My approach to nature is twofold. First I am simply a passive observer. In my life nature is all around us it is our air, land, woods and water. I take it for just another cycle in a semi-routine world. I will wake up tomorrow and there will be grass and trees outside with fresh air to breath. We take these things for granted. I don’t always see what is behind our assumptions. I like to view nature from television and movies. In this way I can control nature, eliminating thoughts of bugs and flying insects, I can change the brightness of the sun and light, I can stop and rewind to see the details or reflect on the image.
As Annie Dillard wrote: “There is another kind of seeing that involves a letting go. When I see this way I sway transfixed and empty. . . . When I see this second way I am above all an unscrupulous observer.” One needs to train oneself to see beyond the obvious or the expected.
Since I was young I developed the ability to find and capture lizards, frogs and toads. I did not develop this ability intentionally, it came as a result of my interest in the animals themselves. I went from barely seeing them to be able to see them everywhere. Now I see differences in their appearances, their color and how they move. I became so in tune with them, that I can easily capture them(without harm). I have used this ability to observe in detail the daytime sky. I see subtle difference in cloud formation, color and movement. The sky is no longer just blue, but all shades of the spectrum mixed in with normal hue’s of blue and grey. This too, like the reptiles just happened. Like Annie I can see that when I let go, nature opens up to me.
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