I recently read a fellow student’s post entitled, “Nature is Undefinable.” My reply is as follows:
Though it may be true that we have yet to exhaust our research in order to come up with an adequate definition, as intelligent beings who bear the principle responsibility as the planet’s stewards, I believe our quest to define nature is not in vain.
Actually, Ashworth in his book, “The Left Hand of Eden,” does a good job of exposing the inherent contradiction we face by looking at nature as “other” and somehow separate from US. Even reading the posts, you can see the circular reasoning and logical fallacies expressed by nearly everyone because of this intrinsic contradiction.
We know we are “supposed” to be one with nature yet everyone discusses nature as “other” and thereby perpetuates the misunderstanding. Until we resolve this elemental fact, we cannot hope to rescue our future from its collision course with disaster.
In our world, there are just 118 known elements. These 118 elements make up every iota of physical matter including ourselves. It doesn’t matter whether you drive a Cadillac and I ride a bicycle; you wear fur coats and I wear second hand; you eat caviar and I eat from a trash can. Regardless, you and I cannot exceed the bounds of the 118 known elements. We are imprisoned with all of creation inside the four walls of » More: The Definition of Nature is Elemental…
