Embedded within every being of Nature, humans included, is an evolutionary programming or a deep instinctual knowing that reveals who or what Mother Nature intended each being to be. Many indigenous cultures call this programming the “Original Instructions.”
Here are some examples of the Original Instructions at play in Nature: Salmon instinctively finds its way to the ocean and after many years at sea, will return to the same river to spawn. Turtle returns again and again to the beach of birth to lay their eggs despite having traveled thousands of miles away from that beach. Plants in the sun share nutrients with plants in the shade, even with those of a different species. Humpback whales follow a yearly migration from Alaska to Maui so their calves will be born in warmer waters. Mycelial networks transmit information underneath a forest that creates a swarm intelligence that supports the entire ecosystem. The Original Instructions underlie the fundamental teleology of Nature, an instinctual drive in every being toward an ultimate purpose or toward an end. Everything in Nature seeks to grow beyond its current circumstances and reach its potential. In humans, the Original Instructions are no different. Just as a dandelion is fated to be a dandelion, and a shark a shark, humans are also gifted by the Earth with exactly what we need to be our authentic selves. As beings born of Earth, we arrive with fated dynamics, encoded as our Original Instructions that determine our family, features, sexuality, hardships, gifts, etc., and exist within us for an evolutionary purpose that serves all of Nature. James Lovelock’s Gaia Theory posits that the Earth behaves as a single organism and every being on Earth–from microbes to chimpanzees–plays its part in supporting that one organism. In other words, as every being follows its Original Instructions, it automatically fulfills its sacred purpose as a precious contributing factor to the health and maintenance of the one organism. But humans, unlike every other being in Nature, are often disconnected from their Original Instructions. Because of humans’ pervasive separation from the natural world, many have lost touch with their Instructions, and have forgotten their place in the larger connective and interdependent ecosystem that is their true home. As healers, mystics, ecologists, and stewards of the Earth, shepherding humanity’s reconnection with Nature is our sacred work. The Original Instructions are never far away from us to creatively engage with our lives. The Original Instructions are immediately accessed through the felt senses within the body, by creatively engaging with our individual desires and aversions–this is what everything in Nature is doing all the time. Nature is wildly interested in that which will bring it more life and wildly disinterested in that which won’t. So, no matter our current circumstances, or despite how far away we may have veered from our Instructions, if we tune into, legitimize, and act on the thoughts, desires, intentions, and life-dynamics that feel growthful, creative and evolutionary for us, and we do whatever we can to avoid those that don’t, we start to become more “like” Nature, and we attune to what Mother Earth intended for each of us in the first place. From my heart to yours, Jonathan Hammond Comments are closed.
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