July 2013 Attune Magazine July 2013 | Page 63

of our physical equipment and human-centric understanding that makes it appear that way. There is always something greater, and always something smaller- the Rabbit Hole goes on indefinitely.

Our original interpretation of nature as our adversary was formed in a time when we had little control of our immediate environment. We as a species came to the conclusion that nature was a force that we had to master; every shadow was a potential hiding place for a ferocious

predator, and every deviation from the peace of a summer afternoon could mean that a ravaging force was on it's way.

We have since come to the understanding that predators also have their place in the world, that nature is not our enemy, and that those ravaging forces are in fact a natural means of restoring balance when the pressures of stasis have become smothering.

It is natural to be afraid. Fear is a signal that danger is near, and it can improve our ability to survive, when we are surrounded by patterns that are too enormous for us to interpret. The key is in making constructive use of that fear, and not allowing it to master us.

The same is true of shadow- when we use it to rest the eye, to provide contrast to the starkness of light, it becomes beautiful, restful or exciting- depending on the setting. Chaos introduces oxygen into otherwise stagnant waters, and nature -"...red in tooth and claw..."- is basically cooperative in it's feral innocence.