Entry 5- How the Little Things Add Up in Nature Journal

It is a chilly day here in El Paso, which is extremely refreshing. I appreciate the cold a lot more than I used to when I lived in Pennsylvania. The prayer garden is extremely quiet today, and it helps me relax and take everything in. The past couple of weeks have been about the Chinese though of nature, and last week I discussed the water features, and how powerful they can be. This week I am more focused on the smaller things, but the bigger picture.

https://medium.com/the-mission/10x-your-results-one-tiny-action-at-a-time-the-power-of-incremental-progress-cda9ed3ff36e

As I was doing a bit of research, I stumbled upon this article that discusses how small steps all contribute to larger leaps in the future. For me, this was a reoccurring theme of the week. I applied this to my beliefs about nature, and how one small act can build up to many, resulting in both positive and negative consequences. One example of this, is the straw problem. Since they were popularized, no one ever really gave much thought to one ‘small’ piece of plastic. However, we now know that there is a huge problem with this, and are already seeing the effects.
In one of the passages from Dao de Jing I discussed, it talked about dealing with little problems and smaller things before they became large. As a nation we have failed with this, and as a people as well. Instead of fixing the smaller things to avoid a larger problem, we started contributing to the larger problem early on.

This all reminded me of a poem I read by john tiong chunghoo, “nature is what we don’t see
for instance the essence that pushes words out
for this poem fated for posterity
the birds that without fail
chirp at first light, morn breeze
the unseen clock working at the dot
nature is what we don’t see
the nocturnal bloom, that folds itself
in the day, throws its fragrance
in the dead of night as lovers
hide in each others’ bossoms
below the soft glare of the moon
centimetre by centimetre
it has inched forward to exhibit its
full blown majestry to the world
Nature is what we don’t see
the shadow play master tilting the earth
the petals for its bloom dance
the successive cells here there
guided towards optimal functions
and that ogiasmic tremour
that shuttles the world round and round
nature is what you should not see
the formulas, secrets kept behind everything
that could get even Einstein mad
in unveiling, explaining them
nature is what we all should not see
nor equipped to see
though it rambles through our every cell
like the worst of storm. “

This was another idea that was brought up to me from this week’s readings. The idea of nature not always being the things we can see, but the smaller things that add to the bigger picture. We cannot have one thing without another, we cannot appreciate something without knowing something about it. The idea of opposites, paradoxes, and an honest love and acceptance of things. However, it is all a part of us-whether we can recognise it or not.

Reflecting on this poem and sitting in my chosen spot, I start to wonder what things I’m missing from the bigger picture. I wonder why I feel that this place is beautiful, and what I deem as un-beautiful. Can I appreciate things that others deem ‘ugly’ by simply opening my mind and accepting it? Or is that something that stretches across generations that we cannot change?

This week has really opened up many new questions for me to ponder, especially when I think about how differently we see the world just from a cultural standpoint.

Last updated September 27, 2018