Our Excruciating Modernity

On Nature

Man should look up more often, for it is only the light of day that may bring him out of his somnolence.

If the experiencing, and creation, of Art is indeed the antidote to Modern Man's existential crisis, then the initial, indeed the very first, form of Art should be at least as worthy of Man's esteem as his own Art is. This form of Art has as creator the Universe, has as creator light and dust, has as creator itself. This form of Art is the dance of the particles, is the entropic jumbling of the atoms, is creative life. It is the definition, creator and embodiment of beauty. This form of Art has, to an extent accidentally, but not meaninglessly, reached beauty whilst living, dying, regenerating and shifting, and though it is continuous and ever-changing, it will always be fundamentally the same. This form of Art is Nature. Lift your heavy head from the pointless distractions and look around; Inhale. Touch. Taste. Move. Discern. Feel. This is what Nature has to offer, this is what it is, this is what you are, this is the quintessence of the Universe, and this is the initial, and original, form of Art. But, if we must give Man Art, why not give him his very own, that being the Art he has and will create? Nature's Art is palpable poetry, it is tactile truth, and it has not been created by Man but merely discovered as it lay, unbothered, in the skies, oceans and eyes of wolves. It is this discovery that is crucial and separates Man's Art from Nature's Art, for Man has fallen upon the latter, and this occurrence of serendipity, one where there is no pride or status in one's creations for there are no "creations", only discoveries, will bring man towards virtue. Nature ignites the fire of Man's mind, and it is this edifying light that shall convince him to remove the heavy jacket of self-conceit, which has typically hindered his ability to move and think in an authentic manner, and has obstructed his freedom. Let us give Man a flower rather than celebrate him through the solidity of a gilded monument, for it is the petal that shall bring him into the warm rays of purity and, identically, true awareness and appreciation of the simplicity that lies within him and his surroundings. The discovery of Nature's Art brings Man towards the additional virtue of selflessness, for in it he sees bursts of Goodness that he is compelled to share with those dear to him rather than conceal from the outside. Nature also teaches Man about himself, but he has ignored the enlightening mirror it offers with such disdain that he considers those who dare stare into it as bohemian mystics that are not connected with reality, when, in truth, this reality, his reality, the reality of the majority, consists only of a life spent in concrete blocks filled with concrete blockheads. Nature offers images infinite in power and magnitude, images of life and light and passion and purity and hideousness and ruthlessness and surcharge and frigidity and terror and darkness and death, all whilst remaining completely indifferent and amoral. Nature is a kaleidoscopic insight into the nature of Nature, the nature of natures and the nature of Man, but he has remained obtuse to the solace and knowledge it provides. This has led me to call for Man to free himself from the shackles of Modernity in order to, once more, fall upon Nature and let himself float under its artfully shaped wing. I urge Modernity to look up and peer into the textured grey, the deep blue, the impulsive red and all that is in between, and attempt at grasping the value of what it has suppressed and destroyed. Indeed, Nature is vulnerable. Nature is a museum and we have rummaged through its artefacts, rather than transforming, as we enter the museum of Nature, into silent spectres floating through it, without a word or touch, contemplating its phenomenality and nodding as we slowly understand that what we are witnessing is inimitable and that we will never even scratch the surface of Nature's unpremeditated sublimity.

Consequently, the world as we know it today is endangered by a climatic, and therefore global, shift, that is already well underway. As basis for such bluntness, one must at least put forth reliable evidence, but I do not have the ability to efficiently encapsulate and transmit a heavy volume of scientific fact; consequently, I urge you to safely learn and educate yourselves on the cause, effect and manifestation of man-made shifts in weather patterns, but only once you have extensively considered and re-evaluated the mind's values, beliefs and biases. From your study I hope you will extract not only knowledge, but also virtue, so that you can rise above the comfort of denial and help honestly disseminate the evidence, debunk the misinformation, and even help mitigate the consequences of, man-made climate change.