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Zusammenfassung von The Eight Master Lessons of Nature

Name: The Eight Master Lessons of Nature
Rating: 4.5 (153 reviews)
Author: Gary Ferguson

Gary Ferguson

What Nature Teaches Us About Living Well in the World

4.5 (153 Bewertungen)

24 Min.

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The Eight Master Lessons of Nature
in 8 Kernaussagen verstehen

Audio & Text in der Blinkist App

Kernaussage 1 von 8

What’s in it for me? A guide to a more natural life.

When you picture the place you spend your days, what do you see? The sterile vistas of an open office, the fluorescent-lit landscape of a grocery store, the air-conditioned cabin of a car, bus, or train? These spaces are hardly a human’s natural habitat.

Clearly, we live our lives far removed from the natural world. Luckily, these blinks can help you reorient yourself toward a less artificial existence. With this gentle guide, you’ll learn to reconnect with your more earthly essence by carefully observing the wonders of the wild. Taking inspiration from the plants, animals, and ecosystems around us, the lessons presented here show that there’s wisdom to be found outside of civilization.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

how trees communicate with each other;
why dolphins play with sponges; and
what sloths can teach us about efficiency.

Approach the world afresh by embracing its mysteries.

When Albert Einstein faced a difficult problem, he had a small ritual to help break down his mental blocks. No, he didn’t hit the books or spend hours untangling equations on a chalkboard. He just stepped outside.

That’s right. When the great physicist reached his wit's end, he would wander out into the gardens around the university campus. There, he would quietly contemplate the scene around him. But, he wasn’t looking for any specific answers. He was merely observing the majesty of nature and letting the complexity of the earth’s ecosystems overwhelm him with awe.

For Einstein, understanding nature wasn’t the point. His goal was to clear his mind by accepting that the world would always remain somewhere beyond knowable.

Here’s the key message: Approach the world afresh by embracing its mysteries.

Einstein wasn’t the only scientist who felt inspired by the unknowable. Astronomer Carl Sagan, physicist Edward Witten, and primate behavioral scientist Jane Goodall have all spoken eloquently about the importance of mystery to their work. While these renowned scholars dedicated their careers to the study of the natural world, each has been quick to admit that some aspects of life will remain beyond our comprehension.

Accepting the awe-inspiring complexity of the natural world allows us to approach each day with a sense of wonder. Consider the curious nature of atoms. Each element is made up almost entirely of the empty space between the nucleus and its electrons. In fact, 99.9999 percent of anything is, at its core, almost nothing at all. Given this reality, it’s incredible that we can walk on the ground, pick up objects, or even exist.

Children are excellent at embracing this sense of wonder, which gives them a special affinity for the natural world. Just think of all the time kids spend playing with bugs, digging in dirt, or talking about animals. Nurturing this innate enthusiasm is the best way to encourage learning. A study from the American Institutes for Research even found that outdoor classrooms improve kids’ science test scores by 27 percent.

You, too, can tap into this power. Simply find a moment to experience nature. Step outside and turn off your analytical brain. Instead, focus on your senses; see the patterns in leaves, smell the pollen in the air, feel the sunlight on your skin. If it’s dark, gaze up and take in the marvel of the stars. You may not understand how it all fits together, but knowing that it does should fill you with renewed astonishment.

All things are interrelated and interdependent.

The renowned Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh likes to play a game with his new students. It’s a simple one, in which he holds up a blank piece of paper and asks his pupils to describe what they see. Some say they see purity or peace or a calm cloudy sky. But Nhat Hanh sees something different – he sees the whole world.

As the master explains, the paper is made of trees, and trees in turn are made of air and soil and sunlight. Furthermore, transforming the tree into paper requires the work and skill of lumberjacks and artisans. And, of course, these workers rely on food that farmers have nurtured from the soil.

Diversity makes any system stronger.

Let’s take a trip to the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. Hike through this unspoiled wilderness in the springtime and you’ll come upon an amazing sight. In the fertile valleys between the peaks are meadows brimming with wildflowers.

