Studying Nature

[Unveiled Artist]

I live more in near the city. We have green grass and trees, etc and the different weather is beautiful yet hectic sometimes. As a society, we are so programed to look at our computers for information "what does Wiki say"? We think. Where is that book on Greek Mythology, we flip through. What's on the history channel.

To those who involve yourself with nature as part of your faith, how do you learn and get to know your physical environment? Not the people but the land itself? I dont live on farms and havent had family members who, in my time period, depended on actually cooking food without knowing what a microwave was. I just hit my preteens when cellphones emerged.

I dont want to look on a book and look online for information about my environment. I sit and star at the sun, the trees, etc, and get to know them that way. Our ancestors really got to know their environment. That's their home. It's more intense (in my point of view) than my meditating under a tree.

How do you have a relationship with nature?
What ways do you do (without telling me your personal rituals etc) when you meditate and visualize that lets you actually know more about where you are?
Do you depend on your feelings and connection or do you (those not in country areas) actually find physical connection and knowledge from the environment you are in? If so, how?

You can give a fake example, if you like. As long as I undestand the context, I am good.

Thank you guys!

 

[Timothy Bryce]

I can't understand a comprehension of reality without my (currently living) body which I am currently responsible for. Everything else is hearsay.

I don't think technology or philosophy have much to do with it - as long as you exist and are self-aware, you're there. And that's all that you need to be.

I struggle to comprehend the idea that anything is "unnatural" - a concept that most of my friends seem to be able to understand; many people see anything that has been the product of man-made intellect to be some kind of artificial item in the universe - I understand the logic, but I don't see it myself.

Gratify yo' selfs *****es!

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I can't understand a comprehension of reality without my (currently living) body which I am currently responsible for. Everything else is hearsay.

I don't think technology or philosophy have much to do with it - as long as you exist and are self-aware, you're there. And that's all that you need to be.

I struggle to comprehend the idea that anything is "unnatural" - a concept that most of my friends seem to be able to understand; many people see anything that has been the product of man-made intellect to be some kind of artificial item in the universe - I understand the logic, but I don't see it myself.

Gratify yo' selfs *****es!

I see where you come from. To me, eating a hamburger is different than eating vegebles with skinless chicken, fresh herbs, with water or even orange juice. If I got the latter at a resturant, then, yes, both are made by man but if I went off of what's healthy rather than who made it, I'd stick with the latter.

Same with computers, cellphones, etc. If I can write a letter or talk in person, that's more personal. When people say "technology is not natural" a lot of us are saying it's blocking our growth.. for me, my spiritual growth. However, others love themselves their technology. I dont understand it. I love a simple life but Im in the city where they might not know what that even means.

It's good to know yourself. Have you ever thought you can do the same, learning about yourself, through your environment as well?

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Do you depend on your feelings and connection or do you (those not in country areas) actually find physical connection and knowledge from the environment you are in? If so, how?

With me it's mostly about making time, just being in a particular natural environment long enough to really experience it, to really feel it. For example I might sit by the sea for some time just watching the waves, taking it all in, Or sitting quietly in a forest for a while and just observing. That kind of thing.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

With me it's mostly about making time, just being in a particular natural environment long enough to really experience it, to really feel it. For example I might sit by the sea for some time just watching the waves, taking it all in, Or sitting quietly in a forest for a while and just observing. That kind of thing.

That sounds like a good idea. I used to go soft hiking in the county park. Nothing but trees. I takes two hours to get there by public transport since i moved and thirty mins by car if i had one. I should go before it gets too cold.

I just want to take that next step, ya know.

 

[psychoslice]

We don't need to have a relationship with nature, we are nature, anything other than this is to live in a duality, that is against nature.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

We don't need to have a relationship with nature, we are nature, anything other than this is to live in a duality, that is against nature.

Sure, but I think to realise that you really have to immerse yourself in nature and feel fully part of it.

 

[psychoslice]

Sure, but I think to realise that you really have to immerse yourself in nature and feel fully part of it.

Whatever, it all means nothing, you are already that which is.

 

[DawudTalut]

.....
To those who involve yourself with nature as part of your faith, how do you learn and get to know your physical environment? Not the people but the land itself? .......

Peace be on you.
Can a Muslim answer?
DIR issue

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I have practiced awareness for years, whether I am in the city or the country or in between. There have been at least two parts of it: learning what people know and have experienced and think about nature (and I've learned to stop separating things people have modified from nature, from nature); and being open and aware in nature. Watching the marmots and pikas as they run around the meadow in next to a high mountain lake, collecting grass and getting fat for winter, and getting to see a pine martin (a weasel-like predator) sneak up and catch a pika--which then fled as a two marmots pursued it. Cowering flat on the ground on top of a mountain, no protection in sight, during a thunderstorm that seemed to last for hours as lighting flashed and crashed all around us...sitting up all night watching the star wheel overhead...watching and waiting for the deer to come close enough for me to take a shot...

