If we take time to look and listen, nature provides salve for our souls and encouragement for our spirits.
However, to access that bounty, there is a tuning-in process that requires entering a slower pace than that to which we are accustomed. Tuning-in is not about looking at and appreciating nature, but actually experiencing it - - and in doing so, developing eyes to see and ears to hear the voice of the Divine cosmos. There are messages for us in Nature. But how exactly does a person tune-in to receive those messages? Think about this situation: you are at a party where many people throughout the living room, dining room and kitchen are having conversations in groups of two to four or five. While you are talking in your group, you overhear a conversation about pomegranates in another group. We pick up on things we are open to and interested in. You probably wouldn’t have over heard a comment about on how to get seeds out of a pomegranate if you weren’t interested in pomegranates. But It so happened that you recently had been researching online about the nutritional value of pomegranates. Your interest and openness to this learning had readied you to hear information on pomegranates. I think it can be much the same in the spiritual dimension. What we are ready for, we pick up on more easily. If you feel like you are attuned to Nature and to the Source of all Love, you will be able to pick up the language of God through Nature. Just spend more still quiet time there with the intent of tuning-in. But how does this happen?
For 35 years I had the privilege of teaching outdoor experiential education and leading many outdoor adventure trips ranging in length from one day to one month. Consistently, the students commented on how good it felt to spend time outdoors in a natural environment. It seems that we can be unaware of the length of time we spend indoors in man-made structures versus being outdoors. So when we have reason and opportunity to be outdoors in an attractive natural environment we can feel its’ positive influence. It influences our health as well as our mental and emotional states. An abundance of research that has provided evidence of actualphysiological benefits of being in nature. These are but afew of those studies: (Ulrich, 1981; Talbot, 1989; Robinson, 1999)
There has been a lot of talk for the past several years, about quantum physics, with its submicroscopic electrons, protons, neutrinos, quarks, leptons, etc. In the 1950s and 60s we were taught only three subatomic particles of an atom (electrons, protons, and neutrons) orbited around the atom’s nucleus in set pathways similar to how our planets orbit around the Sun. Now we know that there are many more subatomic particles than three and that rather than orbit, they all vibrate in no set pattern, but at varying rates. With this in mind, my theory of what makes natural outdoor environments so restorative, is that the atoms of Natures’ elements are vibrating at a different rate and rhythm than the atoms of man-made structures. And we can sense those frequencies as they affects our consciousness and our physical well-being. The natural outdoors is composed of God-made elements that vibrate in closer harmony with the atoms we are made of, since we are also divinely made. When we are in the presence of those higher vibrations, we are restored. After all, a byproduct of all those vibrations is energy, shown in the glow that all living things give off. (White, 2003) See photo at bottom of page.
Think of walking from inside a building to outside into a beautiful area with trees, flowers and maybe a body of water. Most of the time when this change of surrounding occurs, people take a deep breath and let out a sigh of relaxation. Of course, that happens only if we take a second or two to be conscious of our new location, and the change of energy that is present in the outdoor environment. Quantum physics has shown us that all atoms are constantly vibrating. Previously we thought that all matter, i.e. tables, bricks, cars, trees, were solid. And that energy was real but invisible and certainly, not solid. But with Einstein’s equation of E=mc2, it has been shown that matter can be converted to energy and energy to matter. Ilia Delio has explained this quite succinctly in A Hunger for Wholeness (2018).
The “invisible” world of energy has a direct and solid
connection to the “concrete” world of matter. . . . A particle
split in two, for example, can communicate over vast distances
between the two halves almost instantaneously, what Einstein
and his colleagues called “entanglement.” How could this be?
Only if the vast empty spaces of the universe are really not so
empty after all, but complex layers of energy fields. (p. 16)
Barbara Brown Taylor has written a wonderful book on this subject, which I highly recommend. She calls these layers of energy fields, “The Luminous Web” (2000). Luminous, not only because all is glowing but because God is throughout it all. Maybe even God is the luminous web of Love energy. Whereas Newton thought the material universe was made of inert matter, we now know that the material universe is fundamentally energy, and all is vibrating. Walking outside and being surrounded by God’s creation can be like stepping into the midst of vibrations from an harmonious choir - - only silent to our ears.
If you are interested in increasing the communication from Nature, you can start by practicing Centering Prayer or God focused meditation actually done outside. However, it doesn’t actually have to be done in Nature to be truly effective. Try imagining a favorite spot in Nature or seeing it from your window at the beginning of a Centering Prayer/meditation period. It will increase your receptivity to nature’s messages.
