The Enjoyment of Nature

Paradise Lost

It is a curious thing that among the myriad creators on this planet, while the entire plant life is deprived from taking any attitude towards nature and practically all animals can also have no “attitude” to speak of, there should be a creature called man who is both self-conscious and conscious of his surroundings and who can therefore take an attitude towards it.  Man’s intelligence begins to question the universe, to explore its secrets and to find out its meaning.  There are both scientific and moral attitude towards the universe.  The scientific man in interested in finding out the chemical composition of the inside and crust of the earth upon which he lives, the thickness of the atmosphere surrounding it, the quantity of nature of cosmic rays dashing about on the top layers of the atmosphere, the formation of its hills and rocks and the law governing life in general.

The moral attitude, on the other hand, varies with nature, sometimes one of conquest and subjugation, or one of control and utilization and sometimes one of supercilious contempt.

It is amazing that no one ever question the truth of the story of a lost paradise.  How beautiful, after all, was the Garden of Eden, and how ugly, after all is the present physical world? Have flowers ceased to bloom since Eve and Adam sinned? Has God cursed the apple tree and forbidden it to bear fruit because one man sinned, or has he decided that the blossoms should be made of duller or paler colors?  Have orioles and nightingales and skylark ceased to sing? Is there no snow upon the mountain tops and there are no reflections in the lakes?  Are there are no rosy sunsets today and no rainbows and no haze nestling over villages, and there are no falling cataracts and grudling streams and shady trees?  Who therefore invented the myth that the “Paradise” was “lost” and that today we are living in a ugly universe? We are indeed ungrateful spoiled children of God.

No one can say that life on this planet is stale and monotonous.  If a man cannot be satisfied with the variety of weather and the changing colors of the sky, the exquisite flavors of fruits appearing by rotation in the different seasons and flowers blooming by rotation in the different months, that man had better commit suicide and not try to go on a futile chase after an impossible heaven that may satisfy God himself and never satisfy man.

There is a perfect and almost a mystic, co-ordination between the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of nature and our organs of seeing, hearing, smelling and eating.

Our planet is a very good planet.  In the first place; there is the alternations of night and day, morning and sunset, cool evening followed by a hot day, silent and a clear dawn presaging a busy morning and there is nothing better than that.  In the second place, there is the alternation of summer and winter, perfect in themselves, made still more perfect by being gradually ushered in by spring and autumn.  In the third place, there are the silent and the dignified trees, giving us shade in summer and not shutting out the warm sunshine in winter.  In the fourth place, there are flowers blooming and fruits ripening by rotation in different months.  In the fifth place, there are cloudy and misty days alternating with clear and sunny days. 

In the sixth place, there are spring showers and summer thunderstorms and the dry crisp wind of autumn and the snow of winter.  In the seventh place, there are peacocks and parrots and skylarks and canaries singing inimitable songs.  In the eighth place, there is a zoo, with monkeys, tigers, bears, camels, elephants, rhinoceros, crocodiles, sea-lions, cows, horses, dogs, cats, foxes, squirrels, woodchucks and so many other species.  In the ninth place, there are rainbow fish, sword fish, electric eels, whales, winnones, clams, abalones, lobsters, shrimps and turtles and many more. In the tenth place, there are magnificent red wood trees, fire spouting volcanoes, magnificent caves, majestic peaks, undulating hills, placid lakes, winding rivers and shady banks.  The menu is practically endless to suit individual tastes and the only sensible things to do is to and partake of the feast and not complain about the monotony of life.