Introduction 

We have, in this technology-obsessed world, been made to think,  at least in terms of our activity, that the virtual world is the be-all and end-all. We see this reflected in the day-to-day; commonplace is that desire to stimulate the senses of the more peripheral regions, that pleasure takes precedence over purpose, peace and progress. In essence; we’ve lost ourselves.

This is where we hearken back to Nature; Mother Of All - oftener do our ancestors and their manners of primeval dithering give us clues as to how to go about life; to stop, to stare, to still, to synchronise- to sense.

It has been recorded -as in this case¹- that humans have lost or dulled some portion of their sensory capabilities, in the brain’s effort to go about modern life, but within that we have lost that primeval sense of presence, or being, or oneness with the world. This can even be seen in more recent times, with the lack of that underlying vividness within art²; superficiality of the present lacking that rustic, spiritual gusto, -verbatim that ‘oneness’ with the world- often found in Nature.

Whether it be social media, games, daily assistance, the uncertainty that is AI or even business meetings and entertainment. But, if we all take a good look at ourselves, I think we can all agree that we’re all missing out on something, something important.

Something that our souls, our brains, our bodies, our senses of Self -crave with the utmost volition- that primal part of humanity which seeks freedom and simple nourishment; decadence is brought to the fore and against that very thing which dares to wrest for itself an escape into its foremost being. 

That part of humanity which seeks Nature.

It can be said that venturing further into that primal world helps us extrapolate better on this world; and on other endeavours… whether it be the arts, a creative or miscellaneous hobby, or otherwise.

And, I’m going to show you how.

Firstly…  

1. Go For A Walk

Going for a walk can be one of the best ways to be out in Nature and get to grips with ourselves; I personally use it as a way to decompress and detoxify from the faster-paced parts of life; especially still is it handy to walk without checking or even having your phone, that way it is easier to focus and be present in the moment. It can be a great stress reliever and alleviator of the effects and such of problem solving, stress, angst or depression- nature is healing for the mind, brain and body, and releases serotonin and other feel good chemicals; those exposed to birdsong are privy to more harmonious performance and greater creativity. It can be a great stress reliever.

Activity, also, leads the brain stimulation and alertness growth, adding to that creativity, It should be noted that walking is an excellent exercise in meditation, especially when done present-mindedly, with curdled thoughts and calming deliberation- as it is a mixture of these things, walking is a great way to affect the brain and body positively, process difficult thoughts, inspire yourself for creativity in the vivid physical depictions of nature (many artists have been inspired by nature), 

Secondly…

2. Be Present 

Often it is spoken about the value of being present, but…

What does it actually mean?

Something vague as in ‘be present’ is useful to a degree, but it doesn't equip us with the tools and meanings to make this saying most useful to us. I will, for your sakes and my own, go into this topic with a bit more depth, though somewhat succinctly as to convey still that beauty of concise simplicity within the words.

So, my fellow pioneers, where to begin..?

Presentness, as many a buddhist monk or spiritual teacher will tell you, is a skill all to its own, and can be cultivated to the higher levels to greatly feel that ‘oneness’.. But we don't need to be as those people in order to benefit, in fact, we can learn and hone this skill with little effort every day, with several moments of practice, of breath, of noticing, it will rise and be cultivated. Before long, with focus and practice, you will notice a shift, an ability to notice things that went unnoticed before; a stray little bird, a crouching fox, details about another person, such as subtle changes in their dress or behaviour, (and perhaps even compliment them on it!). You may feel more presentness within your body, and notice gentle thrummings, take pleasure in the simple sound of your heartbeat, or the gentle touch of another, and begin to see within the little, quieter things of life an ochre pleasure that beams upon the bigger picture.

Let’s start with the foundations.

To be present is to acknowledge the world around you, to use that sense, that aggregate of being, and to activate it, simply, is quite straightforward; you need only pay attention……

Pay attention to your breathing, then your posture, ponder in observation though without too much judgement; notice those thoughts that dance across your mind, but above all, notice those sensations within your body. What do you hear? What do you see? What is it around you? Take a moment to simply appreciate the ability to exist, to be alive, in this moment. That you have senses, and can witness this beautiful world in all of its’ good, bad, and ugly splendour. That it exists as it is according to Nature and shall be.

