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BELONGING
Most people would accept that a shoe does not belong in the fridge, or that a dancer with the flu and a broken ankle does not belong on the stage...
The concept of belonging is common to us all. It's to do with the relationship between a thing and a place.
It is true to say that a culture that does not respect the Living Planet that supports it, does not belong on that Living Planet.
Unless Western Culture can become ecologically sustainable, it will collapse the biosphere and in so doing destroy itself. Such is the cost of not belonging.
Vita seeks to help people belong to Vitae-planeta.
If enough people belong to Vita, then our civilization will belong, too, and it may well survive.
One pathway to belonging is Ecophany.
Three Relationships
In nature there are three types of relationship between living organisms:
- Parasitism
- Commensalism
- Mutualism
Presently, humans have a parasitic relationship to the rest of nature. If we are to survive on this planet, we need to adopt a mututalistic relationship with nature.
Parasitism
In a parasitic relationship, one party benefits at the other's expense. Here, a mosquito draws blood from a human, and in so doing seeds the human with plasmodium, an organism that uses the human as a host in the life cycle of the mosquito, and leading to the disease malaria.
Commensalism
In a commensalist relationship, one party benefits while the other neither benefits nor suffers. Here, remora fish hitch a ride on the body of a lemon shark. The shark does not suffer from this, nor benefit. The remora fish get a free ride to where the food is.
Mutualism
In a mutualistic relationship, both parties benefit. Here a honey bee collects nectar from a flower. As this happens, the bee gets covered in pollen that it takes to the next flower. In this manner, the bee gets fed, and the flower gets to reproduce. Both parties benefit from the relationship.
Parasitic Human
Humans can behave parasitically towards nature. Here, a human kills a tiger shark for shits and giggles. It is highly unlikely that the spear fisher would eat the shark as large sharks are contaminated with mercury as a result of bio-accumulation.
Commensalist Human
Humans can behave commensually with nature. Here, humans gain pleasure from watching whales go about their lives. The whales neither benefit nor lose from this relationship.
Mutualistic Human
Humans can behave mutualistically with nature. Here a diver removes ropes caught around the body of a whale shark. The human benefits by exercising kuleana (a Hawaiian word for taking responsibility for balancing what we give and take from nature) and the shark benefits by being set free from the rope.
Vita's Meaning of Nature
The word nature has many connotations.
However, for Vita, it is used in a specific context.
This page seeks to illuminate how what Vita means when it uses the term 'nature'.
What is Natural?
If a chimpanzee modifies a stick to use it to get insects out of a hole, we could say that the chimp’s technology was as natural as the chimp itself.
As humans are as natural as chimps, one might say that a thermonuclear bomb is as natural as the chimp’s stick given that this a human technology.
The formation of black holes is also a natural event, using this broad definition of ‘natural’.
When Vita uses the term ‘nature’ or ‘natural’ in the context of nature-based spirituality, it clearly isn’t seeking for people to see black holes and nuclear weapons as sacred.
Instead, the word nature is used to denote the natural processes that take place within Earth’s biosphere, and those factors that influence the biosphere, such as the Sun, Moon and tectonic processes.
The Five Sees of Nature
Vita's view of nature does not end at the nice aspects of nature that we experience, such as the sound of songbirds and interactions with wild animals. The Five Sees seeks to broaden the scope of nature. The word 'see' is used as a metaphor for experiencing, such as hearing, feeling, etc.
- That which you see that you like ( e.g. wildflowers)
- That which you see that you don’t like (e.g. cockroaches)
- That which is visible but you don’t see (deep sea fish)
- That which is cannot be seen except by it’s influence ( e.g. the wind)
- That which cannot be seen because it is conceptual ( e.g. global average temperatures)