How often have we heard or read somewhere that people are in search of something greater than themselves? How often have we searched for that too? People look to God, or Gods, or other things to find meaning in life because we feel lost, or alone and we ask, is this all there is? We look to an afterlife that many religions proclaim as something greater. We live our mundane lives going about our business, doing our jobs, raising our families, collecting things, and all the while seeking something we can’t find as if we have a hole inside that needs filling. And if you were to ask someone, “What are you looking for”, how would they answer? How would you answer? Do we really even know what we are looking for?

Humans see themselves as the pinnacle of everything. The smartest, the cleverest, the most successful of every species on Earth. In the Bible God creates Adam, sets him in a beautiful garden and gives him a purpose. To tend the garden, to nurture it, watch over it, and to have dominion over all the Earth. And this is the way most people see themselves, as the pinnacle, the best, the topmost of all creatures whose job it is to dominate. And yet, we feel unfulfilled, depressed, anxious, and sad. Why? Because we keep feeling as if there must be something greater. In the course of human history, we have attempted to dominate everything we have found. People, lands, and things have been taken and used as if they are ours to do this with. And I have to ask myself, what would we do if we came face to face with the creator God. Would we bow down and humble ourselves before it or would we attempt to dominate it, to make it ours?

In the Bible God proclaims that humans are God’s greatest creation, and yet God is greater. And so we seek God, or its equivalent but do we really know why? Again, the question remains, what would we do if we found God, came face to face. If an alien species landed spaceships on Earth, stepped out and said, “We are greater than you and we will dominate you, Would we fight them or would we bow down to them and say, “Yes we see that you are greater, and we have found what we are looking for, something greater than ourselves.” I think people would fight them, and why? Because we don’t recognize it when we meet something greater than ourselves.

I mentioned the Bible story of Adam and Eve, and how Adam was created by God and given the purpose of taking care of everything God created. Many of us have read that story but we have missed the most important element of it. God gave Adam a purpose. He had a job to do, and it was the most important job there was. To tend the garden, to take care of creation. That was his job and it was good enough. Adam seemingly, was happy. As the story goes, Eve was created to help Adam, and that’s where it all went wrong because Eve craved something more. And whether this story is fact or fiction really doesn’t matter. What matters is the message. We spend our lives craving something more. But what? And what would we do if we found it? Would we be finally satisfied, or would we keep seeking for more?

How have we gotten so off track from the original purpose of humans? I’m not a believer in the Biblical God but I think the story of Adam has a lot to say about us. We don’t see ourselves as humble servants or caretakers of the planet. We see ourselves as the greatest, the best, the Gods of all there is. We have separated ourselves from nature. We see nature as something to dominate, to use, to make our own. If we look at biology, humans are nothing more or less than simply another species on the planet. We believe ourselves to be smarter, better than other species, but are we really? How do we know? Because we can think? Other species can think too, and science keeps discovering new things about other species all the time. Here it is again: WE HAVE SEPARATED OURSELVES FROM NATURE. The thing we have been searching for is right in front of us. The thing that is greater than ourselves is Nature, and we don’t see ourselves as a part of it.

We live our lives in our stick houses and buildings, or in our cars. We collect things, possessions, experiences, we make friends or enemies, and all the while, nature, the natural world goes on all around us and we have lost the knowledge that we are just one small part of a much bigger whole. We are nature, just like the birds and the bees and the grass and the trees. And because we perceive ourselves to have a higher intellect than other animals we have the responsibility of taking care of those things. Why? because without nature, we die. We are completely dependent on food, water, and air. All of nature supports and nurtures all of nature. Nature is the thing that is greater than ourselves, It is the filler of the hole we perceive to be within us.

I don’t believe in the Biblical God, that I must answer to a deity for my wrongdoings. Unless you consider God as nature. If you do that, then you will have something to answer to and for. How well have I done the job? What can I do better? Etc….

Native Americans have had and some still do have a ceremony to welcome the sun in the morning. It’s a simple thing, to have reverence for nature, to see it as the most important thing there is and to shoulder the task of taking care of it and other humans. If we filled the whole within us with the purpose of reveling in the fact that we are just a part of nature and our job is to devote ourselves to being a part of nature every moment of every day I think we would be much less affected by mental illness such as depression and anxiety. Taming our desires for more and being happy with what we have could change humanity for the better. Empathy for nature and for others, compassion for all creatures and plants, and kindness for all fills the hole for me. Maybe it could for you.