1. Nature As Medicine: We ARE Nature First Lecture in the Nature and Medicine Series Dr.John C. Hughes, D.O. ACES at Hallum Lake Aspen, CO July 18, 2012
2. We ARE Nature I. We Are Animals (Mammals) II. We are like all Sentient Beings: Conscious and Alive III. We are Wild Beings IV. We have Natural, Animal Minds V. If Nature is Medicine, the Medicine is You
3. We Are Mammals (and Animals) Characteristics of Mammals: warm-blooded animal covered by fur give birth to live young (nourished by milk) vertebrates 4 chambered heart, sweat glands, diaphragm, flexible neck, single jawbone (most) developed neocortex http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_characteristics_of_mammals
4. We Are Mammals: And Relatives With All 40% of our DNA with bacteria 60% of our DNA with insects 75% of our DNA is identical to reptiles 90% of the same DNA as mammals we share 98% of our DNA with chimps, our closest relative FYI: Humans and banana trees share about 55% of the same DNA. Go Banana http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_DNA_do_humans_share_with_a_banana#ixzz20wa5LEKo
5. We are like all Sentient Beings: Our Kin For Native Americans and other “primitive cultures”, animals and trees (and other sentient beings) were called brothers and sisters because that is exactly who they are Many native peoples and tribes identified with the character of certain animals (often as part of a healthy and ritualistic life) These animals “totems” (In Ojibway word is dodaem and means “brother/sister kin”)
6. We are like all Sentient Beings: One Fate For these natives, it is a basic understanding that how animals and trees died so was the fate (and health) of the 2 leggeds (the humans) Even from the Judeo-Christian Bible: “Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal.” Ecclesiates 3:19
7. We are like all Sentient Beings: Conscious and Alive As we acknowledge that a spider has this same divine spark of life as us, we see its place as critical to the web of being as any other sentient creature. It does not mean we don’t protect ourselves from the spider but rather we honor its life as we honor our own natural lives. As we honor the life of the spider, it honors us along with the rest of the life
8. We are Wild Beings What is wild for the “civilized” human? Humans should be as anarchists? Nay Many humans seek the wildness in their own lives because of the health benefits For example, we now demand unadultered, less manipulated, non-manufactured food: aka Wild game, wild salmon, free-range chickens, organic tomatoes, and veggies Because that is what/who we are
9. We are Wild Beings In its wildness, Nature makes better food than the artificial flavorings, coloring, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. do We seek the wildness because we know it is innately healthy As wild humans (as ontologically human animals), we are nurtured by that which is wild (both internally and externally) Health is involves appropriately “sync” with the wild order of Nature in a creative, vital way (wildcrafting our herbs, allowing spontaneity in our lives, etc.)
10. We are Wild Beings: Inside and Out Think about the minds of these wild creatures we seek out: Independent, yet part of the web of life Free to live out a natural destiny in accordance with their genes and habitat Subject to the laws of Nature Not caged in (including cages from a religion, career advancement, parents, philosophy, etc) But guided and taught by the elders in accordance with their instincts, intellect, and intuition
11. We have Natural, Animal Minds How do we know what we know and do what we do? Instinct: A nonlearned behavior pattern–an expression of innate biology Examples Intuition: the ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason Examples Reason: to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs http://www.wikipedia.org/
12. We have Natural, Animal Minds How do we know what we know and do what we do? Inspiration: 1. To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence. 2. To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inspire
13. We have Natural, Animal Minds: Beyond Human Rationality Since the 17th century, humans have erroneously elevated rationality as the essence of “human nature”, forgetting the rest of Natural mind (Our Ivy League colleges and wannabe lower institutions are a testament to this artificial elevation) Knowing what is healthy involves a fully aware and alert Natural mind, one that does not rely solely upon human rationality (or some double-blinded, case controlled study)
14. We have Natural, Animal Minds: Beyond Human Rationality Since the 17th century, humans have erroneously elevated rationality as the essence of “human nature”, forgetting the rest of Natural mind (Our Ivy League colleges and wannabe lower institutions are a testament to this artificial elevation) Knowing what is healthy involves a fully aware and alert Natural mind, one that does not rely solely upon human rationality (or some double-blinded, case controlled study)
15. The Medicine is You: Nature in Present Form As you are a conscious, aware, earthy, poised human animal, whole-minded, and divine spirit fully mastering the senses, emotions, desires in accordance with the ecosystem you inhabit, you are the Medicine. You are free-range…connected to the Whole but not bound to the destiny of a domestic herd or its diseases.
16. The Medicine is You: Nature in Present Form The Medicine is not about getting out into Nature, but rather it is embracing yourself as Nature As a Natural being, you are fully empowered by Nature: as a mammal (powerful and wild) with friends everywhere as free and yet interdependent upon the web of life as whole-minded and fully aware of your world as unafraid of Nature and able to take risks that increase your fitness
17. The Medicine is You: Nature in Present Form Your life and your health is about getting into Nature, into your natural state, into your primal self, into your natural destiny Thoreau writes “In wilderness is the preservation of the world” Which may also be translated, “It is the preservation of your wilderness (your Natural state) that is the preservation of your life.”