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Ah, the hubris of Man! And Woman too, but let’s face it, usually the problems arise because of Man…
Just when we think we’ve put the natural world behind a fence and we’re all safe and sound in our artificial bubble, nature rises up and puts us in our place.
Maybe women are reminded more often of their inescapable human connection to nature, what with menstrual cycles, menopause, childbirth and the rest of that “messy” natural stuff that goes into being female. Women instinctively know that nature always wins out. But in today’s modern world of artificial lighting, artificial food, artificial medicine, and seemingly invincible buildings, roadways, and machinery, it’s easy to forget.
Thankfully, Nature Almighty is always, ultimately, victorious. Like a wise parent admonishing their child, it’s for our own good too. This point was driven home to me after watching this video about the collapse of a small bridge in the midst of Big Sur, California after recent heavy rains.
Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge Collapse
(And here’s a more recent update on the situation.)
The Pfeiffer Canyon bridge wasn’t spectacular. In fact, people didn’t consciously register this short piece of roadway as a bridge at all. But its collapse will change the face of the famous Highway 1, which many tourists travel to California just to drive, for many months to come. There aren’t any routes nearby that can be used to avoid the canyon that the bridge traversed. Its collapse effectively cut off children from their school, working parents from their children, and hundreds of citizens from access to food, health care, and other emergency services, which now have to be delivered by helicopter, at least for a while.
But there is also beauty in the outcome. Nature has asserted herself and the isolated humans on the other side of the bridge have slowed down and come together. They have been reminded of their humanity, their connection to Nature and to each other. A hiking path through the ravine is being cleared. Children will now have to hike on this forested path to get to school. Life is being forced to slow down.
The citizens of Big Sur, and also the tourists who wanted to drive Highway 1, are being forced to remember that they, too, are animals inextricably connected to Mother Earth. And if you ask me, it’s all for the good, at least in the long run. The children who hike that path each day will have very different and enhanced life memories than if they had driven that short path each day in their parent’s car. Who knows how that hike will affect them for the rest of their lives? Just as I discuss in my book Active Consciousness, they will be forced, at least for a time, to wake up and be in the Now, the place where their true power resides.
As spring awakens our senses, let us remember that nature is always, in the end, Almighty. We are connected to this Earth whether we like it or not. With climate changes growing and reminding us of this fact each day, extremes in weather will slap us in the face even if we close our eyes and deny them.
“Wake up! Wake up!” Nature cries. “You are all asleep! There is no escape from me, for you are me, your skin and bones and internal organs are me! You will be so much happier when you remember me, join me with Joy! I will nourish you! I am here, boldly standing before your eyes, even if you choose not to see me. I am not a movie! I am not a photo! I am real! You are real! Wake up!”
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