It’s not uncommon to hear people explain how a little time in nature helps people feel closer to God. But the idea of spending time in nature as a spiritual discipline can still be startling for many people.
“I used to laugh at people who called nature a church,” wrote music artist Audrey Assad. “It mystified me. I understand now; the trees are priests, too, and they require no blood for their rituals. The forests are carpeted with healing organisms that funnel nourishment to the sick plants among them.”
Early theologians often argued that nature was practically a “book” and that studying God’s creations would lead to a deeper knowledge of God. Tertullian wrote that “We conclude that God is known first through Nature, and then again, more particularly, by doctrine; by Nature in His works, and by doctrine in His revealed word.”
We are surrounded by lessons on how to love God and love each other. Of all these, Scripture of course plays the biggest role. But the world around us was also spoken into existence by God. We don’t need to choose one-over-the-other in our spiritual growth.
Our natural environment doesn’t just teach us about Creation in an academic sense, although it can. It leads us towards an appreciation of God’s glory. It can help us nurture the fruits of the spirit. The sense of wonder that nature sparks can inspire personal dedication to God.
In other words, when Psalm 19 states that “the heavens declare the glory of God,” it reminds us that the goodness of creation points towards the goodness of the Creator.
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena.
“If human beings do not understand the true nature of things, and principles like beauty and justice and goodness, he explained, then no one can expect them to live by those principles in their own lives. The world we live in, in other words, is a world created by our systematic ignorance – and our unwillingness to see things as they really truly are” (Herman 17). Through the comparative angle of Karma philosophy, and panentheistic philosophy, this study reveals that seeing life and death together through a single window is also the moment of maturation for Pi. The moments when he does not care to die are moments when he perceives that death and life are an ongoing cycle, and that he does not have to do anything to understand that he can be with God. Even if the integrity of the story seems extraordinary, there is nothing unusual about it. “I am who I am” (Martel 28) concludes Pi from the beginning, a reference to Exodus 3:14. No matter when or where, God is there. He is the Alpha and the Omega, as in Revelation 1:8. But does this mean that Pi should declare himself God? Not at all. If God creates man in his own image, if he is everywhere and in everything, then he is also in human’s body. Thus, when Pi says I am who I am, he refers to the power of God in his soul. God gives life to man, nature, and everything else. Searching for God means actually living with God. This is because the cosmos has been created by the grace of God in his own reflection, and in his own universe. Through the philosophies of karma and panentheism and the analysis of the novel, it may be proposed that the existence of “God” means the following: Humans belong to God, humans have descended from God, and the absolute return destination is God.
Nature is the one supreme power which should be saved by humans.