First, we must observe. First, we must appreciate; that is, to increase value, then, and only then, can we philosophise, and discern the why and wherefore and meaning of its value.

That Stillness. That Kaos; that is where Creation begins. 

Treasure it and forget it. Love it and loathe it. You have found your inner creator, it simply does, but does not seek to do; it simply is. Allow it to arise of its own accord and fill up the tank of being. When it is, you will be and become. Now forget about it, it is simply a part of you, and will be as it is without your intervention. Your awareness is the tap and valve that releases it. This is as you are, so raise your awareness, friend, and abound!

 Take a moment to be still.

Stimulation can easily distract the mind from its True Self, and prevent the emboldening of Presentness. Forsake the pleasures, the phones, the penal things festering within the mind, for a moment, and simply allow yourself to be, to see that which springs forth in that verdant sense of boredom; a most splendid array of surreal colours, imaginings, beyond so that realness, senses and plain sensations devoid of postmodern, medial, consumerist avarice; the ability to notice, to pay attention, to maintain an effortless, natural focus on the most mundane of things.

Take a moment now, even just a minute, to express gratitude for the ability to be alive, to sense, to connect with others, to share experiences with loved ones, to have the opportunities you do, whether it be studying,  work or otherwise, the weather, be it hot or cold, the gentle rain, soft snow or scorching sun, and to simply be as you are; that these things are beneficial, but outside of yourself… true stillness is within. 

Breathe deeply in cycles of 4-12 seconds, filling the lungs slowly and completely through the nose, exhaling slowly through the mouth, whilst making little or no sound.  Allow the thoughts to wander, then let them go without force or judgement, stay centred on that little fire within the Self, surrounded by quietness, that silence, that infinite universe within you, then allow it to dim to a candle, the  there be silence, and only the breath, only the heartbeat, only that which is now. There is that edifying greatness in Meditation.

I ask you; close your eyes and focus on the breath, for just a couple of minutes.

How was it? Allow yourself to notice the little things around you, the birdsong, the sheen of the ceramics, the quaintness and simplest of things, without force or judgement, and allow that abundance of mind to pilfer, to flow, to abound. Appreciate them for what they are, as they are,and accept everything as it is in this moment, with neither weakness nor wanting nor woebegoneness, but rather as a Being of Presence, to embrace the change as we will it with our bodies and as it is.

Now realise that your body is an anchor, your mind a vessel, and both are of value. So, take care of your body, of your mind, in every simple way, be it big or small; little efforts make the difference, observe those symptoms of the troubled mind; accept everything as it is, whether you deem it as good or bad, be still and face it, feel it, and then accept it and let it go; feel and appreciate even the greatest pain, take pleasure in even the littlest things; life’s lessons….. This is what it means to be alive, my friend, for that is worth even the World… and the Freedom, the ability to embrace your own universe, little as it is but oh so profound, in that intertwining between we little souls of a Grand Cosmos. That we are nothing, little souls in a brobdingnagian organism of even our beloved Mother Earth, whom in her maternity is yet mighty and yet patient…., that we are nothing, and therefore that gives us everything, which is life itself, and shouldn’t we welcome it? We are not the incognizance of cogs in a machine, but rather, those candid fay novitiates merely beginning to learn, and what a wondrous thing that is.

And, as we embark upon this world, upon seemingly petty but pivotal work, be it in ponderance or academia or finance or agriculture or industry or hospitality, volunteering, the obscure or otherwise, we realise that it is in Essence that we enjoy things, in that well-meaning effort and self-patefying exertion made effortless by that verbatim fact that so abounds the Spirit Of Mankind…. because we attribute value to them. And then what? But what needs to be, but the thing itself? What purpose? You are and thus shall become. Become alive, my friend.

It is.

