Nature religions

[Duna]

I never had much in terms of religion in my life, and never gave it much thought, either.
Some years ago I move into a new condo where friends of my parents lived, and the woman is extremely into evangelism and Jesus. It was a question of time until she asked me how I can not possibly believe in God, and in what I do believe instead.
So I started to ask that question myself.
As a scientist, I tend to be pragmatic and and a skeptic. I don't believe in something just because someone says it's true. And that goes for everything, not just religion.
I was going through some big changes in my life, and during long walks along the beach with my dog I suddenly noticed that just sitting on a rock, touching it while smelling the sea breeze made me feel comfortable in more than just the mainstream sense. I could not only relax, but I felt actually connected. It was a feeling I remembered from when I was a kid and living with my nature-loving father in a tropical country.
Further conversations with the neighbor (sometimes it was inevitable) made me realize that the way she was talking about Jesus, how she felt connected to him, and God, could very well compareto what I was feeling when touching a tree, watching ants crawl on the floor, or sea gulls do their their thing, then of course the dogs (by then I had adopted another rescue). I went down to the beach (right in front of where I lived) or just walked in our neighborhood that still had some dirt roads and empty spaces. I spend time watching nature do its thing and felt a part of it.

At some point I began to compare "religion" with what I was experiencing, and inevitable came to learn about Nature religions, and Animism.

What I couldn't find is a platform / forum (like this one). Only Facebook groups and Reddit, Twitter's etc which I have to use. So my question: Anyone knows of such platforms? Or maybe someone here is into nature in a spiritual sense?

 

[Tom]

Nature is amazing and wonderful. I can totally relate. I felt the same connection with nature. I eventually turned to Christianity but still retain that connection with nature. Just as an aside, recent research (published studies) has identified certain chemicals released in the air in forests and on the beach that interact with our human systems in a positive way. Lower blood pressure, etc. If you were curious a google search should turn them up. Pets can have the same effect. I don't have any suggestions for you as I haven't explored that route, but do hope you keep looking and find what you seek.

 

[Knower of nothing]

Why the need for a platform? You seem to be exploring it just fine on your own.
I certainly do believe in nature and my absolute connection to it (through simply being a small facet of it), but I never understood turning belief into ritual or value. I enjoy the outdoors, I respect its callous march of time. I recognize it's a very colorful bag of experiences out there. You get life and death, health and sickness, cruelty and compassion. It's got the whole lot. I'm really not sure that if you look at all of that that it can invoke just a singular attitude that could be the basis of a core-value to something like a nature religion.
The connection is enough? The fact nature impacts you and you impact it? Not the complex quality of the connection? Safe to say I don't really get it.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I think you have found the ability to meditate through nature. I see myself as spiritual, not religious and have at times experience what you feel, a near pantheistic oneness with the natural world. I have even used hikes as a type of walking meditation of being present in the now.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Nature worship - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Many of the old pagan, polytheistic religions had their foundations in nature,...fire, water, earth, air, etc. The ancient Celtic religions were classic examples of this.

 

[Duna]

Why the need for a platform? You seem to be exploring it just fine on your own.

Because I want to know what others think and experience. I do almost everything alone, my parents now the only persons I interact with besides my colleagues (but that's only work-related stuff). The way Covid and social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all that) changed people and the way they interact with each other left me with antrophobia (fear of people) and using this kind of platforms may be a way for me to start to step out of the comfort zone of my own mind without being overwhelmed by all the images, videos and ads that are found nowadays throughout the internet. Places like this forum (and another one I found about another topic of interest) are ok for me.

 

[Duna]

@Neonatal RRT Thanks. But I know how to do a Google searchand did. But reading a WiKi page gives me basic information, it doesn't answer specific questions that could lead to further thought. For someone like m who needs to relearn how to formulate thoughts so others can understand, and then interact with them, it's no real help.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Sounds like you need to go on a sabbatical for about a year, traveling around to visit all the beautiful places in the world. I wish I could do that,...well, I probably could,...take an early retirement, sell some things,...and get away from it all.

 

[Duna]

The connection is enough?

It is for me. Plus nature has laws I can instinctively understand. Without all the confusion humans create with their ideas on how thing should or should not work.

Sounds like you need to go on a sabbatical for about a year, traveling around to visit all the beautiful places in the world.

That would be great. I was fortunate enough to have traveled to and lived in many places. But right now I'm happy to be able to go shopping on my own, I can't even get on a bus without risking a meltdown.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

@Duna, I hope someday you can travel to observe some magnificent environments in our National Parks and Wilderness Areas. Hiking to a glacier in Glacier NP, with Pikas along our route making their squeeze-toy noises at us, then once resting with lunch on the Sperry glacier a Mountain Goat came all the way across the basin to sit down and rest next to us.

I find that sometimes I get into the physicality of moving through nature. There have been times canoeing, I feel in each stroke that I am feeling one with the river, an observer of the passing scene.

Tomorrow is my final kayak trip of the year, about 5 hours on the Pine River. Fall colors will be at their peak.

 

[Duna]

Tomorrow is my final kayak trip of the year, about 5 hours on the Pine River. Fall colors will be at their peak.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Have to look up the places you mention. But as I said - right now I'm happy that I can at least go grocery shopping on my own. I hope by the time I'm able to travel again I won't be too old or too poor to do it, haha.
Where I live are so many beautiful places I would like to know. My dream right now is having a trustworthy RV big enough to live/work (the blessings of online work) in and travel all the way South to Patagonia.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Have to look up the places you mention. But as I said - right now I'm happy that I can at least go grocery shopping on my own. I hope by the time I'm able to travel again I won't be too old or too poor to do it, haha.
Where I live are so many beautiful places I would like to know. My dream right now is having a trustworthy RV big enough to live/work (the blessings of online work) in and travel all the way South to Patagonia.

