Turn to Nature and You Will Find What You Are Looking for…

 “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” —Albert Einstein

In past times, we would look it up in encyclopedias or ask knowledgeable people. Today, there is the new concept of “Google” in our lives. We simply type the keywords into the search bar and hit the enter button, and thousands of results then wait for us.  If we narrow down the search criteria, it becomes easier to find the right answer we are looking for.

On the other hand, there are some questions that even Google cannot find the answer to. These are particular questions about ourselves. Most of the time, rather than being clear questions, they present themselves as a growing sense of uncertainty inside. We know that the only person on Earth that can answer correctly is “ourselves,” but the question is “how?”

All the wise people of the past suggested turning to nature for answers in their teachings. Even though we inherently know this is true, for some reason very few of us consider this message.

Essentially, when we make a call to nature, we can use the very same method we use for Google. The only difference is we replace the keywords on Google with our feelings. It doesn’t matter where we look in nature, once we determine the right key feelings, the answer comes to us from any link.

Let me give you an example from my own life. I had a sense of uncertainty for a while, but I could not name it.  It was as if there was a question mark without words within me. Therefore, I had no idea what kind of answer I was looking for.

Last week, while I was driving to school, near Goztepe junction, a small yellow spider appeared on my windshield. It was drizzling, and my speed was around 60 mph. Under such severe conditions, slippery glass and high speed, this yellow spider was in a kind of life-and-death struggle.

I don’t know why, but I empathized with the spider at that moment. I wasn’t in a struggle for life or death myself of course, but if I were in this yellow spider’s situation, the sense of fear and uncertainty would have felt very familiar to me.

The same power that caused me to notice this spider on my windshield also made me stop the wipers and slow down. On one hand, I looked for a suitable place to park, and on the other hand, I couldn’t stop myself from watching this yellow spider.

The answer to that question mark within me now stood clearly in front of me. This yellow spider was giving me the information I needed by putting it personally into practice. Here are the life lessons I received from the yellow spider:

1. Keep your faith:

If this spider hadn’t maintained his faith for life and persistently stuck to my front window, I wouldn’t have noticed him. The wipers would have swept him away with the rain, and no one would have ever known him.

Even a tiny spider’s faith can affect me and make me work for him, so why shouldn’t our faith have a similar effect on the universe?

So, whatever we do or want to do, we first need to keep our faith. This faith is such a great power that it can affect others by drawing their attention, making them work for us.

2. Set your goals and use your available resources in the most efficient way

In order to handle the slippery glass and the wind, the spider spread his legs as much as possible. This way, he both increased his contact with the glass and reduced his profile to compensate for the wind. He rolled a few of his legs into a ball and made a shield for himself. In this critical situation, he moved very slowly and carefully while providing the best posture to find balance. His goal was to survive, and his legs were his resources. These long legs seemed a disadvantage under such windy and slippery conditions, but he knew how to turn them to his advantage.

In different conditions where his goal was to walk fast, he could use the same legs again, but in a different way this time. So, something that creates an advantage or a disadvantage is not inherent to the resource, but the way in which we use it according to the current conditions.

Likewise, we should determine our conditions and take them into account before deciding how to use our resources in the most efficient way to reach our goals.

What are these resources? Here’s some examples: our personalities, traits, skills, talents, interests, knowledge, diplomas, experiences, social environments, families, money, material assets, the places we live, and so on.

It is very important to be aware of our current conditions, but keep in mind that everything is temporary. Even the biggest crisis or uncertainty that seems to last forever will always pass sooner or later. Therefore, in order to survive crises that are beyond our control, we should keep our balance first. This way, we can resume our actions once conditions return to normal.

3. Listen to your intuition and act quickly

I saw a parking space in front of a gas station and parked there. You would not believe how fast the spider moved as soon as I stopped the car. The interesting thing was that he moved instinctively towards the right-hand side of that huge front window, as if he knew the quickest way off the car. I got out of the car, thinking I would move him to the ground, but he had already disappeared.

The goal of the spider was to stay alive. No one told him the best way to survive, but he intuitively knew it. Then, when the conditions became favorable again, he didn’t hesitate to act quickly.

I then understood that as soon as conditions become suitable, we need to act quickly in the way our intuition tells us, without delay and to the utmost of our abilities.

Intuition is a tool, like our five physical senses. It is our infallible compass guiding us to our target. However, unless you have a specific target, knowing which way is north does not help you.

Intuition speaks to us in a different language. Sometimes, it flutters our hearts like the wings of a butterfly; sometimes it manifests itself as a feeling in our stomachs. Find out how it talks to you and listen to its voice. Then take quick action in the way it tells you with all your strength.

In my own period when I had an ambiguous state of mind, the answer I needed came from nature in this way. The exact response was somewhat more than the words above. It was like a speechless inspiration, a feeling, a unity, and a confident mood. It was like a non-verbal sound reminding me that I already have everything I need.

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar:

I love not man the less, but Nature more.

—George Gordon, Lord Byron