Importantly, there’s not just one species. The colorful display includes geraniums, buttercups, paintbrushes, bluebells, and dozens of other blossoms. Why such a wide array? Well, each has its own strength. If there’s a drought, those with deep roots will endure. If there's a blight, those with immunity will pull through.

Value both masculine and feminine energy to live in harmony.

The Tsavo National Park in Kenya contains some of the most impressive species in the animal kingdom. If you take a close look at the communities of mammals roaming this wilderness, you’ll notice a striking pattern: the animal kingdom is a matriarchy.

The elephants on this savannah are led by the eldest females of the herd. They protect the young with their large tusks and tap their impressive memories to locate hidden watering holes. Lions, too, rely on female leadership. Lionesses do the bulk of hunting and train young cubs to be self-sufficient.

Respect the agency and autonomy of all animals.

It’s the early 1500s, and the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne is procrastinating. Instead of writing a new treatise on education or literature, he’s having fun with his cat.

Yet as he teases and toys with his feline companion, he’s struck with a thought. “When I play with my cat,” he wonders, “how do I know that she is not passing time with me as well?” Essentially, Montaigne is curious if the cat is having fun too.

Conserve your energy for what’s most important in life.

What, you might think, could we possibly learn from the humble sloth? This unusual animal spends its days hanging serenely in the trees of the Amazon rainforest. Living up to its name, it moves very slowly – so slowly that moss and algae grow in its matted fur.

So is the lesson to be as lazy as possible? Not exactly. While the sloth certainly looks lethargic, in reality, it’s super efficient. Every aspect of its anatomy and behavior, from its slow metabolism to its sluggish movements, is optimized to conserve calories. It only uses energy on what’s most important.

Nature shows us that disasters are an opportunity to come back stronger.

August 20, 1988. Thundering storms roil above Cooke City, Montana. Scattered flashes of lightning strike down to Earth. It’s been an especially dry summer and the wheatgrasses of the prairie are dry as kindling. The foliage catches alight, and soon the whole steppe is on fire.

The flames grow through the night, into towering conflagrations more than 100 feet high. The storm's heavy winds spread the blaze too fast for firefighters to keep up. By the time the heat subsides, hundreds of thousands of acres have been reduced to ashes.

We have much to learn from those that came before us.

Imagine yourself diving below the warm waters off the coast of Australia. There, you see a strange sight – a mature bottlenose dolphin is conducting a strange ritual. To begin with, she bites off a large chunk of a basket sponge. Then, balancing the sponge on her beak, she begins sweeping the ocean floor.

At first, you can’t make out what’s happening. But within a few minutes, it’s obvious. She’s using the sponge to flush a sand perch out of its hiding place below the sand. After uncovering the fish, she snatches it up for a healthy snack.

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Worum geht es in The Eight Master Lessons of Nature?

The Eight Master Lessons of Nature (2019) is a reflective treatise on what nature can teach us about living well. Carefully observing many forms of life, from forest mushrooms to mighty elephants, the guide reveals valuable lessons they may hold for us. In doing so, it invites us to look again at the wild world around us with a renewed sense of awe and wonder.

Bestes Zitat aus The Eight Master Lessons of Nature

Seeking mystery means sailing now and then across some deep waters, free of the need to know what weather lies ahead, or even what fish are swimming under the boat.

—Gary Ferguson

Wer The Eight Master Lessons of Nature lesen sollte

City slickers seeking a greener life
Nature lovers looking for a deeper connection
Those searching for a more mellow approach to living

Über den Autor

Gary Ferguson is an award-winning author, naturalist, and public speaker specializing in the intersection of ecology and psychology. He’s authored more than 25 books including The Carry Home, Shouting at the Sky, and Hawks Rest, which was the first ever to be named Book of the Year by both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers and the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Associations.

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Natur & Umwelt Motivation & Inspiration Achtsamkeit & Glück

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