Thirdly…

3.  Engage With The Arts

Art.. How important it is, and yet, how volatile it is. To go beyond superficial reality and express The Essence Of The Self, to allow those dancing thoughts and dancing willfulness to become dancing flames that do not burn and yet lick the paper, that Art is in word, in tune and  and in paper. Forefrom shall there emerge that new sense of art, which melds with the old in this seemingly desolate, and yet, to the perceptive -burgeoning from the embers and ashes of flashing greyness- New Renaissance, which unfolds as trench muck does upon an already manured field; a ploughing oh-so-hidden by seeming decadence; therefore shall the harvest be given form.

That artful puzzle in word or mouth or scene or beauty or burlyness or fury.

As for poetry, you need only pulley it; a glancing pen, pontificating, pouncing upon a pedestrian page, coming forth that vassal vantage that is given by one’s mental wind; an image, a thought, a word, an experience, a wonder, a petty vole from within the mind can come forth a lion.

Then, you must write, whether it be one or a hundred little stories, or germination of a pressing thought, of a character, of a scene, of a place, an idea, an expression or teaching or thought; that the brain is turned mind set to freeze, and embezzlement in the Order of Word; that there is set an example before you, but without you, and so too must happen the reverse, that you write in essence an ode to fulfillingly sample the depths of a vagrant mind. There, firmly, even fiction freezes the reader longingly in place, for even if briefly he can but not escape it, for he has been transported to a world not his own by a manner of voiceless speaking in vocalless abandon, and therewith comes a Great Art.

Truly, writing is a cold art, and so it is, a glacier stands proud long after wayward water from it has long gone, but yet it stands, unshakingly immortal.

Then, you must draw or paint, those cities of mystique, those simple whims, a scene within the mind, be it bee or behemoth, fields of a farmer’s fruitful folly, those cultured cups of tea, a single leaf, conifers crouching low amongst the sheer wind; the whorls of a wand silenced by a paintbrush or pencil flowering upon a canvas or tree-skin; a lucid dream, burning hot and yet frozen cold, as writing yet freezes cold and does burn hot in the imaginations of its’ receivers. Even if initially of poor quality, someday they shall shine and be given form, and that Passion shall elicit the most important, yet unnoticed, internal applause, shone through most highly in one’s devotion to one’s own work, and there it will seem as if the noise of renown is but a sunken dream, as one is dedicated to his or her craft.

But scenes… Yes, scenes! How hot they burn with the Passion of Man, his wordless youth set free from alien ambience, the simplicity of the mind affirms thought and passion; a picture, a scene, given Word within the World; a veranda betrays his sense of beauty, a city his sense of civil lust, a person his mournful desire and a play and film script his sense of everlasting iconoclastic ecstacy. 

Then, you must sing or develop rhythm, for doth thrum the chords of the World, which sting true, make merry and lairy those plenty and playful acolytes in green and black and blue. Idea or thought, expression of the heart, that song or tune is emotion given form of the highest calibre; a highwayman may not know how to play an instrument, but if he can hum it, if it plays within his mind, or germinates slightly from that promising drought, that simmering boredom, he knows it, for it has found him. From that, dabblings in instruments of opaque or simple origin or other manners of sound shall take form; he shall dither and yet scour like a stiff-necked gremlin in a songful state of mind, the most freedom-loving expression of life, that the synopses of the heart escape thee, and bring joy and sorrow to the world, whither audience of far too many or few for the disquieted mind.

Those virile minds of our ancestors, that did dither, yet work and give life and shorn the fecklessness of a serial, hollow inimitability, instead were born, those real ones, which had brought forth an aegis, and make true that original thought, germinating, becoming: given form it did become, classness and foundation, inimical was it, and yet of the few also healing, as A Beauty Of A Bulwark stood firm, indispensable and ferocious in defense of a future civilisation, a grandson which did not know it, but knew of it, a tree which had grown, forlorn, but had not again been spawned as anew. And so, The Renaissance was born.

