We
recognize order through the natural occurrence of phenomena. The rhythms
of the natural world of which the human body is but a fragment of the
whole, are all around us. They are constantly changing, with countless
clocks ticking at different beats, different times. The most primal rhythm
is that of the heartbeat. There is no human life without the systole and
the diastole of the heartbeat, without inhaling and exhaling, or without
the two poles within which the electric currents move. The
moment-to-moment flux of our daily world is peceptible in the drifting of
clouds, the surging of waves, the rustling of wind in trees, the bubbling
of water in brooks, the melting of icicles. We know the seasons, from the
mantle of summer’s green to that of winter’s snow. We have faith that
the Earth will renew itself each spring. The cycle of human or animal life
from birth to death is a constant part of our deepest psyche, for it
reminds us of our own mortality and return to the earth.
Then
there is the rhythm of time, spanning millions, even billions of years, to
a clock that ticks almost beyond our comprehension. It is the rhythm of
continents moving, of mountains forming and eroding, of deep canyons being
slowly carved by water through countless millennia. It is also the clock
of life’s evolution: species evolving, and disappearing into the
oblivious maw of extinction. Somewhere in between the brief moment and the
millions of millennia are time scales that embrace sunspot cycles,
wandering poles, and glaciers retreating and expanding.
The
natural rhythms of our planet give us a sense of order even when we are
faced
with
catastrophic earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and avalanches.
Everything has its time and place: its origins and evolution, its life and
death. We understand that there are processes which drive events from e
volcanoes to ocean currents and that we are somehow part of them and part
of nature.
Living
beings adapt to the rhythmic nature of their environment. As the earth
rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun organisms inhabiting the
planet exhibit periodicity in their physiological organization and
behaviour. The body-clocks of all creatures big and small are calibrated
to warm bright days being light and warm relative to cool dark nights.
Bees,
butterflies and songbirds are active during the daytime: mice, moths and
owls work the night-shift. Plants change their / principal activity from
photosynthesis in the sunlight to assimilation of food after sundown.
Their reproductive cycles are synchronized with the biorhythms of the
animals that help pollination by spreading seeds far and wide in
accordance with their own schedules of grazing and retreat, migration and
return.
River system
