Moving toward Harmony

As we have moved into a new year, more and more of us feel the need for change, for more joy and happiness. And more and more of us are realising that this cannot be found by doing more of the same, but requires a new way of being in the world, one that is based on being a part of nature, one that is based on harmony. Harmony with ourselves, with others and with nature.

Our lives today are based very much on a paradigm of winning. We believe in the survival of the fittest, that there is not enough for all, that we need to fight for what we want. The question to ask ourselves is whether that is really true? How does nature work? Is it really the survival of the fittest or may there be another way of looking at things? What about the survival of the one most in harmony with their surroundings, dancing a perfect dance of fitting in with all the other forms of life, so that, together, we form a big tapestry of life in which we all thrive.

What would a world based on harmony look like?

Contrary to what we have come to understand from the time of Darwin, the natural world would look very much the way it has developed over thousands of millennia. Nature is already in harmony as myriads of species co-exist and benefit from each other in a wonderfully interconnected way.

What would fundamentally change is us and how we choose to interpret life on earth and our role in it. The destruction of nature is happening, because we see ourselves as somehow separate from nature. Nature is a resource, not our life-giving mother. And it is this feeling of being separate that, arguably, leads to a great part of our dissatisfaction with life, the feeling of never being enough, having enough, needing to have and achieve more.

What if we started to experience ourselves as part of nature? And nature as a living being that we are completely reliant on for our life. Because we are. And just as science is showing us to be made up a myriad of organisms (microbes in the form of microbiomes), so Mother Nature is made up of a myriad of beings that have all grown to work together in harmony, feeding on each other, sacrificing for each other so life can continue, not taking too much, leaving enough for each part to regenerate, to grow back, always giving back in their taking by providing another essential part of the puzzle.

What if life was not a struggle to survive, but a perfect dance of interconnected beings, each with their role to play, each giving and receiving, each important and perfect in their own way? How would we live life, if we can really understand this to be true?

How would we live in harmony?

Living in harmony is based on the idea that we are all – not only all human beings, but all life – equally important. The more we are changing – and destroying – this delicate balance, the more apparent it is becoming how each form of life forms part of the greater whole of nature that provides us with life.

Living in harmony, therefore, means caring for all forms of life. It requires taking a responsible, long-term and holistic view of what is best for us as we realise that we can only flourish when all nature’s other species flourish too. We can find examples of living like that in indigenous cultures, where people have embraced this understanding and lived in this way for millennia.

A first step on this path is a shift in our mindset toward awe, gratitude and care towards Mother Earth and all its creatures. Making this shift will not only help flourishing of the world and ourselves physically, but also emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Shifting our mindset to one of gratitude and care transforms not only our view, but also our feelings and our behaviour towards ourselves and others as we strive for the best of the great whole we are part of.