We also have a relationship with our earth, wild places, rivers, forests, mountains, and all the natural world.  We may be numbed and disconnected or deeply moved and embedded. 

1. “So whatsoever we do unto the earth, we also do unto ourselves. We are not separate. No flower picked, tree cut, or river strewn feels not the pain we are also causing to ourselves. To love our wild places is to also love ourselves.”
   
   
2. “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting – over and over announcing your place in the family of all things.”  - Mary Oliver.
   
   
3. “. . .  Finally, we begin to recover some form of reference for the material out of which we were born, the nourishing contact that sustains us, the sounds and the scenery, the warmth of the wind and the coolness of the water, all of which delight us and purify us and communicate the divine presence.”  Thomas Berry.

Goal:  The goal in the natural realm is to help us become more aware of our “numbness” or “lost relationship” with nature and help us reconnect with the natural world using our own pace and style.