“This—food, medicine, etc.—is good for you because it’s natural.”
“What’s wrong with doing what you want if it feels good and doesn’t hurt anybody? It’s natural.”
“It’s okay to be angry—it’s natural.”
Sometimes “natural” is an excuse, sometimes it’s merely a prop, but this nature-lover says that what Westerners call natural is often unnatural.
Why? Because it leaves human care, human effort and human thought out of the picture. And it often leaves God out of the picture too.
A belief in the perfection of the natural can even lead to a kind of immoral darkness of the worse sort.
Death by Mosquito (But Mainly In Africa and India)
Taking care of the environment is important. We, and every living thing on this planet, need fresh air, potable water, grasslands, clean oceans, healthy forests…this is undeniable.
Sometimes, though, the consequences of believing that natural is best include protecting a wilderness at the expense of food production, desperately-needed jobs, or even health. When the pesticide DDT was banned, the incidents of malaria in third-world countries http://www.malaria.org/wheredoesitoccur.html shot up. Today, it’s a serious problem that causes tremendous suffering and loss of life.
But, during the couple of decades DDT was in use, prior to it being banned (by wealthy, developed nations), the National Academy of Science estimated that at least 500 million inevitable deaths had been prevented due to the use of the pesticide. That’s 500 million human lives saved!
When we become subservient to nature rather than nature’s steward, we no longer are able to judiciously manage the environment with a sensible cost-benefit approach and sadly, this may cost human lives.
Animal Farm
There are some who believe natural implies lack of hierarchy, and therefore believe that animal life is equally as valuable as human life. Sometimes this belief is taken to such an extreme that man is considered to be the only unnatural being on the planet and that his life is less valuable than the lives of animals.
But a love of animals may or may not be a guide to character. We know that during Nazi Germany dogs were treated very well. We know that Pol Pot was a strict vegetarian. (The list goes on.) Yes, caring for animals is a good thing. In fact, the Torah commands us to be kind to animals and there are strict laws about taking care of their needs. However, Torah is clear: human life comes first.
Nothing More Than Feelings
Another consequence of believing in this strange god called natural: Allowing our feelings, which are certainly “natural”, to override our intellect, our morality, or even our simple common sense. It is natural to want to feel pleasure, and it is natural to have impulses, but the impulsive pursuit of pleasure can and often does lead to oblivion.
Placing value on things in their utterly raw state, without the creative input of humankind is a key pitfall of going natural and one that has not only spiritual and physical ramifications, but specifically Jewish ones as well.
The argument against brit milah (Jewish circumcision) goes: It isn’t natural. If God wanted men to be circumcised, they would be born that way. (A woman who passionately presented this argument to me, has been dying her hair for years.)
At least half of the Western world believes that natural is better and that natural, somehow, excludes God or at least, God’s words, that is, the Torah.
But through the Torah, God shows us that He values our input. He made the world “unfinished” so that we could partner with Him in bringing it towards perfection. If you stop, just for a moment, and reread the previous sentence, you may feel a sense of awe and wonder that God the Creator of the Universe has asked us to join Him in building a better world.
And what’s even more amazing is that He gave us His Torah which explains exactly how to go about doing this.
Tzaddik
God even created certain individuals who show us the best way to live up to our mission and be our role models and advocates.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov said, “God’s ways are not like those of man. When a man makes a garment, he values it most when it is brand new. As it then becomes worn and damaged, its value is reduced.
“But God began by creating an imperfect world. It is constantly being improved and becomes more precious to God. In each generation, Tzadikim (righteous, spiritually refined individuals) enhance God’s work. At first there were the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses our teacher…
“The world’s value to God is constantly enhanced by this [the prayers, thoughts, words, and deeds of the Tzadikim].”
Endgame
Rebbe Nachman tells us something amazing. He tells us that the world actually increases in value to God as it gets older. He loves his Creations, the World, the dandelions, the animals, and especially us. And, He loves us more and more as time goes on. We are invited, requested, and yes, commanded, to add our efforts to His “effort”, so to speak, and to move the World towards enlightenment and the final Redemption.
“In the end,” the Rebbe tells us, “the Messiah will come and the task will be completed. Only then will the world be absolutely perfect.”
The take-a-way? Natural is not necessarily perfection. We’re here, on Earth, to pitch in until the ultimate purpose is revealed.
Notice: The opinions expressed in this article are those of its author, and not necessarily those of the Breslov Research Institute.
