One of the greatest acts of stupidity that humanity has gleefully embraced is its willful separation from nature. To make matters even worse, in it’s arrogant superiority, humanity has been led to believe by the all-prevailing science, technology and religion that nature is in service to, a garden to be raped, and beneath, lesser than, the all-knowing humans.

But on the other hand, nature can respond and send a message that is loud and clear. The deep-toned belch of the Earth Mother, the 9.0 deep-sea Indonesian earthquake and the resulting tsunami of December 26, 2004, showed us just how inferior the whole of humanity is to the cyclic evolution of the earth and to the wrath of nature. Only the animals and the indigenous people, who were still living the ‘old ways,’ close to and in partnership with nature, survived. In our journey of survival and renewal, what lesson is there then for each of us to learn from this sad catastrophe?

The lesson is simple, I believe that we need to become closer to nature and be in partnership with the earth by stepping into its stream of evolutionary changes. To do this, we must ‘enter the mountain and befriend the trees’ and work with the power of the elements.

Many times the elemental makeup of life is overlooked and taken for granted. When was the last time that the sun hit your face and you realized that the sun represents the element fire and corresponds to your spirit. The wind picks up, the sun disappears behind storm clouds and the rains fall. Wind represents the air element and our mind, while rain represents the element of water and emotions. And as we run seeking shelter, our footsteps take us over the earth—symbolic of our body. Our journey through life can be chronicled by our repetitive patterns of elemental behavior. For instance, how much time do we spend on mental activities opposed to spiritual activities? How about our body and physical actions? And how do our emotions rule our life? Balance, balance is always the key.