Forces of Man and Nature by artist G. Mark Mulleian
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OF
FORCES OF MAN
AND NATURE

FORCES OF MAN AND NATURE

What is this welling fury, this roiling of the sea,
This turgid, monstrous swelling, this breaking surface of the deep?
Could it be Leviathan, fresh sworn from the mouth of hell,
Boiling, bursting fourth in dark Dystopian splendor,
Engorged, ebullient, spewing fiery bile to sear indelibly
An ominous reply to the hubris of mankind.

Where once we lived by wit and natural instinct, rooted in harmony, and secured within existence as one living instrument among the many, cadenced rhythms of the seasons ruled, and the harmonies of spirit animated all. Like the passion from the hands of a fine violinist, ever so refining of itself, Man’s voice soared high within the greater whole, a solo bank of strings within symphonic registers. His role: to amplify this wondrous resonance as an echo of the greater natural pulse. But, in time, the integrity of our quest for truth has been deformed. Through unthoughtful alliances and shortsighted miscalculations, our world devolves into a Leviathan of our own design; but in so doing, by sheer default, will usher in the Age of Truth.

From the beginning, the laws of natural order foresaw the outcome of this metamorphosis, long before the fishes charted course beneath the surface of the deep, long before Man first walked the surface of the earth, subduing, possessing, ordaining himself ruler over all. Now Man, bereft of foothold, stumbles to comprehend, bound not to a violin but to the handle of a pick. No longer an instrument to inspire, discover, nor to build, instead, a tool to dominate, exploit, and destroy. Professing altruistic, patriotic intent while enacting a predatory pragmatism in the service of the self, he becomes a living instrument of self-destruction. No longer free to stake his natural claim to the fullness of human destiny as part of the greater whole, his calloused, lifeless hand gestures “This Way” to what once was. Lying now in wake, unwitting pawn of avaricious force, complicit as a would-be Master Of The Universe, would-be destroyer of the fragile balance of all things, there is no one other than himself to mourn.

But, long before humanity’s aspirations for our greatest human potential begin to fade into obscurity forever, when hope and human consciousness vanish into darkness, Nature intervenes, to compensate, correct, restore the balance. Now begins Her overture, resonating Her voice through us, elevating us to a greater perception through the powers of creativity, gateway to the soul. If we acknowledge that we are within the eternal mind of Nature, which moves and works through us in sustaining Itself, we become an irreversible truth, which frees us from our own enslavement and ultimate extinction. But in the end, this polarizing discord, this war between Man and Nature, will be settled on Nature’s terms. For us to see the greater natural order we must allow Nature to see through our eyes. But, with circumspection, we must also hear the intrinsic natural harmonies that Nature has instilled in us from the beginning. For this to happen, we must listen, but we must also hear, equally as much with heart as with mind, and as much with sense as intuition. Hence are the true forces of Man and Nature.

By Paul Deegan
Forces of Man and Nature, Oil 42" by 47" 1974