Be There. Wherever you are. It's easier when it's quiet and peaceful, but you can be aware even in a bustling city. My students are surprised to learn that we have foxes and coyotes living in downtown Indianapolis, as well as deer, hawks, falcons. I've seen the fox sit and wait while 20 feet away, people walk past her unaware, absorbed in their cell phones or talking to the person they are walking with, or so absorbed in their own thoughts that they don't even look to the side...

It takes practice: stop what you're doing and open up your senses, really look, listen, smell...don't analyze it all, just let it into your awareness.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Whatever, it all means nothing, you are already that which is.

Yeah, it's all one man, right on.

<Spiny wanders off to do some more tree-hugging and nudey dancing in the woods>

 

[allfoak]

I just want to take that next step, ya know.

If we want to get to know nature we have to become one with nature.
That doesn't happen by sitting under a tree now and then.
The world now eats more processed food and ingests more pharmaceuticals than actual food and real medicine, which as a result has completely disconnected us from nature.

Mother nature is our nurse.
Like a mother cares for a child in the womb, mother nature cares for us in the womb of the Earth.
When we are able to make our food our medicine and our medicine our food, we will begin to know that we and mother nature are one.

One side note:
When i use the word knowledge i do not mean something that can be learned from a book or taught by another.
The knowledge with which i speak is something that comes from within.
The concept that many throw around that we and God are one is useless unless put into practice.
If God and i are one then i should be able to communicate and learn from God.
Why would i ever rely on another person to tell me what the truth is when all i have to do is ask God?

I started taking herbs to restore my health about 6 years ago.
I never expected that my spiritual health would be restored as well.
I was at my wits end spiritually and had no idea what to do to become the person i wanted to be.
Taking herbs restored my physical health and allowed me to regain my connection to my soul.
Somehow i missed the connection between good physical health and good spiritual health.

I have since had spiritual experiences involving all sorts of plants, trees, birds and animals.
I am learning through my experience that we are all one.
It is not a concept, it is a reality, but we have to experience God to know God.
I am talking about an intimate relationship here.
I ingest Mother nature.
And I do not commit adultery by eating processed foods.
I am essentially having sex with the earth.
It is the same as when men and women have sex.
They get to know one another through the exchange of male and female bodily fluids.

If we want to take the next step we have to get serious about the relationship.
It is a most wonderful relationship.

Nothing wrong with sitting under a tree once in a while but it is kind of rude to sit next to someone and then ignore them.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

If we want to get to know nature we have to become one with nature.
That doesn't happen by sitting under a tree now and then.
The world now eats more processed food and ingests more pharmaceuticals than actual food and real medicine, which as a result has completely disconnected us from nature.

Mother nature is our nurse.
Like a mother cares for a child in the womb, mother nature cares for us in the womb of the Earth.
When we are able to make our food our medicine and our medicine our food, we will begin to know that we and mother nature are one.

One side note:
When i use the word knowledge i do not mean something that can be learned from a book or taught by another.
The knowledge with which i speak is something that comes from within.
The concept that many throw around that we and God are one is useless unless put into practice.
If God and i are one then i should be able to communicate and learn from God.
Why would i ever rely on another person to tell me what the truth is when all i have to do is ask God?

I started taking herbs to restore my health about 6 years ago.
I never expected that my spiritual health would be restored as well.
I was at my wits end spiritually and had no idea what to do to become the person i wanted to be.
Taking herbs restored my physical health and allowed me to regain my connection to my soul.
Somehow i missed the connection between good physical health and good spiritual health.

I have since had spiritual experiences involving all sorts of plants, trees, birds and animals.
I am learning through my experience that we are all one.
It is not a concept, it is a reality, but we have to experience God to know God.
I am talking about an intimate relationship here.
I ingest Mother nature.
And I do not commit adultery by eating processed foods.
I am essentially having sex with the earth.
It is the same as when men and women have sex.
They get to know one another through the exchange of male and female bodily fluids.

If we want to take the next step we have to get serious about the relationship.
It is a most wonderful relationship.

Nothing wrong with sitting under a tree once in a while but it is kind of rude to sit next to someone and then ignore them.

I mean disconnecting myself from the artificial andblive literally not only metaphorically with the earth. I try and eat and live by the seasons and things like that. I was wondering if there are other things other than meditation, foods by season, and ritual by season. How are other means to live with the earth withinba kinda city area where we dont depend and live by old school things as such did my family family.

