From the viewpoint of art, nature is a symbol of perfection. And art, as we know, is inspired by nature and it correlates anything that is seemingly sound perfect or picture-perfect with expressions in nature, be it objects in nature, its myriad life forms or various phenomena of nature like seasons, climate and weather. Art thus imitates the sight of nature and music mimics the sounds in nature.
Even literature goes in length with ample descriptions of nature. To divulge a message it may cite something comparable in nature. Say to describe beauty, poetry may quote elements of beauty in nature and equate it with objects it beautifies. And predominantly, nature has remained praiseworthy to humans. From tiny winged creatures to mammoth structures of nature like the oceans, mountains, and valleys, everything that we call as nature fascinates the spectator in us. Nevertheless, all of these are just an outward expression of nature. Whether it is the sight of nature or sounds in nature, what draws our attention, what holds us enthralled, is just a garb, an outward covering of nature. This garb may look beautiful, but beneath it lies the true reality of nature. And this reality, if we reason with, will show how nature is an imperfect creation.
In nature, like humans, species beings too, struggle for their own survival. They are subject to the same anomalies of birth and death, aging, and disease. Irrespective of their size, they face challenges that outwit them. Even a large mammal like elephant remains vulnerable. And even the king of the jungle, the ruler of his pride, faces a probable death in the hands of another invading male lion. It's not just predation for food that kills these species in nature, but also the fight for a mate and territory kills them. Ironically, doves, which we always associate with peace, fight among each other aggressively, to invade and dislodge resident doves. Just like how humans are distinct from one other, even within a particular species, species beings are distinct from each other in terms of both physical strength and behavioral traits. Some are born weaker or with birth defects. Some remain sober, some others more aggressive.
Nature functions with just one governing rule, 'the fittest survive'. That's the only qualifying trait for evolution. Power is the only parameter of justice in nature. There is no room for mercy. A poet who sings the beauty of a peacock, may not say, how it devours a snake for food. And we, who abhor predation among humans, hail predation in nature. We glorify how a predator like tiger hunts. But if the same tiger preys upon a human we don't accept predation as an acceptable norm. Particularly, when it comes to humans, among humans, we are able to clearly identify predation as an unacceptable behavior, a form of crime, an unjust act of brutality. Thus, the same instincts that govern species beings in nature, we forbid humans from, because as humans we know that we must raise above instincts and act by reasoning, so as not to behave like animals. Nevertheless, we too are predators. We prey either plants or animals for food. With predation as the only means for survival, the minimum evolutionary behavior of reasoning we can exhibit is, wherever the trauma of pain is visible as a result of human predation, minimum that which we can perceive through our human senses, we should abstain from, if else, we should give up our duplicity of selective condemnation of predation.
Now, we may accept these inevitable traits in nature as reality but can never justify them. Nature is functioning like an industry that is developing a fitter gene through mass predation. The bloodshed, gore, and pain it churns is despicable. Perhaps, nature is nothing but a summation of all beings, that are fighting their own flaws and of each other to survive and evolve. Like art, even religion may hail nature as perfect, just to attribute the prowess of creation and its so-called perfection to its believed creator, or it may say the world is full of pain, to promote a fairy-tale world of bliss, a paradise in no man's land.
Nevertheless, how can nature, that abounds with flaws, ever be called perfect? The reality is far distinct from the rosy picture painted by art and religion. Nature is a flawed creation. How and why it came into being, humanity is still unaware of. All we have is half-baked economically driven industrial understandings from science and fantasy stories of religions. How long would we keep killing our need for truth with them? Should we not seek answers rather than justifying reality?
Image courtesy: www.thesun.co.uk