I See Beauty Everywhere in Nature
    This very short piece by Veronica Ray, published in her 1992 book GREEN SPIRITUALITY, captures in a lovely way, I think, our inherent connection with nature.–April Moore
    I see beauty everywhere in nature.
    Beauty is inherent in nature. Without any training or education in art or the principles of color and form, people always, everywhere, describe nature’s beauty. Waterfalls, rainbows, sunsets, and skies full of stars inspire us to poetry. Mountains, canyons, and giant redwood trees take our breath away. A soft twilight snowfall fills us with peace.
    No one had to teach us that blazing sunsets were beautiful. We didn’t have to study meteorology or geology to be fascinated by rainbows and canyons. Our response to the beauty in nature is as natural as the beauty itself. It strikes a chord deep within us. It reminds us of how wonderful, how amazing, how beautiful the world truly is. It reawakens our natural love for the earth and the universe.Â
    There is a theory that nature makes human and animal babies cute to the adults of the species so that we’ll take care of them. How much more magnificent would the earth have to be before we’d take better care of it?
May 16th, 2008 at 9:58 am
This essay fits right in with the “biophilia hypothesis”" of E. O. Wilson. See:
http://arts.envirolink.org/interviews_and_conversations/EOWilson.html
for an interview with this venerable scientist. It has to do with “the human propensity to affiliate with other life forms.” We love nature, we are one with all of life, whether we always think in this way or not.
Professor Wilson was also interviewed by Bill Moyers last Summer:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07062007/profile.html
in a wide ranging discussion that emphasized the utter need to sustain and encourage biodiversity.
I’ve found that it takes not only a scientific focus on these vital issues, but also “poetry,” to appeal to our biophilia instincts. There is no substitute for “hiking, narrative and a camera” in reminding us of our biological roots. Years ago the books of Ann and Myron Sutton on Appalachia, the American West, Pacific Crest Trail, Eastern Forests, Wildlife of the Forests, etc., helped introduce me to places that I’d never been and the life therein.
Your site is helping to bridge the science with the vision that is locked within us all.