From our uglier political nature on display, to the clearly evidenced mental health issues confronting so many individuals these days, it seems like there has not been much beauty in our lives.
Or has there?
Prospects
The COVID-19 pandemic, and the accompanying political shenanigans, have left people and institutions a little worse for the wear. The best takeaway message, however, is that we survived the challenges. There is work still to do but we always have that.
Right now we have new opportunities to explore. Opportunities to reconnect. To rebuild.
The chance to start over with some wisdom derived from our recent experiences. The pandemic thankfully (depending on your perspective) provided us with accelerated learning opportunities. Many people have had to work over the course of a lifetime to learn such lessons of strength and resilience. We had intense instruction taught over a mere three years.
On the other hand, we can choose to bicker over labels and perceived insults ad nauseam. Our choice.
Do Over
I like to take the empowered and empowering approach to living. Given the prospect of building and improving something, be it physical, emotional, spiritual, or interpersonal, I prefer the path that supports people and the surrounding natural world.
Change that follows the oft times not-so-subtle hints from our natural world, usually works in our best interest.
Taking our cues from Nature is often an experience full of what we can interpret as good and bad, but in reality are just lessons.
Science gets full of itself at times. Grand pronouncements of how the natural world “should” work abound, when we could more constructively learn to shut up, study, and listen instead.
Humility and Science
What I call imposter science has been getting loads of headlines lately. This is often a political argument holding forth science that “proves” their idea by selecting only the evidence that supports it.
That is not the way science works. Nice idea, but no.
Scientific studies always have warts the reader may not like. Results may be ambiguous, conclusions not supported by the evidence, and sometimes just evidence that does not support the status quo of accepted scientific theory.
Research is full of disappointments.
Welcome to the natural world that frustratingly flaunts our all too human opinions of how the universe should work. Instead of railing against the unfairness that we perceive when things do not work the way we want, we can instead embrace chances to learn.
Knowledge of all the parts and processes can be intriguing, but sometimes we just have to stop and appreciate the wonder of it all. Developing a sense of awe brings a new focus to old information. When you miss the awesomeness, you miss the true scope and hope of our world.
Nature Holds Beauty for Science to See
Appreciation of natural beauty, especially when viewed through a lens of science, holds hope for people and our conditions. Hope for beneficial things, like the removal of disease and the easing of pain.
There is respect and admiration to be learned from the practical information gained in the study of the biological development of life. To sit in in the woods, or by a body of water, and take inventory of all that is around is an exercise that leaves the observer just agog over the scope of all that is around us at every moment. Peering through a microscope at a live water sample has the capacity to produce a similar sense of awe.
We do not need to be fully aware of the beauty of Nature happening for it to occur. The universe does an outstanding job of taking care of itself. With practice, we can learn to enjoy the ride.
Stay Humble
If the science you follow only shouts, or always agrees with the views of your group, you are in the wrong aisle of the store. There is much more information that is useful if we but check our human egos and proceed with some humility. Nature really does offer beauty and some awesome puzzles to solve. Just look up at the stars sometime and discover a perspective of the person you really are.
It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility.
— Rachel Carson
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