It’s not appealing that I start this blog entry with a John Mayer mention. But I’ve enjoyed the line “Gravity, stay the hell away from me.” And today it prompted a question or two.

The man makes a good point – if indeed he actually makes it, and I haven’t projected as I am wont to do. Wont wont wont wont. OK it’s out of my system.

What is that point? Oh, you’ve forgotten I was talking about a point? It is that life is gravity, and at all times it is working to pull you downward. My thoughts seems to wander towards the ground and rarely (if memory serves, never) do they make their way back up again without some conscious intervention.

There are times in which we can trust nature. If your stomach tells you it’s full, you can trust it! Stop eating! But if you fall in the water and nature tells you to flail about and splash, you must make the decision to fight nature. You’re fighting for your life, and when you are opposing nature you’ll have to force every single move.

Philosophers, religious figures, children, laborers, parents…. We’re all asking when to obey nature. And the whole thing baffles me too. There’s no hard and fast rule to answer this; I really believe that.

Doesn’t it seem wise to fight nature 99% of the time? Don’t we constantly talk ourselves out of obeying our bodies and emotions and physical impulses? And don’t we hear from our parents, preachers, and close friends that we ought to reconsider our every natural inclination? Isn’t it our natural inclinations that led us to seek their leadership to begin with? Is it perhaps then part of our nature to be self-muting… self-censoring? Does this mean that we can relax – our natures are complex creations and perhaps they take good and balanced care of our lives.

I wouldn’t begin to categorize entire individuals within this topic. But moving from situation to situation, different viewpoints are apparent. I believe we all use all of the processes, beliefs, and mechanisms I’m going to list, and that we find ourselves most comfortable – most natural – in our specific combinations of believing and then coping. The mere balance of these very understandings and processes of action ought to relax anyone who can see that there is real diversity in our reactions to nature itself.

Initially, wwo camps arise. They each define “nature.” One calls it impulse. The moment you feel an impulse, this is your nature, and action or inaction ought to follow based on the one instance. Who is feeling these impulses? Why? When? Toward what end? Those are the questions for Camp A. Camp B, in my opinion, waits patiently until nature explains itself through impulses, Camp B is building a larger picture of those impulses and its questions include How Long, Toward what end, How consistent is this impulse, and What does it ask of you or me?

Beyond that is chaos, as I am refraining from assigning any further specifics; nature has been defined for you, I hope you see your camp up there somewhere.

Now there are 4 major approaches.

Some believe in winning the fight against our natures. These people often place high importance on self-discipline, self-reliance, and moral behavior.

Others believe that the fight is all there is, but that they must continue to engage themselves in a war against their desires. The people I see who feel this conviction are often depressed but the endless nature of their situation and exhausted by the weight of their past endeavors toward – turns out – no victory at all. They either jump into the above camp, grasping tighter to their hope in victory (which I applaud for them because people who love coping, love to see people coping.) These people often try different lief-systems in general, perhaps calculating that nature’s effects may be worth the trip. They may sign on for the ole, live it and love it ticket. I myself may really be in this camp somewhere with a little loyalty even. My impulse after all these years is to fight my impulses silently. I usually win these battles, and I don’t have to think about them. But listen close, as I tend to feel that life itself is comprised of only two processes: growing up, and coping. Those who will fight until they die ought to be well-acquainted with the latter process. Growing up, for me, was learning to fight my nature and or impulses and or consistent impulses. Coping ought to involve, right off the bat, learning to destroy SOME of those convictions in favor of another (usually less severe) conviction and in doing so the “new man” I’ve been promised (through my faith I am being promised a new nature that takes over the old nature bit by bit) ought to make good use of himself. I can already see him doing his thing – helping me make decisions about what to do with my nature, in the unimaginable list of possible scenarios and their solutions.

Moving even further forward, many believe that nature is the same as impulse.  The question that arises for them looks something like – How long before we can satisfy this impulse? How much is it going to cost us? How long can we tolerate its constant nag until we are able to at least provide some answer to its question, or would it be right to just stomp it out before it gets too loud? I’d like to note that this approach, although simplistic, is efficient and I think it could be a pretty effective reaction.

An even more respected approach suggests to us that nature is really simply the impulse you can’t keep fighting. All of a sudden there are philosopers, preachers, and friends who don’t have the right answer; people in the thick of their nature’s desires are likely to make the decision without asking for help. They don’t need it. What they head is to find out what their nature is asking of them or those around them, and find a personally satisfactory cope. This will be a study in impulses and until one is convinced that the truest qualities of mother nature are reflected.

All right, I’ve done more than answer the first question. I have provided so many answers that I forgot that I never actually clarified anything about this entry so I’m going to try to do it before I pass out right here on my keyboard. We all deal differently with the forces inside us, even the way we acknowledge “forces” and how we define “inside” ourselves. We do it all so differently, and mother nature seems to have set it up so that “nature” is never the always-friend or always-terror, and so there’s set rule “Say yes/no to nature”  I can only assume she likes it this way, as it creates a balance in her friendships with us. So perhaps – if only in that sense – she likes mankind. But She — nature…. She likes the system. She likes the process. Her very breath is carried on in the process. And I respect the process. As such, I respect every approach, every belief, and every attempt at moving forward in life, as I hold to my oft-criticised mantra, “We are all trying.”

It is a natural talent I have that I can write parables from nature. I see situations very often reflected in “what-is” – a collection of already completed processes, more like cyclic moves.  I do believe that if one can locate himself or herself at any point on a cycle, mother nature’s wisdom will use the history of her work to show you the way. Whether that way be to run. fight, give in, wait it out. She’ll know. And I haven’t found her to be one who withholds the solutions from any seekers.

Perhaps God is trying to say something through this. Perhaps He is saying, these are all the answers you need on earth.  Love me, but I am in your life serving another purpose altogether. Maybe God is saying I built this for you, so that you would have an understanding – so that you would have nature as a friend, muse, and mother.

So these are some thoughts for tonight. Glad no one’s reading them because I’m one-hour into a pill that was supposed to induce sleep pretty quick.