Virtual Reality… a corruption of the meaning of virtual… as in  virtuous.. And yet, it is anything but, for there is no greater mockery for Man than to forget Himself; therein we cannot blame the naysayers, for they have lost their Essence Of Art, and therefore seek it in illusory things, which sunder and make half-wise the reality of the senses, wherefrom shall portend that suffocation by and from the vestiges of reality…  And what do we mean by vestiges? That Sapiens is Latin for wise yet makes us none the wiser, bright-eyed aegises hallowing and harrowing the world… an ignorance so profound. So does abound the Wisdom Of The Age… thrashed and torn asunder by the eonic wroth of a oncoming sea, at its head an aegir of pertinent talent time-wisely thundering forth A New Renaissance; that Rogue Wave yet unable to by a mocking budge sovereign steel- but it pervades him; that sense of meaning, that sense of being; that art is greatest illusion given form, and yet untouching the world, for it is among it, and as we sit and stare about those myriad things, those wonders of architecture which sever man from himself, and yet unite him once again, then to the fore will amount a pivotal change, a digression but not diversion that is artful, for in diversion man eludes change, and the illusion persists to a greater degree, though it may not seem it, and before long he hath drowned, but to him it is as if he is still breathing; and in that grim reminder of Essence he shall reform and remember himself, and give as himself Art to the World.

Give well, my friends.

Express It.

Fourthly…

4.  Get A Sweat On

The cultivation of the body  is a noble and cardinal thing; that we can help ourselves and our friends in their or our time of need. The body wishes to sweat, wishes to explore, wishes to burn brightly, and not be demure.

And for that, it must endure!

The Ancient Greeks, for example, were quite proficient in bodily training.,... hence the Olympics which we now have today.  Now, that isn’t to say that one has to have bare feet most of the day to callous them, and with the advent of other trainings, the rest of the body and the mind (though you can do that if you should like to), but that you should consider training your body in a most splendid fashion, even if it only be from thirty minutes to four hours a day, to ensure that the body thrives and the mind thusly hardly dies with it³. Calisthenics, Martial Arts (especially those that force upon you aerobic exercise, such as Muay Thai or Boxing), others, such as Wu Shu or Shaolin Kungfu; alongside that, high-resistance martial training, or isometric training, in the stimulatory likeness of Tug-Of-War, are immensely helpful. One could start with planks, battle ropes, isometric weight exercises (the Spartans used stone dumbbells, the Chinese may have known something similar to it as a stone lock)⁴.One may also consider military training, or those sorts found in militia.

High Intensity Interval Training.. Whether it be plyometrics, (movements that require rapid contracting of the muscle to increase strength) or simpler aerobics or otherwise, the compression of a workout to augment the heart rate and put to proof your physical health is a booming one. Squats, mountain climbers, situps, press ups and burpees (or burpee press ups) in sets of 10, 20, or 30+ for a sum of 50-150+ each, creating a full-body superset (that is, the constant working of the body with different sets subsequently. Example: 20 press-ups, 20 sit-ups, 20 mountain climbers (each side), 20 squats and 20 burpees, 60 seconds break, repeat x3-5; you can substitute the numbers for any you wish) are helpful considerations.

One should also consider that vie for cardiovascular concurrence: to run, jump, skip, spar or condition (on metal/sticks/trees) climb and wrestle. Free climb at your own risk; there are also climbing centres for the more urban spirit, One cannot stress the importance of stress on the cardiovascular system to help it grow; the lungs and heart may grow weak otherwise and this would be a most terrible shame, especially in light of what the body can do; oh-so limber, it should never be surrendered so quaffingly to the verse of the Present Age;  for the age to come may yet demand more of us-old and young- this is an exciting thing, one that will inspire that appreciation for life, in that New Renaissance, and not a thing to be loathed and feared. Certainly not for the free spirit; and for those whom are not so eagerly free-spirited, know that in this you will inspire manifestations of growth, perusal and change within your groupings, and especially whither is needed that strengthening in the foremost and forming generations; without which the times to come may not be appreciating and abundant but dastardly and dire.

Cultivate that sense of Art, that sense of Beauty, that sense of Love.

Additionally, one can look to online channels⁵ to begin or add ease to a fitness journey, I had a good experience with that at one point in my own experience, but then wanted to detach somewhat away from screens. Though, it can be much more interesting discovering for oneself.

