually lose that connection to that sense of the infinite and the mysterious as we travel forward through life with ego in hand, as I did when I “grew”.
With that paradise of awe lost, some time later in my life — now a professional and a father — I do not know what urged me to spontaneously purchase fishing gear and waders. Perhaps it was a nostalgic act of trying to recreate my childhood experience of living off the land. But I certainly remember — rod in hand — the early morning sun rising above the Georgia Strait, painting the water with splashes of orange, while the waves of the Salish Sea rhythmically lapped against my chest.
“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” — Henry David Thoreau
It was on the Nile Creek Beach (a conservation success story), a line danced in the air, scattering droplets in its wake. As the water descended upon the ocean, before me acres of salmon would crest to catch a glimpse of the morning sun. And only a single word could come to my lips: “life”. I was utterly astounded — amazed — to be surrounded by such abundance as far as the eye could see.
Slowly, something happened…the waves ceased to to push upon me. They became me. The energy of the sun that brought warmth to my face was no longer separate. The bounds of who and what I was melted, and I became little more of a piece of everything that surrounded me. As the human constructs that defined what and who I am melted — those constructs that limit and bound me — I became endless. I became everything.
And so I realized, the more I stepped foot into the natural world and away from the world of Man, I began to see myself differently. No more was I a title or a word, but I became simply human existing in an infinite universe among a living, complex world that I was a piece of. When the boundaries dissolve, I would thereby become infinite myself running through the forests or stalking salmon from the banks of rivers. That is life!
And since this discovery, this mindful immersion has become an addiction.
Life is exploring and flexing the human potential, as honed through hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, while being bombarded by 11 million bits of information per second of the natural world — moving so fast as to forget where you end and a trail begins in the world’s greatest playground.
Life is the blood coursing through your veins after a full out speed-ascent of Mount Arrowsmith — a pounding in your temples with a beating heart rate of 180 bpm, covered in sweat — beholding a sight of our precious biosphere in every direction; the oceans, the trees, the clouds — surrounded by the bluest sky — all made out of the same stardust as you. All a piece of you and you a piece of all.
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” — John Muir
If in those moments there is ever a chance to reflect on values, we must realize, this is what we want should want for our children; our posterity. Not a job in an office in front of a 17" inch screen, comfortably positioned in Man’s world. But rather, a fulfilled, embraced human experience where we can expand who and what we are beyond the bounds of degrees and titles. Let our souls rejoice not within the walls of a building once a week or in the size of our retirement funds, but let existence itself become a sacred, divine church where we can worship by breathing the fresh mountain air and the scent of the mighty Sitkas towering above.
It should be clear that there are some of us who experience an unfathomable, intangible awe as we step into forests and listen to the sounds of the birds with wind touching our cheeks. For us “leavers”, pieces of us do not exist just within our flesh, because we are more than flesh alone. These pieces of us and our children grow in the wilds with divinity abound; in that biosphere that keeps every man, woman and child of earth alive.
So naturally, in that eternal clash I first referred to, if one can understand our view point — beyond the science and logic — they must realize it is an affront to our very being when our environment is compromised in the name of profit. As defenders, we are not simply here to hug a tree, but save a piece of the world; a piece of the infinite human soul. It is a piece that took 4 billion years to come into existence and can continue to grow, evolve and nurture this complex world — and humanity— for generations forth. It is us.
…it is an affront to our very being when our environment is compromised in the name of profit.
While so much of what we seek to do preserves vital natural infrastructure that saves us money and makes our world healthy & sustainable, there just may be so much more to conservationists. We are saving a way of living that will maximizes the human potential to succeed, live, love and thrive, all in ways that cannot be objectively calculated by a bank statement.
So yes, it is personal. And when we see a reckless assault on our biosphere — on our children’s future — we will answer appropriately, with whatever tools we have, with little care for how such tool of “dissent” or defense may offend one’s sensibilities. We can live in a bounded world of Man until it dies, or we can transcend a failed culture of exploitation and usher in the world we deserve by fighting with every method at our disposal against what is, in the larger view, an existential threat.
We are currently in a situation globally where we are in a “pause” with a worldwide pandemic linked to a lack of biodiversity and rampant growth. Our economic systems no longer value the human condition and our communities are no longer resilient, but fragile and lacking. Our health as a species has been compromised by the accelerating effects of “business as usual”. It is an extremist position to argue for more of this!
“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Let now be our time. Let this pause be a catalyst that propels us into a new age, where we find a way to harmoniously live with our environment and maximize not profit, but joy, love and communion. We must step into that world we truly belong to, where pieces of us may lay, and find inspiration to fight for the sustainable future we must have if we want to continue on as a viable species. No longer can we submit to the world of Man when those among us have felt the free exhalation of our natural world with the taste of disaster on the horizon.
Let love, nature and awe guide us to a better world that we are a part of, not owners of. It is time to join hands with our neighbors, near and far, and walk into a bright, sustainable future together.
High above the highway aisle
Jagged vacance, thick with ice
But I could see for miles, miles, miles
