Listening to Nature
5.1 Defining Nature and the Human-Nature Context
In this chapter, I distinguish between human beings and the more-than-human.[1] I label the more-than-human world “nature.” In reality, humans are part of the natural world, but it is more convenient and parsimonious to write the word “nature” rather than “more-than-human world.” Bearing this distinction in mind, nature includes everything in the universe other than humans–from micro atoms in the elements, micro-organisms, insects, plants, and animals through the macro-level astrophysical universe of planets, stars, and galaxies. This definition of nature is broader than definitions found in typical “nature” research. For example, Capaldi et al.’s review of nature and well-being defines nature as, “. . . environments and physical features of nonhuman origins, ranging from plants to non built landscapes.”[2] Capaldi et. al. further distinguish between human contact with nature, interacting with the natural world, and nature connection, a subjective sense of connection with the natural world. In this chapter, my conceptualization of “listening to nature” is compatible with Capaldi et al.’s ideas of contact and connection with nature.
Throughout this chapter, I use a human-centric orientation in considering the human-nature relationship.[3] The human-centric framework is a very narrow slice of the universe. As philosopher Ken Wilber points out, there are multiple orientations from ego (human) to ethno (group or tribe) to world (planet-global centric) to Kosmos (universal).[4] Ideally, a Kosmo-centric perspective of nature would include all relationships of everything in the known universe, but such a comprehensive systematic investigation of nature is beyond the scope of the present chapter.
- Ecologist and philosopher David Abram may be the first to use the expression "more-than-human world" to denote the natural world. David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in the More-Than-Human World (New York: Pantheon, 1996). ↵
- Colin A. Capaldi, Holli-Anne Passmore, Elizabeth K. Nisbet, John M. Zelenski, and Raelyne L. Dopko, "Flourishing in Nature: A Review of the Benefits of Connecting with Nature and its Application as a Wellbeing Intervention," International Journal of Wellbeing 5, no. 4 (2015): 1. ↵
- My focus is not nature-to-nature relationships. For example, I do not discuss the relationship between plants and insects as in the case of pollination, relationships between animals like bonobo chimpanzees and their predators, or relationships between marine mammals like the bottle-nose dolphin and sharks. ↵
- Ken Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness (Wheaton: Quest Books,1993). ↵