Biophilia

The creation all around us is waiting on tiptoe for Creator’s children to be revealed in the full beauty of who they have created them to be. ~ Romans 8:19 (First Nations Version)

Birdwatching means never needing to create a reason to get outside. There is always the possibility of seeing a bird or two, perhaps a list can be expanded, maybe there will be a rarity. Or maybe not. The latter possibility does not negate the purpose of going out, though it does open up the possibility of other discoveries. On a recent bird trip, the birds were not terribly cooperative, but there were mushrooms. There were orange ones and yellow ones and black ones, there were tiny ones and large ones, there were frilly ones and puff balls, there were some on the ground and some on trees. They presented identification challenges to a group that was capable of identifying some birds by a single note. Where missing information about a bird would have led to frustration, these unknown fungi led to fascination.

We were experiencing a child-like curiosity that naturalist and writer Edward O. Wilson calls biophilia--”the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes.” I would agree with him and others that we are born this way. Children naturally ask about the unknown, in part to tame the wild, but also to feed the insatiable wonder that is the first and natural way to encounter creation. More than losing this innate feeling, it seems that it is educated out of us. We are taught that we are the crown of creation and should have dominion over it. When nature seeks to harm us, we need to use our big brains to fight back, conquer, and possess. Somewhere along the way, we tamp down the awe and discount the beauty.

But what if when the Apostle Paul was talking about all of creation waiting and groaning as if in childbirth for the revealing of the children of God, he wasn’t just be hyperbolic about nature caring about you and me getting into heaven? What if he really intended for us to understand that as we become fully the people we have been created to be that we will naturally work for the best for all, not just humans, but also more-than-humans? Of course, if we believe Jesus when he says that the kindom of heaven is already present for those with the understanding to perceive it, then we will notice the needs of all our kin. We will behold not just the birds of the air, or the flowers of the field, but also the odd little fungi of the forest...and we will reciprocate with care and compassion.

Prayer: Incarnate Creator, remind us again and again that you are among us, just like the fungus. Amen.