Posted December 18, 200717 yr If you do not have a connection with nature, you are not spiritually mature. Argue this statement as you like, but you will find in the end that it is true, and to dispute it only proves your own immaturity. By maturity I do not mean being able to drive a car, get a date, or hold down liqueur, or any other of the silly things that come with your physical age. No, I mean your mental awareness and respect of what is around you. It is hard to put a definition to this intangible concept, but alas I will try. To be mature, the most important facet is respect of all other things living. Vegetarians have a deep respect for the lives of animals and are commonly activists too for the humane treatment of them. Vegetarianism is a mature choice of lifestyle because of this respect. Maturity also involves voluntarily becoming selfless in one's actions. You do not always have to act for the benefit of others, but be able to avoid conflicts in the relations of yourself and others. Be a friend to all, regardless of any differences that exist between the two. An American Christian and Islamic Extremist have no reason to not be friends if they just put the silly anger aside that their religion fuels them with. Finally, but not exclusively, one must have the experience of not being able to receive what he or she wants. In other words, leaving the providable safety of one's home and living without assistance on one's own. Not everything can be handed to you on a silver platter. But in today's world, it is difficult to truly achieve this due to liberal government aid programs, college scholarships, protective parents, etc. The celebrities in our society are the most immature of all of us because they do close to nothing, and receive fame and fortune in return. I know it's cliché but take Paris Hilton for example. She's not even an actress, she literally does nothing...and it is not hard to see her immaturity. Now that you understand the concept of maturity, you can better understand my stance on nature. Since maturity is fundamentally the process of self-betterment in mental and spiritual terms, one can understand why personal reflection is the quintessence of the whole thing. To understand others, to decide for yourself what is right and wrong, to remove yourself from the material world, you must enter nature. That's right. Where else can one think without distraction from some source that will detract from the ultimate goal of maturation? Nature provides us with a distraction-free environment so that our minds can run free. I'm not suggesting that you hug tress and have picnics with squirrels but I am saying that nature does provide mental peace. When one first goes for a walk in the woods or a hike on a mountain trail or a sit on a shoreline, one may find their mind to be empty of thought at first. This is a natural, or unnatural mind you, side effect from the commotions and modernizations that encompass our lives. It may take several visits to nature before you can release that zealous spirit of your personal self and openly discuss with yourself topics that need resolution within yourself, but it will happen if you give it time. I encourage you all to find your place in nature, whether it be a walk in the park on the way to work or a weekend hiking trip in the mountains. Now I leave this topic open for discussion as well as put forth a quote from a rather famous work dealing on this same subject. "I went into he woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach. I did not want to live what was not life, life is so dear, nor did I wish to practice resignation unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life; to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life; to cut a broad swath and shave close; to drive life into a corner and reduce it to its lowest terms and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it and publish its meanness to the world, or, if it were sublime, to be able to give a true account of it on my next excursion." -Henry David Thoreau, Walden Summary: Maturity is mental and spiritual betterment and this can only be encroached upon by means of nature.
December 18, 200717 yr What if I don't want to be mature....I could argue I'm happier in my ignorance any day then half the so called "Mature" people.
December 19, 200717 yr Author What if I don't want to be mature....I could argue I'm happier in my ignorance any day then half the so called "Mature" people. That choice is yours but you will not get far in life, you will not be respected, and you will not grow spiritually.
December 19, 200717 yr I really respect these ideas and think that anyone who can achieve this kind of spirituality is a m3n, but I really don't think that kind of lifestyle is for me. Call me immature if you'd like, but I do have a sense of what is around me and what I'm consuming for example my gas when I drive. I would rather take public transportation to my classes but there is no way that I'm going to walk 10 miles from the BART station to the college campus and then back again.. I could take my bike, but that would be way too much of a hassle, I've done it before and it takes an extra hour or so than it would take using my car. :\ I know that I'm consuming fossil fuels, things that can not easily, or quickly, be replaced, but in a sense I kind of need to if I'm going to further my education without having to wake up at 4AM and catch the first train at 5AM.
December 19, 200717 yr excuse me but, WTF? no one likes nature. no ones mature. (thats why were on myg0t forums) your gay! tl;dr also
December 19, 200717 yr i fucking knew you would quote Thoreau fail, way to just copy what you learned from you American lit class
December 19, 200717 yr I can't read all that...especially if it involves Thoreau or a long paragraph.
December 20, 200717 yr Author i fucking knew you would quote Thoreau fail, way to just copy what you learned from you American lit class Class? No, I came up with this on my own. I have the capability to think enlightened at will.
December 20, 200717 yr Class? No, I came up with this on my own. I have the capability to think enlightened at will. No.
December 20, 200717 yr This concept of maturity that you are talking about is very modern, purely based on the fact that you spoke of vegetarianism. Although people in certain parts of the world have been vegetarian for thousands of years, most people cannot survive in many places on earth without constantly having meat avaliable to them, an easy example is eskimos, a more difficult one is northern european nomads, because they did not have a way to cultivate grain, and because of the harsh seasons they faced without vegetation, they would cure meats and vegetables if possible, obviously being nomadic helped in some aspects. One point of this being that, being a vegeterian is contradictary to your statement about respect for the environment, people that live outside of the tropical belt cannot survive purely on vegitation through out the year, without using mass transport to ship vegetables from south to north. Thats also one reason that restaurants that are year round organic restaurants realy cause more harm the good, yeah you can get fresh fruit in the middle of january, but that fruit was just flown from new zealand. The overall point of this, is to say that "Maturity" as you speak of it (which i think is a bad word for what you are trying to get across) Is not a static thing with levels that can be attained, there is no highest level of maturity, and no lowest its completely dynamic
