Nature

In my readings I came across some insight I thought might interest some of you. The following is an excerpt from Zen Buddhism, selected writings of d.t. suzuki, edited by William Barrett:

Chapter 8- The Role of Nature in Zen Buddhism

At the outset it is advisable to know what we mean by Nature, for the term is ambiguous and has been used in various senses. Let me here just mention a few of the ideas associated in the Western mind with Nature...

The adjective "natural", while in one sense standing in contrast to the divine, in another sense accords with it. When "naturalness" is used in contrast to artificiality it acquires something of the divine. Childlikeness is often compared to godliness. Child life has more in it of godliness than adult life, being much closer to Nature. God, then, is not altogether absent in Nature.

When we contrast Nature with Man, we emphasize the physical, material aspect of Nature rather than its moral or spiritual aspect, which is pre-eminently involved when we contrast it with God. Nature has thus two aspects as we humans view it. Inasmuch as it is "natural", it is godly; but when it is material it functions against human spirituality or godliness, whatever that may mean. As long as Nature is regarded as the material world, as our senses perceive it, it is something we want to conquer. Nature here faces us as a kind of power, and wherever there is the notion of power it is connected with that of conquest. For Man, therefore, Nature is to be conquered and made use of for his own material welfare and comfort. Nature affords him a variety of opportunities to develop his powers, but at the same time there is always on the part of Man the tendency to exploit and abuse it for his selfish ends.

The Nature-Man dichotomy issues, as I think, from the Biblical account in which the Creator is said to have given man-kind the power to dominate all creation. It is fundamentally due to this story that Western people talk so much about conquering Nature. When they invent a flying machine they say they have conquered the air; when they climb to the top of Mt. Everest they loudly announce that they have succeeded in conquering the mountain. This idea of conquest comes from the relationship between Nature and Man being regarded as that of power, and this relationship involves a state of mutual opposition and destruction.

This power-relationship also brings out the problem of rationality. Man is rational, whereas Nature is brutal, and Man strives to make Nature amenable to his idea of rationality. Rationality is born with the rising of consciousness out of the primordial Unconscious. Consciousness makes it possible for the human being to reflect upon his own doings and the events around him. This reflection gives him the power to rise above mere naturalness and to bring it under his control.

Nature, on the other hand, is purposeless, and it is because of the purposelessness that Nature in one sense is "conquered by Man and in another sense conquers Man. For however purposeful Man may be, he does not know ultimately whither he is going, and his pride has after all no substance whatever.

In this paper, then, let us understand Nature as something antithetical to what is ordinarily known as divine; as something irrational yet amenable to our mechanical, economic, utilitarian treatment; as something not human, not in possession of human feelings, and devoid of moral significance; as something which finally overpower's Man in spite of Man's partial and temporary success. In short, Nature is brutally factual, with no history objectively set before us and to be regarded and commercially exploitable, but finally swallowing us all in the purposelessness of the Unknown.

Concretely speaking, Nature consists of mountains and rivers, grass and trees, stones and earth, suns, moons and stars, birds and animals. Nature is all that constitutes what is commonly known as Man's objective world.