"We do well to be at peace with the earth and our surroundings and we do better when we recognise our dependence on each other for birth and survival. Though we may think ourselves small in the grand scale of the planet, we are no less worthy than the stars that light up the sky; no less meaningful in the unfolding of life's grand opera. We are irrevocably linked to creation and cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around us or it on us, be it good or bad. Never be in any doubt that what we do or don't do makes a difference to ourselves and our world.
The beauty of the natural world lies in the details of man's nature and impact on it. Any ugliness in the world, man placed there to his undying shame. As mankind sought progress through the centuries, each stride of conquering superiority he strode, each seed of earthly destruction he sowed, he moved not one jot forward, but took a step backwards, away from Earth's Creator. Humans have spent centuries determined to conquer nature, but have finished up, almost beating it to death.
One receives far more in every walk of nature than one can ever hope to understand. I only went out for a walk in the woods, and instead of finding myself going out, I learned that I was going in. Instead of walking forward, I found that I was going back into myself and finding my roots. It was on such a walk that I realised that the environment is where we share a mutual interest with all plants and living things. I try today to walk with nature and not over it; I try not to intrude on its sacred presence in our lives. I take nothing from its soil, but pictures, I leave nothing in its ground, but footsteps and I kill nothing, but time. The deeper I walk into the woods of my past, the more insight I gain about my present. Though I remain highly ashamed of man's action towards innocent creatures and forest life, I found myself unable to charge nature with any such wrong against us. Lets face it, you can't be suspicious of a tree because it stands there offering shade and shelter, or accuse a bird or a fish of subversion of the skies and streams; neither can you challenge the ideology of a primrose flowering in its natural splendour on a river bank.
My walks in nature have taught me that at some point, nature's beauty becomes enough. We need not half the things we have or have any need to eat our fill while others hunger. Money can never buy us happiness or the richest of lifestyles improve our health more than fresh air, exercise and enjoyment of nature can. During my walks through the woods, I am able to see pieces of heaven here on earth. I can see more clearly the inextricable joining of man to the land in which he was born and where finally his remains will rest. After my walk through the woods, my rambles over moors, my ambles down country lanes and my climbing over mountains, I see no material acquisition ever matching my natural pleasure again.
I often think that a child has far more wisdom than man in their innocent travels. I also believe that every child is a born a naturalist. Their eyes are, by nature, open to the glories of the stars, the beauty of the flowers, the mysteries of life and the unqualified acceptance of other children who hold no hostility to nature and others.
From Mother Earth we came, her environmental embryo, on the earth we live and to the earth we shall one day return." William Forde: May 19th, 2016