What is Nature for You
In the previous video, we have seen, how David Abram sees Nature. But the word “nature” can be interpreted in many different ways. To each of us it might mean slightly different things. Therefore we interviewed people, professionals working with people or in nature, to ask for their own personal perception. We have asked them: What is nature to you and how does it influence your way you deal with difficult moments in your life? Here we summarize the findings of our research, which we have done with councellors, trainers and nature guides – people helping people.
Defining Nature
For defining nature, people answered from different points of view: some people highlighted their personal connection to it (including the vivid description of sensations), while others emphasized the environmental aspects or humans’ (and human-made creations) relation with nature or answered from a spiritual point of view.
„Personal” answers mainly include relation to important places (like home, a town with trees, „my grape hill”, the grat plain, etc.), as well as describing sensations as the way we can recognise if something is nature or not. These include colours (green, blue, red versus the grey of concrete), the touch of soil below the feet, having enough space above – as for example at the plain, where the enormous sky embraces you). Another way to look at it was what „activities” can be done in nature: for example walking outside or having a connection with it. These place the respondent in the role of experiencing (and appreciating) nature in some way.
The „environmental” perspective includes responses that define nature by listing parts of it. Three people highlighted that both insentient and living environment counts as nature. Most frequently ( 5 times) forest was mentioned, then elements (forms of water, air, earth/soil), followed by creatures (plants, trees and animals), formations (desert, mountains and caves), and finally spatial objects (sun, moon).
The next category was those responses that defined nature in relation to human activity. The most frequently mentioned aspect was that nature is something that was not created by humans, that is untouched (among all the answers this was one of the most highlighted – 6 people mentioned it). This also means for some people that cities cannot be nature. Others have a different point of view: some poeple think that human creations also can be nature, or at least part of nature – especially if there is a sense of nature there anyway (for example a tree with birds seen from a balcony). An other way to look at nature in relation to humans is already leading to the next category (spiritual): nature is something that fulfills you, that brings silence and create harmony inside.
Finally the spiritual responses defining nature as something that is greater than us (persons or human sin general). It is freedom, infinity, strength. It is reality as it is, the whole universe. And finally, the most common response in the interviews was that we are all part of nature: we, humans and animals, we are all equal, we are little particles of a greater wholeness.
How nature influences the way we deal with challenges?
As for how nature influences them during difficult moments of their life, there were two groups of ideas and experiences: nature impacts the respondents in a way, creating certain feelings and impressions, and it helps people connecting with themselves in these situations. Some people also mentioned a spiritual gain as well.
Participants agreed, that nature has a deep impact on humans beings in difficult situations. Some of them see it that way, that different environments create different impressions and feelings: for example a plain excites you and the sea calms you down. Others highlighted the feeling of safety they experience in nature. It also give great possibilities to experience – for example the infinite movement of the world.
Other responses focused on how nature helps people to connect to themselves. Nearly all of the interviewees agreed that nature let people to be alone, to stay with themselves, to calm down, to meditate and therefore find harmony with themselves. For this effect, they follow different paths – for some, even a place in the city with flowers create peace in their mind. For others it is the lack of internet in nature that helps them to find themselves. Also the silence and the darkness of caves can evoke deep conversations – that stay down there and never continues up on the surface. For someone it is rythm of her steps that helps her thoughts to have a different rythm as well. When you are concentrating on the next step, the daily problems disappear and you can be present in the here and now. For many people it is also a place where they can consciously work on themselves, to recharge their batteries and find the right path they want to follow. It can also help with physical healing.
Some people also mentioned that they gain spiritually when in nature. They feel they can connect to the primal energies of nature, through experiencing that the environment rules, and it is a stronger entity than us. This way it also affects the meaning of life.
So now the question is: what is Nature – for you? And how can nature really help? In our next article we discover the answers for these questions.
Source:
Franzini, E., Magnano, F., Purita, A., Rossi, A., Gojšić, J., Hudec, G., Ratz, J., Turoczi, L., Suhajda E. V., Vastag Zs. (2018). Restoring Resilience, Connecting to Nature and Self – Reference Frame. Rogers Személyközpontú Oktatásért Alapítvány. Downloadable: https://www.connat.eu/index.php/project-documents/category/5-reference-frame?download=1:reference-frame