In a recent blog post, Frank Forencich from Exuberant Animal gives us some thought on how nature is connected to human health, how human animals are connected to nature, and why it matters.
Here’s the talk:
Biophilia means “love of life.”
Frank explains that it’s a misnomer to assume that we’re somehow separate from nature. In fact, the opposite is true – WE ARE NATURE.
Human beings are natural systems, embedded in a larger natural system. We are small pieces of a greater whole, that involves other animals such as ourselves.
This “separation” of ourselves from nature is also common in fitness-thinking. We have to go do our “workout” and then we can check that box off on our daily to-do list. We’ve gotten healthy for the day. Next!
The opposite is actually true. A workout is really an exception for most people, not the rule. It’s an anomaly, something “extra” in their day to day existence.
As Gregg Twietmeyer points out in his fantastic article “Kinesis and the Nature of the Human Person,” human beings are what they DO. Specifically in the sense of what we actively do.
We are not what we think we are. Anyone can think they’re physically fit for some task. But put them up to it, and the truth suddenly comes out – one way or the other.
Similarly, in our daily lives, what we do will decide how our lives are going at any given moment.
Talk all you want. It’s one of the points the authors of the book “We’ve Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy-And the World’s Getting Worse” make as well. All of this talk has gotten us nowhere.
The human body is a moving living thing. In fact, movement is the sign of “life” as far as we’re concerned. Even children know this, and play this game. Ask any child to “play dead.” They will drop to the ground and lie as still as possible.
Frank’s point is that we really need to begin to embrace our being part of the natural world. We need to stop separating human animals from every other animal and from natural processes in general. This type of thinking is what leads to pollution, deforestation, etc. If we see the land as an extension of ourselves, we think twice before cutting down trees or polluting a stream or river. It’s the same type of care and concern we should have should a doctor tell us that he wants to amputate a limb, or give us chemicals to do something to our bodies.
This trend is related to another transition – from a “doing” species, to a “done-to” species. We have been taught to seek out “experts” who will fix us. Medicine is not bad, but the true healer is the individual. Many people who are given the same medications for the same symptoms have vastly different results. The difference is often in whether or not the individual “owns” their healing process.
When we recognize that we are nature, and that we are our actions more than any other aspect of ourselves, we realize that what we do to anything, we do to ourselves – in a very real way. And vice versa. While it may be possible to avoid this realization until the bitter end, it doesn’t change the reality of it. All avoidance does is leave that wreckage for the next generation to deal with.
Take this into your daily practice of living – recognize that “you” are an ACTION, intimately connected to all of the other actions around you…and then go DO the action you want to be.
While you’re at it, go to Colin Pistell’s site and check out his ideas on the subject!
