NATURE

The natural world of which we are a part comprises our primary reality.  Everything we know comes from our natural world.  It is no wonder that nature has played such a big part in human spirituality throughout our history.  In fact, it is amazing that in our modern technological world nature sometimes seems to have been pushed aside.  In the two poems below I have chosen to anthropomorphize our natural world but that is not essential to the ideas in the poems. 

OUR NATURAL MOTHER

I think it is best to simply accept the natural world for what it is:
The Mother of us all,
     in whose womb all life has been created
     by natural processes including evolution.
Humanity is one result.
Dare I even say one special result?
Our natural Mother has given birth to us over billions of years!
Everything that we are today has been specially optimized
     by our natural world.
All our physical, rational and spiritual traits are born of our
     Mother!
We owe her so much, everything really.
So we must always rejoice and give thanks
     to our natural Mother.

LOVE FOR OUR NATURAL WORLD

The natural world we live in is truly our natural Mother, and we
      must love Her for what She has done.
In each moment we breath Her air, are warmed by Her sun,
     and stand on Her soil.
We drink Her water and eat the food She has provided.
Her cosmic universe lights the night sky, gives us a place to be,
     and provides us an almost infinite object of wonder!
By living in harmony with Her we can have a happy and
     successful life.  We can find the Way!
The Way is the path of life for all things taught by
     our natural Mother.  By Her we are taught:
- Humility, as we are humbled between her earth and sky,
- Respect for all life, as we are just one species among millions,
- Freedom, as we see all life roam the earth in its natural state,
- Contentment with what we have, as the Lotus desires nothing
     more than it is given.
- Beauty, as we take in the wonders that surround us,
- Power, as we are overwhelmed by the forces of nature,
- Equanimity, as the sun shines without bias on both the good
     and the bad,
- Patience, as we wait for the rain to water our crops,
- Perseverance, as we see the determination of the tortoise
- Unity, as we understand that everything is interconnected,
- Purity, as the clear mountain stream flows unpolluted.
- Impermanence, as we watch our world change every second.
- The cycle of birth and death, or maybe, it is the cycle of no-birth
     and no-death, as nothing is created and nothing is destroyed.