Based on your experiences, meditations, and research, describe what, in your opinion, makes a place seem “natural.” (minimum 100 words)
A place defined as natural is one well-tended, or left wild that is in sync with its natural self. I tend to find the more untouched areas as natural in their original state, but big beautiful tended gardens that are grown to compliment their natural cycle are just as wonderful and natural. Even though I prefer untouched wilds left to their own devices, I do not feel that human involvement in the world around us makes it unnatural. We are just as much a part of nature as nature is a part of us. Our challenge is to coexist and develop that reciprocal relationship with nature so that we are not disturbing its cycle or the direction it wants to evolve.
I often see arguments about how humans placed in a natural environment either taint it or destroy it. This is not always the case. The natives that lived on this land for centuries before us still put up lodges, still created fences to hold horses, still plucked foods from the soil. But they did so in a way that was respectful and balanced with the natural growth. That is what we as Druids and as humans need to learn from the land, and from ourselves.
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