What it means to live in Harmony with Nature

So many people constantly get the wrong idea when they hear or read the phrase "living harmoniously with nature" or "live in harmony with nature". They think that in order to do such things you HAVE to be vegetarian or vegan, that everything you HAVE to use is vegan and isn't of any animal product or byproduct.

For some reason, people have this idea that Nature is some happy fairytale place where everything lives in happy harmony. Or that, we must put ourselves above our natural instincts in order to better live in harmony with nature. Its this thought about putting ourselves above our instincts and the natural world that has lead us to the issues we have now.

Nature is anything but happy harmony. It is harmonious, but in a chaotic sense. Nature yes is loving, but also very cruel and harsh. Animals kill other animals, mostly for food, but sometimes sport or to just teach their offspring how to kill. Predators are NEEDED for the survival and health of an environment, of an ecosystem. Sometimes they fight, either to take charge and become the leader, or to gain new territories to better serve their pack/family.

If there were no predators, the animals that only eat vegetation would grow in numbers, eating more and more of the grass and other plants. It would become a world barren, with no vegetation what so ever. The earth would wash away due to there not being any roots to hold the soil in place, or be blown away when it hasn't rained and the soil is dry. The planet would become a wasteland with maybe only sea life surviving, and even then there would be issues.

Predators keep the plant eating population low, letting grass and other vegetation to grow back. Predators pick off the sick, which could be carrying an illness that could affect other animals, and the weak, which would allow the strong to pass on their genetics and make the species even stronger. Its like pruning a bush or a tree; you aren't doing it because you want control over it, you are doing it because it is healthy for the plant and makes it stronger.

As I stated in my blog To Be An Earth Warrior, I said that eating meat is a very natural thing to do. As humans, we are omnivores, like some bear species, we eat both vegetation and meat. If someone choose to be vegetarian or vegan that is their decision.

To live in harmony with nature means you have to be a part of nature. This means you also follow the laws of Nature. And the laws of nature are chaotic but necessary. Never take more than you can give, never take more than what is needed, never allow the negative impact on the ecosystem be greater than the positive impact.

If there are predators hunting too well, their numbers increase and the number prey shrink, which then would lead to the predators starving and shrink until the number of prey increases. If there are too many prey or predators, it could lead to the extinction of a or of many species. There is a delicate balance needed in order to keep species alive.

In order for nature to be as beautiful and as wondrous as it is, it must have these chaotic laws. So, if you wish to claim to live in harmony with nature, to be a part of nature, you cannot put yourself above nature and you must follow its laws. Otherwise, you are simply just living in nature.