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Today's
Meditation:
Our connection with nature is a precarious one these
days, at best. In many ways, it seems that most of
us spend so little time even noticing nature that we
simply can't forge any sort of connection with it.
And those of us who live in cities often tend to forget
all about it except when they happen to walk through a
park or take a week or two of vacation in a nice,
non-urban spot.
For most people, this isn't even an issue. Most
people are fine with the situation as it stands, and they
don't consider it to be a problem. But part of the
reason they feel this way is because it's a connection
that they've never felt the benefit of, something that
they can't miss because they've never felt it. But
as Eleonora says, the presence of this connection is an
indication of the state of our spirits: the more we
pull ourselves away from the natural elements of our
world, the less fully we're living as human beings.
Life, of course, is about unity, and about the connection
between all things. When we know that connection and
we feel it, then we're able to recognize and appreciate
the messages that nature sends us, the messages about the
fleetingness of our experiences, about the inevitable
cycles that all life passes through, about the effects of
nurture and neglect, drought and plenty. And these
messages can bring us joy-- if we allow them to do so--
when
we notice them and appreciate them. When the crisp
autumn air can bring us a thrill just for being alive, when
the early snowfall can make us feel the sublime
astonishment of the beauty of our world, then we know that
we have that connection. And it's a connection that
if we don't feel it, it would do us a great deal of good
to work at forging it, strengthening it, and sharing it.
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