In a parallel series to my current series on connecting to nature in terms time and place, I am resharing some of my earlier writings about nature. I recently recovered some of the past blog posts and thought I would share them with you.
This one is from 2013 where I wrote about how we need to give everything its due rights. The original post is in two parts: linked as part 1 and part 2. It is based on the talk by Dr Seyyed Hossein Nasr linked below.
Blog post from June/July 2013
“Which of your Sustainer’s favours will (do) you deny?”
A refrain from Surah Ar-Rahman (S55) in the Qur’an has been running through my mind the last few days. The past week, forest fires in Indonesia have caused haze (smog) to cover Singapore and parts of Malaysia and Indonesia.1 At times, the haze was so high as to reach dangerous levels.
When this happens, we realise how much we take the clean air around us for granted. We also take the sun and the blue skies for granted. Taking things for granted is part of human nature. The above refrain takes us to task about our “forgetful” nature.
So how do we ensure that we don’t take things for granted? More critically, how do we show our gratefulness? For this discussion, I will confine myself to the relationship between human and nature. Consider the reasons for taking nature for granted:
1. Usually it is because we assume it is something constant in our life. We consider it something that will always be there no matter what. Like the air we breathe or the sun or the tide. A few weeks ago, I was talking to this person. We were discussing tidal power as an alternate source of energy. He mentioned that unlike wind or solar, tides are a constant. And it is true that tides are a constant so much so that I never really thought much about them.2
2. We also seem to have this sense of entitlement over nature. It is as if nature is there only for us and us alone. Seyyed Hossein Nasr describes it in his book ‘Man and Nature’. He states that “for modern man, nature has become like a prostitute.” Modern man benefits from nature without any sense of obligation and responsibility toward her.
3. A friend, when I asked the question, boils it down to our selfishness. We take and take from nature but never think to give back. It is very much a colonial mindset.
So what is the solution?
Recently, a friend sent me a talk by Seyyed Hossein Nasr (linked above). Something he said touched me – we should give everything its due rights. Nature has rights upon us that we have so far neglected. But even before we talk about rights, we should talk about relationship.
What is our relationship with Nature? Today, especially for city folks, this relationship is tenuous. We don’t seem to miss the almost non-existent contact with Nature. This is because we don’t know Nature because what we don’t know, we don’t love and can even fear. Seyyed Hossein Nasr in the preface to the new edition of his book ‘Man and Nature’ says:
‘…the creation of a science whose function, according to Francis Bacon, one of its leading proponents, was to gain power over nature, dominate her and force her to reveal her secrets not for the Glory of God but for the sake of gaining worldly power and wealth.’
So what should be our relationship with Nature? It goes back to our understanding of ourselves, our relationship with the Creator of both us and Nature. Seyyed Hossein Nasr further said:
‘Man is made absolute, his “rights” dominating over both God’s rights and the rights of His creation.’
That is, by removing God from the centre around which our lives revolve, we have lost the awareness of God being the absolute and us the relative. We no longer feels the sense of accountability that we should as God’s appointed deputy/administrator on this earth. Instead we have usurped the position of kingship. We have forgotten that we will one day return to God and our actions will be accounted for.
Part of the problem is the scientific/materialistic worldview as has been identified by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. It is the foundation upon which the modern world is based. This worldview has desacralised nature. It has given importance to the material and the quantitative. However, it has lost the qualitative and spiritual aspect. It has lost the metaphysics of science and nature. Nature is no longer seen as a sign or sign post leading to the Creator but purely utilitarian. Even if we are religious, we live in a scientific/materialistic worldview. This is true regardless of our religion. It is the worldview of both us and the global community today.
We need to go back and redevelop a metaphysical connection with Nature, a metaphysical worldview which will govern modern science. We need to relearn to tread as lightly as the American Indians and the Oborigines of Australia did…I love this description of the American Indians in ‘Man and Nature’:
‘The Indians, especially of the Plains, did not develop an articulated metaphysics, but nevertheless they possess the profoundest metaphysical doctrines expressed in the most concrete and primordial symbols. The Indian, who is something of a primordial monotheist, saw in virgin nature, in forests, trees, streams and the sky, in birds and buffalos, direct symbols of the spiritual world. With the strong symbolist spirit with which he was endowed he saw everywhere images of celestial realities. For him, as for other nomads, nature was sacred and there was a definite disdain of the artificialities of sedentary life. Virgin nature was for the Indian the cathedral in which he lived and worshipped….When one sees the tracks of the Indian high in the Rocky Mountains, tracks which he crossed for millenia without disturbing the ambiance about him, one feels so strongly that the Indian was one who really walked gently upon the earth.’
To me, that encapsulates the very essence of the metaphysical aspect of nature. We need to rediscover this to fulfill our role as administrators of God’s creations. By fulfilling the purpose that God created us for, we will stop denying God’s favours upon us…especially that of the special relationship we have with our sister, Nature.
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