Last night the wind buffetted my windows drowning out all other sound. Lying in bed I felt the raw power of nature – not the sanatised picture of nature with lambs gambling in sunlit fields, a gentle summer breeze carrying the scent of new mown hay – rather a feeling of desolation, of the insignificance of man filled my soul. Lying warm in my bed my thoughts where cold like the great wind battering my window panes.
Now sitting at my computer in this familiar room, a warm blue carpet under my bare feet and surrounded by books I feel cacooned in the warm embrace of what we call civilisation. We cling to the solid, to material things but forever on the periphery nature stands laughing at our pretenciousness. She was here before we came and when we go she will remain.
As I stroked my labrador comfortably ensconced in his basket I pondered whether it is better to live in the moment with no conception of mortality as he does or if it is preferable to feel and think as we humans do. It is an interesting question but, ultimately an unanswerable one. We are what we are and my four legged friend is what nature, evolution or god (take your pick) designed.