Notes on nature’s wisdom

Intelligent life

It is thought life, what we call nature or the more than human world, emerged on Planet Earth~3.7bn years ago. If the history of Earth’s 4.5bn years was represented as a 24hr clock, we humans would have been here for less than a second…

In that short blip of existence, our way of being has destroyed life around us (since the industrial revolution, so an even shorter blip). Yet nature/the more than human world, has continued to create life.

Have you ever wondered why that is?

I’ve recently taken to ‘sit-spots’ (thanks dan burgess), as a way of untangling my brain from its 28-years strong cultural wiring. Which simply involves sitting down in a nature space and observing what comes to you. This has given me plenty of time to think about this question.

In many ways, a series of seismic experiences, enabling me to see through all the layers of complexity surrounding why we are in this mess (ecosystem collapse, resource scarcity, climate change, multitude forms of oppression and beyond) — through to the core truth. Which is the fact that we have become separated from the operating system of nature — that by design creates conditions for health and life.

As Gregory Bateson said “The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think”.

Lessons from the trees

Here’s what has come up for me whilst pondering in the woods, my observations on natures operating principles.

Reciprocity — Trees and fungi form partnerships known as mycorrhizas, they extract water and nutrients like nitrogen in exchange for some of the carbon-rich sugars the trees make through photosynthesis. Sharing is caring.

Diversity — A healthy and natural forest isn’t a monoculture, variation in the types of trees contributes to the genetic resilience of a forest. Strength through differences.

Circular — No such thing as waste in the forest (or nature), everything in death is passed as resources for future generations. Nature designs for life.

Renewable energy — Trees sources their power from the sun, they don’t rely on finite resources. No extraction here.

Cycles — Trees grow through through cycles, taking time to rest when resources are not available and then grow when they are. Infinite growth is a myth.

Experimentation — Nothing is actually static in the forest, stability is dynamic through constant experimentation (dare I say mutation) to evolve. The only constant is change.

Networks — Working together is the only way to work, no one tree works to achieve more at another's expense, trees work as a system to the whole. No tree is an island.

Seeing what is really around us

I invite you to do the same as me, drop down to your nearest woods and see what’s going on around you.

Imagine what would be possible if we too lived this way, connected to nature.