Nature as a word and as a philosophy is subjective. In fact, most of you when reading the previous
sentence would have thought of the natural environment when reading “nature” but moved onto more
philosophical concepts when the word “philosophy” came up.
I do not mean this to be an exercise in psychology; I could very well be wrong, but it is a speculation which seems reasonable. However, even if we eradicate other definitions of nature put forward by the nuances of the language and restrict ourselves to the idea of it being the natural environment, even then it does not lose its subjectivity. While it is self-explanatory, sometimes a poem does go a long way.
I do not mean this to be an exercise in psychology; I could very well be wrong, but it is a speculation which seems reasonable. However, even if we eradicate other definitions of nature put forward by the nuances of the language and restrict ourselves to the idea of it being the natural environment, even then it does not lose its subjectivity. While it is self-explanatory, sometimes a poem does go a long way.
POEM: CITY BIRD
The flapping wings were used to smoke,
Her claws on concrete seemed bespoke.
A few miles yonder, she had a friend,
Green could be seen there till the end.
Most would call the latter quite natural,
But concrete and she were mutual.
The concrete jungle’s creator was unknown to her,
It might have been a God who had erred.
In the concrete, her kids were not easy to nurture,
But for her this was nature.
-xXx-
So where does Paganism fit into this debate about nature? Well, the poem does talk about God erring.
And, what is God’s biggest creation but nature?
Paganism which we are dealing with here is mainly polytheistic religions which have multiple Gods unlike Christianity and Islam. However, sometimes Paganism also includes religions which have very few followers.
There are many Pagan religions and their relation with the natural environment is very different from one and another. Most of the religions from the East have a more dynamic and cosmic view of nature; whereas the West is more rational. But then again that only stands true for most of them and not all of them. For example, Celtic paganism was very different from other forms of paganism in the West. Celtic pagans were often considered eerie even by their western counterparts. It is especially known for the concept of Druids who were religious leaders. While there is a lot of myth surrounding Druids and history -their history is shaky at best, it is quite certain that their knowledge of earth and space were very different from the other forms of Paganism in Europe. However, there is nothing that I can precisely point out with certainty as most of the written records were by invaders as Celts did not really keep written records at the time.
Most of the pagan religions, both eastern and western, had a very close relation with nature, especially animals. Their Gods had animal forms or could even be hybrids of various animals. Their mythology contained anthropomorphic content. But there is one key aspect which really brings it close to nature and that is animism.
Most pagan religions believe that everything has a spiritual essence, a sense of being alive. This is especially true for animals and plants but in some cases even objects and places. This is not restricted to temples or sacred objects but also natural ones such as rocks, mountains or rivers. The Chinese folktale of the Ten Suns does an elaborative summing up.
This takes a philosophical turn when it comes to the spirit of Ubuntu. The concept of Ubuntu is a philosophy which promotes the idea “I am because we are”. It means that we all exist with the help of others. While this has taken a more political definition today, it arose out of religion. The modern definition restricts it to togetherness in terms of collaboration. The scope of the philosophy yet extends to the nature around us. “I am because we are” could be taken to mean that an individual exists because of the natural environment. The fact that most of African paganism reflects the idea of animism only makes this much more ideal.
Bison were revered in Mesoamerican cultures and were only hunted for food. It was frowned upon to kill bison for fun. Such concepts are very common among Pagan religions.
This does bring about the question whether Pagan religions are more in touch with nature than say monotheistic ones. My opinion is, not really because while the relationship between the two is interesting to study, it just seems more dominant because most Pagan religions don’t exist anymore.
For example, let us look at Hinduism. While the religion has always boasted being simple and promoting meditation in temples, it has taken a turn in the modern world – noise and money have become very crucial in rituals. Similarly, monotheistic religions have also taken a similar turn.
Religions which were considered Pagan and that exist today only have concepts such as animism in a
superficial way. Hinduism again has the concept of consciousness wherein plants tend to be less
conscious than animals but do have a spiritual essence. A lot of vegetarian Hindus cite this as a reason
why killing plants for food is much less sinful than killing animals for the same. However, this is very
superficial and has nothing to do with animism which is vast.
This evolution is however necessary for the survival of the religion in the modern capitalistic society. This is why today we tend to see more contradiction in religious texts and what we actually do. While some of it is down to bad translation or outdated customs, quite a bit is because we do not live in a society where morality is rewarded.
Moreover, Paganism has been looked down upon in the West since the rise of Christianity and in the East since colonisation began. By East, I don’t mean just the geographic East and the Orient; I also mean Africa and Mesoamerica which is culturally studied (despite its misconstrued connotation) as distinct from the West.
This has led to Pagan religions having to adapt to a more Western ideology. Homosexuality is perhaps the best example. While in much of the East homosexuality was at least common, if not normalised; Western powers shone a negative light upon it. This has led to the fact that now when most of the West has legalised being homosexual, the East is still struggling to do the same. Southeast Asia, more specifically India, which has a rich history of homosexuality from its prominence in Kama Sutra to Malik Kafur, only legalised homosexuality recently. LGBTQ+ marriages are still not legal and adoption among transsexuals and homosexuals is still very difficult.
How did this topic change from natural environment to sexuality? It is because sexuality is part of our natural environment.
