Why Nature?

Is there any sort of psychological connection between the apparent obsession with outdoorsy/wilderness/hiking/exercise with the apparent cultural slide into paganism? I have to admit that I have never thought along these lines today, but today, after hearing co-workers speak about hiking for the 1000th time, I really began to wonder.

Obviously, this connection, if it does exist, is not a conscious one.  I can guarantee that those persons who love this return to nature mentality, are not doing so because they are raging pagans, of any stripe. But when we look at the history of cultures, when we look at the progress of the people of Israel, directed by the hand of God and when we look at the growth and development of the church, none of these go in the direction of “natural-back-to-earth-back-to-nature”.

The argument of “I find God in nature, therefore I don’t need to go to church,” simply does not work.  It is not a historical position, it does not flow from the historical church. The kingdom of God is within us and the people of God are found in the Orthodox church.  This is not to argue that God does not move amongst other gatherings of people. As the Orthodox church says, “We can say where God is, but we will not say where God is not.”

So what is the ground for my original question?  I have to wonder why the common mentality of a culture that is moving away from God, from Christianity and from holiness is heading toward “the wild outdoors”.  Is it a draw toward un-civilization? Is it a move towards that which is unstructured, spontaneous and whimsical? It certainly seems to place an emphasis upon the physical, rather than the spiritual.

I must close with one more comment.  Paul does tell us that while exercising the physical body has some value, the pursuit of holiness has value for all areas of life, both physical and spiritual.