Obeisant Nature?

There’s an expression that we self-centered humans tend to use, that refers to nature “obeying” certain laws. We don’t really mean it, but it tends to sound as if we’re saying that there is some force outside nature that had once inscribed laws, and then nature was forever obliged to comply with these absolute ordinances. It’s roughly analogous to my local lawmakers posting a rule about the maximum permitted speed on a stretch of road, and then expecting me to adhere to that limit. Someone “out there” is forcing me to obey.

We’ve got it backwards. There are no commands or orders to which nature submits. That’s our game. There are no codes that preordain how the natural world should behave. Nature just does her thing as she always has—in a simple, honest, direct, and elegant manner. And she does it the same every time. Nature is utterly dependable. She’s unlike me, who knows that the powers that be have created laws intended to constrain my driving speed; laws that I still occasionally decide to disobey. Nature is no lawbreaker—nor is she obeisant to any higher order. She just is.

We humans watch nature’s activities with awe, interest, and wonder. We look for patterns and logic to these events. We make up stories about them. When we find a pattern, we note the regularity; we observe the dependability. We try to express that dependability in hypotheses. If we come to feel that our hypotheses are valid as we watch over time, we boldly transform them into “laws.” We tend to forget that they are our laws, our theories, our equations. Moreover, we are amazed that these laws are so simple and elegant. (That’s why I love physics.)

Our ancestors observed the regularity of movements of the sun, moon, and other celestial bodies. They built structures that reflected that heavenly regularity. Later on, as our understanding grew, we delved ever deeper into nature’s ways. Isaac Newton observed those same celestial bodies and developed his famous (and simple) equation of universal gravity. That’s why the moon moves as it does… it obeys Newton’s “Law of Gravity”!

Yes, nature exhibits dependable and repeatable behavior—faithfully and consistently. But she’s not obeisant to any mandate. She’s just doing her thing—in a sacred and perfect manner. Can we appreciate and honor it for that?