I very much like this essay by Alan Watts. He was a wise man. By living in harmony with nature, we are in service to it and it serves us. We are in no way it's master. Imagine being in a stream -- there is perfect freedom in going with the flow. We are in the world and cosmic stream of nature, and there is perfect freedom in going with the flow, accepting that we are a part of it, not apart from it. We are composed of the same stuff of which it is composed, and affected by all the same forces that affect it. To attempt to isolate from it or fight it or try to control or exploit it is foolish. The fact is I am in union with nature, and to go against it or try to isolate from it is to be anti-nature, and the result of that for me as an individual or for us as a society is unhappiness, sickness, and death. I've grown over time in my sense of union with nature, and it has resulted in my being more compassionate and at peace.
On May 4, 2019 david Doane wrote :