WHAT I’VE LEARNED FROM NATURE

                The title of the article says it all, I have learnt a lot from nature and now I am about to share a piece of that experience with you. For a few months at a time, between July last year and late March this year, I was in a very remote environment. I did come into the city center a number of times but most of the time I was in a completely ‘natural’ setting; with trees, a stream, a river with its bank insects, day or night, I could see the stars in all their glory, shining ever so brightly on many nights, I could hear the rain drops as they beat down on the ground. I could take a walk in the rain or at other times in the woods, plains or fields and look at simple creatures; ants and lizards and grasshoppers in their fullness of colour, green, brown, yellow with burnt trees which happened to be burn victims when the villagers set their lands ablaze re-ignite the power of the soils to bring healthy crops and new-birth.

                I learnt a lot from nature, so almost every evening or as much as I could, I would take walks through the woods, or the fields of grass or the paved walk ways, as I had all of that in one place. This part of nature was wild, not wild enough to be considered Tarzan’s home but not simple enough to be called a garden or even a mild space of green: it was wild in all its glory and I loved it. So I would take these walks and I would think, as I always do, everytime I get the chance and not bombarded with human interference, technology and social media, horns, conversations about business and conversations about society or racism or presidents and wars on who is better than who or basic people interferences: When I could just simply think. And in those moments, I would see spiders having lunch of a fly that got stuck in their web, I would see the clouds cover the brilliance of the day or night skies, I would see rain pour down and beat down a plant that is just struggling to grow. And then not long afterwards, I would see something entirely different, I would see that beat down plant look brighter, better and stronger than it did before, taking its nutrients from the now nourished soil and flourish, I would see the skies clear to reveal the most brilliant of sunsets, star light and beautiful skies, I would see the journey of earth life and in it, I would see all of humanity through the eyes of nature.

                As the stream and river settled from the day’s dredging of sand and the workers made their way home after a day’s work, to feed their wives and children, the waters would calm and all that dirt, filth, dust and sand would be gone. All that would be left would be the reflection of the earth and skies through the eyes of a simple man, showing across the yardage. Now I don’t know how many yards it was, but I would see straight into the horizon and I would always wonder, what could lie at the other end? I was never bold enough to get on one of the native canoes, or maybe I was bold enough but I have a wife, whom I love deeply and would not want to leave so I am not as adventurous as I could be or would have been otherwise. Or maybe that is my excuse! But I would look at this bank and I would see how clear the water was and if I stared long enough, I would see through the reflection and I would start to see the fishes in the water. Just to note, this is not a clear water river, it is very muddy, spilled with oils from drills by oil companies and other diggers, but suddenly, after a while staring at the subject of my observation long enough, I start to notice other things beyond the oil and filth. For example, strange animals that I had never seen before do stranger things like go for a fun swim.

                The other day I witnessed, a number of times, a particular bird would come and dive into the river and come out, standing by the bank, it would dry itself up in the sunny wind and then take another dive in and repeat the entire process over and over until it was satisfied. So one of these evenings, I decided to go to the spot that it usually came to do its thing and the most amazing thing happened. It came to the spot the first time, saw me and went away to a different place but kept coming back to ‘now my spot’ at intervals. At the fifth or sixth time, noticing I was not there to harm it, it would just come close to me doing its happy dance or whatever magic it was doing, then sit quietly for the length of time that it usually does and then go away. Now it didn’t mean a lot to me in those times, I just enjoyed the process of the silence, the opportunity to think, to be away from all the ‘noise’ that is human life. This is not to say that I am anti-social, in fact I am told quite the opposite but sometimes we cannot really see into ourselves or see into our family, friends, and co-workers, associate or affiliates because there is a lot of noise going on. We have targets, goals, visions, ambitions, dreams, expenses, bills, desires, intents, possessions, feelings, emotions, betrayals, misunderstandings and so on. If we would just be quiet to think about what we really want and how to get it, in the most positive, moral and most decent way, we would be able to call greed exactly what it is and differentiate between someone who is on the good side and another, the other.

                I always tell people that the worst position to ever have is to be in the middle, to be on the fence and to not have anything that you are known for or believe in so strongly; right or wrong. There will always be two sides and everyone has to choose. A coin with two sides cannot be the same and even if both sides bear the same markings, they still would not look the exact same way because one has been exposed to a different environment experience than the other. If they were scientifically orchestrated to have the same experiences, there still will be one form of difference no matter how little. Either you agree with that illustration or not, this article is about something more innocent, it is about observation. To look at all the people and all the things that we do and to ask ourselves the most basic question of all, why?!

                Why do you want a better pay, so you can pay bills and have more money and more resources to do more things? Yes, but why? Why can’t you instead manage what you currently have properly? Why and why should you?! Why do you want to be top of your class? And when you get there you would say that, the top is the better place to be but then why do people who have achieved that commit suicide? There is no straight and cut answer and people who have more spiritual interaction and insights would tell you it is because you are lacking something. To a very large extent, I also agree with that; there is a spiritual cycle for every human soul but again, this is not about that. This is about the stillness of observation and what I have learned from nature. I could see tranquility in nature, how the wildness of the crickets; I do not know why crickets are so loud, biologists could probably tell me. In nature and anywhere else they can be, they are so loud and observing crickets in nature, every night I get the chance, their ‘’noise’ is beautiful. Noisy but beautiful because it belongs! Could it be that this is the same beauty that I am yet to see in the chaos of modern civilization or could it be that there is no synchrony in our life’s structure as there is in nature? And so we are constantly struggling to harness the method to the madness, building houses, roads, bridges, developing electricity, technology, innovations, resource? These are just thoughts but they lead somewhere, most times we don’t even know where the destination is, we just go on this amazing thought full journey of wonder. I wonder this, I wonder that, I wonder whom, I wonder where but most of all we wonder why.

                Why are you here, why do you need to eat, why do you die? Because you will! And I will and everything we hold dear will be gone, either your country is great or your country is small. One day, none of it will exist, just ask the Romans. Evolution or Time will take it all away and something else would exist and someone else would matter and in this chaotic world, all you can and should really do, is wait and watch and listen and learn and maybe you would begin to figure out exactly how you should and could live a life that will give you peace, tranquility, joy, strength, love and all the good things that a person can only hope for in this journey of Life. As you carry on today, I wish you a good life, because that is all any human can ever have or hope for at the very best!