 

[allfoak]

I mean disconnecting myself from the artificial andblive literally not only metaphorically with the earth. I try and eat and live by the seasons and things like that. I was wondering if there are other things other than meditation, foods by season, and ritual by season. How are other means to live with the earth withinba kinda city area where we dont depend and live by old school things as such did my family family.

Alchemy is a good way to stay rooted in nature if we are restricted to city living.
It will also satisfy our spiritual needs when done properly.

Alchemy and Wicca get along well.

 

[Quintessence]

I'm just going to parrot a couple things I said in a different thread a while back:

• Pay attention. No, really. Pay attention. "Nature" is literally all around us, all the time. Start paying attention to it. It's funny, put paying attention is probably the biggest gateway to the Mysteries there is. Just look. Listen. Watch. Don't judge. Just observe.
• Study the sciences. A lot. A lot a lot. Between paying attention and studying sciences, you will learn your place in the world. You will see how things relate and interrelate. And you will know the names and roles of the other-than-human relations around you, which is a sadly rare thing nowadays.

Don't put the books down. Pick up the right books. Studying natural science provides important context for when you bother to pay attention. When studying and paying attention, use good study skills instead of the poor ones you might have used in school. This isn't about memorizing isolated facts or analyzing something for an impersonal experiment - your thoughts need to go deeper than that and relate what you are reading or seeing to other things. Constantly ask things like "what does this mean to me?" or "how would I represent this as art or symbol?" or "how am I feeling right now?" It's more about what is emotional and intuitive than the highly-prized reason and logic of our culture.

Above all, remember you have a relationship with everything you encounter, whether that's acknowledged or not. The mere act of coming into contact with something means you and it influence each other. Think about that, identify that, and honor that. Take nothing for granted, and make "stupid" observations. Did you notice you're breathing air right now? Stop and think about that for a second.

 

[crossfire]

****Moved to Comparative Religions****​

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Guys. Im looking for pagan (DIR focused) opinions. I dont mind hearing others but I really hearing pagan opinions will help from that perspective. Now this is at comparitive religions, yall can talk.

Pagans how do you study nature?

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I'm just going to parrot a couple things I said in a different thread a while back:

• Pay attention. No, really. Pay attention. "Nature" is literally all around us, all the time. Start paying attention to it. It's funny, put paying attention is probably the biggest gateway to the Mysteries there is. Just look. Listen. Watch. Don't judge. Just observe.
• Study the sciences. A lot. A lot a lot. Between paying attention and studying sciences, you will learn your place in the world. You will see how things relate and interrelate. And you will know the names and roles of the other-than-human relations around you, which is a sadly rare thing nowadays.

Don't put the books down. Pick up the right books. Studying natural science provides important context for when you bother to pay attention. When studying and paying attention, use good study skills instead of the poor ones you might have used in school. This isn't about memorizing isolated facts or analyzing something for an impersonal experiment - your thoughts need to go deeper than that and relate what you are reading or seeing to other things. Constantly ask things like "what does this mean to me?" or "how would I represent this as art or symbol?" or "how am I feeling right now?" It's more about what is emotional and intuitive than the highly-prized reason and logic of our culture.

Above all, remember you have a relationship with everything you encounter, whether that's acknowledged or not. The mere act of coming into contact with something means you and it influence each other. Think about that, identify that, and honor that. Take nothing for granted, and make "stupid" observations. Did you notice you're breathing air right now? Stop and think about that for a second.

I was thinking physical connection with nature as well as observation, of course. For example instead of only observing and reading about trees, how would I really study trees by interaction say by the way trees shed and grow leaves depending on seasons and things of how to apply these things in my lifestyle.

 

[psychoslice]

We are all connection as One in nature, the tree's are our extended lungs, the sun is all part of nature also, so we are all part of the sun and the tree's, without both we wouldn't be here. Its also much more then just the sun and the tree's, we are part of the planet, its where we grew from, the planet is one big organism, and we are like micro organisms, if we don't treat our planet with respect, she will like a dog with fleas scratch us off the planet.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

For example, those who follow mythology and pre-abrahamic faiths which have reverence to nature, do you mostly interact with nature physically in ritual or do you build a kinda relationship with your environment?

I was thinking of how to build a relationship with my environment but more than meditation and awareness. For example, I try and eat by the seasons. I can understand different seasonal foods by reading. I could be aware of how others use holistic means in their diet. But to do it myself, the physical part, is the key. Discipline. I was also thinking of the seasons. We have different holidays if some of us observe the wheel of the year. However, to make it natural by applying what you observe into your life is completely different.

What do you guys do in those regards? Im not saying awareness, reading, etc is wrong I just thought there would be more application but not necesarily making it a separate ritual but part of our lifestyle.