All things are artificial for nature is the art of God.
The words were printed across the front of my friend’s black shirt, discreet white letters arcing over a small tree. Unexpectedly, it kind of hit me in the face for it summarized my philosophies in life. When I was younger, I headed off to the bushes to look for spiders when other kids were comfortably cocooned in front of their TV sets, I float down a nearby river in my makeshift raft when other kids headed for air-conditioned malls, I go fly a kite in a stiff breeze under a stifling sun while other kids were content to play their little video games in the shade.
Nature was all about beauty and simplicity, about finding and relishing life’s simple pleasures, about freedom from modern complexities and entanglements. Alas, nobody could remain a child forever. I left my raft, my spiders, and my kites behind. I was enmeshed in the pettiness and insecurities of the real world, world where I vied and toiled for a teeny-weeny space under the sun.
Fortunately, I was still free to dream and sometimes, when lady fortune bestowed one of her dazzling smiles, these dreams became true. Every now and then, I was able to indulge in nature’s bounty. Like the time I stared in awe at the deep blackness of a great chamber hollowed out of a small hill by water over millennias. Or when I was standing on the rim of a volcano, wondering at the force that hurled rocks the size of small buildings into the air to land where they now rest. Or when I was gazing at a majestic Philippine eaglet in its natural habitat. Ah, only a few could be so lucky.
Eventually, I perceived that even mundane affairs could reflect nature’s grandeur. A sunset, a child’s smile, fresh fish simply grilled, a loved one’s caress, I have savored such pleasures everyday and there is nothing spurious about them. I only have to open my heart and free my mind for nature is inside me.
Безсмысленно.
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