Nature is my religion

Science is a form of spirituality; nature is my religion. For me, reading about nature, watching nature, listening to nature, being in nature brings both a deepening and dissolving of self, all at once. When I am in nature I feel whole and connected and larger than life, but also insignificant & part of something bigger than myself. Isn’t that the sense of religion at its core?

Sitting cross-legged at the summit of a mountain in the Andes, I felt the closest to enlightenment I could ever be-- I felt like something akin to the Buddha. Holding a snake in the palm of my hand, wrapped in the warm Amazonian night, was my baptism.

And space-- the lure of space is its wonder, its inexplicability, which we attempt to explain over and over again, the way we’ve written numerous books explaining God & other deities. We look up and see space-- deep, dark, seemingly empty but really full of matter, ever-expanding, infinite. We believe with all our hearts in the universe beyond; we believe in what we don’t know, because we don’t know. Don’t tell me the thrill of black holes and multiverses doesn’t make you heart pulse deeper & stronger & louder, too.

Is there anything more beautiful than the wild? Is there anything more inexplicable and wondrous than the stars? Is there anything more stimulating for the mind, freeing for the soul, good for the earth, its people, and all its inhabitants than the love and study of nature?

I pray by conserving and appreciating the environment. And as in religion, I vow to devote my entire life to nature. Because if Mother Earth is a god, she is a god in need of saving.