The idea being, the concept of nature and natural environment is highly subjective, be it through organised and pagan religions, lifestyles, philosophies, politics, or merely the treatment of nature -and voicing out such diversities which exist beyond the so-called civilisations is equally important, not in lieu of the political discussions but also to understand cultures which use forests for their grounding (namely Ubuntu) in contrast to the more humanistic cultures.
This topic can drag on for pages and this is after all, not a research paper. Thus, it would be a good time to lose the formalities and say, “Hey, maybe the readers can add more to this.” It would be a delightful conversation to be had and these contemplations of mine are what I am going to leave you with.
PS: The article is my personal opinion and discussions should not be hurtful in terms of religious sentiments. This piece will not entertain a religious battle.
Paganism which we are dealing with here is mainly polytheistic religions which have multiple Gods unlike Christianity and Islam. However, sometimes Paganism also includes religions which have very few followers.
There are many Pagan religions and their relation with the natural environment is very different from one and another. Most of the religions from the East have a more dynamic and cosmic view of nature; whereas the West is more rational. But then again that only stands true for most of them and not all of them. For example, Celtic paganism was very different from other forms of paganism in the West. Celtic pagans were often considered eerie even by their western counterparts. It is especially known for the concept of Druids who were religious leaders. While there is a lot of myth surrounding Druids and history -their history is shaky at best, it is quite certain that their knowledge of earth and space were very different from the other forms of Paganism in Europe. However, there is nothing that I can precisely point out with certainty as most of the written records were by invaders as Celts did not really keep written records at the time.
Most of the pagan religions, both eastern and western, had a very close relation with nature, especially animals. Their Gods had animal forms or could even be hybrids of various animals. Their mythology contained anthropomorphic content. But there is one key aspect which really brings it close to nature and that is animism.
Most pagan religions believe that everything has a spiritual essence, a sense of being alive. This is especially true for animals and plants but in some cases even objects and places. This is not restricted to temples or sacred objects but also natural ones such as rocks, mountains or rivers. The Chinese folktale of the Ten Suns does an elaborative summing up.
This takes a philosophical turn when it comes to the spirit of Ubuntu. The concept of Ubuntu is a philosophy which promotes the idea “I am because we are”. It means that we all exist with the help of others. While this has taken a more political definition today, it arose out of religion. The modern definition restricts it to togetherness in terms of collaboration. The scope of the philosophy yet extends to the nature around us. “I am because we are” could be taken to mean that an individual exists because of the natural environment. The fact that most of African paganism reflects the idea of animism only makes this much more ideal.
Bison were revered in Mesoamerican cultures and were only hunted for food. It was frowned upon to kill bison for fun. Such concepts are very common among Pagan religions.
This does bring about the question whether Pagan religions are more in touch with nature than say monotheistic ones. My opinion is, not really because while the relationship between the two is interesting to study, it just seems more dominant because most Pagan religions don’t exist anymore.
For example, let us look at Hinduism. While the religion has always boasted being simple and promoting meditation in temples, it has taken a turn in the modern world – noise and money have become very crucial in rituals. Similarly, monotheistic religions have also taken a similar turn.
Religions which were considered Pagan and that exist today only have concepts such as animism in a
superficial way. Hinduism again has the concept of consciousness wherein plants tend to be less
conscious than animals but do have a spiritual essence. A lot of vegetarian Hindus cite this as a reason
why killing plants for food is much less sinful than killing animals for the same. However, this is very
superficial and has nothing to do with animism which is vast.
This evolution is however necessary for the survival of the religion in the modern capitalistic society. This is why today we tend to see more contradiction in religious texts and what we actually do. While some of it is down to bad translation or outdated customs, quite a bit is because we do not live in a society where morality is rewarded.
Moreover, Paganism has been looked down upon in the West since the rise of Christianity and in the East since colonisation began. By East, I don’t mean just the geographic East and the Orient; I also mean Africa and Mesoamerica which is culturally studied (despite its misconstrued connotation) as distinct from the West.
This has led to Pagan religions having to adapt to a more Western ideology. Homosexuality is perhaps the best example. While in much of the East homosexuality was at least common, if not normalised; Western powers shone a negative light upon it. This has led to the fact that now when most of the West has legalised being homosexual, the East is still struggling to do the same. Southeast Asia, more specifically India, which has a rich history of homosexuality from its prominence in Kama Sutra to Malik Kafur, only legalised homosexuality recently. LGBTQ+ marriages are still not legal and adoption among transsexuals and homosexuals is still very difficult.
How did this topic change from natural environment to sexuality? It is because sexuality is part of our natural environment.
The idea being, the concept of nature and natural environment is highly subjective, be it through organised and pagan religions, lifestyles, philosophies, politics, or merely the treatment of nature -and voicing out such diversities which exist beyond the so-called civilisations is equally important, not in lieu of the political discussions but also to understand cultures which use forests for their grounding (namely Ubuntu) in contrast to the more humanistic cultures.
This topic can drag on for pages and this is after all, not a research paper. Thus, it would be a good time to lose the formalities and say, “Hey, maybe the readers can add more to this.” It would be a delightful conversation to be had and these contemplations of mine are what I am going to leave you with.
PS: The article is my personal opinion and discussions should not be hurtful in terms of religious sentiments. This piece will not entertain a religious battle.