That would be a hell of a journey.

 

[Au Naturel]

I love nature but I wouldn't compare it to a religion. Religion is a structure of tenets and dogma and superstition while nature is a chaotic system. You might compare it more to spirituality. But I'm too much of a materialist for it to be "spirituality" for me.

There is the aesthetics of the wilderness. The more you know about it and the closer you bond to it the more beauty there is to see.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an Hour… William Blake

It is away from civilization and socialization. I can be who I am and nature doesn't care. Nobody is there to say I should or shouldn't be doing something or to remind me of my age or my appearance or make personal judgments on my behavior. I can be as free as the wind, naked as a jaybird, and do whatever I want in the "privacy" of the wilderness. as long as I stay mindful of the environment.

There can always be a disaster of some sort but barring that, if I live or die or get hurt or sick or sunburned or lost is up to me. (Actually, I've been in the wild so many times I don't think "getting lost" is even an option anymore.) Rattlers and bears and cougars and sunburn and poison oak and cow killer wasps all share my path yet I fear no evil. I take with me what I need to be safe. My fate is largely in my own hands.

I can be myself, alone, and nature doesn't care! It used to be an exhilarating feeling. Over many decades it has become a comforting feeling. I avoid going on long hikes with other people for that reason. Plus, other people invariably scare the wildlife away.

To See a World in a Grain of Sand – Nature’s Depths

Walking through nature with John Palka, a neuroscientist who loves plants and ponders big questions

naturesdepths.com

 

[SusanLR]

Having a lifelong oneness with nature is calming and interesting.
I feel more of a connection with nature and animals than humans.

There is so much awareness of this connection that most people, especially those
living in highly populated areas and feel more at ease with other humans don't
recognize.

Right now, at 3:45am I am alone in silence, yet there is the sound of the Mockingbird singing outside the window in the cedar tree.
I feel a special connection with birds and have raised many babies that have fallen
from their nests.
A Woodpecker was one of the most challenging.
I've worked with the mother of the baby also.
A dove was protecting it's little one that had fallen from a nest, and I put the
chick in a cardboard box and set it on a storage shed about 3 ft off the ground.
She fed it through the day, I took it in at dusk and set it back out in the morning.
We raised it together. Wrens also.

The experiences with Wood Storks have been amazing.
I could write a book on these things. The raptors have a special meaning also.

I keep tree frogs around the pool, and they come to me at night when I go out to
feed them.
I have black beetles in goldfish bowls next to where I eat. They are like company
to have there and the observation of the societal lives of all creatures I'm in
contact with shows so much.
Most people would not even care or notice.

I think animism, nature and elemental spirits maybe what we are entwined with.
That is the spiritual aspect that if it were to be called a kind of religion, it would be
this.

If you would like to share experiences, PM me.
Always glad to talk to and about the animals and nature.

Harold the frog.

 

[Outdated]

Hi Duna, this is not a religion as such, but here's a common belief amongst traditional Australian peoples.

The Mother:

That's their name for the planet Earth. They believe that the planet itself is a living creature and we are all just parasites living on it's skin. If we are beneficial parasites then The Mother will change conditions to encourage our proliferation. If we are detrimental then She will scratch us off like a dog scratches fleas.

The Mother is not a god. You can't pray to her, there's no point, She can't hear you.

Just don't make Her itchy.

 

[Raggamuffin]

Spirit journeys and quests.

Hallucinogens whilst amongst nature, by water or in the woods. I can guarantee you will feel more connected to nature, the world and yourself.

Oh yes.

Also, as this is a PG-13 place - drugs are bad mm'kay.

Ed

 

[Alexandria]

I have always been awed by the natural world and the mechanics of the universe.

Humankind is a part of nature and its cyclic processes. I think many people tend to forget that, living as most do in built-up areas without connection to our natural surroundings - being bricked up against the elements, we tend to lose touch with them.

As humans, we are extremely limited in our physical senses - there is so much going on around us, sights and sounds of which we are absolutely unaware. Discovering that these things exist and how (and why) such natural processes function might be felt to be a spiritual endeavour in and of itself, in that discovery often triggers an inner awakening in the form of knowledge - a kind of euphoria (that eureka moment) that can be said to alter the minds and psyches of those who come into understanding - expanding in comprehension from that point onward.

As scientists, it is possible to explore nature in all its glory and in doing so it does tend to instil a sense of awe (or at the very least, understanding and respect) for all creation.

“An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature, and a measurement is the recording of Nature’s answer.” – Max Planck

 

[Duna]

Hallucinogens whilst amongst nature

Not for me, thank you very much. Though I do believe you, I'm into something else

 

[Duna]

I think many people tend to forget that, living as most do in built-up areas without connection to our natural surroundings - being bricked up against the elements, we tend to lose touch with them.

I do live in a very rural area, and have for some time. Still, I see how neighbors manage to bring all their modern civilization crap (and I do not mean technology) here, ruininig life for the few of us who truly want to live a simple life surrounded by nature and good vibes.

I love your reply. Thank you very much!

 

[Duna]

Hi Duna, this is not a religion as such, but here's a common belief amongst traditional Australian peoples.

Nice! Reminds me of the time I spent in Australia, decades ago. I had the pleasure to meet a young native woman (I was a teen myself) who introduced me to some of their beliefs. Unfortunately I couldn't stay longer, otherwise I would have been able to visit with her family, which I understand is a privilege for non-natives (we have the same her in Chile with the Easter Island)