Biophilia – a new trend or the need for returning to normality

Loss of natural habitats and less contact with the nature has generated huge consequences for the health and development of children.  The nature impacts our health at the cellular level.

Biophilia is a hypothesis introduced by Edward O. Wilson, a scientist from the Harvard University. He defined it as “the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life”. He claims that living organisms feel a sense of bond with the nature, which is required for proper development of us, being individual units. We all remember the feeling when we could sense unusual excitement and joy when looking at greenery and the beauty of the nature, seeing that everything is so logical and perfect with its imperfections, uniquely created by the “Great Architect”. All fields, forests, streams, rivers, seas are the nature’s gift. Due to the current high pace of life and the fact that we live in urban areas, we have been distanced from the nature.

I would like to introduce Theodore Roszak to you. In his book, Voice of Earth, he writes about ecological psychology, that has adopted the term “ecopsychology” as time has passed. Today’s psychology separates the internal life from the external life. What I have in mind here, is the spiritual and bodily aspects, the suppressed ecological subconscious that is responsible for our merger with the Earth’s evolution. Assuming that we are all one, we cannot distance ourselves from having an impact on the planet and also its impact on us and our well-being. If we try to do that when living in concrete jungles and houses, when our children attend concrete facilities and schools, we won’t be inspired, happy or healthy. A child will not function properly and use their potential to the fullest if they do not have a chance of enjoying the nature. They will lose their self-preserving instincts that are supported by the nature. I mean the nature that was not designed or modified by man.

Today, we live at times of fear. We face many worries and concerns. We are constantly fed with news that isn’t so positive. We should look for peace in the nature that has a positive impact on our balance, tranquillity, while restoring peacefulness and aiding concentration.  T. Wilson tells us that in no epoch has the separation of the human being from nature been as distinct as it is today. Do you remember your grandparents telling you that nothing brings more relief than work in a garden or planting flowers? They were right! Today, children prefer to plant corn in SIMS [a video game] or create their worlds in other attractive video games without engaging their bodies and requiring to leave their homes. Today’s children living in the era of computers are no longer passionate about plants, they don’t notice emotions in animals or don’t enjoy the beauty of the nature.  Let me add that the relationship between obesity and children playing outside is clear. According to the data of CDC, in 1989-1999, the population of overweight children aged 2-5 increased by 36%. Approximately 60% of children aged 5-10 show at least one factor of cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, when many children suffer with hunger, the World Health Organisation considers a seated lifestyle as global problem for the public health. Besides looking for a relationship between obesity in children and genetic complexities, numerous viruses, insomnia, everything oscillates around two factors: children’s obesity and unhealthy foods.

CDC has discovered that the time spent by children watching TV is proportional to the amount of fat in their bodies.  How can we prevent this? After all, children do sports such as football, basketball… Those sports are regular and have a limited number of minutes. The need of children’s bodies is different. Let’s dedicate efforts so that children can spend as much free time close to the nature as possible. Let’s not control them and constraint their time. Children will be the happiest if they can experience a positive impact of the nature to the fullest. Play should be creative, varied and should develop the child in many ways.

Children and Nature

We should portray the nature as a healing factor that mitigates exaggerated emotions in a child’s life. We give children medicine prescribed by a doctor to relieve their stress or to enable them to relax. Children are nervous and their reaction to stress generates concern. This is the era we are experiencing now. Frequent stomach-aches and headaches. We are looking for causes at the wrong sources. In my opinion, prophylaxis is the best solution and it involves the nature’s intelligence.

As you may remember, life used to go according to the nature’s cycles. We could experience its sounds and became a part of it – we were able to do that as the human kind. The new generation doesn’t know much about the possibility of this synchronisation. Those people are rather united with dates of meetings with friends or attending schools that impose a rhythm. I never forget about lunar phases, seasons, times of the day and about contact with the nature and contemplating while experiencing it. I never use air conditioning in my car or watch TV. Perhaps I know less about politics, but I can live with that very well ☺. The majority of the society is fed with public information on a mass scale that makes us lose our initial wisdom and self-preserving instincts. When young people search for something in Google and can’t find it, it means it’s non-existent. But there is a bigger, more interesting world that is worth the children’s attention, indeed.

We were given senses to hear, feel, smell, taste, notice more than just the matrix, glass world. Let’s take our kids outside and stimulate their senses. We cannot allow them to lose the several dimensions of surrounding space in favour of four walls. Today, children feel isolated – they experience something that can be called cultural autism. Unfortunately, new technologies contribute to this phenomenon.  We lose the ability to experience the world directly.

“Children live through their senses. Sensual experiences create a bridge between the external world of a child and their hidden internal, emotional world. Some children develop well through interaction with the environment. A strict, uniform environment will limit the possibilities of healthy growth and development of a child.”

“I really believe that there is something in the nature that when it surrounds you, you feel like a part of a bigger whole. It makes it possible to look at problems from a distance. The nature is the only example of surroundings where I don’t have to take care of my problems immediately. Being surrounded by the nature makes it possible for me to become distant without cutting off the world completely”.

-NEF-