My hands reached out into the darkness as I stepped off the bed of the pickup truck onto the rocky soil beneath me. Flashlights started to come on, cutting through the backdrop of fireflies and stars that dotted the Land and Sky. Now I could see faces. My cousins, aunts, and uncles organizing themselves and heading down the road into further darkness. I followed them, with the lanterns and sounds of trotting feet guiding the way.

I awoke the next morning on the wooden floor of an old cabin with a light blanket draped over myself and family members lying with me. There was a brightness peering through the wooden planks that made up the walls of the cabin. Walking carefully over the slumbering bodies on the floor, I tiptoed my way to the cabin door, unlocking the wooden latch. The door swings open, and the most awe-inspiring vision I have ever seen collides with my consciousness.

Imagine this.

A luscious green mountain peak wrapped in a dress of thick jungle vegetation, topped with a crown of wild grasses dotted with coconut trees. The face of a steep valley wall to your right decorated with small pathways meandering through fruit trees of mango, soursop, passionfruit, and avocado. The mellow rush of a nearby stream tucked under a dense grove of wizened trees. The dew of the grass beneath your feet, fresh and inviting. This was the vision I witnessed during my first visit to the countryside of the island of Hispañola, my ancestral home. “Nuestro ombligo esta en esa tierra” my mother would say. In that moment I felt that to be true, for I had experienced satiation to a sense of longing that my 8 year young self was not aware had existed. A longing for home that had finally been requited.

I spent the next several months engaging with this paradise. Swimming in her streams, catching crabs, climbing her trees, eating her fruits, and spending nights lying on the grass staring at the beautiful night sky.

This experience had installed in me a deep reverence for and staunch obsession that has haunted me since that day forward. An almost constant need to experience the deepest wonders and untouched beauties of Nature.

About a decade later I find myself in an urban landscape of Westchester, NY staring at a tree that was settled in a 4×4 foot square of earth cut into the concrete. This was the abode given to the solitary tree. Amidst the cars engines, exhaust smoke, and electric cables, the tree reached high for the sky, not having a care about any imposed limits on it. It would continue to reach forth and grow, navigating its way around obstacles and fulfilling its sacred duty to life. I stared at this tree through the window of a Chinese restaurant and drifted off into a trance. I saw the roots it had formed deep into the ground and noted the symmetrical resemblance it had with the branches above. The Upper and Lower worlds were perfect reflections of each other. The branching pattern of the tree’s crown, against the backdrop of the sky revealed the patterning of blood vessels, capillaries, lung bronchioles, rivers, and streams. The implications of this “co-incidence” were immense. At that moment I was struck with the feeling that a deep truth had stumbled across me.

Fractals are patterns that repeat themselves at different scales. The seashell spiral repeating itself on the meteorological scale of hurricanes. The iridescent pattern of the iris repeating itself on the cosmic level of a supernova blast. These are examples of micro patterns repeating themselves at macro scales. When we look at fractals, there is an invitation into the mysteries of The Universe. When a person looks at fractals there is a measurable change in their level of electrical skin conductance. Brain scans of people looking at fractal patterns shows an activation of the parahippocampus, a section of the brain responsible for emotional processing and memory retrieval. EEG readings of the brain while looking at fractal patterns shows a shift to alpha brain wave patterns which is associated with a state of alert meditation. All these facts point to the deep physiologic relationship our bodies and psyches have with the fractal patterns expressed by Nature. Nature speaks, our bodies and spirit respond.

My first interaction with raw Nature in the countryside of Hispañola was revealing tons of fractal patterns to me in the branching of the jungle canopy, the mountain ridge lines, the twisting of vines, and those were not just any fractals. They were the same patterning of fractals that my ancestors looked at. The signal embedding “home” was strong here. I believe all of us have this connection with the land for at one point or another, our ancestors found their home amongst the trees. It is a primordial memory awakened by geometry. A primitive impulse elicited by visual spectra.

The urban environments of cubed structures, right angle intersections and repetitive stacking of identical units, creates a dissonance from the fluid shapes, curved lines, and gradual scaling of Nature’s anatomy. The urban environments were built from a mentality that worked against Nature. The geometry expresses this, evoking a sense of rigidity, confinement, and fatality. But, people are responding.

Urban landscapes have begun to appear greener than ever before. A drive down the West Side Highway of Manhattan reveals a Google headquarters with terraced facades draped in plant life, giving us a view of what the future of urban landscaping is to become. The architect, Rick Cook, an avid proponent of “Biophilic” design, which is “…about so much more than plants in the workplace. It’s about a different theory of how to make people feel healthy, lower cortisol levels, and feel connected to a larger system of life.”

In addition to architectural design elements, there is also novelty being created in the very materials being used for construction. The Myco Brick is such an example. A brick formed by fungal mycelium and organic matter that can be molded into any shape. Once dried, it becomes a water-proof, fire-resistant, mold-resistant material that can be used for construction.

The system of machines, industry, and corporatocracy has created fiefdoms of concrete and steel based on Euclidian geometry. However, we feel a new dawn of humanity peering over the Horizon. A new order of aesthetics and a reprioritization that replaces Life and Beauty to its rightful space. The dandelion growing through the crack in the concrete is testament to how the presence of our structures are temporary but Mother Nature is everlasting. The Earth is calling us forth to incorporate our ‘modern’ lives with the wisdom of Nature. The wild untouched Nature of rolling mountains and far out Savannahs will always be, but now we have an invitation to bring her into our homes and learn from her design.

The presence of Nature in our lives is not just a fad but a very real necessity that will save our lives, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

The Author: Dr. Marcos Berrios Arredondo, Outdoorsman, Biological Enthusiast, Tree Talker

Citations:

1. Florence Williams, Aeon. Why fractals are so soothing. The Atlantic. Jan 26, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/why-fractals-are-so-soothing/514520/
2. Lach, Eric. Google’s New Manhattan Groundscraper Bets On The Future of The Office. The New Yorker. Mar 5, 2022. https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/googles-new-manhattan-groundscraper-bets-on-the-future-of-the-office
3. Fakharany, Nour. Reimagining Work Culture: Google Unveils New York Headquarters at Renovated St. John’s Terminal. Arch Daily. Feb 23, 2024. https://www.archdaily.com/1013671/reimagining-work-culture-googles-new-york-headquarters-at-renovated-st-johns-terminal
4. Bonnefin, Ilvy. Emerging Materials: Mycelium Brick. Certified Energy. November 18, 2022. https://www.certifiedenergy.com.au/emerging-materials/emerging-materials-mycelium-brick