Final Reflection

I thought I would share some final thoughts about the class as a whole. While we have all learned a lot from this class, I think that this class can be summed up by saying that to reject the environment as a part of a larger whole is to reject the environment as a part of the human experience. Whether this is through religion, philosophy, environmental science, ecology, etc. we all find ways to connect to the environment on some kind of advanced level. If we do not do this at least a couple times throughout our lives, we are blatantly ignoring what is right in front of us for a reason. The Bible calls nature to be our companions. Are we not also to be a companion to nature as well? None of us are separate from one another, human beings, or the environment. The quicker we experience the unfathomable joy that grows from within us with another living being, the quicker we realize that. 

Additionally, there is beauty in experiencing nature as a religious, spiritual, or philosophical. To do so means to think on the things that one cannot interact with physically, to go beyond the things that one sees, hears, touches, smells, and tastes. It means to let go of the ego, the idea that you are the center of the world as a whole. The ego is the thing that keeps us tied down to the idea of the self and the self alone. When we relish in nature, we learn to appreciate that we are not the only ones out here. There are egos other than our own, all interacting with one another! 

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