Nature

Nature is a word often used to personify the natural world as opposed to human developments and settlements. But it can also denote the truest or distilled characteristics of a person, place, thing or idea, such as the nature of Nature.

By nature, I'm a bit of a magpie – though I'm not really very fond of the birds.

Nature...what is it? The mountain, an early morning chill as I ride my bike through the vineyards in California and through the hills above Napa Valley

And the beach, the wonderful, glorious sounds and smells and foods of the beach. The lap and roar of the waves; they never stop, wave after wave after wave. What wonderful, blessed peace.

Hmmmmmmmmmm and the smells as I ride along.on my Saturday bike ride. In spring, miles from the strawberryfields, I can smell the sweet sugary scent of the fresh strawberries. So good, warm and juicy when I bite down on them.

This is god, religion, blessings and worship. The sights, sounds, tastes, odors of the natural world,just given to us....just given to us.

It's not paganism; it's appreciation of the gifts our creator or creators have given us to enjoy and preserve and care for.

Our sin is how we are destroying it. I pray the gods know that so many of us love and enjoy this earth and it's gifts from snowy pines, mountain lakes and streams filled with fish to flat, dry deserts dangling snakes and spiders at us. And I hope we can keep it.

Nature is more influenced by man than we all can foresee. Everything we destroy or change – directly or indirectly – has more consequences on the whole system than we could ever imagine.
But it really would be very arrogant to think that we were able to destroy all life.
As long as we don't blow up the whole planet, I think nature will survive mankind in any form.

The debate of nature vs nurture is too dichotomous. Instead, let's look for ways that these two concepts intersect and interact. Then we will have a better understanding of the world.

Nature is all. There is a misconception that man and nature are somehow seperate, or that »man-made« objects are not part of nature.
That is, of course, completely foolish. After all, we are but a part of nature (it is not *POSSIBLE* to not be a part of nature), therefor anything we create is part of nature by extenision. »Man-made« objects are not »un-natural«, but rather things that would not normally occur in nature without our meddling. But since we are part of nature, and make these objects, they are natural.

It's not in my nature to do what comes naturally.

The history of Earth is a moving of leaves in the sun, closing behind the bodies of men,
as the grasses close after the hare, and the junipers after the fox.