Our children who were born after Y2K was the first generation born into a technological environment that has lost its meaningful connection with the natural world. To this generation, nature is an abstraction, and reality is whatever is on the screen in front of them.
Instead of interacting with their families, they are more interested in the happenings of the virtual world, oblivious to the banter exchanged. Instead of observing the scenery beyond their windows as their car passes by breath-taking landscape, they watch a movie on a flip-down video screen.
Technology immersion will continue in the coming years; it is here to stay. But at the same time, we need to have an awareness of the basic need to achieve balance, which is to construct a daily life where our children have an equal amount of exposure to the natural environment just as they are exposed to electronic devices.
Why?
There are aspects of being a human that aren’t inside a computer. With increasing internet immersion, our relationship with nature has been undermined by a shift in values. Hence, the more high-tech our lives become, the greater force we need from nature to achieve a healthy balance.
In the following paragraphs, we will discuss what happens when we separate ourselves from nature, as well as what happens when we increase our exposure to nature.
Long term consequences of reducing our exposure to nature:
At present, there is a worldwide epidemic of mental health and depression issues previously unheard of in the history of humankind. A large percentage stems from the generation who grew up in this de-natured environment, now in their college years.
Experts in child education have observed the following trend in children with reduced exposure to nature: (4)
A severance of the mind from our food's origins (resulting in kids devaluing natural farmed food over genetically modified or lab-grown meat).
A diminishing distinction between machines, and life forms (humans, animals, and plants). In 2007, the world’s first human-sheep chimera was created, which has a body of a sheep and half-human organs. This line of research would affect how children experience nature and define life as they grow up.
A hyper intellectualized perception and understanding of our relationship with other life forms, i.e., experimenting on animals and plants, without the awareness of its implications on humans.
An indifference devoid of respect and a sense of awe for the land (and ultimately Mother Earth).
Many educators have warned that replacing a primary experience of nature by the second-hand dual sensory (vision and sound only) on the screen, came with the risk of depersonalizing human life. The increasing digitization of our children's mindset is gradually erasing the components that make us who we are as humans. (1)
As a result, children often have a distorted view of the world, and begin to associate it with fear and apocalypse, instead of joy and wonder. It is becoming more difficult for them to tell the difference between the virtual and the reality.
Studies supporting our need to reconnect with nature:
An emerging body of scientific evidence indicates that direct exposure to nature is essential for physical, mental, and emotional health. New studies suggest that exposure to nature may reduce the symptoms of attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and can improve children’s cognitive abilities and resistance to negative stresses and depression. (5)
They found the natural world is a particularly effective place for the human brain to overcome mental fatigue, to be restored. It also seems to stimulate our ability to pay attention, think clearly, and be more productive and creative, even in dense urban neighborhoods. (4)
Though we often see ourselves as separate from nature, humans are also a part of it. The natural world envelopes plants and animals, both grown and reared in our backyard, parks, and zoos, or from the wild. It also includes crystals that have been formed over millions of years within earth. We have an innate affinity with the natural world. We are drawn to it. Many who recognize our innate need for the natural have made attempts to bring "nature" into our homes in the form of plants, succulents, and crystals to help maintain our link with the natural world.
Immersion in the natural world exposes the young (and us) directly and immediately to the very elements from which humans evolved: earth, water, air, fire, and time space. These five broad divisions of elements found in nature are the primary building blocks of the human body.(1) Without that immersion in nature, we forget our place; we forget that larger fabric on which our lives depend. Nature offers us the space where we can easily contemplate on eternity and our role in this grand universe.
We are a natural species, with our mind and spirit/soul residing in biological bodies. It makes sense that the next step in our evolution would be to return to our primordial nature of being loving, true, and selfless, instead of becoming more “technological” in nature as some would think. (1) After all, our fulfilment and flourishing has always been rooted in living in relation with nature, grounded in similar elements and structures since the beginning of our species on earth. (2)
The Spiritual Necessity of Nature
Most of us intuitively understand that all spiritual life, however it is defined, begins with, and is nourished by a sense of wonder. The natural world is one of our most reliable windows into wonder and, at least to some, it can move us towards a life of veneration.
Through nature, we learn of transcendence, in the sense that there is something larger going on than just the individual. We learn to appreciate all natural life forms not as objects, but as interconnected strands in a larger design which also includes us.
We can truly care for ourselves and nature, only if we see ourselves and nature as inseparable, only if we love ourselves as part of nature. In nature, all animals and plants are held in a delicate balance, connected by an intricate network, and each has its purpose and role in its ecosystem. (3) This way of organizing life supposedly gives us a clear view of how we should live in this world.
Conclusion
Humans have survived in nature for a very long time. We are one with nature, interdependent and connected.
If we can stop more often from our busy lifestyles to spend time in nature, we will learn of the unconditional support among the big (trees, wildlife) and small (microbes breaking down waste into compost food for the soil) organisms within nature's system; the selfless respect among the organisms to allow each other to grow and perform their respective roles. There is so much love in nature, even between different forms of creations. Where there is love there is Order. (1)
Nature has much to teach us. It has thrived for millions of years on a system that runs on universal laws, a system where there is an exchange of information and energy from Source, and among the collective creation. If we can learn from nature and apply in our lives, the future of humanity as a race will be secure.
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References:
1. Heaven's Gift CLT Cosmology and Direct Transmission Materials.
2. Peter H. Kahn, Jr., "Technological Nature: Adaptation and the Future of Human Life" (2011).
3. Peter Wohlleben, "The Secret Wisdom of Nature" (2017).
4. Richard Louv, "Last Child in The Woods" (2008).
5. Richard Louv, "The Nature Principle" (2011).
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