Nature As A Shelter
Nature is a place where we can reload our batteries, ponder upon truly important things and just relax being away from the everyday stress. Great personalities of our world did that and Jesus Himself also prayed in the nature. It is worth it!
Maybe it's the "call of the wild." Of our ancestors. But nature undoubtedly still has this amazing effect on us. Just imagine a gorgeous winter landscape: the deepest blue sky looking down on glittering white hills. Fresh-smelling firs, the song of birds and the music of a clear mountain spring. What more do we need to feel happy and relaxed? "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." These are the words of John Muir, the famous naturalist and advocate of nature. Or if you prefer warm summer days, you've probably already done the craziness of waking up at dawn just to enjoy the overwhelming beauty of a sunrise near the sea. The sun seems to rise straight from the waves, it's an amazing view. A miracle. Jules Henri Poincaré : "If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living."
Because of these, nature has always been a great source of inspiration for different forms of art. This is called mimesis, or the imitation of nature. This type of art intends to copy the perfect symmetry and other notions and forms belonging to the field of mathematics, that are to be found in real nature. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, the existence of the world is justified by the spiritual need for beauty. Nature thus is created to satisfy the human soul. It is created in God's image, according to His perfection.
Nature these days has become a sort of shelter, a place of recreation, something that rewards a hard-working period of time. We can only enjoy it when we are on vacation. Therefore, we need to work, make money and only after that we have the right to return to nature. It wasn't like that in the beginning. The first humans certainly could enjoy all the beauties of nature for free, without the fear of being fined by policemen, or of appearing as strange in the eyes of others while climbing a tree. Yet, if you go to the mountains or other natural places, nobody bothers you. Nature tends to become a luxury. I often wonder how in the world do we, as humans, as natural beings, prefer the noisy, stressful city life to a quiet place in the middle of nature. For, since we spend most of our lives in those polluted, agitated, artificial cities, that is the most logical conclusion anyone could draw. The dangers caused by humans to the environment are deforestation, oil spills, pollution, and so on.
This is what happened when man came into contact with nature. Yet there surely are some places around the world that are uninhabited by people. Beautiful, but also dangerous places. They can offer a shelter to those who are fit to survive under very hard conditions. At any rate, nature has always been seen as a shelter for people. It is a well-known fact, for instance, that when conquerors came to certain countries, the people of that country often found shelter in the mountains. Uninhabited places were also used by religious people for seclusion, fasting, meditation. In the Christian religion, for instance, Christ is known to often have left the busy, agitated places to go to "uninhabited places" for praying, fasting, communicating with God. He thus set an example for Christian believers, stating that they need to go back to untouched nature in order to clearly hear their own thoughts and be able to connect themselves to the divine voice. Of course, Jesus used to go back to people after that, to enrich them also with His spiritual gifts.
In conclusion, I believe we should all try to find a real shelter in nature, for in can calm down our agitated spirits, "far from the maddening crowd", and reconnect us with our true selves. Yes, just take a deep breath and ask yourself what are the important things in your life, what is that you really want and look for?
Because of these, nature has always been a great source of inspiration for different forms of art. This is called mimesis, or the imitation of nature. This type of art intends to copy the perfect symmetry and other notions and forms belonging to the field of mathematics, that are to be found in real nature. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, the existence of the world is justified by the spiritual need for beauty. Nature thus is created to satisfy the human soul. It is created in God's image, according to His perfection.
Nature these days has become a sort of shelter, a place of recreation, something that rewards a hard-working period of time. We can only enjoy it when we are on vacation. Therefore, we need to work, make money and only after that we have the right to return to nature. It wasn't like that in the beginning. The first humans certainly could enjoy all the beauties of nature for free, without the fear of being fined by policemen, or of appearing as strange in the eyes of others while climbing a tree. Yet, if you go to the mountains or other natural places, nobody bothers you. Nature tends to become a luxury. I often wonder how in the world do we, as humans, as natural beings, prefer the noisy, stressful city life to a quiet place in the middle of nature. For, since we spend most of our lives in those polluted, agitated, artificial cities, that is the most logical conclusion anyone could draw. The dangers caused by humans to the environment are deforestation, oil spills, pollution, and so on.
This is what happened when man came into contact with nature. Yet there surely are some places around the world that are uninhabited by people. Beautiful, but also dangerous places. They can offer a shelter to those who are fit to survive under very hard conditions. At any rate, nature has always been seen as a shelter for people. It is a well-known fact, for instance, that when conquerors came to certain countries, the people of that country often found shelter in the mountains. Uninhabited places were also used by religious people for seclusion, fasting, meditation. In the Christian religion, for instance, Christ is known to often have left the busy, agitated places to go to "uninhabited places" for praying, fasting, communicating with God. He thus set an example for Christian believers, stating that they need to go back to untouched nature in order to clearly hear their own thoughts and be able to connect themselves to the divine voice. Of course, Jesus used to go back to people after that, to enrich them also with His spiritual gifts.
In conclusion, I believe we should all try to find a real shelter in nature, for in can calm down our agitated spirits, "far from the maddening crowd", and reconnect us with our true selves. Yes, just take a deep breath and ask yourself what are the important things in your life, what is that you really want and look for?
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