To eat well.. That is to say, to cultivate properly the right nutrients within ourselves for our consumption and benefit… not pedantically so that numbers congenially cull the corners of the mind, but that we should have a penchant for salubriousness, that is, to say, healthfulness, and the clarity and bodily purity it grants us. Whither the body, whither the mind, stall not the bonding between shawl and scribe, armour and knight, with no place to abide. To eat fish, and dark green vegetables: kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, asparagus, (ginger, raw ginger can be a healthy additive, perhaps honey too, to boot), preferably steamed, or if one can stomach it, to blend or eat vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruit and eat them raw. Red meat can be beneficial, but poultry is too: chicken, lean beef, turkey. The leaner the meat, the better. Sufficient consumption of protein, unsaturated fats, and complex carbohydrates: oats, nuts, fish such as tuna, salmon, haddock or mackerel, crustaceans such as oysters, crabs and prawns, eggs, muesli, bananas, rice, potatoes, beans and lentils.⁶

Exercise is highly beneficial to the bran in this sense; the endorphins released contribute to greater cognitive function, perceptibility, mood and awareness.⁷

(Note: if you are or suspect you may be allergic or compromised by anything on this list or others, please see your doctor for advice.)

Fifthly…

5. Embrace The Great Outdoors

So forth we have learned that Nature increases one’s appetite for life, general happiness, and in conjunction with exercise, health and cognitive ability.⁸ The processes and those aforementioned and involved, if implemented, will give us the means to go about life, above all, with greater joy. Go out into the wilderness, even if for a short walk, perhaps row or sail in a canoe or kayak or boat. Climbing, visiting different environments (even within the local area, and even monuments and foliage), shall foster flexibility and upper body strength. Long walks, such as those our ancestors practised, will strengthen the body, mental processes, reflections, and health all around. Training in the martial arts and other cardiovascular activities, especially if within Nature, will foster that sense of closeness, or certainly in other events, that sense of aliveness as sweat rolls and endorphins gush through you. 

Flexibility is also important, especially in the modern, sedentary style. Stretching the limbs, especially the legs, with its large muscles and tendons, is vital; Yoga, such as even those stretches found in the Sun Salutations or Moon Salutations, every morning or evening, as little as five minutes, is advised.

Conclusion 

It is my conclusion that time in Nature, along with vigorous exercise, benefits one greatly in all endeavours of life, especially one’s capacity to practise the Creative Arts; with that in mind, I thank you all for your reading of this and hope you found this article helpful enough to use for future reference.

Footnotes

1. Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens, Pages 54-55

2. : Paul Pettitt, Lisa-Elen Meyering & Robert Kentridge (2020) Bringing science to the study of ancient senses - archaeology and visual psychology, World Archaeology, 52:2, 183-204, DOI: 10.1080/00438243.2020.1909932

3. “Growing up in Sparta: Boys and the Agoge”- Edward Tsoukalidis. Plutarch, op.cit., 17.3: “To this end, as they grew in years, their discipline was proportionately increased; their heads were close-clipped, they were accustomed to go barefoot, and for the most part to play naked.” 

4. Wong Kiew Kit: Introduction To Shaolin Kung Fu

5. For Example:  “BullyJuice”- Youtube

6. Barrett, James & Beukens, Roelf & Nicholson, Rebecca. (2001). Diet and ethnicity during the Viking colonization of Northern Scotland: Evidence from fish bones and stable carbon isotopes. Antiquity. 75. 145-154. 10.1017/S0003598X00052844. 

7. Konopka LM. How exercise influences the brain: a neuroscience perspective. Croat Med J. 2015 Apr;56(2):169-71. doi: 10.3325/cmj.2015.56.169. PMID: 25891878; PMCID: PMC4410170.

8. Jimenez MP, DeVille NV, Elliott EG, Schiff JE, Wilt GE, Hart JE, James P. Associations between Nature Exposure and Health: A Review of the Evidence. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 30;18(9):4790. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18094790. PMID: 33946197; PMCID: PMC8125471.