In Nature, Find Truth.

I just started reading a book called Evolutions Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden. I also just agreed to teach a gender studies class. Though I am excited about this new enterprise, I have a lot to learn.

This book has already helped me see some things that I did not know.  Darwin's theory of sexual selection believes that males and females, both, follow a template: the passionate male and the coy female. Roughgarden acknowledges that this may be true, but how now, we must move forward from this idea. We are not just one way. We are diverse. Our understanding should be as well.

As we become more diverse, our opportunities, our thoughts, our lives, and our selections do too. The grooves that used to hold us in one category are being sanded down, phased out. What is left is fluid and colorful. More choice is created.

This can be confusing. Sometimes it feels easier to have just two outfits or a uniform in the closet. Yet, when we have it, we want so badly to have our individuality, which is why now it is important to perfect our view,  to choose a right perspective.

What does any of this have to do with nature? 

In nature, we find truth. 

As an ecologist, Roughgarden speaks about how simple parallels can be drawn from human to animals, like rugby to American football. Animals are not the same as humans, but they can help us understand some things about our nature. In nature there is interbreeding, budding, it is colorful, intermingled, and it is diverse. As human beings, we are just now breaking the molds of Darwin and others. Men are not always. Women are not always. Our practices are as diverse as our experiences.

Which brings me to you. 

In your most authentic self, you are perfect, naturally perfect. Whatever you decide to call yourself, it is only a name. Without words, there is no distinction; there is perfection. You being perfectly you.

How do you find this? 

Observe it. Observe it in nature, where words are only used to clarify. Observe this in the forest, lakes, fish, animals...Observe it in that which does not have words to distract or confuse. Let your observation bring you back to what really matters, the truth.

Perfect your view. The best of you may be in your grasp. But if not, the best of you is yet to come. Look for the all the ways that you, in all your diversity and authenticity, are truth.

Sat Nam,
 
Courtney