First and foremost, separating ourselves from nature separates us from our own nature; we become strangers in the strangeland of our body. Then, we treat our body as a mere object—which is detrimental of course—and everything else becomes an object, be it other persons or creatures. By treating our body and other creatures as objects, we tend to think that “it” or “they” should obey our “will” or our “desires” and that we can dominate the “world” around us. Until nature overcomes our body, by sickness or disaster. In so doing, we have lost all the pleasures, the meanings, and the nurture that life can give us through sharing with other living beings—indeed, with the whole world, with Gaia.
Feeling part of a larger being—nature that is—can become the only way we feel truly alive. This need is so profound that many people seek it in love, groups, religions, social media, even in conflicts, for conflict is a way a relating to other living beings. Wars can be the source of tremendous feelings of inclusiveness, for it proclaims friends and enemies as our very own special groups. Nature is never at war nor “in love” with a creature. Nature simply “is.” Including ourselves in nature could calm down our anxieties and provide us with a tremendous feeling of security: we are not the ones to decide who or when or how nature should behave. She is not for or against us. We just have to be. Being there is the key.
