Nature as a Religion

An endless mirror reflects the sky, a million crystals shining bright.
One breath of air will shatter the stillness; shatter the sight.
You notice it when you're looking down,
Where the sky ends and the water begins.
A sea above and a sky below,
But only in the uttermost calm.
An eternal abyss that knows no bounds,
Home to the ageless soul.

At the right moment and place, nature can become spiritual, and I believe we all fall prey to the idea of a "dark green religion" (Klassen, 2012) many times in our lives. For many, myself included, during quiet contemplation or observance nature comes to be perceived in a different way. Sitting on the train with a slow soothing song in my ears and my eyes cast to the clouds high above or the orange rays of the setting sun, and that moment takes on a religious feel. I feel my place in the world and how very small it is; how unimportant I am in the "grand scheme" of things. Then I always look around at the other passengers to discover if they've also had this spiritual moment and I find them still absorbed in their books and phones and I begin to realise that I was the only one avidly staring at the sky.

Yet at other times, awe for nature or similar religious moments in respect to nature, require other nearby people to occur. If you're staring out from a great height, from the top of a mountain for example, you need a person beside you to share the emotions that arise when gazing at the enormity of nature and the world in general. It's almost as if you cannot comprehend it without sharing, and isn't that vital to religion? The act of congregating to share the idea of God which is almost inconceivable to the individual.

However this is not religion. These are moments in time that take on a transcendent quality that links a person with their world. Yet I believe these moments are vital to human life. The religious feel of nature at times helps people to understand humility, maybe even to swamp the self-centred being. Nature is one of the last things humans have yet to control fully. It's a god in its own way. This keeps us content, and nature (for the time being), safe.

References:

Klassen, C. (2012). Avatar, dark green religion and the technological construction of nature. Cultural Studies Review, 18: 74-88.

Picture: http://pixabay.com/en/sunset-clouds-railway-station-train-95162/