attuning to nature
"The nature lover approach involves simply offering respect and reception to nature. There should be no need or desire to see the outcome follow a belief, but instead, let events unfold naturally without your human intervention. With such an open and listening mind, nature finds more licence to restore its partnership with you, and place its messages directly into the mind through insights found during the search for parsimony."
(The above quote and the following is excerpted from an essay on attunement which was written by Dr. Beetle. Please find links to the complete essay from which this selection was taken and to his other writings at the bottom of this page.)
The reason humans have largely ignored the role of attunement in nature, seems to be that they are unwilling to accept its importance. Admission would reveal inadequacy. Indeed, if there were an opposite to attunement, humans provide the example. Humans teach each other that they are superior to nature, and can live without it. That nature is not essential. The prospect of having to complete your potential and mind’s development through attunement with nature is anathema (this will change one day). The modern human has little understanding for nature or its fundamental mechanisms. They do not feel sufficient loss whilst clearing it away for their new developments and housing estates.
Attunement is important in nature because when achieved, you can listen to its signals and warnings far more keenly than those ignorant or detached. Some animals can seem to have a sixth sense about their world.Black trackers found many lost white children in Australia, because Europeans could not read the signs of the bush. The healthiest animal in the wild is usually the wisest and most attuned, with its knowledge of how to navigate the terrain and sense out food. A tame animal would be a sitting target if dumped in the wild. Like Elsa the lion in Born Free, it needs to be released slowly and carefully back into the wild, so it has time to learn new skills and develop a new level of awareness. Without attunement, you cannot receive open and honest feedback on your performance from nature. You do not know how to adjust. Without intimate and direct interaction with nature, your mind could pursue its own tangent and become delusional. You could lose track of what you want, of how to function, and of how to be of lasting benefit to your home and world. You could become the modern human.
The failure to comprehend attunement has also caused humans to misinterpret some key adaptations found in animals and themselves. If attunement is important, certain adaptations should exist that are designed to promote its development. Humans waffle on about instincts, trying to understand how they work, while blind to half the picture. Humans think instincts are inherited, because of how deeply entrenched they become. But in reality, instincts are codes of behaviour learnt during attunement. Instincts are the records of the tight and direct bonds of common sense and good reasons that grow between animal and niche. With a few sound instincts, animals can sense and decide their way through life. Instincts and reflexes are honed through play, and by repetition and training. That is, by interactive learning and practicing within the environment.
The other vital adaptation in animals, even less understood, is the pursuit and desire for parsimony. Parsimony is finding a way to link a set of facts using fewest possible steps. The most parsimonious route will invariably be the simplest, most versatile and wisest course to take. The value of parsimony (sometimes called Ockham’s razor) is recognized in some factions of science and evolution, when something closer to the truth is sought. Parsimony is so important, that animals have an adaptation inside them that is designed to seek it out. I call it the interaction desire, and for vertebrates it involves the measuring ability of the pleasure centre based in the hypothalamus, which is the gateway to the cortex (the instinct learning centre). The most parsimonious circuit used by the brain to understand or interact with a set of events will be the most pleasurable. People might call out eureka when they find it, or feel the penny drop when they achieve the insight. It also explains why people enjoy getting things right, understanding, and music. Parsimony is needed to help sort and identify which are the right interactions and interpretations to learn by rote and accept as instincts. Those lines of connection that are most direct and simple with your environment, are those that will make you attuned and bring you closer to the real inner workings of your world. Attunement gives inner strength and wisdom..
... Naturalists or nature lovers represent the most natural method for attuning with nature. Note that there is a philosophy called naturalism, which looks interesting, but I have a sceptical aversion to assigning the mind into any label or category. Such surrender of care is the beginning of the believing approach, which can only harm the flexibility and openness needed to access nature. The nature lover approach involves simply offering respect and reception to nature. There should be no need or desire to see the outcome follow a belief, but instead, let events unfold naturally without your human intervention. With such an open and listening mind, nature finds more licence to restore its partnership with you, and place its messages directly into the mind through insights found during the search for parsimony.
The essay from which this excerpt has been taken, "Attuning with Nature" can be found here:
All of Dr. Beetle's writings are recommended especially, "Biology Lesson", "Psychology Lesson" and "Spirituality". They may be found here; http://www.animalconcerns.org/external.html?www=http://drbeetle.homestead.com&itemid=20010722232014764741.
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Excerpted from 'The Wildness, FAQ'
Human: Isn't evolution 'survival of the fittest'?
Dr Beetle: No, evolution is 'survival of the wildest'...
... Therefore, the doom and gloom being reasoned out of evolution by biologists today is wrong. In truth, evolution produces harmony, diversity and beauty in nature, not a few selfish victors. Survival of the fittest implies it is strong to be a fit competitor to the exclusion of others. But to be wild, it is more important to have good instincts, and to be open enough to sense the information coursing through your world.
Get the complete Wildness FAQ here: http://www.animalconcerns.org/external.html?www=http://drbeetle.homestead.com&itemid=20010722232014764741
