"The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them. The waving of the boughs in the storm, is new to me and old. It takes me by surprise, and yet is not unknown. It's effect is like that of a higher thought or a better emotion coming over me, when I deemed I was thinking justly or doing right."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Occult" as in mysterious, secret or esoteric. To acknowledge Nature, and to be acknowledged by Nature, is not depraved or evil; it is to be Human. If I set myself apart from Nature, I am denying an aspect of myself that makes me whole. I am as much Nature as is the tree and the flower and the meadow and the forest. Dominion should never be part of the equation. To rule is to influence, change, alter, prevail without permission or agreement. If I am Nature, and if you are Nature, and if we are Nature we must seek harmony so that each of us may choose to flourish in a way that adds to and completes the whole. If I choose dominion I am severing a limb; I am performing a lobotomy; I am closing off a chamber of my heart.
As it is with me and you, it also is with me and the tree and the flower and the meadow and the forest. Though we are finding that Nature (believed to be non sentient) does communicate, and we know that Nature can be vicious in its momentary selection of the fittest, a tree does not appear to act with malice aforethought. A tree does not appear to consciously choose dominion for the "rush" that comes with power. If a tree (or a tornado or an alligator) does act divisively or destructively, I believe it is because it seeks sustenance and survival. Humans do not have to purposefully choose nonproductive and destructive dominion over a Nature that is perceived to be non sentient or non speaking. Humans do not have to purposefully choose nonproductive and destructive dominion over other Humans. Yet we do. Simply by creating an imaginary divide between us and them, we perpetuate dominion, which, in turn, undermines natural efforts toward the sustenance and survival of all Nature.
We claim to have dominion. Yet, in truth, if we continue on this trajectory, we will prove to be a mere footnote. And if all of Humanity becomes a footnote, then the most powerful and influential individuals who ever lived will be but footnotes within a footnote. So what is the point of dominion? This is the "higher thought" and "better emotion" that Ralph Waldo Emerson felt with "the waving of the boughs in the storm" making him reconsider his belief that he was "thinking justly or doing right." We should all reconsider our thougts of and our relationship with Nature. We should all seek harmony so that each of us may choose to flourish in a way that adds to and completes the whole.
Henry David Thoreau said, "Old trees are our parents, and our parents' parents, perchance. If you would learn the secrets of Nature, you must practice more humanity than others."
To look up at an old tree, and to look into an old tree, is to learn from strength, maturity and endurance; the embodiment of parental protection and benevolence. If old trees are our parents, then all of Nature is our maker. And if all of Nature is our maker, it follows that many individuals would want to ask who or what gave birth to Nature? To come closer to Knowledge of an Ultimate Maker, some feel dominion over Nature is a shortcut. Yet our distorted and dissonant dominion, as it is today, only ensnares and condemns; us, our parents, our parents' parents and our children's grandchildren. And if it is simply creation all the way down, we must first navigate here and now. And if there is an Ultimate Maker, it is still this first journey that matters most. Either way, regardless my desire to be God, today I am Nature. Today I must seek harmony so that I may choose to flourish in a way that adds to and completes the whole.
I may believe that flourishing is made more difficult by those purposefully seeking disharmony; but if I allow myself to be distracted or misled, I set myself apart from Nature. If I listen to distortion and dissonance, I am not listening to the old trees or the flowers or the meadows or the forests. If I react before considering the whole, then I have also lost sight of the One.
The One is whole. The One is Nature. The One is the here and now, knowing that the here and now will remain here and now for as long as Humanity survives. To hope for a future beyond this Natural here and now is to abdicate responsibility. To be distracted and misled is to ask my children's grandchildren to fix what I broke. To live by faith alone is to set myself apart; sever a limb; perform a lobotomy; close a chamber of my heart. I must work to seek harmony so I may choose to flourish in a way that adds to and completes the whole.