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Nature’s spiritual voice says that nothing exists in and of itself. Everything exists within a network of interrelationships where everything is dependent on everything else. That voice evokes human feelings of love, gratitude, awe, wonder, delight, and being connected to a whole. It is the voice of value and meaning. It is the voice of sanctity - a voice of reverence for all that lives.

Hearing Nature's spiritual voice can result in a deep resonance in the innermost center of our spirit in which we lose our separateness and become one with Nature. It is the act of "knowing" and not just “knowing about”. "Knowing" means encountering the unity of a natural object and its surrounding environment that includes us. Gregory Bateson's student, Stephen Nachmanovitch, describes "knowing" as "seeing the symmetry and segmentation of a leaf or a culture as the immanent presence of some overall pattern - and beyond that, a pattern of patterns".

Nature’s spiritual voice evokes an awareness of sounds and sights. Awareness of other creatures. Awareness of the presence of Earth. Awareness of the silence surrounding everything. An awareness of how we fit into the scheme of things. Awareness means being actively engaged with whatever is happening at the moment.

Listening to Nature’s spiritual voice is being free of a sense of time and undistracted by thoughts of our past and our future.  . Eckhart Tolle  describes this as being completely absorbed in the present moment -- in the "Now". He says : "...the mind needs to be still. You have to put down for a moment your personal baggage of problems, of past and future, as well as all your knowledge; otherwise you will see but not see, hear but not hear. Your total presence is required" It means paying attention - being aware of what is. Noticing things that cannot be accessed by science, language, or art.

Tolle goes on to say: "Use your senses fully.. Look around. Just look, don't interpret. See the light, shapes, colors, textures. Be aware of the silent presence of each thing. Be aware of the space that allows everythig to be. Listen to the sounds; don't judge them. Listen to the silence underneath the sounds. Touch something -- anything -- and feel and acknowledge its Being"

Nature’s spiritual voice also communicates a reverence for life -- a philosophy that says that the only thing we’re really sure of is that we live, and want to go on living. And this is something that we share with everything else that lives – from elephants to blades of grass. We are brothers and sisters to all living things. Albert Schweitzer expressed this idea of reverence for life, in “Out of My Life and Thought”.

“Late on the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset, we were making our way through a herd of hippopotamuses, there flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought, the phrase, "Reverence for Life."

“Who among us knows what significance any other kind of life has? For the truly ethical man, all life is sacred, including that which from the human point of view seems lower in scale. If a person has been touched by the ethic of Reverence for Life, he injures and destroys life only when he cannot avoid doing so, and never from thoughtlessness.”

“Every person is born with the concept: ‘I am life which wills to live in the midst of life which wills to live.’ From this conflict comes death and destruction. But if he understands Reverence for Life, at last the will-to-live, that fierce affirmative force which holds us all by the throat, vanishes. In its place there is only the will-to-love, the blessedness of healing, and the sense of communion with all living things.”

Active engagement with Nature also requires deep listening. The Still Voice beautifully describes this practice as paraphraed below:

"Listen to the song of birds and the soft movement of the wind among the branches. If you listen even more deeply you will hear the inner sound of all life, the inner music of the flowers and the trees, and the very breath of the earth, rhythmic and beautiful. And deeper still, beneath all this music and movement, there is profound and utter silence.... deep, deep, silence and stillness. Listen to the silence. Within the silence is the harmony of the Creator."

The contemplative activity of employing all of our senses allows the intricacies of interrelationships to become clear. We come to "know" those patterns that we sense. Allison Hawthorne Deming, in her poem "The Web", beautifully portrays the connectivity of patterns at all levels as does Gwen Meyer's poem.

One way to engage Nature is to let nature come to you. This is sometimes called "still hunting". Acquiring a quiet spirit, being aware only of the present moment, and patiently waiting for Nature to come to you can be a fascinating and rewarding activity. As Nature gradually comes alive before you, you will begin to sense and understand the connections between yourself and other members of our vast ecosystem.

While keeping all of your senses alert, comfortably sit motionless by a shore, in a forest, or any quiet place where Nature displays her majesty. Acquire a quiet spirit by keeping your relaxed hands folded in your lap. Focus on your breath as you slowly inhale. Again, focus on your breath as you slowly and quietly exhale. During the pauses between breaths, concentrate on the present moment as nature surrounds and embraces you.  Listen, watch, and feel. Carefully listen for stillness between the sounds.

At first, nothing will happen. But, with time, the impact of your intrusion will subside and Nature will return to its equilibrium. Birds and other small creatures will resume their chirping and other sounds. Very gradually they will move closer to you. In a forest, deer and other larger animals will also come closer. Listen to Nature’s sounds. Feel the movement of air around you. In his wonderful book, Listening to Nature, Joseph Cornell suggests “free your mind from expectations, paying attention to what you see and hear: busy insects, singing birds, and breezes bringing the trees to life” Keep a camera at your side. If you decide to take a picture, move very slowly. Carry a recorder to record the sounds.

While experiencing Nature in this way, listen to your own inner voice. How is your spirit responding to what is happening about you? How are you connecting to what is going on?

Joseph Cornell says “Ecology is the intellectual study of the interrelationships of all living things. Activities like Still Hunting complement the science of ecology by providing a way for us to consciously affirm and intuitively experience our oneness with Life. “

Consider Gregory Bateson's contemplative questions: How are you related to the patterns you are observing? What pattern connects you to them? What is the pattern that connects all living creatures?  Live these questions. They help us in "knowing" nature and nature's patterns.

No matter what name you give your higher power, this inspirational video entitled "Creation Calls" will move you.