5.0 Introduction to Listening to Nature

Humans Need Nature

Humans need contact, connection, and positive experiences with the natural world. The transcendentalist philosopher Thoreau writes in Walden, “We need the tonic of wilderness . . . We can never have enough of nature.”^[1] The naturalist John Muir highlights the human need for nature in Yosemite, “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.”^[2] The biophilia hypothesis, first proposed by Edward Wilson,^[3] suggests that nature is in our DNA, and that we have an innate bond with other living organisms. The living organisms in nature include green nature (e.g., forests and parks), blue landscapes (e.g., rivers and oceans), micro-organisms, insects, plants, reptiles, fish, animals, and the elements.

We are not just part of the natural world. We literally are the natural world. From the plants and animals we consume as food, to the air we breathe, and the micro-organisms that live on our skin and in our body, we are the living container for parts of the natural world. In decades of research using the electron microscope, Joyce Hawkes is convinced that cells resonate with the beauty of nature, and that we in turn resonate with awe, joy, and beauty.^[4]

Consider the following two excerpts that illustrate how nature uplifts the human spirit. In the first excerpt, we are hiking with John Muir in the Sierras:

We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us. Our flesh-and-bone tabernacle seems transparent as glass to the beauty about us, as if truly an inseparable part of it, thrilling with the air and trees, streams and rocks, in the waves of the sun . . .^[5]

In this second excerpt, we listen to the nature wisdom of Chief Dan George. Notice his use of the phrase “speaks to me” implies he is listening to nature:

The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air, the fragrance of the grass, speaks to me. The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky, the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me . . . And the life that never goes away. They speak to me. And my heart soars.^[6]

Anyone willing to listen to nature can experience something of what John Muir and Chief Dan George poetically and vividly describe. Biologist and environmentalist Rachel Carson calls these nature experiences a “sense of wonder.” Carson wishes that each child receive the gift of a sense of wonder, “If I had influence with the good fairy . . . I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life . . .”^[7] Carson advocates cultivating a sense of wonder by listening to nature:

Take time to listen and talk about the voices of the earth and what they mean–the majestic voice of thunder, the winds, the sound of surf or flowing streams. And the voices of living things . . . Robins, thrushes, song sparrows, jays . . .^[8]

The previous observations of naturalists Henry Thoreau and John Muir, the voice of Chief Dan George, and the wisdom of biologist Joyce Hawkes and environmentalist Rachel Carson all affirm the value of listening to nature. In addition to these voices, there is empirical research supporting the health benefits of listening to nature that I describe in this chapter. But first, I define nature and the scope of inquiry for listening to nature as part of listening to the SONG of life.