Principles of Natural Living
Natural living is a lifestyle within the boundaries set by nature for the continuity of all life on planet earth. This lifestyle is a blend of philosophy, science and pragmatism aimed at being the most appropriate lifestyle for human beings on planet earth. As philosophy and science advances with new thinking, discoveries and evidences, natural living will improve accordingly, and this is the reason why natural living has a generic name, although inappropriate.
The first principle of the natural living is that humans are not the masters of anything except themselves, and this principle leads to the ethical aspect of natural living, which encourages letting other organisms live their natural life in their natural habitat.
Humans are just another species on earth with an immense head start in intellectual evolution. Their achievements do not make them the masters of nature, planet or the cosmos, because they hardly understand those which they claim to be masters of. Nor are they powerful enough to resist nature's forces when they are unleashed. Humans are but a node in natural ecology, indeed more powerful and intelligent than other nodes, and therefore bears a greater responsibility in solving problems in the system.
The second principle of natural living is that ecosystems are the throbbing heart of the planet, and this principle leads to the ecological aspect of natural living, which encourages non-interference in ecological processes.
An ecosystem is an intricate functioning of and healthy interaction between various living and non-living things. All human actions, whether good or bad, accumulate to force either a constructive change or a destructive change. But ecosystems generally have higher resistance to stimuli, which is why results of human actions, whether destructive and constructive, aren't evident instantly, and takes time to manifest.
The third principle of natural living is that every organism is a biological design that is optimised by millions of years of design iteration. This principle gives rise to the health aspect of natural living and encourages humans to follow a lifestyle that they evolved with.
Evolution optimises each organism according to the environment the organism lives in. Human bodies and biological processes are optimised iterations for a particular environment and lifestyle with which humans evolved for generations. Any changes made to this environment and lifestyle will conflict with the biological design of human beings resulting in illnesses. The key to health is to follow a lifestyle that humans are designed for.
With these principles, natural living brings harmony between humans and the natural world, and to explain what harmony is, science is summoned and it points out the ecological, biological and social consequences of human actions. Natural living has the potential to solve the prevailing food, health and ecological crisis — the very same problems many organisations and governments have been working fruitlessly for years to resolve.
The rest of the literature in this series elucidate human essentials and human actions from the perspective of these natural living principles.