'We Know in part, and we prophesy in part'
Corinthians 13:9
"For we barely understand even in part all of the things which we possess. The surface of the earth on which we toil, by which we are nourished, kept alive and supported, appears plainly before our eyes; yet even so we do not know what holds it up.
We know and are mindful of the place of our own birth; but the day of our death, although it is certain that it will come, is unknown to us. We are only able to contemplate in part even those bodily things we see."
Patrologia Latina, On the Miracles of Holy Scripture
Nature Is Unknowable
'If someone were to ask me what nature is, I think, quite honestly, that I would be unable to give a satisfactory answer. And yet, everyone makes free use of the word nature without giving much thought to it. I too talk of the form and spirit of nature as if I knew it all, but deep down I feel that the mere mention of such a notion and the very attempt to express and describe nature are the root of error.
Perhaps a way of putting this that approaches more closely to nature would be to say that there is no form or spirit to nature. When one asks what nature is, this conjures up images of fields and mountains rich with vegetation, of the cosmos and heavenly bodies, of the vast reaches of the wild. Men of religion perhaps imagine the sort of universe mentioned in the book of Genesis as the essence of nature.
In general, people think of nature as the natural phenomena perceived by the natural sciences; they believe that the plants observed botanically are nature itself. In literature, we use the expression "to each according to his own," and treat the state of natural flux as nature itself.
But I believe that there is no way of expressing the true essence or state of nature. No matter what words we choose to use, we are only able to discuss botanical nature, to describe the form of nature from a cosmic view. Being unable to come into direct contact with the essence of nature, we end up circling round and round its periphery, conjuring up associations.
Even the image of nature that people form in their minds, of a world left entirely to itself, unaltered and untouched, is itself anchored within the unnatural human intellect and human action. Rather, the tabula rasa state of nature that transcends nature as seen and considered by man and which arises by abandoning all notions of nature is closer to true nature.
However, because "tabula rasa" is merely the opposite of what is not tabula rasa, expressing things in this way does little good. No way exists to describe nature as it truly is. The best I could do would be to say that if one casts off everything, absolutely everything, from human thought, what emerges thereafter in one's soul—that indefinable something that one apprehends after having transcended even the light of which the haiku poet Basho wrote in his poem: "Oh, how splendid! The sunlight on the young, green leaves" —that could be called nature. I believe that no better explanation is possible.'
Masanobu Fukuoka The Road Back to Nature, Regaining the Paradise Lost
