Nature, as I See It

(Today’s article is by guest author Os Cresson. for a brief bio, see below.)

This is about my experience of nature, you, me, and everything else.

Our story begins with behavior (B) and environment (E).

E is all there is, or all we need. E is what we sense and otherwise respond to. E is known to us when it evokes B. E synonyms are matter/energy, nature, universe, and cosmos. E encompasses humans as well as all the rest. It is not just background.

B is bodily movement, other than being blown over in the wind, etc. B is known to us when it causes changes in E. B and E are defined in terms of each other: B by E it controls, E by B it controls.

B and E are one, becoming two as we speak of them. B is E happening. We are BEing.

E is always moving. Nothing is still. E is ongoing, interlocking chains that feed back on themselves.

Scientists look for events caused by other events. This is a deterministic approach, one that has worked well. Determinism is a characteristic of the method, not a statement about the universe.

Scientists explain E in E’s own terms. These are bound by the methods and data of science. Our concepts are defined in terms of the operations that produce them. We talk about observations, methods for making them, conclusions about them, and nothing else. 

This is a black–box approach. We correlate B and the resulting changes in box E, but we don’t look inside the box. When links in a causal chain are related, we work with them even though we don’t see the intervening links. We don’t speculate about realms beyond possible observation.

B is an event like other events, nothing more. If the universe returned to the state it was in when you started reading this line, you would respond again as you have just responded.

Sensing is behaving, as is measuring and observing. Also perceiving and experiencing. Private events, like thinking and feeling, are B sensed only by the BEing person. B is a function of E on both sides of the skin. 

E’s control of B can change when new combinations of E are introduced. This is learning. There are many ways it happens. Look where it has gotten us!

BEing is interlinked: your B is part of my E and my B is part of your E. 

E today includes future E as we think about what may come. B’s E shapes future E.

My self is my BEing. No one is in charge. The evidence for self is the set of facts self was invented to explain. An autonomous self feels right, of course: I hold my hand this way or that. Most people wish they were in charge, trying to aggrandize the human condition.

Mind, will, and consciousness are to psychology, what God is to religion. Those who eschew speculation in one philosophy, are wise to do so in all philosophies.

The behavior of looking ahead, weighing consequences and trying hard is available to everyone, including those who see themselves as E rolling along and nothing else. We are each responsible for the consequences of our actions. Meaning in our lives is seen in the lives we live.

Environmental explanations are supplanting imaginary ones. E replaces a designing intelligence for the origin of life, and the origin of species, and the origin of B. Questions of heredity and environment become: what E was involved in what ways.

Regarding what is not observed, we look for evidence and for tools that help us look. We assume what is unseen is more of the world seen, until there is reason to assume otherwise. We honor experiences of the supernatural, even as we explain them as BEing. The unseen will be known by its effects, or it will remain unknown.

Science looks for natural causes and avoids assertions about the supernatural. As long as there have been records of human thought, there have been contests between naturalists who accept orderly events around and within us, and supernaturalists who call for something else above and beyond us. Since childhood I have been in the first group, happily.

For some of us, this is enough. Nature is fascinating and inspiring. In nature I seek a healthy, caring, productive, and pleasant life. Feeling the unity of nature lifts me. When the sun rises, my heart sings. This is central to my life as a naturalist and a Quaker.

For some of us, a purely environmental approach is not enough. Those who feel this way can be naturalists in particular situations. 

Nature, and the way of knowing nature that is science, are available to all of us.

Our story started with E and B and BEing and went on from there. I encourage us all to build E in which we learn more about nature. Whether this happens and how it happens is up to us, up to E shaping us and shaped by us.

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SNS strives to include diverse voices within the spectrum of naturalistic spirituality. Authors will vary in their opinions, terms, and outlook. The views of no single author therefore necessarily reflect those of all Spiritual Naturalists or of SNS.
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Bio: Os Cresson is a retired special education teacher (and student) living in Iowa City, IA. He wanted to write a book about his approach to life and meaning and everything, and that seemed to need a chapter giving the essence of the book. After that was written, he thought to wring it out leaving only the essence. And that is this essay, taken from the book Quaker and Naturalist Too (Morning Walk Press, 2014).