Half of humankind now lives in an urban environment, me included. Recently I’ve been pining for some more nature in my life. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.
I think these lines from a poem by Wendell Berry beautifully illuminate our predicament:
THE THOUGHT OF SOMETHING ELSE
By Wendell Berry
A spring wind blowing the smell of the ground through the intersections of traffic, the mind turns, seeks a new nativity-another place, simpler, less weighted by what has already been.
...
-a place where thought can take its shape as quietly in the mind as water in a pitcher, or a man can be safely without thought -see the day begin and lean back, a simple wakefulness filling perfectly the spaces among the leaves.