Mother Nature Is the Best Spiritual Teacher

Last updated on: October 25, 2016 at 5:35 pm by Ilchi Lee

Mother Nature Is the Best Spiritual Teacher 2016-10-25T17:35:35+00:00 Ilchi Lee

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Living Tao_Ilchi Lee_Nature as a Spiritual Teacher

[Image Credit: iStock]

Who is the best teacher you ever had? Maybe you’ll think of a favorite primary school teacher or an inspiring professor you had in college. These people were probably great, but they cannot compare to your first and greatest teacher—nature herself. You might have forgotten about this teacher because she gives so ceaselessly and so generously that she is easy to take for granted.

Our First Teacher

Mother Nature began teaching you the moment you were conceived in the womb. She has instructed your body how to do so many miraculous things that no human ever had to teach you: how to grow, how to breathe, how to heal, how to digest, and much more. And when you were born into this world, she taught you important things about how to survive. For example, you instinctively knew how to suckle and to grab onto an object. She does the same for other living beings, too. From her, birds learn how to build their nests, and caterpillars know when it is time to spin their cocoons.

These things are all wonderful for our physical lives here on earth, but what about our spiritual path? Spirituality is something above and beyond this earthly plane?

In fact, spirituality is not separate from the world; our lives here on earth are a spiritual experience, even if we don’t acknowledge our spiritual nature. We are divine beings, and this world is like a training center designed for our spiritual growth and development. Yes, this life can seem very rough at times, perhaps even cruel. But everything here on the world teaches us something and guides us toward choosing according to our True Selves.

Your Best Spiritual Tool

Mother Nature gave you amazing tools to help you on this journey of Tao. Most importantly, she gave you a brain. All we need tools to help us on our path, and the best tool is right there in our brains. All we have to do is uncover and awaken its best attributes.

Despite the many ways human beings end up acting against their True Selves, all our brains contain an innate desire to become the highest version of ourselves that we can achieve.

Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, says that this is build right into the neurology of the brain and is thus present in every human society on earth. In his book Born to Be Good, he shows how humans everywhere demonstrate positive traits like cooperation and a preference for fairness, and he references many scientific studies of the brain that show how and why being good to one another is good for the brain.

The brain is in fact the place where enlightenment occurs. During my own awakening process, I felt it almost as an explosion, a massive expansion suddenly occurring in my brain. Immediately before this experience, I had finished a very long, difficult training on Moak Mountain in South Korea. I then felt a sudden explosive pressure within my brain; I really thought that I might die. But in that moment, something else was happening. I was suddenly and completely aware of my connection to everything—every human, every animal, every flower and tree. Even the cosmos beyond this planet was right there with me, connected as though I were one and the same with it. At that moment, my brain rewired itself to take full advantage of its potential, its natural ability to understand and to be awareness of the greater Truth of being.

Nature Holds All Wisdom

Since that time, I have come to realize that all of nature is constantly speaking to everyone of this Truth that I discovered. Actually, it was all right there all along, and it is always there to remind me—or anyone else who cares to listen to its message—that everything is connected and that all is one. That’s why I recommend that everyone find some special place in nature to meditate and to contemplate their place in the universe. For me, Sedona, Arizona is a special place, which is why I wrote about that place in The Call of Sedona, but the same thing can be experienced anywhere on Earth, although places of great natural beauty are especially inspiring.

The next time you are out in nature, notice how everything is connected. Everything that you see is dependent on the whole and nothing is separate or alone. Everything flows naturally and easily, even when the conditions are stormy or harsh. This is the simple truth that we humans need more than any other truth, the truth that we are not separate from each other or from the earth. Everything works together in a beautiful, harmonious dance, and we can join in any time that we want.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 18, 2016

7 Ways to Make Your Energy More Positive

Next Post

November 2, 2016 Being Good Spiritual Guides for Our Children

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz